Dom
I stare at the ceiling, my mind replaying every moment with Olivia like a film I can't stop watching.
Her laugh.
The way she challenges me.
How she feels against me.
The unexpected sanctuary we've built in this chaos.
Fuck. I'm in deeper than I should be.
She shifts next to me in bed, sound asleep looking so fucking beautiful.
This thing between us wasn't supposed to happen. I was meant to toy with her, distract her, maybe even corrupt her a little.
Instead, I’m like a lovesick teenager, desperate to be around her.
What kind of Don gets tangled up with an FBI agent? The kind who's asking for a bullet or a cell.
I rub my face, the stubble rough against my palms. La Corona will demand answers soon.
They've tolerated my "handling" of Olivia until now, but once they discover I'm fucking her. That I’m actively helping her investigate Blackwood? That I've shared information that could expose us all?
My chest tightens. I've put her in the crosshairs of both the FBI and my family.
When La Corona finds out, they'll see only one solution: permanent silence.
They won't understand that she's different, that she actually gives a damn about justice, even for people like us.
The irony isn't lost on me. For the first time in my life, I've found someone who makes me want more than power and respect.
Someone who sees the man beneath the Don.
And I'll likely have to choose between her life and mine.
I should end this now. Walk away before anyone else gets hurt. Before I have to make an impossible choice.
But the thought of never touching her again, never seeing that fire in her eyes when she argues with me, it guts me.
I’m a man who stands up for himself and his family. A man who faces whatever life brings head on. And so I’ll face La Corona and deal with whatever they throw my way.
The next day, I sit at the head of the table at Marco’s home, facing the men who've been both my allies and my judges since I took my father's place.
Marco's eyes bore into me with a calculated stare that makes lesser men squirm.
Roman stands behind him, arms crossed, expression unreadable but for the slight tightening around his mouth.
Leo Ferraza drums his fingers against the table as if he’s bored.
Maybe he is. He’s the oldest of us now.
The generation before us.
He’s seen a whole hell of a lot more than the rest of us.
“What’s got your boxers in a bunch?” Luca asks, sitting next to Leo, seemingly annoyed at the impromptu meeting I asked for today.
"Agent Ricci was attacked three nights ago."
Marco leans forward. "And this concerns us, how?"
I take a breath. "She's been staying in one of my safe houses since then."
The silence that follows is lethal. Then it breaks.
"You've lost your fucking mind," Roman growls, pushing off the wall.
Marco doesn't move, but his stillness is more threatening than Roman's outburst. "You brought an FBI agent into one of your properties?"
"She was injured. Someone tried to kill her for investigating Rocco's kidnapping and Mrs. Ferraza's murder." I meet each of their eyes. "The same cases that connect back to someone trying to destroy us."
Leo slams his hand on the table. "So you nurse her back to health? What's next, Dominic? Inviting her to Sunday dinner?"
Maybe. "I made a judgment call."
"A judgment call?" Marco's voice cuts deep. "You've compromised everything we've built. Everything your father and grandfather sacrificed for."
The accusation stings because part of me knows he's right. But they don't have all the pieces yet.
“Fuck that.” Luca points a finger at me. “She’s the one who took Rocco.”
“No.” I slide copies of the photos Roman had gotten of the cards and Olivia’s information from the transportation office.
“The GPS shows it was another car. We know a man took Rocco. He must have changed the plates. Her car’s GPS shows it in the garage until she took it out after getting the call about Rocco. ”
Only Roman moves to look at what I’ve brought. If he wasn’t an enforcer, I imagine he’d be a detective or maybe a Federal Agent.
“He’s right. And look, the bumper is different. I should have noticed before,” Roman says. He looks up at me. “But it’s still fucking stupid, Dom.”
“He must be thinking with his dick,” Leo grumbles.
“She also says someone is siphoning assets from seized La Corona property. She specifically said it was money from a Monti raid.” I glance at Luca, wondering what smart ass response he’ll have to that.
“So what?”
I roll my eyes. “Blackwood isn’t just out to get us, he’s stealing from us, dumbass.”
