by Seth Eden
But the worst of the worst had been Angelo’s firstborn.
Luca Varasso. The acclaimed Crown Prince. From day one, I’d taken special care to keep tabs on that mother fucker. To monitor everything he did. He’d been such an arrogant punk when I first laid eyes on him. He’d been exactly the sort of pompous ass who’d looked down their noses at me all my life.
I’d despised him. Reviled him.
A few years ago, I’d seen him fall for this girl and impregnate her. I’d witnessed the impact her death had on him. It’d changed him, nearly destroyed him. It’d made him far more interesting to watch. Seeing how broken he’d become and watching him suffer for so long gave me great solace.
It also gave me hope for the future.
It was too bad I hadn’t had Angelo killed during that time. If I’d made my move while Luca was still wallowing in his own pathetic misery over the lost mother of his child, I could’ve brought him and the rest of the family down in one fell swoop.
The Varasso’s vast empire would have been ripe for plunder, and I probably could’ve insinuated myself into their midst without raising any eyebrows.
Oh, well. Hindsight was twenty-twenty.
For a while there, my eldest brother had impressed me with how vicious he’d been. There’d been an abundance of people who’d gone suddenly missing, their remains never found. All thanks to him. Every one of them had been affiliated with the Randolph family, some low-level thugs.
The rumor was that they’d been the ones responsible for injuring Luca on the night his girl had died, but I wasn’t sure how much truth there was to that. All I knew was that about a year ago, he earned himself the reputation of being even more ruthless and cruel than our father. The oldest son’s name had even gone so far as to inspire fear among those with mafia ties.
Hell of a thing to add to his resume.
But what had happened back then no longer mattered. I’d been looking for another in. Another moment when my victory could be assured. And now, I’d found it.
I glanced down at my screen and smiled as I watched Luca Varasso make passionate love to a woman on the floor of the family’s gym. Rather daring considering anyone could’ve waltzed right in. Glad to have installed such state-of-the-art equipment, I zoomed in on their intertwined bodies, enjoying myself. The scene between them provided quite the show.
The woman was his new business protégé. I’d researched her a bit. She was a nobody from one of the worst parts of the city, someone named Molly Greene, yet she’d proven herself to be quite an asset. But it wasn’t her skills in the family business that piqued my interest. It was the look on Luca’s face.
Pure adoration.
Yes, exactly what I needed.
This would bring me the opportunity to repeat the past, to put the Crown Prince Made King right back into the state of sorrow and grief that had once almost defeated him. To bring him to his knees.
All I had to do now was take out Molly Greene, and everything I’d ever wanted would at last be mine.
20
Molly
I busied myself on the Varasso’s private jet the next afternoon by flipping through social media like I used to. There were pictures of foxes stacked together like cartons, of a kitten sleeping upside down with its butt in the air, and of a puppy trying to eat a bone that had been painted on the bottom of its food dish.
I knew most people laughed at images and videos like these. Once upon a time, I had, too. But today, I couldn’t seem to find my sense of humor.
I opened my YouTube app, thinking about checking on my account, but I didn’t need a reminder of how I’d ended up here. Here on a jet thirty thousand feet in the air. In an environment tailor-made for the elite, the top one percent. In a place a few months ago I never would’ve thought it possible for me to be. A place I thought would make me happy.
Ecstatic, even.
But I wasn’t happy. When I’d slept in the gutter and lived on the streets, I’d believed wholeheartedly that rich people must be thrilled to be rich. They must always feel good and never experience any of the negativity that came with my life. I mean, we’re all taught that. Buy this and you’ll feel happy. Live here and you’ll be happy. Drive this car and…
Well, so on and so forth. Et cetera, et cetera.
But that message was a lie. A cardinal one. One they should go to hell for.
Bummer, right?
I felt pulled like taffy in about four different directions. One direction pulled me toward the business empire I’d helped make more successful. One direction pulled me back toward Tara and the apartment I’d shared with her. One direction pulled me away from all of it—my old life and my new one. And even after everything that had gone down, the last direction pulled me toward Luca.
The asshole.
I mean, what had I expected? He was a mobster, for God’s sake. He’d become a widower, a father, and the patriarch of a mafia family all before the age of thirty. It was an exceedingly well-known mafia family, too.
As I’d learned how to operate the arm of the drug imports the Varassos were responsible for, I’d seen other families affiliated with the mob act deferentially toward them.
The simplest way of putting it was that the Varassos had clout. They were an old and heavily respected family in mafia circles. Their criminal activities loomed large but had been carefully maintained and subtle enough to evade the authorities. They’d lived this life for generations, and the current generation had been gifted the empire, with all its good parts and all its bad.
And apparently one of the bad parts included a leader with a lack of being able to fall in love again.
The higher-minded more mature part of myself could respect that.
Luca had lost the love of his life. He had a daughter to raise on his own. He’d lost a mother and very recently a father. He’d been made the head of his family and their sprawling organization. He had more important priorities than most men his age, so he didn’t have the time or the inclination to invest in another woman.
