“Easy, Nicco.” Benny pushed a glass of scotch toward me. I unclenched my fist, curling my fingers around the glass. “Now tell me about this girl of yours.”
“I don’t even know where to start,” I admitted, flicking my weary gaze to his.
“Al hinted that she was forbidden fruit.” He gave me a knowing look. Benny was at least twenty years my senior, as were many of the capos in Dominion. Age was but a number when you were the son of the boss though.
I ran my thumb around the rim of the glass, trying to focus on something—anything—except the shitstorm brewing.
“Loving her could start a war.” My voice wavered.
“That bad, huh?” There was a teasing edge to his words. “She must be some broad.”
“She’s...” Everything, the word teetered on the tip of my tongue.
“It takes a strong woman to stand by a mafioso’s side, Nicco. And you’re so young...” I cut him with a hard gaze and he smirked, a deep rumble of laughter shaking his shoulders. “All I’m saying is, are you sure she’s the one? Because from the sounds of it, ain’t no coming back from this. And the family has enjoyed a certain amount of peace for the past two decades.”
“That’s what we’re calling it?” My brow rose. “So what was that bullshit with Dane a few weeks back?”
“The kid’s a hothead. Wades into a situation all guns blazing. Like we weren’t all the same at his age.”
I knew what he was saying, but Dane should have known better. Uncle Alonso might have been second in the chain of command, but he was still the head of the family in Boston. One day that responsibility would fall to Dane. He would be Alonso... and I would be my father.
And if Dane was going to hold the power one day, he needed to learn how to respect it.
Bringing the glass to my lips, I knocked back the scotch in one. The burn was sharp, but I didn’t flinch.
I couldn’t resist digging my cell phone out of my pocket again and checking for any messages.
“You could call her, you know.”
“She’s pissed at me.”
“When ain’t a broad pissed at her guy?”
“I left her.” I’d just upped and left without saying goodbye. But I’d known if I woke her, if I held her and kissed her, that I would never let her go.
Arianne was having a hard time understanding that though, refusing to take any of my calls or respond to my texts.
I didn’t blame her.
I couldn’t.
Not when I was the one who pulled her willingly into this world, into my life.
I should have walked away. The second I found out her true identity, I should have walked away and never looked back.
But how did you walk away from something so vital as the other half of your soul?
The answer was, you didn’t.
You couldn’t.
Leaving Arianne, forcing myself to deny our connection, would have killed me.
Over time, it would have killed us both.
She wasn’t just some girl. A fleeting crush. Arianne Capizola was my heart. The better part of me.
She was the woman I was going to spend my life with.
I let out a long breath.
If only it were that simple.
“A wise man once said,” Benny said, pulling me from my thoughts, “love keeps no record of wrongs. If she is half the woman you claim her to be, she will come around.”
“Niccolò, Benny, there you two are.” Uncle Alonso joined us at the bar. “Where is that hothead son of mine?”
“Nicco taught him a lesson in the ring.”
Alonso chuckled. “I hope you put him on his ass enough times to drill the message into his thick skull?”
“He’s not a bad kid,” I said. He reminded me a little of Bailey. Misguided and confused about his place in the world. But unlike Bailey, Dane didn’t have any problem throwing his weight around.
“I’ll talk to him again,” I said. It had only been a few weeks since me, Enzo, and Matteo had driven out to keep Dane from the clutches of one of the gangs operating out of Boston. Alonso and my father felt that perhaps I could reach him, since I was only a couple of years his senior.
“That kid will be the death of me. He turns eighteen next year.” Alonso shuddered. “And then what the fuck am I going to do with him? He’s lucky the Diablos didn’t put a bullet through his brain for that little