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Uncle Luigi is my ball and chain when I’m off the home base since my father can no longer travel.Funny how he’s forced me to lead the family and yet refuses to trust me to actually do so.
“In their eyes, yes, I suppose,” he agrees. “We need to have a call with the family.”
“I know,” I grit through my teeth as I watch the coffee drip painfully slowly.
“Valentina, don’t get emotional,” he tries to soothe, but it comes off condescending. “Everyone trusts your leadership and decision-making skills, but you’re young and this is all so new for you.”
“New?” I screech, whirling around to face him. “I’ve been doing this for three years now, thank you very much. And in those three years, not only have I expanded our business across the whole damn country, but I’ve created peace treaties with other families to allow us to do so. So, don’t you dare insinuate that I’m incapable of doing anything without my father pulling the strings in the background.”
He shakes his head, and my anger deflates. No doubt my father will hear about yet another high-strung, emotional outburst.
Like clockwork, my phone vibrates in my pocket, and I pull it out, stabbing the “answer” button.
“Valentina, why didn’t you call me after the meeting like I requested?”
“Dad, I literally just stepped into the house,” I huff, putting him on speakerphone. “I met them, they accused us of setting fire to their warehouse, and I told them we had nothing to do with it.”
“Hmm, and then?”
“Then…” I stutter.Then my brain went blank because the love of my life was sitting in front of me, smiling that crooked, dimpled smile.“I told them if they thought of retaliating for something we didn’t do, they would regret the day they were born.”
“That’s my girl.” Dad chuckles. I can hear the machines beeping in the background, and instantly feel bad for lying to him.
Technically, I’m not lying. I’m omitting an insignificant part of the truth.
“Dad, we had nothing to do with this, right?” I ask, forcing a hard edge into my voice.
While I don’t think my father would ever go after the Romanos, I can’t be sure. And I’m too smart to keep myself in the dark if I know it’ll bite me in the ass one day.
“No, we had nothing to do with it,” he says plainly, and there’s not a trace of a lie in his voice. “We’ve never had any contact with the Romanos, bad or good, and I’d like to think it’s best to keep it that way.”
“That’s basically what I told Enzo,” I agree, catching sight of Matilda running around the back garden like a bat out of hell. Uncle Alfonso chases her, throwing slushy snowballs at her legs while she shrieks with glee.
“Enzo?”
Shit. Fuck. Did I say that out loud?
“Right,” I confirm, refusing to elaborate.
“You didn’t meet with Rafael Romano?”
“Not exactly.”
“Who’s Enzo?”
I catch Uncle Luigi staring me down with a pensive look on his face. I shrug my shoulders like it’s no big deal.
Enzo is a common name. I have no idea why everyone is suddenly so concerned.
“He’s the new head of the Romano family,” I say vaguely. “Took over from Rafael, it seems.”
“Enzo Romano,” my father muses. “Never heard of him. Luigi? Look into that, would you? I want you to find everything you can about Enzo Romano.”
“It’s not Romano,” I whisper as Uncle Luigi confirms my father’s instructions. “It’s… Cavalli.”
“What?”
“No.”