Marco's eyes narrow. "Why do you trust this woman? The same one who's been trying to put you in prison for years?"
"I trust that she wants the truth," I say, choosing my words carefully. "And right now, our interests align."
What I don't say is that my interests and Olivia's have aligned in ways none of these men can forgive.
I hold their stares, refusing to flinch under the collective weight of La Corona's judgment. These men respect strength above all else.
"She shared with me the discovery of financial discrepancies in assets seized from Monti territory.
Money that disappeared after FBI raids." I stick to the facts.
"She traced the vehicle used in Rocco's kidnapping and discovered someone used a vehicle by an agent who couldn’t have possibly taken it and switched the plates with hers.”
Marco's expression remains granite-hard, but I catch the flicker of interest in his eyes. "And what does Agent Ricci expect in return for this... cooperation?"
"Justice." The word sounds almost naive in this room. "She wants to expose corruption within her own ranks. She's a true believer. It's what makes her dangerous to us, but also valuable."
Roman snorts. "You think she's not playing you? Setting us all up for a RICO case that'll put every man in this room away for life?"
"She could've arrested me a dozen times over with what she knows now," I counter. "Instead, she's putting her career, her life, on the line."
Leo shakes his head. "You sound like a lovesick teenager, Dominic. This woman has clouded your judgment."
I push forward before they can see the truth of those words on my face.
"Roman, you’ve seen firsthand how Blackwood manipulated Isabella, fed her false information about her mother's death. You too, Marco, with how he tried to convince Gabriella you were trying to take over Antonio’s territory. Olivia—”
“It’s Olivia now?” Leo asks.
“Agent Ricci sees what we do. There’s corruption in the Organized Crime Unit of the FBI. She’s a valuable asset to getting the justice Mrs. Ferraza and Rocco and the rest of the families deserve.”
“This is ludicrous.” Luca looks at each don incredulously. “You’re not buying this are you?”
“You don’t have to buy what I’m selling.” I turn to face Roman. "I want you to meet with Olivia. Hear what she has to say. Compare notes on everything you’ve gathered."
Roman's eyes narrow. "You want me to sit down with an FBI agent?"
"Yes." I meet his gaze unflinchingly. "But there's one condition that's non-negotiable."
Marco raises an eyebrow. "You're setting conditions now?"
"Just one." I look back at Roman. "You don't kill her. No matter what she says, no matter what you think of her information. She lives."
I catch the dangerous shift in Roman's expression. His jaw tightens as he processes my demand.
"Interesting that you feel the need to specify that condition, Dominic," Marco says. "We don't typically kill law enforcement. You know this."
"I know it's more of a guideline than a rule," I counter, holding his gaze. "Let's not pretend we haven't made exceptions when necessary."
The room fills with a tense silence.
"Besides," I continue, "someone already wants her dead. Most likely the same someone who's been manipulating us all along."
Roman leans forward. "You think Blackwood ordered the hit on his own agent?"
“It was more of a warning. Told her back off. It happened right after Blackwood was made aware that she knew about the missing money and the funny business with the transports.” I spread my hands.
"If he's willing to orchestrate the kidnapping of a child to frame us, what's one nosy agent who's getting too close to the truth? "
“Still, Dom this is—”
“You seem to forget that her father was on my father's payroll for years. Although that tidbit I’d like to stay just among us.”
Marco's eyebrows lift slightly. "She doesn't know?"
"No. She idolizes him. Thinks he died a hero.
" I feel a twist of guilt at keeping the truth from her.
"He was killed in the line of duty. Not something related to us, although my father always thought there was something not right about it. Of course, he dropped dead before he could get to the bottom of it.”
Roman crosses his arms. "You think we owe her something because her father took your money?"
"I think we owe her father to protect her.”
Luca stops seething long enough to ask, "Can she be turned? Become an asset for us instead of a liability?"
I almost laugh at the question. "She’s as straight as an arrow agent I've ever met." I pause, choosing my next words carefully. "But that's exactly why she's investigating her own people. She believes in justice, real justice, even when it means going against her own."
