Riccardo (8 page)

He whimpered as I roughly pulled him to his feet. “I won’t say a word. I swear,” he begged. “Please, don’t hurt my daughter.”

"Stick to your word and your daughter is safe." Shoving him back into the open boot of the car, I then slammed it shut. It took me a few minutes to clean up the mess in the garage. I didn't want any neighbours who might be walking past seeing anything suspicious. Dashing into the laundry, I changed into some clean clothes. I gave the garage a last once over before getting behind the wheel of the car and pushing the button on the remote I kept on the visor for the garage roller door.

It didn't take long for me to arrive at Bill's house. I backed up into his carport next to what must have been his wife's Ford Falcon. I walked around the back and popped the boot. Glancing up at me, he took in our surroundings as he climbed out, making sure to cradle his injured hand to his chest, careful not to touch his shirt with the tender flesh. I wasn't worried about anyone seeing him climbing out the boot. The drive was far enough and back off the road so anyone passing by wouldn't be able to see anything happening in the dark carport.

"You brought me home?" he questioned as if he didn't believe his own eyes.

I glanced around his carport. "Where else would I take you?" I asked, pulling the car boot shut.

The light in the ceiling came on and a door leading into the house opened, as a petite middle-aged woman stepped out. "Bill what are you—?" She broke off mid-sentence, most probably taking in the blood on his clothes and his injured hand held to his chest, "Bill, your hand?" she questioned with a shriek.

Bill looked to me before he spoke, probably deciding what was the safest thing to say. "It's just a little accident. My friend gave me a lift home. Go inside. I'll be in shortly," he said. She did as she was told and closed the door.

"That was a good decision," I praised. "Before I go, I need to know you learned from your punishment."

"Yes, yes, I did." He nodded vigorously. I gave him a look spurring him on to tell me exactly what he had learned. "Keep my hands to myself."

Satisfied with his answer, I smiled and nodded. The torture I had given him was to teach him that exact lesson. You do not, under any circumstances, touch our girls. Driving him home was another lesson completely, to show him I knew where he and his family lived and that they weren't safe unless I wanted them to be, but I could tell by the look on his face, when he realised where he was that no explanation was necessary. He knew exactly why I'd brought him home. "Good. If you behave from now on, I won't have to come back here," I added as I walked to the driver’s door and slid in.

"Of course." His voice held a tremor. He was scared, and so he should be.

Without another word, I pulled away, leaving him standing in the brightly lit carport. Driving back home, I was finally able to relax. In fact, I hadn’t felt this relaxed in days. I was such a sick prick, because the enjoyment I experienced from torturing someone wasn’t normal. I’d watched other men struggle, many of them needing to have a partner in crime to be able to follow through with torture. That was why I was the
famiglia’s
number one hit man. Nothing fazed me. I was the monster The Don needed me to be.

That was also one of the many reasons as to why I was not the man for Lorena. She had been surrounded by monsters all her life; she deserved a decent guy, who got his kicks out of driving fast cars or wine tastings. Not a sick bastard like me. If tonight served any purpose, it made me realise I needed to continue to keep my distance from my biggest temptation.

CHAPTER NINE

RICCARDO

"For fuck’s sake, Capo, did you even listen to a word of that meeting?" Sebastiano's voice snapped me out of my trance. I took in my surroundings of The Don’s home office and noticed that most of the guys had already left. The only people left remaining were Sebastiano, Stefano and myself. "It's a good fucking job you already know the shit we discussed," he added, no doubt reading the bewilderment on my face.

I rubbed a hand over my head and down my face, trying to get my mind into gear. "Sorry, Boss. I don’t know where my head is at today.” I decided it was as good a time as any to admit the whole truth. “Actually, that’s a lie; I know exactly where my head is at. I can’t stop thinking about Lorena.” I watched as the smile instantly dropped from his face, but I carried on. “Her flirting is getting too much. I’m not sure I can resist the temptation much longer.” I braced myself for his anger.

“Fanculo!”
Sebastiano roared. “You fucking control yourself. She’s my daughter, you arsehole, and she is off limits to everyone in the
famiglia
, especially you! It’s an infatuation, you fuckhead. Deal with it. Lorena flirts with everyone. I will warn you once and once only, don’t you fucking touch her. You can handle it. I know you won’t betray me.”

