A Vow of Sacred Blood

Prologue

Gaetano

“Vincenzo, stop!” Fausto and I raced after my baby brother as he toddled toward the pool’s edge at an alarming speed. His golden blonde hair floated in the air like a halo around his head, but my brother was no angel. He would, however, be joining the heavenly realm if I didn’t get to him in time.

Fausto, a year older but slower than me, lagged behind. At six, I was already an excellent swimmer and the fastest runner in our family of seven brothers. I vaguely wondered where Romeo and Simo were, as they were supposed to be watching Vincenzo but were nowhere in sight. Typical.

I lunged at Vinny as he reached the edge, but I was too late.

My fingertips brushed lightly over the back of his shirt without catching, and his little body barely made a splash as he fell into the water.

I dove in after him, catching him before he sank deeper, and hauled him to the surface where Fausto waited for me to pass him up.

Before I could, Vincenzo wrapped his pudgy arms around my neck. “We swimmin, Tani!” he crowed in his baby gibberish. “I wuv you!”

Ah hell, it was hard to be mad at him when he looked at me like that, his blue-green eyes flecked with gold were wide with delight and wonder. At birth, with those gold-flecked eyes and that thick mane of curls, he resembled a baby lion, earning him the nickname, Simba.

“Are you okay, little buddy?” I asked.

“I swimmin.”

“You sure are,” I sighed, holding him with me in the water. Still beaming with pride at his accomplishment, he nuzzled his nose into my neck and fell asleep. I passed his limp body to Fausto, who said nothing. He rarely spoke, which was one of the reasons we got along so well.

“What happened?” Romeo asked, running up to the lip of the pool.

“Not so close, you’ll fall in, too!” called Simo, sliding to a halt at his side. It was hard not to roll my eyes at his dogged devotion to our eldest brother, Romeo, but at least he noticed Vincenzo eventually. “Is he okay?”

“He’s fine. Just sleeping.” I hauled myself out of the pool and onto my feet, glaring up at my older brother of four years accusingly. “Where the hell were you, Rom? He could have drowned. You were supposed to be watching him.”

He glared right back. “I was. I turned my back for one second and he was gone. We’ve been looking for him.”

Beside him, Simo nodded his head sagely. He reminded me of an old man when he did that, and I was about to say so when our father materialized out of nowhere.

“What do we have here?” he asked calmly and we all fell silent.

Like most children, we loved our father, but our love was tempered by awe and fear of disappointing him.

But we weren’t like most kids and our father was definitely not most fathers.

He was Don Vitale, the head not only of our little family, but the mafia family that operated under his name, a name that struck terror into the hearts of grown men the world over.

He loved us, we knew, but his love meant preparing us for life in the criminal underworld and that often meant painful lessons.

He was hardest on Romeo, who would take over the family business one day, and it was on Romeo that his gaze finally came to rest.

“Nothing, Papa. Everything is good here,” Romeo answered, staring me down, daring me to contradict him.

“Yeah, what he said,” I added, holding his gaze. I wouldn’t back down from him or anyone. One day, sure, he’d be in control of the family, but that wasn’t today.

“Romeo, go to my office and wait for me there. Simo, you and Fausto take Vincenzo into the house. I’d like a word in private with my son.”

As I was the only son he hadn’t sent away, I knew he meant me. Once my brothers were out of sight, my father sat down on one of the pool chairs and patted the spot beside him. I reluctantly dropped down beside him, waiting for an earful.

“Gaetano, I’m going to guess at what happened and then offer you some fatherly advice, inteso?”

“Yes, Father. I understand.”

“Bravo ragazzo.”

He hadn’t called me a good boy in a while. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad after all.

“Romeo and Massimo lost track of their baby brother and you came to the rescue just in time.”

I turned to him in shock.

My father chuckled. “You should guard your expressions better, son. Never let people know what you’re thinking.”

I closed my mouth. “Yes, Papa.”

He patted my knee fondly. “It isn’t a magic trick. I saw you dive into the pool to rescue Simba. You were quick, fearless, and did all the right things. I’m proud of you, son.”

My little chest pushed out with my father’s praise. It was hard to get noticed in a house with six brothers, let alone that we were already sharing his attention with the rest of la familia and I didn’t take the words for granted, storing them in my mind.

“Now here is my advice.” He leaned toward me, his expression serious. “Don’t challenge Romeo. You may be the bravest, but Romeo is the leader and will be head of the Vitale family, with Simo as his enforcer. They will always win, inteso?”

I understood, but that didn’t make the pill any easier to swallow. I was about to ask how that was fair, but held back. My father always said nothing in life was fair.

“Tano, when we adopted you and your brothers into the Vitale family, we changed all three of your destinies. I have been very aware that you have a special gift—an eidetic memory and a deep sensitivity. You feel big feelings, Tano, and you need to guard that. Many people, including your brothers, can use that against you. Always guard your heart, son.”

I nodded.

My father stood up. “I must go and speak with Romeo. Are you coming?”

