Page 5

Chapter 5

Massimo

The abject terror on Nova's face when she sees the guards should be the fucking cherry on top of this goddamn sundae.

Instead, unease swirls in my gut. Which I promptly ignore.

Nova should feel terror and realize that she won't be allowed to leave until I deem it so.

I haven't decided when or how yet; I was planning on letting Nova have a role in dictating her fate. It all depends on her behavior during her captivity, and once she sheds her skin to reveal her true self, that will dictate whether she's still actually breathing after I kill her father.

The Mancini empire will be destroyed—nothing will be left for her or her brothers if they're allowed to live. But I'm not a heartless monster. If Nova proves not to be the absolute bottom-of-the-barrel, slithering creature like her father, she might still draw breath once this is over.

But I watched her double down on her acting skills during the drive to my home. She's more determined than ever to keep her true self hidden from me—and that pisses me off.

Fuck her for trying to feign weakness and innocence. She's wearing a mask to hide that's she's a venomous viper, hiding behind deceptive compliance. She's hiding behind her walls, trying to play me for a fool .

After what Lixin and Amazu did, how they played me, Ash, and Dom—the other Chamber leaders—for fools, that will not happen again. I won't fucking allow it.

Rage claws at my insides .

Knowledge of Lixin and Amazu's betrayal is less than twenty-four hours old, but I'm unsure if it will ever abate. They weren't my friends; however, they were my allies and ones my father, family, and I trusted. The Chamber has been in place for years—it was the brainchild of my father and the then-leader of the Triads. Its purpose was to stop the warring and bloodshed amongst the top five strongest criminal factions in San Francisco—the Santoro family, the Triads, the Havoc Guardians motorcycle club, the Fire Clan, and the Saints. It forms a collective alliance where we could protect each of our assets and grow our power and wealth at the same time.

Over the decades of operating, the Chamber had grown the wealth and strength of our five factions, and several other smaller criminal entities had benefited as well. The Chamber has an oversight and protection role it's come to play, one we take very seriously.

Lixin and Amazu's scheming and treachery would've destroyed the Chamber and the Santoros—and it could have opened the floodgates for human trafficking.

They made a fool of me for not suspecting their treachery. Hell, I hadn't even been the one who initially suspected them—it was Vito, after putting pieces together trying to protect Eden.

I wouldn't make the same mistake twice. Nova Mancini, the Mancini Princess, the snake's spawn. She wouldn't pull the fucking wool over my eyes. I see her trying to hide who she really is.

And I'll crack her wide open like a nut to see her dark and slithering insides.

Gabe drives us up the driveway lined with tall, thick trees that hide the large house from the street. My home sits on three massive lots, which allows for expansive grounds, but more importantly, it situates the house in the middle so it's easily guarded from all angles. Like my family's estate, it is fortified and guarded by technology and humans.

I inwardly smile when the house itself comes into view, knowing that to Nova, it's as imposing and overwhelming as the impenetrable wall surrounding the property. It's elegant and cold with intimidating strength—much like me .

Only Gabe’s six hand-picked men are allowed in the house; the rest of the guards are stationed along the perimeter. The house staff have been given paid leave, leaving only Jerome, my butler and majordomo, onsite. He loves to cook, so he'll easily be able to feed the Mancini Princess, Gabe, me, and the guards rotating on shifts. He'll call in some of our cleaning staff periodically when he knows Nova won't be seen by them.

I step out of the vehicle and head to the trunk, just as Gemma scrambles around the back to join me. Gabe sees her and moves to Nova's side of the vehicle in case she tries to make a run for it. She wouldn't get far, but still.

I let Gemma see my displeasure. She knows how this works, yet her face is etched with concern.

"Massimo." She grips my forearm.

I shrug her off. "Which luggage pieces are yours?"

Gemma isn't staying here; she'll be staying at my family's estate, surprising them with her visit.

"Massimo." She grips my arm again and yanks to make me look at her. "Fucking stop for one second."

"No," I grit, then school my face back to being unreadable.

"She didn't fight. Not once," Gemma says in a rush. "She didn't even ask questions."

"So she was the perfect captive. Good to hear." I look at Gabe standing by the back passenger door. Nova hasn't gotten out of the vehicle yet, and that makes me angrier.

Spoiled, pampered princess sitting there like we're here to serve her, at her beck and fucking call, waiting for the door to be opened for her. Probably expects one of us to carry her in as well.

Fuck that.

"She's not acting." Gemma's nails dig into my forearm through my suit. "She's—"

"What?" A malicious spike of rage pushes through. "Kind? Sweet? Innocent? You're being played , Gemma. Now, which luggage pieces are yours?" I point at the three large ones and a duffel bag.

Her throat works as she swallows her frustration. "All of them except the duffel bag."

"I thought you said the princess packed?" According to Gemma, Nova was supposed to be flying back to Boston today, where she'd be married off to form an alliance with the French mafia.

Dark satisfaction fills me that I've fucked with Mancini and stopped that alliance from occurring.

"That's all she had," Gemma insists. "The rest was left in the closet at the hotel."

Annoyed anger ripples through me. Thousands of dollars in designer clothes—I'd seen the pictures of how she dressed—and she probably would only wear them once. It was beneath her to wear something twice. The horror.

Entitled. Spoiled. Princess .

I jerk the duffel bag out of the trunk and toss it to Gabe. At my curt nod, he opens Nova's door, and she finally steps out.

