Chapter 27
TWENTY-SEVEN
Marchello
Lissia was a tornado full of destruction in a designer dress and heels way too high for this particular occasion. She would be the death of me, and for some reason, I welcomed it.
I allowed her to do whatever she wanted, whenever she wanted, because I thrived off her energy. The good, the bad, and the agonizingly insane. Together there was no stopping us. But I also knew keeping her by my side could be a deadly mistake for my family.
With Lissia between me and her father, I couldn’t get a clean shot, and if I couldn’t, neither could any of the men standing behind me. I couldn’t risk Lissia’s life. Not for my father, not for my family.
When I lowered my gun, relief entered her worried expression.
“You’re retreating.” Gian laughed. “Your father will be so disappointed to know you brought an army with you and you still couldn’t carry out his order.”
Not in front of her. Not today. But it would happen one way or another.
“What is the matter with you?” Lissia’s voice cracked. “He’s doing this for me. Why can’t you do the same?”
“Because I’m not weak.”
Gian’s words were meant to provoke me, but I fought to stay in control of my trigger finger.
“Can’t you see how much we mean to one another?” Lissia asked. “How much I love him?”
“There is no accounting for your poor judgment,” Gian said. “You’re out of chances.”
“She doesn’t need any chances from you.” I took Lissia’s hand and gazed into her eyes. “I’ll take care of you. I’ll never betray you.”
“That means you’ll have to keep me alive.” Gian smirked.
Lissia reached for my hand and stood by my side, like the queen that she was. My beautifully vibrant and defiant soulmate.
“I won’t intervene again,” she said. “If you come for Marchello, if you provoke him in any way, I’ll accept whatever he has to do to protect what’s his.”
“You choose the Accettis?” Gian’s face dropped. “I’ll never forgive you for that.”
“I don’t need your forgiveness, just your understanding,” Lissia said. “I love him.”
“There’s nothing left to say.” He pointed to the door. “If you walk out of here with him, I don’t ever want to see you again. You’re nothing to me.”
“You became nothing to me when you tried to kill him and shot me.” She squeezed my hand. “But before that, I wanted to forgive you for handing me over to Danny. I tried to see the good in you.”
“I’m growing tired of what you think.” Gian glared at me. “If she leaves here with you, I’ll be even more relentless than before. I won’t stop until you and your family have nothing.”
“I’m not taking her at gunpoint this time.” I held Lissia to my side. “She’s leaving here voluntarily. We’re going to walk out. My men will make sure we’re safe, and I’ll leave your men unharmed.”
“Like you’re doing me a favor.” He chuckled. “You’re not your father.”
“You keep saying that as if you’re insulting me. I know who I am, old man.” I guided Lissia to the door. “You should be dropping to your knees and praying I love your daughter more than I want to murder you.”
“I’m going to make you both regret this,” Gian shouted as Lissia and I left the room. “You’ll have to look over your shoulder every day.”
Milo and the guards followed us down the hallway and out of the house.
“Don’t be mad,” Lissia said.
I didn’t respond as I stared out at Lorenzo and his entourage. I had a lot of explaining to do.
“Are you mad?” she asked.
“I am,” Milo said as he strolled onto the porch and put his gun in the holder behind his jacket. “There’s something seriously wrong with you.”
“Hey.” I raised my voice. “Don’t disrespect her. She’s been through enough.”
“She ran into the line of fire even after I told her to leave,” Milo said. “What if she caught another bullet? Maybe she wouldn’t be here to disrespect me.”
“You came into the house after you knew there were gunshots?” Her stupidity should have surprised me, but it didn’t. “Why would you do that?”
“Why do you think?” She put her hand on her hip. “I can’t be in a world where you’re not.”
“How romantic.” Milo rolled his eyes. “You two need therapy.”
“I’m sorry for scaring you, Milo.” She stretched on her toes and kissed his cheek. “I won’t do it again.”
“Liar.” My brother looked over at me. “I need to go do damage control with Lorenzo.”
“Tell him I’ll call him later.” I hoped that giving him back that shipment today would be enough to hold over his cartel a little longer so I could come up with another plan for Gian. Killing him didn’t seem to be an option for me.
I took Lissia’s hand again and led her down the steps to the car she had arrived in.
