Page 37 of Mafia Scars

“No way. Just checking on you because I figured you might have for curiosity’s sake.”

“Not even for that, man.”

“I think you should come join me. My bike’s going to be ready in twenty minutes. I just did the paperwork.”

“I think I’ll hang out here for a while. Let’s meet in about two hours if nothing goes wrong.”

“God, you’re so negative.”

“Keeps me on my toes.”

“Whatever, I’ll see you in two hours.” He hung up.

I put my phone back in my pocket and rested my hands on the cool surface of the metal rail that ran along the balcony.

It was beginning to look like today would be another fruitless day.

I hated not knowing what was happening. I hated living on the edge of uncertainty.

At least though… I got to see Amelia. I wasn’t staying away anymore. Last night was amazing, as was the night before, and the one before that too.

She was the kind of woman who made me want to think of the future.

Shemade me think of the future.

I saw me doing different things. Not dead somewhere in the dirt when I finally got what was coming to me.

But… there was a big but.

I didn’t know if she really wanted to be with me. I’d never force her.

When you went against your nature, it was bad.

I hated being a cop, and I knew there were parts of the way I carried myself that didn’t fit into my world either.

The way I hated killing. The way I tried to keep things as legit as possible. I told the boys it was because I didn’t want the feds snooping around us, but really, I wanted to try to keep us clean.

I wanted to be clean.

Maurice knew me. He’d suggested the other week that we could clean up completely. Raphael had definitely made a good sweep of everything, but there was too much tangled up in the business that was above me.

Presidents and notable people of that caliber always did business with us. Our connections were worldwide and national. We were able to do any- and everything, and because real estate was an area where vast amounts of money came pouring in, it was easy to move money without it being seen and record it against the business.

Even non-monetary items came our way. Heads of state wanting to move illegal artifacts, or the sale of such things, all came to us because we could do it.

The business was the kind that did the impossible because of all the connections we had.

It was fascinating to me. I craved the leadership role, owning it all and having all that power.

Then I met her, and meeting her scrambled my brain.

Right now, the only thing I was certain of was that I wanted her. That’s it.

And to have her, I couldn’t want the business either. I just hadn’t gotten my head around it yet.

The phone buzzed in my pocket, and I answered it thinking it was Claudius.

“What’s up?” Maybe he forgot something.