I do as she says because she will have the answers I need and look at her expectantly as she fixes me with a disapproving look.
“We have decided that you are no longer required to take your place at the head of this family. You are free to return to your new life, on one condition.”
I just stare at her in shock because I was not expecting this. She leans forward and says in a hard voice. “You will return for one weekend every month to visit. You will not sever ties with us because we are your family whether you like it or not.”
A cold feeling grips me as I fear the worst and say harshly, “And Sophia?”
“Has been returned to her family. There will be no arrangement and no marriage, the deal is off the table.”
I almost can’t register what she’s saying and say angrily, “What do you mean she’s gone, where?”
“Calm down, Lorenzo, remember who you are talking to. Now, this is how it will be. Lucian has agreed to step up and lead the family with Romeo and Dante as his joint seconds in command. You will always be a part of this family, but not in the business. Sophia has been returned to her brother because their business is no longer any concern of ours.”
She leans back and I see the ruthless glint in the eye of a woman who always puts her family first. “You have what you wanted, now go and pack your bags, you leave immediately.”
“Not until you tell me where Sophia is.”
“I’ve told you, back with her family where she belongs. You see, Lorenzo, you were two of a kind. Both unhappy with the lives fate dealt them and looking to escape. You found yourselves thrust together and sought comfort in one another’s arms. You cannot build a future on that, so we are giving you both time to readjust to the situation. Sophia is safe and free to decide her own future and so are you. You both have what you want, Lucian has what he wants and I’m working on the other two.”
She smiles so sweetly it’s in direct contrast to the woman who just told me to leave and I’m surprised to see a tear edge down the crease in the corner of her eye as she says softly, “If yours is true love, then it will bring you back to each other. Distance will create meaning and if you are meant to be together, you will be. I always wanted the best for you; you must believe that. If you are happy, I am happy and being here was not the answer. You need to find the man inside you before you can care for a woman. This is our final offer and is non-negotiable. If you sign the papers that release you from the family business, you can only return as an inactive family member. It’s your choice but know you are always welcome here, which is why I must insist you visit.”
She takes the envelope that I retrieved from her attorney and pushes a sheaf of papers across the desk and holds out a pen. “Sign your life away, Lorenzo, and go and find a new one. Just make sure that you’re happy because if you find it’s not what you thought it would be, there is no going back.”
It’s strange, but as my grandmother offers me my freedom, it leaves an empty feeling in my heart. This is it; I’ve won. I’m finally free—then why does it feel so empty?
She smiles with a sadness that tells me how hard this was for her and as I take the pen, I almost feel her willing me to snap it in half. But I don’t. I sign my name on the dotted line for the last time. Lorenzo Romano and stand up to leave as Maverick.
As I kiss my grandmother goodbye, I take a moment to relish my victory, but it’s a hollow one. I’m leaving my home as one person, but that means shit when I leave alone.
As the black car drives me to the airport, I call Sophia for the entire journey. There is no answer and I must leave a thousand messages. Then, just before the car pulls up to the aircraft, I make a different call.
“Maverick, was your mission a success?”
“Not entirely, I need a favor.”
“Name it.”
“Sophia has been returned to her family; I need to know where that is.”
“It will take a while, where are you?”
“On my way home. I’ll call you when we’re close, if you could arrange transport?”
“Of course. Consider it done.”
As I cut the call, I feel the anxiety tear me apart. What did my grandmother tell Sophia? Knowing her, it could be anything and that’s what worries me. If Sophia thinks I sent her away, then she will never take my calls. I need to find her and fast because my grandmother was wrong about one thing. I don’t need time to work out my feelings for Sophia Moretti, I did that when I met her jogging through the forest. It’s just taken this to drive the message home. I can’t lose her now, not when I’ve finally got my freedom. Now I need to arrange her own freedom and that will be the toughest mission of all.
32
Sophia
I feel like such a fool. In less than five minutes I am to be returned to my brother and he will be so angry. I’ve let him down; I know I have. By not choosing to leave with him, I’ve brought another family into our business and made him look weak. He also had to interrupt his honeymoon, which was his one shot at letting go of this tainted business by leaving it in the hands of his second in command—Matteo.
We are currently on a boat heading for the Hideaway. The Island my brother bought that, as its name suggests, is well hidden in the Pacific Ocean. The only way here is by boat and with charts that only my family have access to. Nobody will ever find me here and it should have always been the place I ran to. Not the Reapers. Not Maverick. Then again, the pain slices through my heart as I think about what I’ve left behind. Him. My one shot at a normal life with a man who sets my pulse racing and my heart fluttering.
As the shoreline comes into view, I swallow hard as I see I have a welcoming committee of one man. Tobias Moretti. Mafia Don and a man with no heart. My brother.
Blinking back the tears that sit behind the black shades that hide my pain, I prepare to meet him for the first time since before I was taken. He watches us approach with an impassive expression that he wears so well and I wonder what the outcome will be of this meeting.
