Giuseppi Saldi, Valentino’s adoptive father, had drawn the line at human trafficking. It was a firm line, one with which his brother Miceli didn’t agree. The power struggle had nearly cost Valentino his life. Val and Dario were still trying to find out how their ports were being used and who in their organization was aiding the traffickers. Just because the Ferraro family had come to the Saldi family’s aid and they’d formed an alliance didn’t mean Dario would think he had to answer to them or share all knowledge. Stefano certainly didn’t think he had to share with the Saldis. How did one point that out tactfully to the head of the shadow riders?
“I’ll talk to him.” What else was there to say?
Ricco sent him a faint smile. He knew that conversation wasn’t going to be an easy one and didn’t envy Elie at all.
“Are the New York investigators working on the Santoros or are we keeping this in-house?” Giovanni asked.
Everyone on the plane fell silent again as they all looked to Stefano. His word was law as far as the family was concerned. No one, not even Emmanuelle, would go against him. He scowled and shook his head. “It’s protocol to inform them if we’re going to make a hit in their city. We have to use them for cover, just as we did our cousins in LA. I told Severino that we had investigated the Colombo family for Emmanuelle. We knew Dino had put a hit out on Valentino, Dario, Elie as well as Brielle. I told him we’d stumbled across the information during the contest between Brielle and the other investigators. Everything I said was true, including that Brielle continued to research after the contest was over because she had a ‘hunch’ just as Emmanuelle had.”
Elie had met Severino Ferraro several times. He was head of the Los Angeles family of shadow riders. Very much like Stefano, he was respected by his siblings and all other riders. Stefano and Severino were very close. If Stefano asked Severino for a free ride in his city, he’d get it. As it was, Stefano had assured Severino that they’d done their homework and everything was in order.
“I turned over Brielle’s initial report, including the damning photographs. I’m not about to ever put him in a position of having to answer to the international council for us. He is fully aware that Emmanuelle is married to Valentino and that she is head of his security whether he approves or not. Which, by the way, he does not.”
“I take it neither do you,” Elie said.
“Do you?” Stefano challenged. “Do any of you?”
Sasha and Mariko exchanged a look and both raised their hands. “She’s extremely intelligent,” Sasha said. “And capable.”
“She has gifts,” Mariko added. “Talents others don’t. They would go to waste if she sat at home. She would be unhappy, Stefano. She was born to be a rider and she’s very good at what she does.”
“I’m very aware of my sister’s abilities. I had her train with Elie for a reason,” Stefano said. His voice turned harsh.
Ricco’s head snapped up and he sent his brother a warning look.
Stefano visibly made an effort to soften his voice. Again, Elie took note. “Valentino’s world is different from ours, Mariko. My worry for Emme has nothing to do with her abilities and everything to do with the fact that loyalties aren’t the same. They shift according to power and money in that world. She was raised with loyalty coming first. She’s given that to Val and Dario. I believe Val returns that loyalty; most likely Dario does as well.”
Elie didn’t like the fact that now Stefano was questioning Dario’s loyalty even to Emmanuelle. He hadn’t ever thought that would happen. That made him uneasy. Dario was the backup for Leone and Raimondo. Val and Emme were out of town. Vittorio and Grace had gone to check out some site for one of Grace’s events she planned for a charity, so they were on the other side of Chicago. He knew Taviano and Nicoletta were in the city visiting Lucia and Amo and weren’t going to be around. Dario had agreed to be backup if it was needed, not that anyone thought for one evening there would be a problem. Now his gut nagged at him. There could be no communication because, technically, he was supposed to be in the house with Brielle, just as Stefano was with Francesca at the Ferraro Hotel.
“Once we go to New York, I’ll talk to Geno and tell him what Brielle discovered on the Santoro family and that we intend to take down that family. I can’t very well go into his territory and not inform him.”