"That makes her unpredictable," Marco warns.
"It makes her valuable," I counter. "She's not motivated by money or power. She can't be bought or threatened. But she can be convinced by evidence, by truth."
What I don't say is how much I admire this about her. How her unwavering moral compass both frustrates and fascinates me.
How watching her struggle with what she's discovering about her own organization has made me question things I've accepted my entire life.
"I'm not asking for permission," I say finally. "I'm telling you what I'm doing as a courtesy. Olivia Ricci is under my protection. Anyone who moves against her moves against me."
The challenge hangs in the air, unmistakable in its implication. I've never defied La Corona before. Never had something or someone worth the risk.
Leo drums his fingers on the table. "If what you're saying is true, we have a common enemy."
"One who's been three steps ahead of us for years," I add.
Marco studies me for a long moment. I can see the calculations behind his eyes, weighing risks against potential rewards.
"Fine," he says finally. "Roman will meet with your agent. Hear what she has to say." His eyes harden. "But if this is a trap, Dominic, if she's playing you—"
"She's not," I say with more certainty than I have any right to feel.
I leave the meeting with a sense of victory.
Getting Roman to meet Olivia means she stays alive, for now.
But having that dangerous bastard anywhere near her makes my skin crawl.
I've seen what Roman can do when he decides someone's a threat.
As I drive back to the safehouse, I rehearse how to tell Olivia about our new "ally."
She'll hate it.
Hell, I hate it, but Roman's involvement buys us protection from La Corona while we pursue Blackwood.
I pull into the garage of the safehouse, cutting the engine and sitting in silence for a moment. The men of La Corona aren’t wrong.
What I’m doing is dangerous in so many ways.
I’d have reacted the same if any of them did what I’m doing. Hell, I wasn’t sure Roman marrying Isabella as a way to handle her was the right thing to do.
But I can’t seem to stop needing Olivia. I know I will at some point have to.
But for now, being with her these last few days has been fulfilling in ways I can’t explain.
Even now, as I make my way to the front door, I feel like I’m coming home.
When I step inside, Olivia's curled on the couch with case files spread around her, hair pulled back in a messy knot.
She looks up, those sharp eyes immediately reading the tension in my stance.
"That bad?" she asks.
I drop my keys on the table. "Could've been worse. They didn't order your execution or mine, so I'd call it a win."
She rolls her eyes but smiles. "Your standards for success are concerning."
I cross to her, moving files aside to sit. "One of my many character flaws."
"I'm keeping a list," she says, but her hand finds mine, like we’ve been together forever. Like we’re going to stay together.
This is what normal people have. This quiet understanding. This simple touch that says more than words.
"What are you thinking about?" she asks, her voice soft.
"How much I’m enjoying this," I admit. "You. Here. Just like this."
Her eyes widen slightly. We've been careful not to talk about later.
About what happens when Blackwood is exposed, when she returns to the FBI and I return to La Corona.
When we go back to being natural enemies.
Instead of answering, she leans forward and kisses me. Gentle at first, then with a hunger that matches my own.
I pull her onto my lap, hands sliding under her shirt to feel the warmth of her skin.
"Like this?" she murmurs against my mouth.
I lift her, carrying her to the bedroom where we've spent countless hours learning each other's bodies the last few days.
But tonight feels different. Slower.
Each touch, each kiss a confession neither of us can voice aloud.
I trace every curve, searing the memory into my brain. The soft sigh she makes when I kiss her neck.
The way her back arches when I move inside her.
The flutter of her eyelashes against her cheeks.
“Dom.”
I take her hands in mine, pushing them over her head as I move, slow, deep, again and again.
I fight the urge to pick up the pace as pleasure coils tight.
I want this to last as long as possible.
Not just this moment of physical connection, but us.
For these hours, I let myself believe in impossible things. That I could walk away from everything I've built. That she could love a man like me. That we could build something real.
That I'm falling for the one woman who could destroy us all.