Small town street thug?

Vito Castellano’s POV

“This is everything there is to know about the girl from the bar you were talking about, boss.” Dante dropped a brown folder on my desk.

Dante is one of the few men who work for me. Among all of them, he’s the one person I can rely on.

I can’t say I trust him there’s no one in this world I trust.

I picked up the folder and opened it.

Zoya Hamilton, twenty two years old, college student graduating soon.

Nothing about her looked particularly interesting.

I was about to drop the file when my stepbrother’s name caught my eye.

Benito Castellano, well , I’ll be damned.

She was the woman he’d been talking about the one who called off their wedding and humiliated him in front of all their guests.

I guess that’s why I saw her there that day. Things are about to get interesting.

There was a picture of a little girl in the folder. Benito’s and Zoya’s daughter.

It seemed my little rabbit didn’t know I was Benito’s stepbrother.

An idea crossed my mind.

I left my study, went to my room, and changed into something simple.

Time to spice up her boring little life.

I drove to her house myself.

My little rabbit was in a heated argument with Benito on her front porch.

I couldn’t make out what they were saying from the distance, but something told me it was about the wedding.

The little girl from the photo joined them.

She hugged her mother’s legs, sobbing.

Zoya picked her up and hoisted her onto her hip.

Benito stopped shouting the moment he saw the child’s tears, I guess he is not as insensitive as I thought.

After my little rabbit told him to leave, he finally did.

I waited until he was out of sight before walking to the front porch and knocking on the door.

“What do you want now!” my little rabbit shouted the moment she opened it.

“To get to know you better,” I replied with a smile, even though I knew the question hadn’t been meant for me.

She stepped outside and shut the door behind her. “Are you stalking me?”

“What if I said I was?” I asked.

“I want nothing to do with you. What happened that night was a mistake. I’m sorry I initiated it, but I was drunk.” She muttered the words, swallowing hard.

I watched her throat work as she tried and failed to hide how much I affected her.

Still, I didn’t miss the way her eyes hardened. She was angry.

I stepped closer, crowding her space until I could feel her breath on my face.

With my hands shoved in my pockets, I lowered my head to her ear and whispered, “Nothing happened that night.”

She nodded quickly. “Exactly. Nothing happened. So there’s no reason for you to follow me around like you took my virginity or something.”

Her defiance sparked something low in my gut, a hunger I hadn’t felt in forever.

“Nothing happened that night,” I said,

“but I wanted something to happen.” I reached out to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear, but she stepped back, practically gluing herself to the door.

It made me chuckle. The girl I’d met that night was different from the one standing in front of me now.

That night, she’d talked to thugs like they were nothing, hiding her fear behind a brave front.

The girl in front of me was someone else entirely.

“Look, I’ve had my share of mafias and small-time thugs. I don’t want to go back to that kind of life. Please leave me alone. I don’t want anything to do with you.” She slammed the door in my face like I was some stray dog.

A thug? She called me a thug? The word almost made me laugh out loud.

Me, Vito Castellano reduced to street trash in her eyes.

It should have pissed me off. Instead, it made my cock twitch.

My little rabbit had teeth. Good, I like the chase.

Later, I ran into Vittoria on my way back to the car, the woman who’d been with Zoya at the wedding.

“Boss,” she muttered, bowing her head.

“What’s your relationship with Zoya?” I asked, forgetting about formalities.

“Zoya and I are best friends. I met her through Benito.”

“You two are best friends, but you didn’t tell her anything about her fiancé’s family?”

“Benito told us to keep your identity a secret from her. He wanted to surprise her, to show her he was more than just a mafia guy, that he had a real background.” I could hear the chuckle she was trying to suppress.

I didn’t blame her. Benito had never been smart.

The only thing propping him up was our family name. Without it, he’d probably be a small-time drug dealer or dead in a ditch somewhere.

"Did she talked to you about me?" I inquired.

"Yes boss, she thinks you are thug boss."

Her response made me chuckle quietly, a thug boss.

“Keep my identity secret from Zoya,” I instructed. “And don’t let Benito find out about my interactions with her.”

“Yes, boss.”

My phone rang. I dismissed Vittoria with a wave and answered.

“Boss, your brother is here,” Dante’s voice came through.

I hummed and ended the call and drove home.

Benito was sprawled on the couch in my office, legs slung over the armrest, a cookie in one hand and a magazine in the other. Crumbs littered the floor and the cushions.

“Why are you here, Benito?”

He jumped to his feet when he heard my voice. “Good afternoon, Vito.” He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

“Mm.” I walked to my desk and sat. “Sit down.”

Benito hurried to pull one of the chairs in front of me and sat.

“I asked why you’re here.”

“I just came to apologize for what happened on my wedding day. I know it wasn’t what you expected of me, but I promise I’ll make everything right.”

“How are you going to fix it? By undoing what you did? You cheated on your fiancée and you show no remorse. You went against our family’s morals. If our late father had been a cheat, do you think he’d have earned the same respect he had before he died?”

“I know I fucked up, but I’m going to fix it. I’m going to make everything right.”

“And how do you plan to do that? You can’t unfuck her friend. You can’t take back the things you said to her. So tell me, Benito, how exactly do you plan to fix the mess you made?”

I leaned back in my chair and waited for his inevitably dumb plan.

“The only way is to make her come back to me. I already went to her, but she wouldn’t listen. So I’m going to make sure she comes crawling back to me.” He sounded so proud of himself, the spark in his eyes and the smug smile said it all.

I wanted to see exactly how he planned to make my little rabbit crawl back to him.

“Let’s see if your plan works,” I said.