Fighting the guilt inside me and feeling the need to move around, I jumped up and paced his huge office. I could feel both Stefano and Sebastiano’s gaze on me. “I need to distance myself. You have to send me away. I don’t care where. I just need some space.” I stopped my pacing and looked right at Sebastiano, letting him see my troubled look. “If I stay, I’m afraid something will happen, and I respect you too much for that, Boss.”

“You’re fucking serious.” It wasn’t a question but I nodded anyway. “I knew one of the guys would have this issue someday. I thought it would be this fucking womaniser,” he said, pointing at Stefano, who grunted. “But I never expected it would be you. Fuck.”

“Send me anywhere. I’ll do an interstate or overseas run. I don’t care. I just need to get away,” I pleaded.

“No chance in hell. I need you here with me. I’ll send Lorena away instead, at least for a little while. She's been looking at an interior design course in Italy, I’ll get Sierra to look into it.” He stood and approached, halting my pacing with a hand on my shoulder. “I appreciate you coming to me before anything ever happened between the two of you.”

If only he knew that something had happened between us. The sight of Lorena spread out before me on the floor flashed behind my eyes. The taste of her on my tongue, on my lips was haunting me.

Stefano finally broke his silence. “She needs protection with her.”

“Definitely not you, that's for sure!” I demanded, shooting Stefano a hard glare.

“I want two men with her. She’s comfortable with Paulie and I know he won’t ever make a move on her, no matter how much she flirts with him. He knows what happens when he takes what’s mine,” Sebastiano said, referring to the punishment I dished out to the little fucker a couple of years ago that resulted in him almost losing a finger.

“Riccardo’s right. You can’t go, Stefano. You’re the biggest man whore out of my guys. No way am I letting you near my daughter 24/7. Raphael can go.”

“What the fuck! He’s my twin bro—”

I cut Stefano off as I glared at Sebastiano. “Raph is just as bad as him. You can’t be fucking serious, Boss.”

“Calm the fuck down. Raphael is always professional around Lorena. He never flirts back.”

“When you’re watching,” Stefano grumbled.

Sebastiano was right. Raphael may have been a bigger womaniser than Stefano, but I had never seen him flirt with Lorena, whether he knew he was being watched or not. Finally, feeling calm enough to sit down, I sat beside Stefano and listened as Sebastiano called Paulie, ordering him to tell Raphael to come to the office.

After tossing his phone back down on his desk, he looked across at Stefano. "Can you go to the club and check on Angel? She's back tonight and I want to make sure she feels safe."

"Sure thing, Boss. I'll give her a call and see if she wants me to drive her in," Stefano offered.

"It's Angel we're talking about here. There's no way she will accept your offer. She’ll see it as you putting yourself out," I reminded him.

"Don't worry. I’ll work my charm on her and I'll come up with some story to make her think she's doing me a favour by accepting," Stefano said. "I'll go call her now." He stood and left the office.

I had just relaxed more into the two-seater sofa, enjoying the extra space when Raphael came in and dropped into the empty space beside me, causing me to move to the armrest. "Jesus, do you need any more fucking room?" I grumbled.

Raphael opened his mouth, no doubt to come at me with some witty remark, but Paulie chose that moment to close the door and Sebastiano began telling them about their new assignment.

Paulie jumped in with his own opinion, “You do realise Lorena is stubborn and she may not want to do something she doesn’t want to. Is she even going to want to go?”

I braced myself, expecting Sebastiano to lose his shit over being questioned. I was surprised to hear him laugh. “Don’t you worry about that. By the time I've finished with Lorena, she’ll think it was all her idea. Just make sure you guys are ready to go,” he said with so much finality, that Raphael stood and readied himself to leave.

“No worries. We’ll be ready. Come on, Paulie, we better go get a fuck or two in before we become celibate for God knows how long.”

The look on Paulie’s face was priceless. I couldn't hold back my laugh.

“Sorry, Raph, but you’re just not my type,” Paulie said, sounding deadly serious.

Raphael punched Paulie in the arm as they walked out the door. “Shut the fuck up. You love me.”

“We all do, Raph,” I said, standing up to join them.

