Tags:
thriller,
Suspense,
Romance,
Crime,
sexy,
steamy,
Mafia,
romantic suspense,
Italy,
organized crime,
romantic thriller,
foreign country,
ndrangheta
glad
he’d waited for this particular day to send his message, glad he’d
let Lucchesi get complacent, comfortable. He’d be easier to kill
that way. But first, Carlo wanted to have some fun. Death by a
thousand cuts was far preferable to something quick. Lucchesi might
disagree, but fuck him. He and his father had thwarted Carlo at
every turn; in some ways, the son had been worse than the
father.
But now it was Carlo’s turn to make the
Lucchesis suffer. To make them feel what they’d done to him, to all
of them. To make them see they were leading the ‘Ndrangheta down
the path toward oblivion.
And he’d never forgive Enrico for not taking
better care of Toni. He hated Rinaldo, but that was business. His
hatred of Enrico, that was personal.
It was the dream that had decided him, in the
end. The dream where he opened a box and found Toni’s delicate
little hand inside, severed neatly at the wrist. He’d had that
dream only twice since Dario’s kidnapping. Once the night before
Toni’s wedding. And then again early this morning, on the
anniversary of her death.
He’d warned Enrico when he married her. He’d
warned him what would happen. And now it was time to make good on
that promise.
CHAPTER 2
No one spoke. When Enrico and the guards
boarded the private jet, he took a seat at a table by a window, and
Antonio and Ruggero sat across the aisle. They’d learned by now it
was best to say nothing when he was angry, to not speak until
spoken to.
Crossing his arms, Enrico stared out the
window as they taxied down the runway. He kicked the table leg in
front of him and swore. Of course it didn’t give. The table was
bolted down. Curling his toes experimentally, he was fairly certain
none were broken.
Antonio looked at him questioningly, maybe
hoping to be sent to the galley for some ice. Enrico looked away
from him, dismissing his silent entreaty. If he was suffering, so
would they.
The plane picked up speed as they lifted off.
Soon they were soaring above the chaos that was Rome. The Eternal
City teemed with the beautiful and the ugly at the same time.
Making a slow circle above the dense jumble of buildings below, the
plane eventually headed north, to Milan.
Foolish. So damned foolish . His father
would never forgive him for being so reckless. And he couldn’t
forgive himself. He was not the sort of man who believed a Mafioso
had to prove himself every minute of the day. All he had to do was
prove himself prudent. Prudent would keep him safe. Prudent
wouldn’t get him or his men killed.
Enrico noticed Antonio peering at something
in the back. Following the direction of his gaze, Enrico’s eyes lit
upon the pretty flight attendant. Of course it was a woman.
He opened his mouth to chide Antonio, then
closed it. The attendant had dyed her hair a deep auburn, and now
she reminded him of someone he couldn’t ignore.
Kate Andretti. The married woman he couldn’t
get out of his mind. The woman he’d be seeing later today. The
woman he could not have, could not allow himself to have, even if
she were agreeable. And yet she’d plagued his thoughts since their
first meeting.
Enrico had been upset when the director of
the Lucchesi Home for Children, Dottor Laurio, had hired an
Andretti three months ago. But short of informing the director that
he’d inadvertently hired the wife of an enemy, there was nothing
Enrico could do. He’d carefully maintained the fiction with Laurio
that he was just a businessman, and he wasn’t about to tell the man
otherwise.
But once Enrico met Kate, his concerns
evaporated. Her exotic looks—auburn hair, striking green eyes,
alabaster skin—piqued his interest, but her manner was the thing
that bowled him over. Competent, intelligent, kind: all qualities
that reminded him very much of Antonella.
He’d spoken to Kate a half-dozen times,
making several unscheduled trips to the orphanage to do so. Not
that that was far out of the ordinary. Providing handsomely for
Heidi Hunter, Bad Boy Team