Enzo
I sat in my office, a room I never bothered to use, and stewed. My drink sat full, work abandoned, because all I could think about was Serena and everything I’d learned about her today.
I had to talk to her. We had to have that conversation. The one where I laid everything on the table. She would either accept me or not. Panic and worry crawled through my body at the thought of her rejection.
It was the only reasonable solution after I offered to beat the crap out of her ex. I had more context and things weren’t adding up. Why was Charles suddenly so invested in being a father?
Was it because he felt threatened by me? Was he bored and causing her pain and frustration for amusement? Or was there something more sinister I hadn’t uncovered happening?
I went to my room, which I had given to Serena, and knocked on the open door.
Serena popped out of the bathroom, hair loosely braided, wearing an oversized T-shirt that went to her mid-thigh. There was nothing sexy about her clothes. She wasn’t putting on a show or wearing anything that was revealing. Her shirt, in fact, was longer than many women’s dresses.
Yet, with a glimpse of her calf, I was turned on. I refocused myself, because now was not the time to get sidetracked.
“Hey,” she said. I could hear the hesitation in her voice.
“Harper, fall asleep, okay?” I asked, taking a step farther into the room. I had decorated Harper’s room, leaving some parts for her to make her own.
Nerves twisted my insides. This was a make-or-break moment. Everything I worked for could be cut off at the knees in an instant, leaving me back at square one with her.
“Yeah. She was very excited about all the girl superhero stories that appeared on her nightstand.” She laughed. “After four stories and letting her tell me one, yeah, she finally closed her eyes.” She looked up at me through her lashes.
“Good.” I wanted to ask about the stories, to know who told which ones, but I kept on course. The desire to be part of their nightly rituals could wait. I swallowed and took the step that would define my future.
“Serena, do you know what I do?” I asked, barely able to look at her.
“What do you mean?” she asked. She wasn’t going to give me an inch, and I appreciated it all the more.
“For work, do you know what I do?” I asked. She gave me a small nod. “What do you think it is?”
Serena bit her bottom lip, a question in her eyes. “You run the construction company? Something in architecture? I’m not sure what it qualifies as.”
“And?” I urged.
She shrugged. “I know there is something you do that, when I think about it, feels like I’m talking about something out of a movie or 80s crime drama. I know it’s real, but saying it out loud is a bit surreal.”
Some of the tension in my shoulders eased. She had an idea of what I did, even if she didn’t want to admit it, and she wasn’t demanding to be taken somewhere else. That was good.
“During the day, I’m the COO of Panorama.
At night, I’m the underboss of Cosa Nostra.
I run the New York City area and most of the East Coast. Marcello is the don, and Rafael is the underboss out west, where we’re branching out to.
” I stopped, thinking about what I said.
“I’m always the underboss. Day or night,” I said, amending my previous statement.
Serena stared at my blank face.
Taking her silence as the go-ahead I needed, I continued, providing more details on my role.
“I have men under me, running the illegal side of the business. I’ll spare you the details; it’s better if you don’t know.
What I do can be dangerous. I carry a gun.
I’ve used it many times, and I’ve killed people.
” I forced the next sentence out of my mouth.
“If that makes you scared or uncomfortable, let me know, and I'll let you leave if that’s what you want.”
Serena sighed, crossing her arms over her chest and jutting her hip out.
“Are you asking me to leave or not?” she said with more attitude than I expected.
“No. I very much want you to stay.” I did my best not to beg her to stay.
“Okay. Will your job put us in danger?”
“Maybe. You could end up being a target, but I will do everything I can to make sure you’re safe.” I was close to getting on my knees. Whatever it took to keep her close.
“Okay,” she said, letting out a big sigh. “Martina gave me a similar speech when she thought Sly and I would get together.” My brain stopped like a record scratching. Her and Sly?
Sylvester ‘Sly’ Vinci was Martina’s son and Adrienne’s brother. I thought of him as a friend. Or at least I used to.
I doubt we’d be friends after I maimed him for looking at Serena.
“That was never going to happen.” She chuckled. “Sly isn’t my type. But I do consider them my family.” She cocked her head to the side and narrowed her eyes at me. I resisted the urge to pose like a peacock for her review.
“Martina always said Flavio leaves business at the door, so that’s all I’ll ask of you while we’re here,” she said with such nonchalance it threw me off. “As long as you tell me what I need to know for our safety and keep the rest as business, I’m okay with it.”
“I was expecting more of a reaction,” I said hesitantly, not trying to jinx myself.