I couldn’t pull my gaze away from the sunlight sparkling on the surface of the pool like a glittering treasure. Maybe that is what Vincenzo saw and didn’t realize it was water until it was too late.

“I will, Father, but I need to think first.”

He patted my head and walked away. I stored everything he said and repeated the sequence of words while the picture cemented in my child’s brain. I would never forget them.

Twenty years later, the words he’d spoken that day are still safely tucked away, never to be forgotten, nor the sun sparkling on the water like a treasure trove.

“Earth to Tano. Anyone home?”

I opened my eyes. My boy vanished and the man returned, just as the plastic pool chair became a seat at the back table in Buono Come Il Mamas, one of my little brother’s restaurants. Vincenzo, no longer the little lion cub we’d nicknamed Simba, stood before me, hands on his hips.

“Where were you just now?” he teased.

“Remembering a certain toddler almost drowning in the family pool.”

Vinny’s eyes sparkled in merriment. “Which time? Poor Mama got tired of me taking a trip off the edge unguarded and had that fence installed with the security lock.”

Who was he kidding? He’d always been guarded. After that day, my father assigned Vinny his own guard whose sole purpose was to keep him safe, taking the pressure off us boys to keep him in line.

“You want the usual?” he asked me now.

“You know I do.”

“Seriously, bro won’t you try anything else? Maybe the special? It’s gnocchi, one of your favorites. Come on, the hospital’s not going to burn to the ground because you took an extra hour for lunch. I’ll open a bottle of wine, you can enjoy yourself for a change.”

While his offer was tempting, I kept things tight during my shifts at the hospital. I didn’t want anything throwing me off my game while I was at work. There was a lot riding on me and my ability to control a sizable staff while still maintaining a full time surgery schedule.

It was a dual task I relished as it gave me little time to idle and kept me focused on the hospital my parents had helped fund right from the ground floor. The Vitales remained generous supporters, but I considered it my hospital.

After med school, it had made sense to do my residency there and then I was offered a full position.

My eidetic memory and aptitude for medicine allowed me to rise quickly through the ranks, as others called it, I moved up and eventually became the CEO.

It was a great opportunity, but not a great role for me in that I was responsible to a board of directors more concerned with profits and efficiency than people.

Not one of them could be trusted with power over someone else’s health, and a large part of my job was mitigating the damage they were determined to do with their cost-cutting.

Ironic, considering I had grown up as a member of the Vitale mafia family, that these were the most evil people I had ever met, and it was all perfectly legal.

“I don’t want to enjoy myself,” I told my brother. “I have a board meeting today. The usual. Please.”

Vinny nodded and hustled away. He’d make my lunch himself, he always did, and just the way I liked it.

He at least understood my need for consistency.

My other brothers thought I was stuck in a rut, that I needed something more in my life.

And the way Romeo recently asked me about women with a glint in his eye, I knew he was thinking it was a woman I needed.

I’d blankly replied with a ‘not a chance’.

His wedding taught me two things: One, don’t marry the enemy, and two, don’t marry a brat.

His wife, Vittoria, was just such a brat and had completely overtaken Romeo’s life, even though he vehemently denied it.

Neither of them had any control when it came to the other.

Always at it, like rutting animals. Whereas I choose to unleash my inner beast through calm, controlled mutually beneficial play in the dungeon at Club Carnage.

I was lost in thought again when Vinny returned with my lunch.

“Enough with the zoning out already,” he groaned, placing my plate before me. “Now what are you thinking about?”

“Never mind, and trust me, you don’t want to know.”

He nodded his head in acceptance.

“I’ll see you later for dinner?”

“Si, later.” Vinny hurried off to the kitchen and I was left in peace to eat my meal.

When I was almost finished, a high-pitched giggle drew my attention to a table of four women across the restaurant.

Idly, I glanced over them, trying to discover which one of the four beauties that laugh belonged to.

It wasn’t long before the offender let out another high-pitched giggle, while the others chuckled at whatever she said.

My curiosity was satisfied, but I couldn’t seem to look away.

Her happiness enhanced her beauty in ways makeup never could.

She didn’t need it anyway. She had flawless skin and a natural blush brought on by laughter, full sensual lips and thick lashes.

I would have been hard-pressed to identify her best feature from all those I had to choose from, but her hair captivated me—a bountiful pile of glossy, dark, rich chestnut curls she’d attempted to contain in a messy bun and which I could easily picture spilling over her shoulder, across my bed, through my hands…

I tried to be discreet in my interest, but she must have sensed my stare, because she scanned the restaurant until her eyes landed on me.

Zap! I felt the bolt of attraction connect us as our eyes met across the crowded restaurant. That wouldn’t do at all. When a large group entered, I dropped my napkin, slipped through their moving bodies and made my way out the door.

Shit! When was the last time I’d felt such a strong emotion toward a stranger, or anyone for that matter?

I couldn’t remember. But I wouldn’t act on it.

My father’s words were only a memory away—Never let them see your heart, Tano, they will use it against you, and I had no doubt that is exactly what that cute little brunette would do if given the chance.