I was growing up. My mother was more than enough. But my loyalty to her fueled my rage.
“Maybe.” She tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “You should get going, son. I know you have work in the morning.”
“Alright. Good night.”
She walked me to the door. “I really appreciate you taking care of me, Cato. Not all sons would be so generous.”
I turned my gaze on her before I walked out the door, examining the petite woman who had somehow given birth to two behemoth sons. She worked around the clock to put a roof over our heads and food on the table, and somehow, we always had a nice Christmas. When Bates and I found our success, we didn’t even need to have a conversation about our mother. We took care of her because it was the right thing to do. “It’s the least I can do, Mother.”
I had a three-story home on forty acres of land in Tuscany. The drive branched off the main road and entered a forest of trees that hid the house from view. After nearly a mile, the drive finally reached the black gates with my surname fashioned in iron. A wall made of cobblestone surrounded the entire property, covering the forty acres and making it a hidden gem in the middle of the countryside. Men were stationed all along the wall—whether I was home or not.
It was the perfect meeting place for my biggest clients.
Because it couldn’t be more private.
Clients could slip in and out without being spotted by another living soul. Transactions could be made with fifty men on duty. It was a place where men could loosen their ties and refresh their drink as many times as they wished.
Also, not all my transactions were legal. I made money in a lot of ways, and I broke the law in many ways to make that happen. I hid money from various governments for tax purposes and made a profit off those investments. Any powerful person in this world came to me if they wanted to keep their money safe—and make more money.
Bates and I just finished a meeting with clients from China. They were chauffeured out to the roundabout near the fountain and then guided to the end of the driveway and the iron gate. Photographers and journalists couldn’t follow them here, and my clients were always pleased and comforted by the extreme privacy—along with all the security that combed the property.
Nothing happened under my watch.
I sat in the leather chair near the window, my legs crossed and my fingers resting under my chin. It was a bright summer day in Tuscany, and the brilliant rays penetrated through the glass and shone across my thigh. My callused fingertips brushed against my chin, soft from shaving that morning.
Bates sat in the comfortable armchair with his empty glass of scotch on the table. He was looking through the paperwork we’d just discussed with our clients. We were being given a great deal of money for safekeeping, which would be disguised as international investments in America. We evaded foreign detection and took advantage of the interest rates. He licked his thumb before he turned the page.
I kept my gaze out the window, thinking about nothing but also everything. “Bates.”
“Hmm?” Wearing jeans and a t-shirt, he’d ditched a classic suit because we didn’t need fancy clothes for meetings at this place. The estate spoke for itself.
“Doesn’t it feel like the same shit over and over again?” From the third story, I could see over the cobblestone wall and to my neighbor’s property. Vineyards backed up all the way to my property line, but his actual residence was too far away to be seen.
Bates lifted his gaze from the documents in his lap. “You could say that—not that I’m complaining.”
Every day felt like déjà vu. My routine was almost always the same. I was referred to new clients from happy clients, and then I made new deals that increased my institutional holdings. More money was thrown on the table, but the pile was always so big I couldn’t see it grow anymore. As a thirty-year-old man, I’d accomplished everything a sixty-year-old man could only dream of. It used to be exciting. Now it seemed repetitive.
Bates lifted his gaze again, his eyes narrowing on me. “We just scored a huge deal. Don’t sit there and tell me you’re bored.”
I slowly turned in my chair and faced him, forcing my gaze away from the window and the