“Give us a minute,” I said to Dom. “Then you can drive us back to the penthouse.”
“I’m glad everyone is okay.” Dom glanced at Lissia. “I’m going to have to come up with more creative ways to keep her in check if I’m going to remain in this position.”
“You and I both.” I arched a brow at my defiant hostage. “But I have a feeling she’s going to fall into line.”
“I can’t promise that.” Lissia smiled at Dom. “I don’t like to listen.”
“I’ve noticed.” Dom walked over to another group of men.
“I don’t think my new guard likes me.” Lissia leaned against the SUV. “I ran away from him.”
“I’m not surprised.”
“I wanted to get to you.”
“By putting yourself in danger?”
Fighting her impulses wasn’t working. A new approach was in order if I hoped to keep us both alive.
“I’m your ride or die, remember?” She caressed my cheek. “I don’t want to be without you.”
“It’s not a possibility for me to be without you.” My muscles relaxed for what seemed like the first time in days. I pressed my forehead to hers, taking her in my embrace. “We need to get away from this house before tragedy strikes.”
“You came here to settle this.” She bit her lip. “I stopped you.”
“You intervened, and maybe that was what we needed.” I brushed my lips along hers. “Maybe that’s how we’ll find our peace.”
With a slow kiss, I ended this line of questioning. I wasn’t sure how I was going to proceed when it came to Gian and my business, but it wasn’t something I wanted to discuss with her. I had plenty of soul-searching to do.
She sighed into my mouth, gripping my biceps and holding me tight. I kissed the top of her head and smiled at her. Whatever we were about to face, we would do it together.
“Let’s go home.” I opened the car door for her. “I’ve had a long night.”
“Oh.” She dug into her bag and took out the burner phone. “You left this behind.”
“Thank you.” I took it from her and put it in my pocket.
“You never told me your father spoke with an Italian accent.” She grinned. “It’s really sexy.”
“You didn’t.” I guided her into the car. “Tell me you didn’t.”
“Do you want me to lie?”
I slid in next to her and rested my head against the seat as we waited for Dom to take us back to the city.
“Don’t worry.” She cuddled against me. “Your father loves me already.”
“I’m sure he does.”
* * *
Thanksgiving looked different this year. We weren’t at the main house eating a huge turkey dinner that a personal chef had meticulously prepared. My father was still absent from our lives with no sign of returning. It was just me, Lissia, and Milo.
I preferred the low-key occasion. It gave me time to reflect. Chaos ruled my world right now, but I did have so much to be thankful for. The number one thing I was grateful for was currently licking cannoli cheesecake off her top lip.
“Would you like mine?” I pushed my plate along the coffee table, stopping when the edge touched hers.
“No.” She giggled. “I’m stuffed.”
“Come back up here with me.” I motioned for her to join me on the couch. She’d chosen to eat her dessert while stretched out on the floor.
“Is everything okay with Milo?” She crawled into my lap. “He’s been on the phone a while.”
“He’ll handle it.” I stroked her hair. “Did you enjoy dinner?”
“You know I love Franchi’s.” She nodded toward the plates. “Especially the cheesecake.”
“It’s not your typical Thanksgiving dinner.”
“We’re Italian.” She rested her head against my chest. “I can eat pasta every day.”
“My mother would have loved hearing that.” I twisted her hair around my finger. “It was always her go-to meal. When in doubt, she ordered pasta.”
“What was her favorite kind?”
“Cavatelli.”
“Oh, I haven’t had that one in a while. I wish I could have met her.”
“Me too.”
“Do you think she would have liked me?”
“I do.” I kissed the side of her neck. “Because you make me very happy, and that’s all she wanted for me.”
“I do try to make you happy, Marchello.” She gazed up at me. “I want a life with you.”
“You do have a life with me.”
“Sometimes I worry that I’ll push you too far and you’ll leave.” She closed her eyes. “I can be a lot.”
“I know who you are, princess. The very things that drove me insane when we first met are the reasons I’m drawn to you now.”
“Even if you can’t tame me?”
“I can tame you.” I took her face between my hands. “Don’t fool yourself.”
“Can we go upstairs now?” She rocked into me. “I bought something sexy, and I want to show you.”