I got it.
But it sucked.
He’d hurt me. Not in the way I’d been hurt before but in a whole new way. This had been the first time ever that I’d fallen in love with someone. Like really and truly fallen. I’d cared about a couple of the men I’d been with in a general way before. I’d enjoyed their company for short periods of time. But I’d never experienced anything like this. This need.
Thinking about it now drove me right up the curved wall of this goddamn jet.
I didn’t do needy. It wasn’t who I was as a person. I’d always been the kind of woman who said whatever I wanted, usually with an obnoxious smirk on my face. Men couldn’t break my heart because I never let them into it. I never gave it over to them in a square giftbox with a bright red bow. I’d never been dumb enough to do that.
Until now.
And that’s exactly what I’d done with Luca. I’d presented him with my heart. Almost on bended knee. I was better than this. Stronger. I felt sick when I thought about how vulnerable I’d allowed myself to be with him.
I’d like to blame it on my own stupidity, but it’d been about more than that. Don’t get me wrong, I had definitely been stupid. A total imbecile, in fact. But while I was willing to admit that, he had to take a portion of the blame, too.
It’d started with that first twenty-four-hour period in the mansion. All the events that had transpired kept my head spinning. I hadn’t known which way to turn.
So I’d turned toward him.
And he’d turned toward me. I thought. For physical pleasure, maybe. I thought it’d been more, but boy, had I ever been wrong. Just put a dunce hat on my head. I’d earned it.
It would’ve been so much easier if he’d been a towering douchebag the entire time, but he hadn’t. While I’d seen his more violent side in glimpses, the Luca Varasso I’d gotten to know hadn’t behaved like the stereotypical mob boss. To me, that brought to mind images of the machine-gun toting thugs on certai
n television shows and the Dons in movies like The Godfather.
But that’s not how he’d been.
Some aspects of him might be larger than life like those examples, but ninety-five percent of Luca had just been a guy. A guy who fought with his brothers but loved the hell out of them. A guy who’d been crushed by the loss of the mother of his child. A guy who’d do anything for his little girl. A guy who’d been saddled with responsibilities he did his best to bear up under.
I knew that’s why I’d fallen for him. I couldn’t help it. I couldn’t imagine any of those fictional mob leaders doing something as domestic and loving as giving their baby a bottle in a pair of pajama bottoms. I couldn’t imagine them defying the patriarch of the family to save some unknown woman who’d insulted their family’s name.
But Luca had. He’d done both of those things.
I didn’t like that though I knew he’d probably committed more than one murder, not to mention other crimes that would keep him in prison probably for the rest of his life, he could be kind. He could be good. We actually had a lot in common when it came to that.
I’d done bad things, too. Shameful things. Things a man with a more traditional upbringing would never understand or accept. Not that any of that mattered anymore. The moment I’d walked out of that gym I’d sworn to myself that that part of my life was over. The needing men part.
Maybe love and happily-ever-afters existed for certain people, but this incident provided proof that they didn’t exist for me.
So I was done. Put a fork in me.
The jet began its descent into the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, and I shifted in my seat. I’d come to meet with Matteo, one of my middlemen. He’d had information he’d told me he needed to share in person, so I’d come. It was my job.
I glanced at the round window next to me and caught a glimpse of Luca’s reflection from where he sat near the back. He’d dressed in his usual uniform: an impeccable black suit, white button-down dress shirt, simple chain and Rolex watch. No rings. Nothing particularly flashy. Nothing to draw the attention of anyone, other than his natural good looks.
Asshole.
I wished I could hate him. Like despise his very existence. I wanted to. I wished he was pure evil, the worst human being I’d ever had the misfortune to meet. I’d like for him to be this demented, inhumane prick, a villain if there ever was one. It’d make handling his presence simpler. Less complicated. Less painful.
We landed and once able to debark, he came to stand by my side. I glanced at him, seeing the lines of worry marring his features, and it made me want to scream. “Stop looking at me like that.”
“I’m sorry?”
“I know you’re sorry. That’s not the issue here. The issue is that you’re looking over here like you’re concerned about me. Like you’re all fretful about how I am. You’re not. So you can just…” Take a long walk off a short pier. Bite me. Fuck off. “Stop.”
If I’d been one of his brothers, I know he would’ve sniped back at me. He would’ve gotten in my face and maybe even given me a hard bump with his shoulder. Or worse. But I wasn’t one of his brothers. I was the woman who’d been naïve enough to fall for him, to have sex with him, to trust him.
My bad.
His expression went rigid, and I recognized it. It was the same one he’d used with me that first day I met him, the stony mask. “You’re saying you can handle whatever’s going on with Matteo without me.” A statement rather than a question.
“Yes.”
“I’ll attend to some other business then. I’ll text you the new itinerary.” Instead of stepping off the jet with me, he entered the cockpit, presumably to discuss the change of plans with the pilot.
Yeah, you do that.
Fine by me.
