Page 5

CHAPTER FIVE

ROYCE

Tires crunch against the gravel in the driveway as I rush to the door, hauling on my boots as fast as I can. It isn’t the sound of his arrival that has my heart racing—it was the woman standing in my kitchen warming up a bottle for our child.

A child I’m not supposed to have.

If Aiden walks through that door, if he sees Gia or Bianca, then this is all over. While there is no hiding this forever, I can hide it for now.

Allowing Aiden to find out before I’m ready to tell him costs me more than just the careful control I’m keeping over my secret.

I’d lose my family.

Aiden’s red sports car is similar to the color on the maple trees as autumn takes hold of the world around us. Some of the leaves are starting to turn brown, drifting down toward the ground as the breeze shakes them loose from their branches.

I have leaves I have to burn.

It’s not the best excuse, but it’s going to be enough to get Aiden to stay outside to talk instead of going in.

One of these days, I’m going to have to tell him the truth, but he’s not going to be happy when he finds out.

My sisters will all be thrilled. They love kids, but my older brother might disown me.

Although, if Gia does something to push me and I get rid of her before Aiden knows, then that’s one less factor to worry about. I could tell him that the child came from an affair. He would never have to know that Bianca is a Rinaldo.

The plan has some merit, but I’m not sold on it yet. There are too many moving pieces I haven’t assessed deep enough yet.

Aiden parks the car and gets out, tucking his hands in the pockets of his jacket. “It’s starting to get cold out.”

Nodding, I step down from the porch, jerking my chin in the direction of the backyard. “Let’s go back there and talk. I have some leaves and other yard trimmings that I need to burn.”

He nods, boots crunching on the leaves that cover the ground. “Sounds good. It’s not too horrible. You got some coffee, though? Had to set out before I had the chance to make more than one coffee.”

“Sure. You want to go rake some more leaves while I do that?”

Aiden hums to himself, already rounding the corner of the house.

As soon as he’s gone from sight, I hurry inside and shut the door behind me, nearly running into Gia as she comes out of the kitchen with Bianca and a bottle in her arms.

Bianca grins around the bottle when she sees me, shoving it away.

Gia glances out the window and stares at the new car sitting in the driveway. “What’s going on?”

“Aiden is here, and he doesn’t know about you.” I stride into the kitchen and over to the window that looks out at the backyard. “Stay out of the fucking way. If he sees you, this all goes to shit.”

Aiden’s back is to the house as he rakes up more leaves, adding them to the pile beside the burn barrel.

I start the coffee machine as Gia follows me into the room. Motioning for her to step out of the room, I follow her into the hallway that runs between the kitchen and the primary bedroom.

She scowls, shifting Bianca in her arms and catching the bottle before it can fall to the ground. “What the hell is your brother doing here? I thought I was being held hostage. Usually that means that there’s nobody other than the captor here.”

“I’m sorry, did you want to set the terms for being held captive?” I ask, sarcasm dripping from my voice. I crowd her, forcing her back against the wall as heat radiates from her body. “If you want to be the one to dictate how this is going to work, go ahead, but I thought I was being pretty humane.”

Her tongue darts out to wet her bottom lip, a rosy flush on the tops of her breasts. As she stands there, she keeps her mouth shut but there’s irritation shining in her eyes. If I had the time right now, I would teach her a lesson.

Unfortunately, I’m too busy trying to keep her alive until I decide what I really want to do with her.

The coffee maker whizzes as it finishes filling the pot.

“I have to go out there and talk to him, but he has no clue that I was ever involved with you and he has no clue about Bianca either. Which means that you need to go upstairs and stay away from the windows.”

The color drains from her face as she spins and heads for the staircase just off the living room.

I take a deep breath, combing my fingers through my hair before going to fill the coffee mugs and heading outside.

The scent of burning wood and leaves fills the air as I step outside, curls of steam wafting high from the mugs.

Aiden looks up from the fire. “We’re going to get snow soon. If you wait until then, you won’t have to burn the leaves. They’ll be all covered up.”

“I’m not burning all the leaves.” I hand him the mug and point to the leaves at the bottom of the trees that line the edge between my property and the woods. “Those ones are staying for the animals, but everything up here needs to go.”