As the boat docks at the side of the jetty, one of the guards jumps out and secures the rope and Matteo turns and lends me his hand as he prepares to hand me over to another.
As my foot touches the jetty, I prepare myself for the showdown I expect, but as it turns out what happens next takes me completely by surprise.
Stepping forward, Tobias pulls me toward him in his iron embrace and hold me so tightly I think I may break. I can feel his emotion as he whispers, “Thank God.”
The tears now have no hope of staying hidden as I sag against him and sob as if my heart is broken. This is exactly what I needed because for so long I have held it together but there is no need for that now - I’m home.
By the time we pull back, the guards are gone and it’s just the two of us alone on the jetty. Tobias looks completely different to the man I left and I can tell that marriage agrees with him. He looks tanned, healthy and content and I stare at him in wonder. “You look good, Tobias.”
“I wish I could say the same.”
His eyes narrow and I lower my eyes, which obviously irritates him because he says firmly, “Look at me, Sophia.”
I raise my eyes and he frowns. “The only thing that matters is you’re home. We can discuss the details later, but now you must settle in and get some rest.”
He half turns and I feel the walls closing in on me already, even though we are standing out in the open in a tropical paradise. “Tobias.”
I say his name with a softness that makes him turn and I say with fear, “What happens next?”
“What do you want to happen, Sophia?”
“Do I have a choice?”
He appears almost irritated and snaps, “Of course you have a choice, I’m not a monster, I’m your brother—family. Why do you look at me as if I am?”
Because you are.
The words remain unspoken but I know he hears them because he nods with a resignation that takes me by surprise. Beckoning me across to a bench that sits overlooking the
ocean, he says softly, “I suppose I’ve never given you reason to think otherwise. However, I thought you knew. You are my right hand, Sophia, my blood, my conscience and my responsibility. You are the only one I have left of a family that suffered the cruellest of deaths. You are everything to me and I would die to keep you safe. What I want for you most is to be happy and I doubt you have found that yet.”
“You’re wrong.”
He raises his eyes and stares at me thoughtfully. “I have found happiness, Tobias. I found it in the strangest of ways. It crept upon me when I wasn’t looking and turned what should have been my darkest hour into my brightest.”
“Then why are you here?”
A simple sentence that takes me by surprise. “Because I was sent here by the family, we fear the most. They had no further use for me and delivered me back to you. As it turns out, nothing was how it seemed and now I’m left to deal with the pain of betrayal.”
His eyes narrow. “The Romanos?”
“I’m not sure.”
He appears exasperated and sighs heavily. “Tell me the facts, Sophia and I will judge them on that.”
By the time I finish my story, he looks even angrier than before and spits, “They treated you like a fool, a pawn in their own family games. I have one question though, why did you think marrying into that family gave them access to our business, that’s what I don’t understand?”
I almost fear his reaction when I say in a whisper, “They see you as a man who wants to walk away from this life and that makes you weak—in their eyes. They believe that it’s only a matter of time before another family takes what you don’t want by whatever means possible. They saw this marriage as a means of providing you with the protection you need should that ever happen and by offering you a way out of the business. They would manage it for a cut and it would be because I was married to the head of the Romano family.”
Far from looking angry, Tobias just nods with a thoughtful expression. “I see.”
Then he says harshly, “And this man, Maverick, do you have feelings for him?”
I look down. “I do but I’m not sure he feels the same.”
“Why not?”
“Because he is much like you. He doesn’t want this life and by marrying me, he would have been dragged right back into it. He was prepared to do that for me but he would have resented it and when the shine wore off, probably regretted his decision.”
Tobias just stares at me with the cold hard look I remember so well. Then he holds out his hand and says firmly, “It is probably for the best. Families belong together and any man that turns his back on his, is not to be trusted. You deserve better, Sophia, you always did.”
As I take his hand, I can’t agree. He didn’t see the torture in Maverick’s eyes when he made his decision. He was prepared to give up everything for me and that is why Elena was right to intervene. I hope that he’s happy now, back with the Reapers where he belongs. I try not to picture Millie comforting him and expect he will soon put all of this behind him and move on with someone else. I may not be so lucky, but at least I have my memories of a time that I actually lived to keep me warm at night. Nothing can take them away from me, they are all I have left.
33
Maverick
It’s been three weeks and still no word. Sophia’s phone has been disconnected and the only intelligence we have is that she remains on her brother’s island. Coming home should have been the sweetest of homecomings, but it just felt empty because she isn’t here. Everyone expected me to pick up and carry on, business as usual but, how could I? I left the most important part of me back in Florida and I will not rest until I get it back.
“Penny for them, honey?”
Millie hands me a beer as I sit brooding at the bar and I frown. “Nothing to tell.”
She almost hesitates and then leans forward and whispers, “You miss her, don’t you?”
I say nothing but take a swig of my beer and set it down as she reaches across and takes my hand.
“Maybe you should go and get her, Maverick.”
