Chapter 2 #2
The loaded look I received was enough of an answer. Run him off the road. Make sure he didn’t reach the commission. I nodded, peering over my shoulder to find Enzo still hunched over his knees. Fuck, I hoped he had more brain cells than his padre and proved himself.
Giovanni retreated inside, and I ran my hand down my face before heading back over to Enzo. His shoulders started doing that shaking thing again, and he was making strange, choking noises.
More crying? I didn’t get paid enough for this shit.
“Did he order you to kill me?” he whimpered, wiping his nose on the back of his hand.
“That depends on you.”
His head snapped up, and those innocent, bright blue eyes melted into mine, filled with fear and uncertainty. Something in my chest clenched.
“What? I don’t know what I’m supposed to do.
You might as well kill me. Shove me in the trunk with my asshole of a papi who didn’t prepare me for anything because he had too much of an ego to believe he’d ever be taken out one day.
Better you do it than me getting stabbed in the back by one of my own men when they realise how weak I am. ”
I sighed, crouching down in front of him. I waited until he made eye contact before telling him the brutal truth.
“Yeah. Maybe I should.” I drew my gun from the back of my trousers. Clicking off the safety, I aimed it at his head and watched his terrified eyes widen. There it was—pure fear. But also the realisation that he didn’t want to die.
“But like I said, it depends on you. You’ve got two choices.
You step up, work your ass off, earn the respect of your men, and prove to them you can lead your family better than your father ever did.
You have an alliance with the biggest family in the North.
Keep your word, cover up your padre’s death for the Buccinis, and you’ll gain a powerful ally, putting your family in a better position than when you first walked in there. Or…”
“Or…” he whispered, staring down the barrel of my gun and then holding my gaze.
“Or I’ll kill you tonight and put us both out of your misery.”
“Can I think about it?” A ghost of a smile crept across his lips. Damn, was that a single dimple forming? I stood up and tossed him the keys to the Bentley.
“You’ve got the drive home to think about it.”
A 4x4 pulled up behind the Bentley, Angelo flashing the lights to show he was ready. I walked towards the car but paused at Enzo’s next words.
“Will you drive? I’m not sure I can.”
I closed my eyes and exhaled sharply. Turning around, I found him standing behind me, all six feet something of him. Those eyes begged me and, for some irrational reason that I didn’t want to decipher, I couldn’t seem to say no to him.
“You’ll drive. But I’ll ride with you,” I offered. There was no way I’d be taking the wheel and giving him the perfect opportunity to put a gun to my head instead.
He nodded and shuffled towards the driver’s door, the colour gradually returning to his face.
I quickly signalled to Angelo to follow us and climbed into the passenger seat, placing my gun on my thigh.
He exhaled a shaky breath, then started the engine and drove us down the long gravel driveway to the gate.
I couldn’t stop staring at his hands clenched around the steering wheel, the whites of his knuckles visible under the moonlight.
His forearms were still covered in dried blood, as was half of his shirt.
“Have you ever killed a man?” I asked, resting my head against the glass window so I could look directly at his profile. He was too attractive not to look at.
He swallowed. “Si.”
“Bravo. Then, you’re already more prepared than you think. Just remember to leave this version...” I waved my gun in his vicinity. “...at the door. You’re the Boss now. Half the job is acting like you’re untouchable. That means you don’t take shit from anyone.”
“Like you don’t?”
I frowned at him when his eyes swiftly darted in my direction and then back to the road.
“I overheard you and that other soldier. You seemed unfazed.”
I scoffed, glancing out the window. “I’ve been getting shit my entire life. At this point, it just bounces right off the zero fucks I give. I don’t need other people’s permission or approval to be who I am.”
“I wish I could be like that. Not give a fuck what others think.”
“You’ll learn to grow a thick skin soon enough, Kid.”
His jaw clenched, and his anxiety appeared to shift into anger. “I’m not a fucking kid. I’ll be twenty next month. I bet you’re not much older.”
“Right,” I replied, trying to hide my smirk at the sudden feistiness that had come out to play. It was a pleasant surprise.
“So? How old are you?”
“Why do you want to know, Kid?”
A muscle in his jaw twitched, and I was momentarily so fixated on how hot he looked when he was furious that I had let my guard down.
Quicker and more skilled than I had given him credit for, he yanked out his gun and pressed it against the side of my head.
My arm shot up a second later, with my own gun aimed below his chin.
“I told you not to fucking call me that,” he gritted through clenched teeth, one hand still steering the car as we sped along the deserted road.
I chuckled. “Well, look at you. You can stick up for yourself after all.”
“Don’t fucking patronise me, Soldier.”
“Now who’s the one being patronising?”
Why was this making me hard? I had issues.
He lowered his gun first, and I followed his lead. He leaned forward to tuck it back into his trousers, and I took the distraction as an opportunity to shuffle in my seat and hide my semi. He may have been only six years younger than me, but he was still a straight man and above my rank.
We drove the rest of the way in silence, a strange, unexplainable tension building between us, until his gates came into sight.
I told him to pull over so I could get out.
He parked on the other side of the road, and I checked in the rear-view mirror that Angelo had pulled up behind us.
I reached for the door handle but froze when his hand grasped my forearm. Our eyes met.
“What’s your name?”
My gaze narrowed. My dick hardened once more at the heat emanating from his touch. “Finch. But everyone calls me Finn.”
He licked those plump, fuckable lips. His eyes flicked down to mine. “Grazie, Finn.”
I blinked at him, trapped in an alien feeling that had an effect on my heartbeat.
“For what?”
He let go of my arm as if he’d only just realised that he’d been touching me and leaned back in the seat.
“For not killing me.”
“Thanks for not giving me a reason to.”
I slammed the door and strolled over to the 4x4, climbing in beside Angelo. I watched as the gates to the Aiani residence opened, and he drove inside.
“All good?” Angelo asked.
“Si,” I answered, my gaze still locked on the iron gates as they closed. “He won’t talk. He wants to live.”
Angelo nodded and turned us around, heading back.
I spent the rest of the drive staring out of the window in a daze.
I couldn’t shake the feeling there was more to that pretty-boy face and those bright blue eyes.
But what had me reeling was that moment.
The way his hand lingered, the way his gaze locked on mine.
Brief, but unmistakable. A spark I shouldn’t have felt. A spark he shouldn’t have given.
If I didn’t know any better… I’d bet Enzo Aiani wasn’t nearly as straight as he wanted people to believe.