Geno Ferraro was head of the family of shadow riders in New York. There were only three riders in New York. It was a very small group and at times the other cousins helped to fill their rotations when necessary. Geno, like Stefano and Severino, carried the weight of his siblings and the other riders on his shoulders, but he never shirked his duties. Elie knew him to be a good man. He didn’t want to get him in trouble with the international council, either. It was a good thing they’d held the contest to see just how fast and accurate Brielle was on her keyboard, although at the time, Elie thought it rather silly.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Brielle stood at the windows of her office staring at the lake below. She had to admit, she loved the view and the spaciousness of the huge room. She could look down into the backyard and see the patio where she shared morning coffee and orange juice with Elie. They’d been together over a month now, and she still had to pinch herself every now and then to believe it was real.
Just the thought of Elie produced a full-body shiver. He enjoyed getting up very early, before the sun rose, to work out. She got up with him, because who wouldn’t want to watch him work out, and she loved working out, too. They trained together. He was unbelievably fast and it brought her skills up quickly. Then they showered together. Most of the time, they had sex in the shower, or he would make love to her on the bed, or the dining room table before she prepared breakfast. He loved omelets. She preferred fruit. She prepared both for them.
Some mornings, he wouldn’t initiate sex and the anticipation always made her body coil tighter and tighter as she cooked for the two of them. He liked touching her and he always did while in the kitchen, which only added fuel to an already burning fire. Just thinking about Elie could make her body ache. He had a way of looking at her that made little flames lick at her skin. She found herself wanting to do anything for him, anything to keep that look of arousal in his eyes and those lines of carnal lust carved into his face when he looked at her.
Sometimes, in the morning when he pretended to be aloof, when he didn’t touch her in the shower, but his cock was hard and he shook his head when she brushed her fingers along his thighs, her heart went wild at that controlled expression. She loved that as much as the one of total arousal. They would take their breakfast out to the patio and sit at the smaller, more intimate two-person table to eat. It was her favorite time. One of anticipation. Those times, he would tell her to wear his favorite robe. The smoke-and-rose one and nothing else.
This morning had been one of those times. The sun hadn’t quite come up yet and it was quiet like it always was just before daybreak. Not dark. Not light. This morning the lake had been relatively peaceful. As she sat there at the table with Elie, she’d felt her body trembling. Waiting. Her entire focus was on Elie. She was aware of every single thing about him. Every movement. The way he brought his coffee cup to his mouth. The bites he took of his omelet. The oblong box sitting close to the coffeepot in the middle of the table. She knew what was in that box.
He watched her eat three of her strawberries and then beckoned her to him. Her nipples peaked and hot blood pounded through her veins. She wasn’t wearing any panties or they would have been soaked. She stood and moved the two steps necessary to take her to him, trying to stay still and not squirm.
Elie smiled and opened her robe, pushing the fabric to the side so it framed her breasts. “You’re so damned beautiful.”
A part of her was thrilled when he gave her those compliments. She needed them. Not because she was vain, but because she was still building confidence that he really wanted her as a woman. There was sincerity in his voice. He gave her that one hundred percent focus when he looked at her, as if he couldn’t tear his gaze away. That added to the excitement building in her.
“Offer your breasts to me, bébé.”
That had been new. Just that morning he was going to Los Angeles with Stefano and two of the Ferraro couples who would be meeting with cousins to go clubbing. Brielle shivered again and touched the curves of her breasts, remembering how she complied, cupping the soft weight of her breasts and lifting them toward his mouth.
It felt so decadent and sexy to be standing outside in the early morning hours in her short, nearly transparent robe offering her breasts to Elie with him fully clothed. Then his mouth was on her right breast and she arched back, wanting to sob his name, wanting to bury her fist in his hair and yank him closer. He used his tongue and teeth ruthlessly, sending fiery darts rushing through her bloodstream in every direction. The clamp closed on her nipple and the fire pulsed through her, a storm of desire that shook her.
“I thought sapphires this time to go with the lake. They’re drops going from small to large and are surrounded by diamonds. When the sun rises, you’ll be able to see how beautifully they shine.”