The Vatican - M.E. Clayton Page 0,5

but I hadn’t. Where Dad treated me like his only daughter, Uncle Luca and Uncle Ciro had treated me like one of the boys. It had ended up evening out.

It was also hard to argue with obvious perks I had that none of the other kids had. Well, except for Francisco Benetti. Other than him, Benetti Junior, I was the only kid who had direct scanned access to Uncle Luca’s penthouse. The only thing none of us had been privy to was the secret pathway that connected Mom and Dad’s apartment to Uncle Ciro’s and Aunt Robbie’s. There was also a secret staircase that connected Uncle Luca’s penthouse to the apartments that we didn’t have access to either. Well, as far as I knew, none of us did, but Francisco might have access to them.

I used this privilege to visit Uncle Luca today. Since I had seen Aunt Remy at my mom’s earlier, I knew it was safe to surprise Uncle Luca. It’s sad and traumatizing to say, but we’ve all walked in on our parents in rather…delicate situations, and that’s not anything anyone wants to experience if they don’t have to. It’s not a joke to say we all have a running text thread that asks where our parents are if one of us needs to drop by.

The elevator dinged and I gave Uncle Luca’s guard a wink. He grinned and winked back. Most of the guards weren’t familiar like that, but the seriousness could suffocate you if you weren’t careful.

As soon as I cleared the foyer and entered the living room, I yelled for my uncle. “Uncle Luca!” I headed towards his office and yelled again. “Uncle Luca!” When I didn’t find him in his office, I shot him a text. Ten seconds later, I received a reply.

U.L.: Gym

I headed towards the gym and smiled as my fifty-four-year-old uncle was going at a punching bag like he was still in his twenties.

“Hey,” I called out.

Uncle Luca stopped his assault and cut off the surround sound. “Hey,” he returned. “What a pleasant surprise.”

I didn’t care that he was a sweaty mess, I walked up to him and wrapped my arms around his waist. Uncle Luca was over six-foot, so I barely came up to his chest. Benetti Junior was built the same way.

I pulled back and looked up at him. “Am I interrupting?”

Uncle Luca stepped back and reached for his water. After a healthy drink, he said, “Are you ever?”

I laughed. “I can recall a couple of times when Aunt Remy couldn’t look me in the eye for a few days, thank you, very much.”

Uncle Luca smiled-something he rarely did-and chuckled, “Brat.”

Looking at Uncle Luca, it was hard not to think about Francisco. Francisco was the spitting image of his father, and it was a fine damn image. But all my family was beautiful, and I wasn’t being biased. They each had something special about them that they brought to the table and passed down to their children. The most obvious was my mom’s and Uncle Ciro’s eyes, but the entire family really was beautiful as a whole. If Cira wasn’t so damn insane, she’d be a catch.

I took a seat on the weight bench as Uncle Luca took to the treadmill to wind down. “Your daughter called me yesterday,” I smirked.

I could hear his sigh over the treadmill. “And?”

“She underestimates you men, greatly,” I told him. “That girl has absolutely no respect for you guys. But you’ll be happy to know that, while her plans have been improving, they are still far from execution level.”

“That’s good to hear,” he replied dryly.

I smiled. “You do realize the man that marries her is probably going to put a bullet in his head by their first anniversary, right?”

Uncle Luca chuckled-another thing he rarely did. “I know,” he agreed. “If it weren’t for the fact that it was my empire she was trying to take over, I’d actually be proud of her.”

I arched a brow. “She is rather fearless.”

Uncle Luca’s black gaze slid my way. “Unfortunately, she’s reckless as well,” he commented. “Impulsiveness is not a good thing in a leader.”

“So, it’s not because she’s a girl?” I teased.

He smirked. “I’d make you the Underboss if you were a blood Benetti.”

I cocked my head as he turned off the treadmill and took a seat across from me on the other weight bench. “I think that’s the problem,” I told him. “Knowing that you’re not sexist gives Cira hope.”

“Well, unfortunately for her, Francisco