My heels sunk into the carpet as I made my way to the stairs, glancing up at the last second when I’d made sure everything was in my purse. I wasn’t really looking anywhere in particular, so it wasn’t until I made it halfway down the stairs that I spotted Lorenzo standing in the main foyer on his own, his gray suit fitting him like a glove.
He looked my way, his eyes narrowing for the barest of seconds, and I wondered if he didn’t like what I was wearing. The lilac dress hit just below my knees, hugging my hips and flaring the tiniest bit over my thighs. It was the embroidered bodice of the dress that had me falling in love with it, though. I didn’t care that I’d found it in a thrift shop because it was perfect to wear to church.
“Lorenzo,” I greeted as I got to the bottom of the stairs, feeling a little wobbly on my three-inch heels. “I didn’t realize you were coming today.” It was a reasonable sentence because he hadn’t attended church with us once since we’d been married. In fact, I’d barely seen him other than at breakfast and dinner. Part of me wondered if he was avoiding me, but his ma had told me he was just busy with work. I understood that, but it meant he was just as much a stranger to me now as he was the day I’d walked down the aisle.
“It’s Sunday,” he said simply as if that should have answered me. “Everyone else has left already.”
“Oh.” I felt my cheeks heat as he kept his broody stare focused on me. It made me feel uneasy, but also lit a fire within me—a fire I had no idea was even there. “So, it’s just me and you, then?” I asked, feeling my voice crack. He’d waited for me, and although I didn’t want to overthink it, he could have easily left with the rest of the family.
“Service starts in ten,” he told me, spinning around and walking toward the main doors. I blinked, not sure how to react, but followed him anyway.
An SUV waited outside, Mateo—one of the soldiers who was always in the house—stood beside the open back door. He greeted Lorenzo with a nod and smiled at me as I slipped in beside Lorenzo. My stomach rolled as we drove down the driveway and away from the house, the air in the SUV feeling like it was running out the longer we were in the enclosed space.
I hadn’t been in a car with Lorenzo since we got married, and that was almost three weeks ago. How had I been married to him for this long yet not even had a real conversation with him? My mind immediately thought back to the last time I’d tried to get to know him—when I’d cooked. He’d shut me down quickly and left me reeling, wondering how to be and act around him. But nothing worth having came easy, right? So, maybe now was the perfect time to ask him something—anything.
I opened my mouth, keeping my focus on the back of the driver’s seat, and asked, “How’s your week been?” I felt him still next to me, then oh so slowly I turned to face him.
“Busy,” he responded, his gaze focused on me again. “Yours?”
I shrugged. “I’ve been doing a lot of assignments.” I bit down on my bottom lip, not sure whether I should keep talking or not. But I reasoned that if he didn’t want to listen, he’d probably tell me to shut up anyway, so I continued, “I’m nearly caught up now, though. My one professor seems to hand them out nearly every week. I swear he does it just to torture us.”
Lorenzo’s lips curved at the corner, and I had a feeling he was thinking about a different kind of torture than what I was talking about. “I could make the professor stop handing out so many assignments,” he said, raising his brows. “Or you could quit college altogether.”
“No,” I gasped. “No to both.” I shook my head. “I was only venting to you. I wasn’t asking you to resolve a problem.”
Lorenzo was silent for several seconds, his gaze drifting away from me as we pulled into the street the church was on. “I know you weren’t.” He sighed as we stopped in front of the church. “You never ask for anything.” He said it so low I was sure he didn’t mean for me to hear, but I did. I heard him loud and clear, and I wondered what he meant by it. But before I got the chance to ask, he was pushing out of the SUV and walking around to my door. He opened it, offering his hand, and I took it without hesitation.
His large palm squeezed mine, and he didn’t let go as we walked toward the church steps. People were milling about, their attention zooming in on us as we entered the church, and I understood then. He was putting on a show, making out like we were a normal couple.
I spotted Ma and Dad in our usual pew at the back and lifted my hand in a wave. Vida jumped up and down, mouthing something to me, but Noemi pulled her back down to sit before I could make out what she was saying.
