Bound By Love (Born in Blood Mafia Chronicles 6)

Romero and Sandro were watching us, and I got into Matteo’s face. “She won’t tell me anything.”

The fucker actually tried to walk past me up the stairs. “Then let me have a word with her.”

I shoved him backwards, snarling. “You will stay away from her, Matteo.” Brother or not, if he got anywhere near Aria, if he hurt as much as a hair on her body, I’d end him.

“You let her steal your money, your passports. You let her attack our men.” He pointed at Sandro, who was still staring. “You let her make a fool out of you and betray you. You should want to punish her. You are Capo.”

I brought us chest to chest so Matteo had to tilt his head back. “Aria is my wife. It’s none of your business how I deal with her. I told you that Gianna meant trouble but you didn’t want to listen. You should have never asked for her hand, but you had to think with your cock,” I growled.

He stalked out onto the roof terrace. It was better that way. We would have been at each other’s throats soon.

Turning to my men, I told Sandro, “Leave. I don’t have time to deal with you now. Not a single word about this to anyone.” He pushed off the sofa at once and hurried toward the elevator and disappeared, fucking relieved that he didn’t get his ass handed to him today. Then I turned to Romero. “Go call Sami, and find out where Gianna is heading.” Romero gave a quick nod, then pulled out his phone and headed for the kitchen area.

With a sigh, I raised my mobile to my ear, hating what I had to do now. After a few rings, Scuderi picked up. “Luca, I didn’t expect your call.” There was a hint of suspicion in the asshole’s voice. And right he was. We had messed up. I had messed up.

“I have bad news. Gianna ran off.”

There was silence on the other end. Then, finally, “Ran off?” Scuderi sounded as if he wanted to reach through his phone and strangle me. “You swore that you’d protect her. I trusted your word. In Chicago the word of a Capo means something.”

Fuck him. As if things always went according to Dante’s plan. “Your daughter isn’t exactly easy to guard, as you very well know. It isn’t the first time she’s acted up.” I tried to keep my voice civil—after all, it was one of my men who had fucked up and let himself get drugged.

“What about Aria, did she help her sister?”

He didn’t need to know that Aria had been involved. It was bad enough as it was. No need to add fuel to the fire. “No, she didn’t know anything. Matteo will go search for Gianna immediately. She won’t be gone for long.”

“I will send two of my own men with him. I don’t trust you to handle this on your own.”

I had to bite my tongue not to insult him. We needed peace between the Outfit and the Famiglia. “That’s understandable, but I assure you Matteo will find her. He’s very intent on marrying her.”

“Still? She could be whoring around as we speak.”

I doubted Gianna would use the plane ride to fuck a random guy; she’d be busy trying to figure out a way to stay ahead of us. But later? Yeah, she would spread her legs, no doubt about it, but that wasn’t my problem.

Romero appeared in my field of vision and whispered, “Amsterdam. Schiphol.”

“We know she took a plane to Amsterdam. That’s where Matteo will be heading with the next plane.”

“I’ll make arrangements so my men will be there as soon as possible. Dante won’t be happy about this. That I can promise you. This will have to be discussed in depth.”

I didn’t give a fuck about Dante. New York was my concern, the Famiglia was. “Sure.” I hung up, stifling the urge to throw my phone at the wall. Instead I used it to book Matteo on the next flight. It was the worst time to lose my best soldier. All because of Gianna and Aria. A new wave of blinding fury rolled over me, and I really thought I’d lose my shit, but I needed to keep my calm and stay in control. I was Capo.

I headed outside and stopped beside Matteo, who was braced against the banister with a determined expression on his face. He would catch Gianna. It was only a matter of time. “I called Scuderi. He’s furious and blames us, of course.”

“Of course,” he said quietly.

“He’s sending two of his men after Gianna.”

He still wasn’t looking my way. He was still pissed because I’d spared Aria. As if he would have tortured Gianna to get information. We were killers, maybe even sadists, but definitely not toward the women we cared about.