Gabe isn't quite as large as I am, but he's still a big guy. Nova looks ridiculously small, made even more so by how she curls in on herself, keeping her head down.

The size disparity and the way she looks so helpless and fightless boils my anger over, and I can't keep my face unreadable any longer.

Nova glances up at me through lowered lashes and pales when she sees the look on my face. Her eyes dart to the six guards who are getting out of their SUVs. Her lower lip trembles, and she quickly looks away.

A-list actress right here.

Gabe nudges her to start walking, and she walks ahead of him without a word or any resistance. I follow behind Gabe with Gemma hot on my heels.

The tall, solid mahogany door swings open, and Jerome steps to the side. He inclines his head at Nova, not saying a word. If he disapproves of what I'm doing, he doesn't show it. But Jerome has been with my family for years—the activities in the Don's house never seem to phase him.

We enter the sprawling foyer, its polished marble floors gleaming beneath a large crystal chandelier that hangs between the front door and the curving staircase.

Gabe nudges Nova toward the staircase, knowing the room prepared for her—her new gilded cage—is upstairs .

My anger gets the best of me, though, and my monstrous cold side wins. It's the certainty that Nova is pulling a con, trying to make a fool of me, so she can hide, waiting to sink her fangs in—and that she's completely duped Gemma—that makes me stop Gabe.

"Not upstairs. Downstairs."

Gabe stops mid-stride, looking at me in surprise. There's a question in his eyes, but wisely, he doesn't challenge me. He's my best friend, yes, but I'm the Don. My word goes.

"Leave her bag."

Gabe drops the duffel bag on the floor, then leads Nova toward the back of the house to the locked stairwell that goes down to the basement.

Nova trembles but doesn't protest.

I want to smile like a deranged psycho, thinking that the princess thinks it's just a different bedroom—probably not even considering that I'd put someone like her in the equivalent of a cell.

I jerk my chin at the discarded duffel bag. "Please get rid of that, Jerome."

"Sir? To the room prepared previously or in the trash?"

"To the bedroom," I say tightly.

Jerome takes the bag and walks up the stairs. I head toward my office down the hallway on the left side of the staircase. Gemma's shoes clicking on the marble floor tell me she's right behind me.

"Massimo."

I keep walking and enter my office, heading straight for the beverage cart. Yes, I know it's not even nine in the morning, but I've been up most of the night trying to put everything in place for my princess captive and calling in the favors required to keep Vito and Eden's future safe and secure. I pour a vodka on ice and sip it while staring out the window at the garden maze.

Gemma shuts the door. "Massimo."

"Would you like a drink?" I turn to her.

She crosses her arms and glares at me. "Will you listen to me?"

"I'm all ears." I sit in the chair behind my desk. I'm itching to fire up the cameras in the basement room to watch my little captive's reaction.

"You're a dick. "

"So you've said."

Gemma glares at me and sits in a chair on the other side of my desk. "You're making a mistake. Don't handle her this way."

"You're being played, Gemma. Now go meet Gabe at the front door; he'll drive you to the estate."

"Don't fucking dismiss me."

"Don't presume you can tell me what to do," I snap, my calm and control slipping. All because of the snake's fucking princess. She's already slithering her way into my head and under my skin; she's already poisoning things here. "This isn't Italy, Gemma. This is my territory."

She leans back in the chair, regarding me with guarded eyes. "You're the Don here, the almighty powerhouse. I know that, Massimo. But—"

"I won't be fooled, Gemma," I say coldly. "And that princess." I point at the door. "That snake's fucking daughter is hiding who she truly is."

Gemma's expression softens. "Mass, what happened with Lixin and Amazu wasn't your fault."

"I didn't say I was shouldering the blame." I sip my drink, then set it aside as it curdles my stomach.

"No, but it's coloring how you look at this. Just listen to me, okay? The girl I met and hung out with in Italy isn't the one you think she is."

"She's playing you, Gemma."

She shakes her head. "I approached her, remember? Nova had no idea who I was; why would she lie and pretend otherwise? She wasn't anything like how Mancini portrays her to the world; she was fun and humble. She's so fucking nice and kind—a panhandler asked her for change, and she bought the guy an entire meal and sat and talked with him while he ate it. Neither you nor I would've ever done that."

I lean back in my chair, resting my ankle on my opposite knee. "So she's an entirely different person than the one on the car ride here."

"Yes, she's—" Gemma snaps her mouth shut, realizing what I did.

"So you're admitting that she's not being the same person. That's she hiding who and what she is."

"That's not what I meant. Stop twisting my words. "

I smile, but it doesn't make Gemma relax. "Go and visit the family, Gem. Mamma will be very pleased to see you. Did you hear that Sophie and Creed are expecting? Oh, and you'll be able to meet Eden, too."

As long as I can keep her and Vito safe so they don't have to go on the run.

The work of being Don is never finished.

"Massimo." Her blue eyes glisten when she sees my resolve. I've only seen Gemma cry once, and that was when Gabe was bleeding out after saving us. "Don't do anything you'll regret."

"Go, Gemma," I order stiffly.

She rises and walks to the door but turns back to me. "You know what she said to me on the plane?" She doesn't wait because it's a rhetorical question. "One hell to another. One trapped cage to another. One monster to another."

My jaw flexes.

"You're not a monster, Massimo." Gemma's eyes glisten even more. "Don't prove her right."

I stare at the closed door long after Gemma leaves.