MasukAfter the… suitable distraction Dante had so helpfully provided, the rest of the flight was surprisingly peaceful. My son Marcus had woken up halfway and focused on eating snacks every chance he got.Meanwhile, Dante stayed blessedly quiet, and evidently less bored. He spent his time gazing out the window with a mildly horrified look at times, which was quite entertaining to peek at whenever I wasn't engrossed in the book I was reading.The flight landed in the city by evening. The sun was already setting, and I was on the phone with Tony, receiving information and handing out orders in one car while Dante rode with Marcus in the other car.As soon as we reached the villa estate, we were welcomed by the hosts.“Don,” Travis Duncan stepped forward. He was a bald 50-year old man who had more wealth than his cowardly nature would imply. He was a mob boss, one of the capos in this territory who worshiped the ground I walked on, and who knew exactly the consequences of not doing so. Afte
At my announcement I could see Dante frown slightly, though there was curiosity in his eyes. “Where? And for how long?” He inquired after a beat. “Pack light. Three days. It’s business related,” I responded, keeping my tone clipped, while telling him the only things he truly needed to know. He nodded, and that was that. He knew better than to ask me more questions. I returned back to my study after dinner, having watched Dante and the nanny try to convince Marcus that vegetables were not the worst thing on the planet. Afterwards, Dante succeeded, after the promise of flan for dessert. The flan had already been prepared, I had no idea why Marcus assumed it was specifically for him. Nevertheless, dinner disasters were averted, and now, I scowled at the reports from Zach and Avi respectively. The attack on my company still bruised my pride when I thought about it. And yet, they hadn't been able to track the
That was fucking close, I thought, having just showered and gotten dressed. If I hadn't distracted Nero last night, would he have figured out something was up? Would he have made the connection between my leaving the mansion yesterday and the attack on his company? I didn't know, but I had engaged him anyway. It was a distraction, a risk I had to take. And he had taken every advantage of it. I hissed inwardly as I sat on the sofa, watching Marcus play. He brightened up at my arrival, and ran to hug me. I took the boy in my arms, smiling at him, not a polite or fake smile like I showed to others, but a genuine one. He was innocent in all this, and a part of me, traitorous but there, longed to take him as my son. “Uncle Dante,” He began to babble. “It's my birthday soon!” “Oh?” I raised a brow. I had no idea of that. “That’s nice.
The next morning I was awoken with my phone vibrating. I instantly sat up, brushing aside Dante’s arms that had laid atop my waist and picked up the phone.“Speak,” was the first thing I said, grabbing a robe to cover my completely nude body. I walked out across the room to the balcony, where no one could hear.“Don,” it was Zach, breathing heavily. “I’ve gotten footage.”I cursed internally as I demanded, “Only footage, Zach? Are you losing your fucking touch now?”I was furious, HAD been furious from the second that I got the call. My office building, the shell company I had registered most of my operations under, had been attacked early the previous evening. I had already left, and had no communications with them, all the staff involved were either dead or injured. And the security cameras? Smashed to bits. This was an operation beyond anything I expected Angelo could bring up in a bit. That was exactly why I had stored the
As soon as I stepped in the bar I found several eyes turning to me. The hair on the back of my neck stood up, but I showed no inclination of stopping. I turned to go up the steps, but someone blocked my way: a bulky looking man who crossed his arms and peered down at me imperiously.“What do you want?” he demanded, and I sighed internally. This guy reminded me too much of Tony the bastard, they even looked similar. Were they related?“A meeting,” I stated simply, glancing over his shoulder towards the next floor. He let out a menacing grunt and reached to grasp my shoulder. I took a half-step to the side, dodging his rigid movements entirely while I propelled my body to shove through the gap. He was left dumbfounded as I crossed the staircase in a few quick steps.“Hey! Get back here!” The man yelled, cursing out loud. He came after me, even as I turned to walk down to the room Angelo specified. He nearly reached me when the door to the room swu
I groaned softly, awakened by the barely-there sound of footsteps. It was obviously Nero, so I shut my eyes again, wincing slightly as the curtains were drawn, letting sunlight hit my body and eyes. He chuckled, aware of my reaction. I buried my head in the pillow which smelt subtly of lavender. My muscles strained in agony, and I feigned weariness. Last night had been… different. Not simply what happened after the party but before. Nero had given me a gift, two in fact. It was a new thing, one which I wasn't sure yet of how to receive it. I knew that it had to be a compensatory act, not simply because he longed to. Another way for him to control me. But still.. it was difficult to not consider that he had indeed taken time out to procure such a gift. Thinking of that, I exhaled softly, slowly drifting back into sleep. He had been too rough last night an
The silence in the diner was thick with unspoken tension. My lips twitched, and I could hardly refrain from laughing at the look of the dead man in front of me. I had enough of him a while ago, his torture wasnt interesting enough to keep him alive.So… boring.My eyes flickered back to Dante, who
PAOLO’S DINER.It was 8.30pm, the sky dark like ink. As soon as I stepped out of the mansion, I saw a car with tinted windows waiting for me.Without hesitation I crossed over from the threshold of the front porch and got in. This time it wasn’t Tony (that bastard) that was behind the wheel, but so
The next morning, I woke up with my back, waist, and dignity equally bruised and sore.To his credit, Nero Vecchio was no longer in the bedroom, and so I took that as my chance to escape, my body still recovering from the encounter of the last night.I had known what he had called me for, I thought
My body was sore when I woke up, right as the sun was beginning to peek over the horizon. It wasn’t the first time I’d woken in another man’s bed, much less Nero’s.I stretched, silently noting that the Don must have slipped away when I was deep asleep, for the other side of the bed was cold.A hin