I raise my eyes and look at her with curiosity. I can see she hates telling me to go and get another girl when she wants to take her place, which softens my heart toward the pretty woman I have spent many a night with.
“Easier said than done.”
“Easier on who? You’re a Reaper, Maverick, not a quitter. If you want something badly enough, you go and do your best to make it right. Use everything you have to find her and convince her to come back with you, only then will you find peace.”
She blinks back the tears and I look at her in a different light. Such a pretty girl who is longing to find her happily ever after. Part of me wishes I could have given her that but fate had other ideas and made my own happiness something I need to work hard to get. I squeeze her hand gently, whispering, “You’re a good woman, Millie. You deal with things the right way and will make some lucky guy very happy one day.”
“Just not you.” She smiles sadly and I look at her with an apology that is long overdue. “I wish it could be but for some reason my heart went in a different direction. You’re right, though.”
She looks surprised and I push the beer away and give her a rare smile. “I’m a Reaper and we never give up. Maybe it’s time I acted like one.”
She smiles and her whole face lights up and then we hear someone calling her name, effectively switching her attention to another Reaper someway down the bar. She smiles ruefully. “Duty calls. I’ll look forward to seeing you both when you return.”
She heads off and I watch one of the guys reach across and whisper something in her ear that makes her laugh. Yes, Millie will be just fine because they always are—here, anyway. One day she will get her happily ever after and now it’s time to fetch mine home.
As it turns out, I must wait another week because Ryder told me the Moretti’s are due to visit Antigua in two days’ time. Sophia is continuing to stay with her brother and his new wife on their extended honeymoon while their house is re-built and their boat, the Island Star, is reported to be docking in The English Harbour the day after tomorrow. Ryder arranged my ticket and so I am checked in and waiting for them to arrive. I am not alone.
As I relax by the hotel pool, a shadow stands in front of the sun and I look up and groan inside. “What are you doing here?”
“I could ask you the same thing, brother but we both already know the answer to that.”
Lucian sits on the sun lounger next to me and snaps his fingers at a passing waiter. “Bourbon, on the rocks and whatever my brother is having.”
“Water.” I shake my head and laugh softly, “What’s this, the pressure driving you to drink?”
Lucian settles back on his bed and smirks. “You’d love that, wouldn’t you? Well, as it happens, I’m here on business, unlike you who is probably here on a fool’s errand.”
“You think?”
“I know because what you don’t know is that I have been busy in your absence.”
I try not to let it show but an uneasy feeling creeps over me at the smug look on his face and I say with a yawn. “I’m happy for you.”
“I doubt it, you see, I am here to meet Tobias Moretti to strike a business deal.”
“Is that so? Then we are on the same page because I too am here to strike a deal with that family of my own.”
Lucian laughs. “Then may the best man win.”
I give nothing away because this is unexpected. Seeing Lucian here raises the temperature and I wonder what he has planned. For a while we just sit in silence and I notice the carefully placed guards around the pool, trying to look inconspicuous but failing miserably.
After a while, I say gruffly, “How are things with the family?”
“Since you left, as normal. You see, Lorenzo, nobody was surprised when you signed your freedom papers. We all knew your heart was lost to this family years ago. If anything, it makes us stronger because now we have someone running things with no distract
ions and a thirst for the job at hand. But nonna is not happy with that and is keen to move things on, which is why I’m here.”
“And the reason is…”
“Providing an heir, of course, what does grandmother always want?”
As quick as a flash, I am on my feet and my brother joins me. We are as close as can be without touching and I sense the protection moving in fast. I’m not a fool and they will be under instructions to shoot to kill and so I hold my ground and snarl. “That better not involve Sophia.”
Lucian just smiles in his usual evil way and shrugs. “I’m not at liberty to discuss business with you, Lorenzo. Like I said, you made your choice and there’s no going back. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I should change because if I’m right, they will be arriving within the hour.”
He turns and I have no choice but to let him leave. This time, anyway.
If my brother has designs on my woman, then he can expect a war because I am not leaving without her by my side.
34
Sophia
“You look beautiful, Sophia, that color really suits you.”
Ana sits beside me looking amazing in a black dress that hugs her curves in all the right places. The diamonds that glitter at her throat and wrists reflect in her eyes and her blonde hair is piled high on top of her head, framing those beautiful blue eyes.
Spending time with the newlyweds has been a bitter pill to swallow. On the one hand, it makes my heart burst as I see how happy she makes Tobias. I never thought I would ever see the side to him that she brings out and I want what they have. They are so happy and it strikes a need inside me for the same. However, it also makes me miss Maverick even more and I wonder if things had turned out differently, we would be in their position now. I like to think so because there hasn’t been a minute that passes that I don’t think of him and wonder what he’s doing now. Absence has made my heart much fonder and I wonder if I will ever stop hoping for the impossible dream. There has been no word from him at all and I check my phone religiously. So many times, I have drafted a text only to delete it at once. Nonna’s words ring in my ears as she told me to give him space to discover the man outside the mafia. I need to give him that at least and just pray he comes back to me.
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