Lorenzo greeted several people on the way to the front pew, and when we got there, two spaces were left open for us. “Ladies first,” Lorenzo said, his tone different now. It was sweeter, a voice I’d never heard him use. I didn’t like it. I didn’t like it one bit. I’d take broody asshole Lorenzo over this version any day of the week. At least then I knew what I was getting—kind of.
“Hi,” I whispered to Sofia as I slipped in next to her. She frowned at the sight of Lorenzo, probably thinking the same thing I was: Why had he come today?
Lorenzo settled in next to me, his face turned toward the front, and as soon as the doors at the back closed, the priest started talking. I wasn’t sure what he was saying because I was too preoccupied with my own thoughts and the fact that Lorenzo was sitting only inches away from me.
I was hyperaware of each of his movements, so when his arm reached out, and his hand landed on my knee, I nearly jumped a foot in the air. I gaped at his long fingers as they covered my entire knee and part of my thigh. His fingertips grazed my bare skin, and I shivered. Why did he have to be such an asshole but also make my body go haywire? It wasn’t fair. None of this was fair.
“Relax,” Lorenzo whispered, low enough for only me to hear, but I didn’t turn to face him. I acted like the only thing I was doing was listening to the priest, but in reality, my mind was racing at a mile a minute.
His hand squeezed, a move no one around us could see, and it hit me like a freight train. Outside he’d held my hand for show, but here in the front pew, no one else could see. What did that mean? What was he trying to say? What was he trying to achieve? I had no idea. And I wasn’t sure I wanted to know, not when I felt this confused.
I squirmed as his hand moved a little higher, and I stared at it, seeing his wedding band on his finger. It looked so sexy on his tan hand, and I wondered if he thought the same about my wedding band. Did he like the way it looked? Or had he not even noticed?
I was in a world of my own, trying to make sense of everything, so when people started standing, signaling the end of service, I blinked, trying to break free from my own thoughts. Lorenzo’s hand slid from my knee and to my hand as he helped me up.
He didn’t let go as people drifted toward us. Normally at the end of service, I made a beeline for my family, but I couldn’t escape the crowd of people surrounding us. And when I tried to let go of Lorenzo’s hand, he held on tighter. “I’m sorry,” he said to the man standing in front of us—a man I’d never seen in church before. “It was nice seeing you, but we need to go and see my wife’s family.” He tilted his head toward the back of the church, and my shoulders dropped in relief.
Lorenzo pushed us through the crowd, keeping his lips in a straight line as he did. He was polite but to the point, getting away from them as they asked him all kinds of things. Help with businesses, investments, and wanting to talk to the boss of the Beretta family. He was treated like royalty.
“Lorenzo,” I whisper-shouted as he pulled me down the aisle. “Not so fast.” I chuckled, but it was out of nerves. “These heels aren’t easy to walk in.”
He paused and turned back to me, his gaze trailing over my hips, down my legs, and to my heels. “They look good on you.”
“I…” I cleared my throat. “Thank you.” My attention snapped to the pew my family sat in, trying to distract myself from him, but it was empty now. My stomach dropped. We’d missed them. Too many people had g
otten in the way, and now I wouldn’t be able to have my usual Sunday cuddles with Vida. “They’re gone,” I said lowly. “We missed them.”
Lorenzo turned to face the doors, but he didn’t give anything away as he pulled me down the rest of the aisle and outside. “You can see them next week.” He didn’t let go of me until we were standing next to the SUV, where Mateo waited patiently. “Or you can go after college one of these days.” He pulled open the back door and waved his hand for me to get in. “You do that a lot anyway.”
I frowned, wondering how he knew that, and for the first time since he’d put the ring on my finger, I felt a little bravery simmer up. “How do you know that?”
He laughed as he got in and slammed the door behind him. “I know everything, Aida.” His gaze met mine, the darkness a clear warning. “No one makes a move in my city without me hearing about it.” He leaned his arm on the door as Mateo sped away from the church. Was he trying to tell me something? Was he trying to warn me? I racked my brain, trying to figure out what he meant, but I was coming up empty.