The one good thing I could say at this point was that he’d given me the skills and insights I needed to take my first steps towards succeeding. And now that I was a bona fide success, I could do this without his tutelage. I no longer needed it.
Or him.
I’d learned enough and had built the relationships required to continue the expansion of the drug distribution branch of the business. I’d continue to prove myself, only I’d do it all on my own. I’d show Luca Varasso that I could run this part of the business without him. No ifs, ands or buts.
Stand tall. Stand strong.
And I’d do it by transforming myself into what everyone had already started to call me.
Queen Molly.
21
Luca
I stared out the cockpit window, scrutinizing Molly as she stalked away in her designer business suit. This one was an earthy brown that matched her hair, a jacket and pencil skirt that fit her to flawless perfection. She came across as a confident woman in control of everything around her.
She could’ve gone toe to toe with any pedigreed woman in Manhattan with that attitude.
I would’ve liked to have seen that.
My eyes followed her path as she crossed the tarmac and entered the airport proper with its long sweeping architecture. I’d known this would be difficult. Being with her without being with her. She loved me, and I loved her. But I’d made her believe I didn’t.
I’d created this fabrication to protect her, to keep her safe. But knowing that didn’t help when she glared at me like I was nothing more than a soccer ball she’d dearly love to kick. Now that I was out of her sight, I rubbed my eyes. They felt like I’d been hit in the face with flying grit.
Anna had had a nightmare before dawn. I’d just gotten her back down in time to get ready to go. I myself hadn’t received a wink of sleep. So I’d met with Donovan Bianchi both exhausted and heartsick.
Still, the meeting had gone fairly well. Even though it rankled, I’d agreed with him that my father had been overreaching for no discernible reason. I told him I’d make things right, and he’d analyzed me with his dark beady eyes before accepting my offering. We shook hands on it, sealing the deal.
Only time would tell whether or not that deal would be good enough to maintain the peace between us.
When I texted the itinerary to Molly later that day, she texted me back one of her own. She’d requested to stay in Houston over the next week, directing the processing of marijuana in our main plant just outside of the city. Not anxious to incur more of her resentment, I’d approved her plans, letting her do what she wanted. It was the least I could do.
Once she came back, she made herself scarce where I was concerned.
The only time I could count on seeing her was during the family’s Sunday dinners. I’m not sure why she showed up even then. She wasn’t a Varasso and never would be. Technically, she’d turned into more of an employee than anything else, but that hour in her presence was so important to me that none of my brothers challenged it.
Alessandro must’ve blabbed to Marco and Gabriel, because they didn’t belittle me about my time with Molly. Not in any way, shape, or form. It reminded me of when Alana died, and they’d all treated me with kid gloves. Until Marco had mouthed off in spectacular fashion not all that long ago, but I didn’t want to go there.
Talking about either woman felt like getting stabbed with a serrated blade, anyway.
One of the hardest parts of ruining things with Molly had been Anna. My little girl had grown close to her over the earliest part of our relationship. On the same day that Molly and I had first made love, Anna had called out the word, “Mall.” It was only after she repeated it that I realized she was asking for Molly.
Over the next few weeks, I barely saw the woman I’d given up. She traveled extensively and became so hands-on in her work that if her flight was delayed by even an hour or two, I received texts or phone calls asking where she was. I monitored the accounts with Alessandro and found constant upward movement in the ones she was associated with.
It became something I could count on. She had the golden touch, and she proved this repeatedly. Every time.
She’d done well all a
long, but now that she was on her own, she’d become an absolute dynamo.
I’d had a sense of her potential in the beginning, but she’d exceeded all my expectations. Molly had gone from this smartass in-home chef with a talent for saying things that put her in hot water to someone with enough business acumen to run an entire organization.
If this had been a legit business and I’d been the president, I would’ve made her my CEO.
She had come along out of nowhere and distracted me from my sorrow. Made me feel again. Made me smile again. Laugh again. Love again. She’d lightened the darkness within me. She’d reawakened my humanity and brought me back to life.
How could I not fall in love with her?
I would’ve sold my soul to have her by my side. We could’ve discussed the finer points of our professional endeavors over dinner each evening. We could’ve played with my daughter. I could’ve felt her warmth against me every night. I could’ve woken up with her every morning.
But that was nothing more than a pipe dream. A harmful one.
Separating myself from her felt worse than even I had anticipated. Alana had died, been ripped away from me against my will. There’d been no decision I could make that would change the course of those events.
Molly, however, was very much alive, and I’d chosen to end everything between us that mattered.
She stayed at the periphery of my life now, visible but unattainable. I’d cut her off like the dead limb of a tree when really, she’d been the roots. She’d been at the heart of that tree. At the heart of me.
I went through my days and nights in a daze, on automatic pilot. As the patriarch, I didn’t go on “errands” as I once had, so any outside issues of disloyalty or others infringing on our turf was dealt with by my brothers. I concentrated only on Anna’s care and keeping tabs on the various activities we were involved in.