“It’s a lot more effort than you need to put in.”

“I like burning the leaves.”

He sips his coffee, his nose wrinkling. “Why? You’re standing out here and staring at fire.”

“Smells good. Reminds me of the times that we all used to go upstate with Mom and Dad back when they were both alive. The girls all used to love it.”

“Skyla still spends most of the fall upstate.” A slow smile takes over his face as he looks at the leaves burning, but it goes away just as quick. “You know, Ellie and Sean are thinking about getting a huge place with a lot of land near Niagara Falls. I think Ellie has it in her head to run a vineyard.”

“Well, can you blame her?” I cup my mug with both hands, letting the warmth seep through my skin since the flannel I have on does very little to keep out the cold. “You’re being difficult about her marriage, even when you are happy for both of them.”

“I’m never going to think anybody is good enough for her. Even my best friend. The sooner Ellie figures that out, the easier this is going to be for all of us.”

“Have you ever just considered backing off and letting her live her life? She’s a grown woman with a husband. They’re going to start a family of their own soon, and then you’re really going to be given the boot.”

“I raised all of you.”

“I’m twenty-eight now too. I don’t need you the way I did when I was sixteen. Maybe it’s time that you start thinking about the fact that the girls aren’t going to need you the same way either. I mean, if you tried half of the shit you pull on Summer or Jade with Skyla, she would kill you.”

Aiden chuckles, but he’s falls somber quick. “It’s hard dealing with all of you growing up and settling down.”

“Whoa now. I didn’t say I was going to settle down.” I take another large sip of my coffee before stooping to scoop up more leaves with one hand and tossing them in the barrel.

“Sooner or later, you’re going to meet someone who makes you change your mind.”

“I doubt it. I’m happy with my life as it is. I have the family to look after.” Although, as I’m speaking, little bumps rise on my arms. I turn, the feeling of being watched making me suspicious.

Gia stares down at me from behind the curtain, the fabric fluttering shut the moment our eyes make contact. For a long second, all I can do is stare after her.

Of course she’s ignoring me.

Frustration has my fist clenching. I don’t know what the hell I’m going to do about her if Aiden sees her and decides he wants to talk to her.

“I’ve been thinking,” Aiden says as he glances at the house, “that it would be better to keep Gia in one of the cells.”

“I’m going to have to disagree with you. If we take her to the cells, you know that’s the first place Noah is going to come looking. The location of our holding cells isn’t a secret, but the safe houses are.”

Aiden finishes his coffee and sets the mug on the ground to grab more leaves. “Sean thinks that it’s stupid to keep her all the way out here, but then again, he’s itching for a fight after everything that happened.”

“All he’s going to think about is getting revenge for what happened to Ellie.” I shrug and watch the orange flames rise higher, smoke drifting away in little clouds on the wind.

“You’re right about that. And about the safe houses. Which means that a member of the family is going to have to stay with her. I don’t want anyone outside the inner circle knowing where certain safe houses are.”

“I’ll stay with her.”

He nods. “I was hoping you would say that. We have millions of dollars moving this week and I need Skyla in the city to clean and hide it all.”

“A little break from everything going on is just what I need.” I toss the last of the leaves into the fire. “Have you been able to track down Noah yet?”

“We started again as soon as you were out of the city. Matt went out and Sean sent Dominic again, but neither of them have been able to hunt down Noah or Jace. Other Rinaldos have been seen around the city, but those two are missing.”

I finish my coffee, letting the last of the heat scald my tongue. “I don’t like the sound of that. It’s been months. I’m sure they’ve replaced the people they lost at the warehouse.”

“Numbers we’ve been able to glean from one of the people we have planted within the Rinaldo operations are sounding like he has replenished, but the source also doesn’t know where he is, leaving us with another dead end.”

“He’ll turn up sooner or later.”

“And that’s what I’m afraid of. With no sightings of him or his inner circle, we’re going in blind. I don’t know what he’s planning or what he’s been up to. It’s a problem.”