Serena shrugged. “My parents may live in the south now, but I grew up in New Jersey. I learned the phrase ‘snitches get stitches’ in preschool. My town just elected Jimmy ‘Ice Man’ Romanelli to the City Council. The man got out of prison like a year ago for murder and some other stuff.”
Who the hell was Jimmy Romanelli? Why wasn’t she asking more questions? What did growing up in New Jersey have to do with this?
The tension, like a thousand-pound weight on my shoulders, lifted.
Her reaction wasn’t anything I had anticipated.
I'd run this conversation through multiple different reactions: crying, demanding answers, running, or outright rejection—but none of them was acceptance.
I had rebuttals and conversation points to convince her to stay here, but I had never run a scenario where she went along as if it were another summer day.
Acceptance, with reasonable conditions, wasn’t a response I’d considered. Not from someone who understood that my title came with actions that could get me killed or thrown in jail.
“New Jersey?” I started because I didn’t know where else to begin, and it was the only thing my brain could latch on to.
“Do you not know your own history? Lots of the mob are in Jersey. There’s also a joke about them working in waste management because they can get rid of bodies that way or something like that.” She climbed on the bed, crisscrossing her legs.
My brain went blank, losing its battle to stay focused on the conversation and not let my mind wander to deeper, sensual thoughts.
She was in my clothes, in my bed, relaxed and at ease. She’d had what might have been the most stressful few days of her life. All I wanted was to lay her out, ruck up her shirt, and make her moan my name.
Make her come until she is boneless.
I bet she’d be everything I’d dreamed of and more.
“Lorenzo.” Serena was snapping her fingers in my face. “You okay? You zoned out in the middle of me explaining about snitches and stitches.”
I cleared my throat. I wanted to tell her, in excruciating detail, what I had been thinking about, but that was too much too fast.
“Yeah. Apologies, I was rummaging in here,” I tapped my head, “to see if I knew who Jimmy was.”
“It doesn’t matter. He’s been in jail for like twenty-something years. It’s just the most Jersey thing to vote for someone who got locked up for money laundering to be on the city council and decide on things like budgets.” She chuckled.
“Right. You're taking this information in stride. I guess I expected...” I trailed off.
“You expected me to grab Harper and run?” She tilted her head.
I nodded. “And maybe yell at me, too.”
“No. I’m not one to yell. I tend to get quiet when I’m angry.” I made note of that. She was quiet a lot around me, but I knew she was never mad.
I took it as her being shy.
“Should we go over the plan?” Serena prompted, moving us along.
Everything in me eased as she talked about how we’d get Harper to school. The biggest, potentially most important, conversation we needed to have was out of the way.
There was no yelling or running away. There weren’t even many questions beyond safety. Was it too much to hope that this was all?
Maybe, but a caval donato non si guarda in bocca.
I won’t search for a problem if she says there isn’t one.
That was one of the first things I was taught about women.
Women are easy, piccolo uomo, my father used to say. All they want is to be heard. What you need to do is listen to them, remember what they say, and work like hell to make it come true.
In addition to nearly stalking my mother, that was how he won her over.
That was exactly what I planned on doing for Serena and Harper.
“Sounds like we know what next week will look like. The men will be here at eight am, sharp, to set you up in your studio. A few will stick around and wait until you have deliveries. They’ll make them and take payment.” They’d also inform everyone that prices were going up, effective immediately.
Whether Serena liked it or not, I was going to show her how much she undervalued herself in every way.
Which, to me, was a fight I looked forward to.
“Okay,” she whispered. I nodded, turning to leave when she called my name. “Thank you. This is,” she said, out of breath. I knew she was buying time to find her words. She was thoughtful with her words, at least she had been with me.
I waited, willing to wait as long as she needed.
Finally, she started again. “Thank you. For the studio, it’s perfect. I don’t know if I mentioned that. It’s like a dream. And for making this easy. Going from no kids in the house to one as high-energy as Harper is a shock. If it ever gets too much, let me know.”
“It won’t be too much. Neither of you is too much,” I said, hoping she heard the truth in my voice.
Not for the first, or even the fifth, time, I wanted to beat Charles for making her think there was something wrong with her.
If I didn’t get out of this room, I wasn’t sure I could be held accountable for my actions.
“See you in the morning,” I said, marching out of the room before she kept me there any longer.
She wasn’t ready for everything I was going to give her, but I won one battle today. She was staying.
Now I just needed to convince her to stay forever.