“You should remember that,” he finished, not looking at me now. “And so should that guy you dated.”
“What?” I screwed my face up. “What are you talking about?”
He didn’t answer me. He stayed silent as if he didn’t even hear me, but I knew he did. He heard me loud and clear, but he was choosing to ignore me. He blew hot and cold, and I had no idea what to expect next.
CHAPTER 8
LORENZO
Morning meetings with The Enterprise weren’t a common thing, but today I had been the one to call it. Several of the heads of the families weren’t happy about it, but I honestly didn’t give a single fuck.
They were trying to block all of my deals that were in the works, too afraid of what message it would send to everyone else, and I wasn’t having it. The Enterprise was there to protect us, not halt our businesses because of the opinions of other people.
I glanced at Mateo in the driver’s seat and Christian in the passenger seat. They’d both be attending the meeting with me as my personal guards, but Christian was there for more than that. He’d been a captain in the few weeks that Uncle Alonzo was acting boss, and now that I was in charge, he was underboss, but only until Dante took his rightful place. Dante had only ever been a soldier—he still was—so there was no doubt it would be years until he moved through the ranks to become my second-in-command.
“Sorry I’m late, Mateo,” Aida shouted as she ran out of the front doors and across the gravel, trying not to drop her backpack. “I was up all night—” She cut herself off as she spotted me sitting in the back. “Oh…sorry, I…”
“No, do continue,” I said slyly, tilting my head to the side. “Why were you up all night?” I could feel my anger building at her words, and I hated it. I hated how under my skin she was getting. Hated how I liked sitting next to her. Hated how she was becoming a fixture that I wanted in my home. I’d taken Christian’s advice to keep her close, but it was backfiring, and I didn’t like it one fuckin’ bit.
“Erm…” She glanced at Mateo, but he couldn’t help her. “No reason.” She slid into the back and closed the door behind her.
I didn’t take my gaze off her as she placed her backpack on her lap and pulled her laptop out. “Aida,” I warned.
“What?” she asked, her focus on anything but me. She started typing away as Mateo pulled out of the gates, the clacking of the keys driving me insane. How the hell did she type that fast anyway?
“Why were you up all night?”
“Does it matter?” she asked, finally turning to face me.
My nostrils flared, my hands clenched, and I saw Christian shuffle in his seat in front of me. “Yes, it does fuckin’ matter.” I leaned closer to her. “I asked you a question. Answer it.”
Her breath fanned over my face, her sweet goddamn scent driving me insane. It was too much. She was too much. All of this was too much. I couldn’t take it, not anymore.
“Why do you care?” she asked, her brow rising. She was defying me, being evasive, and I hated it. I hated her. I hated this entire situation. She was pressing my buttons, something no one had ever been able to do, and she knew it. She could see it in my face; read it in my eyes. She was playing a dangerous game, one she wouldn’t win. I’d make sure of that.
“Answer me,” I ground out, trying to keep my voice low. “Now.”
She rolled her eyes, a move a teenager would do, and groaned out, “I was finishing my assignment.” She turned back to her laptop. “Which I still haven’t finished, by the way. And you talking isn’t helping.” Aida pushed some hair behind her ear, her face getting redder the more she stared at the screen of her laptop. “And this piece-of-shit laptop keeps trying to update, so I’m losing hours at a time.”
It was on the tip of my tongue to tell her to buy a new one, but I wasn’t here to solve her problems. That was what a real husband did, and I needed to remind myself of that. I needed to remember that she didn’t matter to me. So, I turned back to face the front of the SUV, keeping my attention focused on the road ahead of us and trying to ignore the clacking of her laptop keys.
I ground my teeth together, feeling like I was about to explode, when Mateo finally pulled to a stop outside of her college. She slammed her laptop closed, haphazardly pushed it into her backpack, then left without another word.