“You’re running under the assumption that Noah is even willing to come to the table with you in the first place. His family came back because they want territory in New York again. Are you prepared to offer that?”

Aiden’s jaw clenches and he gives a tight shake of his head.

“So, if you aren’t willing to budge and you know that he’s willing to kill to get what he wants, what are you offering him?”

“Money. Power. New Jersey.”

Laughing, I shake my head and pace away from him. “New Jersey? What the hell makes you think he’s going to want New Jersey when he could have New York by slaughtering all of us? I think you need to take a harder look at what it’s going to take to bring this war to an end.”

“I never gave much thought to ending the war before. It’s seemed like something that has to continue. Dad wouldn’t want us to back down. Not after all that he did to get us where we are now.”

I scoff, tucking my free hand in my pocket, and watch sparks fly out of the barrel, only to die the moment they hit the dirt patch surrounding it. “Dad didn’t know what he was doing. We’re stronger now. We don’t need to be starting wars with Noah Rinaldo. In the grand scheme of things, he’s nothing and he’s never going to gain the power you have now.”

“Dad ran the family for decades. He wouldn’t want us to give up the fight with our oldest enemy.”

“And during that time, he did nothing to stop a fucking war. He sat back and allowed his family to be killed for the sake of a portion of the city.”

Aiden glances at the gold watch on his wrist. “I think it’s time I get going.”

“I think you’re right about that.”

For years, I didn’t give thought to the way our family fought with others to gain power and control. The countless bodies piling up at our door meant very little to me.

Now that I have a daughter to think about, I’m tired of seeing dead people. At least to some degree. We have other enemies lurking closer and the government is going to raid us one of these days. There are a million different things we have to prepare for.

At the end of the day, Noah Rinaldo seems like a small problem. Assassinate him and then we can stop waiting for him to attack. I won’t have to worry about how to protect my daughter from her uncle.

I don’t want her to have to know what it is to look over her shoulder every single day and worry that today may be the day she dies.

All I want is for Bianca to be able to look at her family and know that we’re in control of New York and that nobody is ever going to get to her. Not her uncle nor any of the others who would dare to challenge us.

And that means that Aiden is going to either have to wipe the Rinaldos from the face of the earth or he’ll need to strike an alliance with them.

I walk with him to his car, not saying a word until he’s opening the door. “You’re going to keep up the search for Noah, aren’t you?”

“Yes. I know that we need to find him. I’ll consider what you said about the negotiations as well.” Aiden rubs a hand on the back of his neck. “I know it’s going to take a lot to get Noah to come to the table, but I can’t give up everything our family has worked for either. Everything Dad attempted to do would go down the drain if I break up our territory.”

“Well then, you’re going to find yourself building your empire on ruins.”

Spinning, I head toward the backyard, grabbing the mugs before going into the house and putting them in the sink.

Gia appears at my side out of thin air. “Why did you volunteer to stay with me?”

I glance down at her for a moment, not sure what to tell her and what to keep to myself. I’ve already searched through her belongings and there’s nothing she’d be able to use to communicate with anyone else. She doesn’t know where we are even if she could talk to Noah.

Sighing, I shove away from the sink. “Because I did.”

“That’s not a reason and you know it.” She crosses her arms, pushing up her breasts and dragging the neckline of her shirt a little lower.

I open the fridge, pretending to dig for something so she can’t see the way the front of my jeans begin to tent. She’s playing a dangerous game and right now I don’t have the patience to be nice to her.

Not that she deserves the kindness either way.

Gia makes a strangled noise in the back of her throat. “You’re infuriating. I don’t see why it has to be you when someone else—someone more tolerable—could be here to watch me and Bianca.”

With a grimace, I turn, hand wrapping loosely around her throat as I pin her to the wall. It’s the only way I can keep her attention on my face instead of the way my traitorous body still craves her.

I trail my thumb over her erratic pulse, just long enough to remind her—and myself—of the power I still hold.

Her tongue darts out to lick her bottom lip, her gaze darkening as she looks up at me through half-hooded eyes. Her chest rises and falls as she holds her head steady. Defiance radiates from her, luring me in, making me want to teach her a lesson.

“You and I still have unfinished business.”