Chapter Four
Gualtiero
The door closes behind the blonde angel who saved my life as she and her friend head back to their hotel.
“Santino,” I call.
My head of security appears within seconds, his face already set. Good. He knows what this means.
What happened today will be paid for.
I study him, cataloging the mistake. He was sloppy. It’s unacceptable. He will deal with the consequences later. Santino fears nothing for himself, but his family is another matter entirely. If his brother loses a finger or two, he’ll sharpen up fast.
Everyone has a weakness. Finding it is the trick. Using it is the art. I’ve built my empire on both.
“Have the girls shadowed,” I tell him. “No one goes near them.”
He nods once and turns to carry out my order.
I can’t risk Molinaro getting close to her.
The café is already compromised. They saw Ella with me. She should have been nothing more than a random bystander, someone to forget.
Normally, she would be.
But Niccolo Molinaro is unpredictable.
Niccolo fucking Molinaro. The bane of my existence.
Our feud goes back generations, to our grandfathers. At nearly sixty, he should know better. He should be careful. Instead, he’s reckless, erratic, and hungry.
Three years ago, when he turned fifty-five, something in him shifted. Power obsession crept in. Greed clouded what little judgment he had left. He wants our businesses, and killing us is simply the most efficient way to get them.
He’s chosen the wrong family to mess with.
Violent rage rose inside me like a tidal wave as I watched the car speed off.
Then I looked into eyes so blue, their depths swallowed me whole.
My fury cooled instantly.
The air was punched from my lungs, replaced by a sudden, unfamiliar calm. Tranquility settled over me, foreign and absolute.
My heart, moments ago pounding with rage, accelerated for an entirely different reason.
And in that moment, I knew.
My phone rings from the table where I dropped my jacket. I pick it up and glance at the display.
Mateo.
“Santino filled me in,” my brother says without preamble. “For an old man, he’s got guts. Attacking you in public like that. Not sure if I’m impressed or if he’s a dumbass.”
“The latter,” I reply. “Keep an eye out. He’s waiting for the smallest opening.”
“He won’t get another one.”
Mateo’s confidence borders on arrogance. It’s a mistake to underestimate anyone.
“You can’t let this slide, Tiero.”
“I have no intention of doing so,” I say, shrugging into my jacket. “Uberto is close to cracking their system. Once he does, we hit Molinaro where it hurts. That will force him out of hiding. And then he’ll pay.”
Molinaro is old-school. He prefers blood on the streets. Mateo and I fight our wars differently. The cyberworld is where our future lies.
“I heard some girl saved your ass,” Mateo adds with a chuckle.
Warmth spreads through me at the mention of Ella.
“Not some girl, Teo.” Not even close.
She’s it.
I knew the instant I looked into her eyes, before I’d taken in her beautiful face or the body that still haunts my thoughts.
“I’ve found her,” I tell him.
He goes quiet.
“You sure?”
“Every part of me recognized her. Papà was right.”
For as long as he lived, he told us, “Son, when you meet her, you’ll know without a single doubt. Don’t choose just any woman to carry la famiglia forward. This is too important. You wait.”
That belief shaped Mateo and me long before our mother died when I was eight. It’s what he taught us. What he demanded of us.
I started doubting papà’s words in recent years. Not once had a woman stirred anything close to this.
Lust, yes. Frequently.
When you have power and money, the pleasures of a woman’s body are easy to come by. I have both in abundance.
Good looks help too. The De Marco men have never struggled in that department. Mateo especially uses it to his advantage. His appetite sees him move from one beauty to the next without hesitation.
He’s waiting for his one as well. Until then, he enjoys what crosses his path.
“Wow,” my little brother says quietly.
“I expected to recognize her,” I tell him, “but I didn’t expect it to feel like being struck by lightning.”
Because that’s what it was.
One instant, everything changed.
They say the eyes are the window to the soul.
I saw hers.
And something inside me locked into place.
I couldn’t have looked away if I’d tried.
Even now, I can still smell her, feel where her fingers touched me for only a second. My body hasn’t forgotten.
My senses are flooded with her.
Her softness.
Her presence.
She’s under my skin already.
“Who is she?” Mateo asks, and I hear the shift in his voice. He understands this is serious.
“Her name is Ella. She’s here with a couple of girlfriends. We’re having dinner with them tomorrow. Tell Romeo to join us.”
“Ella?” Mateo lets out a low chuckle. “You’re kidding.”
I had the same reaction when she said it. For a second, my breath stalled.
“But she’s not Italian?” he asks.
No De Marco has ever married a foreigner.
“I don’t care about that.” And it’s true. All that matters is that she’s finally entered my life.
“Did she feel it too?”
“I’m sure of it.” I saw it in her eyes, in the way her skin reacted to my touch.
“Her instincts told her to run,” I add, remembering how tense she was. As if some part of her recognized the danger before she understood why.
“Is she aware of who you are?”
“No.” And it will stay that way for now.
“How will she react when she finds out? She’s not from our world.”
“It doesn’t matter. Now that I’ve found her, I’m not letting her go.”
A deep, unfamiliar calm settles inside me.
I know nothing about her yet, but Uberto will find out everything before tomorrow night.
Every detail.
Time will show me how well she fits into my life. My gut tells me she’s right for me. And my instincts have never let me down. I trust them with my life.
Ella, my princess, my angel, you are mine. Until death do us part.