“I prefer you naked.” I grasped her hips. “But if I get to tear it off you, it will be worth it.”
“You paid for it.” She smiled. “So you can do whatever you want.”
“I plan to do whatever I want.” Kissing her neck, I slipped my hand under her skirt. “The question is will you be able to handle me?”
“I think we both know the answer to that.” She rocked against my hand. “What are we waiting for?”
Milo strolled into the living room, and I withdrew my hand from between Lissia’s legs.
He shook his head as he set the black bottle of vodka down on the coffee table. “I leave the room for five minutes and this happens.”
“Don’t you have a girl you can play with tonight?” Lissia asked.
“I have several.” Milo winked.
“At the same time?” Lissia leaned against my chest. “How does that work?”
“Don’t answer that.” I scooted her off my lap. “I need to finish up some business with Milo.”
“On Thanksgiving?” She stood in front of me. “How long will you be?”
“As long as I need to be.” I pointed to the stairs. “I’ll come up when I can.”
“Fine.” She faced Milo. “Don’t keep him all night.”
“I won’t, your highness.” He kissed her cheek. “Happy Thanksgiving.”
“I’m serious.” She pranced to the stairs, then looked over her shoulder at me. “If you make me wait too long, I’ll just come down in the underwear that I told you about to get you.”
“In that case, I’ll take my time.” Milo laughed.
“Get up the stairs!” When I stood and lunged toward her, she hurried up the stairs.
“You don’t intimidate her.” Milo went to the bar, took out three shot glasses, and set them on the table beside the bottle of vodka. “I don’t think you ever have.”
“Are you going to pour?” I nodded toward the glasses. “Three?”
“Since the old man isn’t here, I thought we should drink one for him.” Milo poured the vodka into the glasses. “I just got off the phone with Juan.”
“And?”
He handed me a shot glass. “No one is happy with the Gian situation, but we might have a bigger problem.”
“Of course we do.” I flung my head back and finished the shot in a quick chug. “What is it?”
“Collins is back in Manhattan.” Milo did his shot. “He’s making noise around the docks, looking for someone to work with.”
The rage in my chest threatened to explode into an uncontrollable urge to tear the penthouse apart. Gian may have ordered the hit that almost killed Lissia, but Collins was responsible for carrying it out.
“The other families won’t align with him,” I said. “Not if they’re smart.”
Milo poured himself another round, failing to make eye contact with me. “It’s not the families we deal with you have to worry about.”
“What else?” I slid my glass in front of him.
“Collins is trying to draw you out.” Milo poured me another shot. “In the worst possible way.”
“Lissia?” I clenched my fist as my gut churned.
“He’s promising her to the highest bidder.”
“What?”
“My underground sources have heard rumblings that Collins can deliver a mafia princess who needs to be put in her place.” He handed me the glass. “He’s making it a challenge.”
“What kind of challenge?” I chugged the shot, but the liquid did nothing to calm my scorching rage.
“Whoever can get her away from you and bring her to him scores a night with her before he sells her off.”
“Fuck.” I hurled the glass across the room, shattering it against the wall. “He’ll never succeed, but the fact that he is disrespecting her this way… Disrespecting me. We have to end him.”
“We have to find him,” Milo said. “He’s been elusive since Miami.”
I ran my hand across my jaw. “Is he still working with Gian?”
“After the Feds swarmed the docks, none of us are working right now.”
“Juan is in the process of working around that for us. We’ll be back up and running in a few days.” I gazed out the window at the skyline. “You haven’t heard from Dad today?”
“Not in a few days, but I’m sure he’ll call when he can.”
“It’s odd that we didn’t hear from him today. This is the first time we’ve been separated for a holiday.”
“Juan said he’s working on something and has gone radio silent,” Milo said. “He told me not to worry.”
“That doesn’t make me feel better.” I glanced at the shot Milo had poured in honor of our father. “I want him home.”
“So do I, but right now we need to figure out how to stop Collins from coming for Lissia.”
“I’ll protect her at all costs. Anyone who touches her will die.”
My enemies could come for me, but Lissia was off-limits. I would burn down this city before I ever let Collins near her again.
I picked up the shot glass meant for my father and swallowed the vodka in one gulp.
“I’ll have to make her untouchable.”