“What the fuck?” I whispered, staring at her as she rushed down the path and into one of the buildings. “Did that really just happen?”
“Yep,” Christian answered. “That really just happened.” He chuckled, and if he wasn’t my best friend, I would have put a bullet in his arm. “I didn’t think she had that in her.”
Yeah, neither did I. She answered me back, had an attitude, and I fuckin’ liked it.
Fuck.
“Drive,” I barked out, slumping in my seat and needing something to distract me from the woman who was turning out to be more than I’d realized. She wasn’t meant to be a handful. She wasn’t meant to talk back to me. She wasn’t meant to have me on edge.
“Call Veev,” I told Mateo as he pulled up outside of the restaurant. “Tell her to be at the house by four.”
I smirked as I did my suit jacket button up and ignored the burn of Christian’s eyes on me as I slipped out of the back of the SUV. I’d teach Aida a lesson, but more than that, I’d remind myself what was most important: the business. I didn’t have time or space in my brain to think about her. I didn’t want to think about her, which was why, as I walked into the restaurant, I schooled my features, forgetting about the ride here and preparing for the meeting. I needed to be respectful, but I also needed to let them know that I was the boss of the Beretta family, the founding Mafia family in this state.
Aida didn’t know who she was messing with, but they didn’t either.
No one else was in the restaurant, just the waiting bosses sitting around a large table. All chairs were taken apart from one in the middle of one of the sides. I bypassed it, stopping next to the chair at the head, and staring down at Alessandro Roti. “You’re in my seat,” I told him, keeping my tone even.
He looked up at me, his lips quirked at the corner. “Is that so?”
“It is so,” I snapped back, narrowing my eyes. “The head of the Beretta family sits at the head of The Enterprise.” I glanced at the other three men around the table. They were all older than fifty, with Alessandro Roti being the youngest of them all.
“He’s right,” Neri Riva said, leaning forward. Neri was the oldest here. He’d been at the table when my dad had set this entire thing up, and I knew if there was one person on my side, it would be him. He’d been the one to fill me in on what Uncle Paolo had been up to. Neri’s business was all about money. He dealt as a loan shark and also made most of his money through gambling, owning an array of casinos throughout the country. “His place is at the head.”
“And what if I want to take a vote for a new head to be appointed?” Alessa
ndro asked. He didn’t make a single move to get up. Instead, he sat there, waiting for what everyone else was going to do. Alessandro knew he had power at the table, especially with the business he was in. He held several unions in the palm of his hand, but most importantly, the construction union.
“Fuck's sake,” Stefano gritted out. “Just move, Alessandro.” I raised a brow at Stefano, head of the Cerutti crime family. Their business flourished in washing money. He reminded me of Uncle Antonio, straight to the point and little patience.
Alessandro ignored Stefano and Neri, his eyes laser-focused on me. “Then vote,” I ground out. “Do it now so we can get down to the real business.”
“Patience,” Alessandro tutted. “All those in favor of Lorenzo Beretta being head of The Enterprise, raise your hands.”
Neri’s hand rose first, followed by Stefano, and finally, Piero. He’d been quiet, silently observing what was happening around him. Piero Pozzi was the head of the Pozzi family. His was the lowest crime family, making deals with politicians and growing as much marijuana as they could. They were trying to offset the balance between legal and illegal so they were seen as legitimate, and whatever he was doing was working.
“Looks like a clean sweep to me.” I flicked my fingers in the air. “Now move.” He grumbled in the back of his throat but didn’t say another word as he slinked to a different seat.
“Now that that has been resolved,” I started. “Let’s get to the issue at hand.” I stared at each of them in turn, knowing I would walk out of the restaurant getting exactly what I came for. They didn’t have a choice in the matter, and deep down, they all knew that. I got what I wanted. I always got what I wanted.
AIDA
I slowly walked out of my last class of the day and down the hallway to the main doors. I had no reason to rush, not like I did before I became a married woman. I had nowhere to go but back to the mansion and nothing to do other than getting started on yet another assignment.
Lorenzo Beretta Page 9