“Capo,” Sebastiano called and I turned to look at him. “You better hold off on any advances Lorena gives you. You will not give in to temptation. I trust you to be loyal enough to do that.”

Relief from the seriousness behind his words flowed through me. I was concerned he’d not taken my complaints seriously, but with those words, I knew he had heard my plea.

“I understand,” I said before leaving the office. I’d learned ways to avoid Lorena over the years. I’d have to make sure I used those tactics in the future, because there was no way I was going to break Sebastiano’s trust or disrespect him, by touching his daughter ever again.

***

LORENA

Biting my bottom lip, I sat at the dining table staring at my laptop for what felt like hours. I was trying to decide on whether I should do a short course on interior design. I was sick of being just a mafia princess. I needed more in my life than that. Killing my mother made me realise that I walked a fine line. I wouldn’t step over that line again, if I could help it. I needed to be productive. Perhaps doing one of these courses would be just the thing I needed.

“What are you looking at there, sweetheart?” Dad pulled a chair out from under the table and sat beside me. I didn’t even hear him come in.

“Oh, just those courses I was talking about a couple of weeks ago. You know, the ones I told you about in Italy.”

I turned my laptop around to face him so he could see clearer.

He took control of the mouse and scrolled down the page, reading every little detail. “If it's something you want to do, you should do it. The change of scenery will do you the world of good,” he said once he’d scrutinised everything.

“I don't know. I haven’t even looked to see when the next course starts,” I admitted reluctantly.

Many of these courses were a couple of months long. I didn't know if I could handle being away from home, or away from Riccardo for that long. He may have avoided me ever since the incident in the cellar, but at least I knew he was nearby.

I often recognised his aftershave riding the breeze, or I’d hear his voice through an open door. I wouldn't dare go through to the room because he’d soon come up with an excuse to leave, or even worse, I’d miss him by a second. I wondered if he had some sort of warning system set to tell him to evacuate the minute he sensed I was around, to avoid bumping into me. Thinking about that, I could do with time away.

“The next course starts in just under a week. There's plenty time for you to pack and get on a flight,” Dad offered.

I stared at the dates on the screen. He was right. It was possible. “What about protection?” I quizzed. I couldn’t remember the last time I went somewhere without a guy or two for protection. I couldn’t expect him to allow some of his guys to simply jump on a plane to Italy for a couple of months, just so I could complete a course.

“I can cope without a couple of my men. I’m sure Paulie and Raphael will be more than happy to have a short trip to Italy,” he assured me.

“Are you sure?” I needed to make sure he wasn’t just saying what he thought I wanted to hear. I knew he’d been worried about me since I killed my mother. It was not something we’d ever discussed, but I knew it weighed on him. “I’m okay, you know? The shrink is helping me through the guilt and everything.” I knew he'd understand what I was talking about, without having to actually spell it out.

“I’m sure,
cara
. You just say the word and I’ll get you on the next available flight.” He pulled me into a side hug. “And I knew you'd be okay. You're a Morassi after all,” he said, kissing my temple.

“I love you, Daddy." I meant every word. My father may have been a mafia monster in the eyes of a number of people, killing without a second thought, but he’d move the world for the ones he loved.

“I love you, too,” he whispered, releasing me. “Let me know when you decide and then you can book the course. I’ll organise everything else.” He stood and pushed the chair back under the table.

“Are you sure? This is so sudden. I don’t want it to be a burden on you.”

“You can never be a burden, Lorena. Book the course if you want, and let me know.”

“Thank you, Daddy,” I said as he left the room.

It was probably a good idea for me to go away for a while. As I excitedly flicked through the website taking in all the details, I knew I had already made my decision. Two months. The course ran for two months. While that was a long time to be away from everyone, at least I wouldn’t be completely alone. I'd have Paulie and Raphael with me. It was no surprise that Daddy chose those two to go with me. He knew Paulie and I had become pretty close since he and Sierra got together. At one time, I thought something could happen between us, but I was really just kidding myself, trying to make up for the fact that the one man I had always wanted never showed an interest in me. Hopefully, being away would make Riccardo realise there was something between us, something worth fighting for. Riccardo was my fantasy; he always would be and nothing would ever change that.