Ruthless Empire: A Dark Mafia Collection

“What do you mean?”

Luca sighed. “We can’t afford to be another man down, so you can’t run off and fall in love with someone and think it’s gonna be fine.”

“You did that,” I spat back.

“My situation was different.”

“Why, because you kidnapped yours?” Luca fell quiet, and I knew I’d fucked up. “Sorry, I just…It seemed like Willow was starting to come around, and then I had to leave.”

“Family first, Sandro,” Luca growled, and I felt a tinge of the irritation Willow must have felt every time I said it to her. “That’s not a problem, is it?” He was developing my dad’s nasty attitude at an exponential rate. Were it not for Molly in his life, I’d fear he’d fall entirely.

“No,” I said. “I left, didn’t I?”

“Good. What’s going on? You said it was an emergency.”

“It is, but we shouldn’t talk over the phone. I’ll meet you in your office in thirty minutes.”

“Fine,” Luca said. “See you soon. Bye.”

I didn’t get to say bye before the line went dead.

My mind wandered far from where I was tooling along in my car back to my family’s estate. I thought about everything that my brain would allow me to focus on. I thought about my older brother and their wives and children. Did they have any idea that their bliss was fleeting? What happened if one of our enemies decided that taking our father out wasn’t enough? What if they didn’t think our retaliation was equal to theirs? What if they were prepared to fight a war continuously until all of us were gone? They were skilled in torture. Did my brothers really think they would never go for their families? What if they kidnapped Anna or Antonio? What if they went after Amanda. Hell, if someone tried to hurt Molly, Luca would light all of Pennsylvania and watch it burn, happily.

Maybe I was better off letting Willow go. She could go back to California, continue her luxurious life as a fashion buyer, and stay safe from the riff-raff here. Was it selfish of me to want her to stay here with me and embroil her in my life, knowing full well the danger it put her in? What was it all for?

I should have picked her.

I got back to my family’s estate, took a shower despite the gnawing sensation that I was washing Willow away from me, picked a fresh suit to wear, and went to Gabriel’s room. He was lying on his bed with his nose deep in a book, which was amusing, to say the least, because Gabriel didn’t read.

“What are you doing?”

Gabriel jumped so high the book flew up out of his hands and then dropped back down, smacking him on the face. “Jesus Christ, Sandro. Announce yourself.”

“I did.”

Gabriel sat up and tossed the book to the side. “What the hell is going on? I got a call from Luca saying to get our house fully armed and wait for more instructions.”

“Marco called me.”

Gabriel stood straight up off of his bed. “What? When?”

“This morning. I’ll explain more in Luca’s office. Come on.” I didn’t wait to turn around and head off for Luca’s office, but I could hear Gabriel’s feet shuffling behind me. “So, did you arm up?”

“Of course I did. I wasn’t about to have Luca rip me a new one.” When we got to Luca’s office, the doors were closed, meaning he was likely already inside. “Do we knock?”

I looked over at him. “You wanna just walk in there?” I tapped my knuckles against the door. “It’s us.”

“Yeah, come in.” I opened the door, and Luca was sitting behind his desk with his hands folded over his stomach. “Shut the door.”

Gabriel shut the door behind us, and we each took a seat at the leather chairs opposite Luca. I crossed my legs while Gabriel sat right on the edge of his seat. Luca stared daggers in Gabriel’s direction until Gabriel swallowed hard and slid a few inches back on his chair. Luca rolled his eyes and turned his attention to me, a smirk curving across his face.

“So, you had a good night?”

Leave it up to my brother to take any moment he could identify to throw some jabs in the middle of a life or death emergency. “Yeah. Wonderful.”

“Good. As long as it doesn’t interfere with work, do what you want.”

My shower hadn’t only washed Willow away, but any of the lingering good feelings that the night had brought, too. I didn’t like it when Luca talked to me like he owned me. “I wasn’t asking your permission, but thanks.”