Page 26 of Scorned Beauty

“By offering me on a silver platter?”

“You’re not in a relationship with anyone. You’re a don. You need a wife, and it’s time for you to get married and give me grandchildren.”

I exhaled a heavy breath and glanced at Sera. “Now would be a good time to chime in.”

“Oh, I don’t know. I’m not the one promised to a bratva princess, and it would be nice to get the properties back.”

“Thanks, cuz,” I grumbled. Unknown to my mother, Sera and I had discussed the villas owned by the Russians, but I was hoping Grigori Petrov would be my solution. My mother didn’t know that the Russians were using it for their sex parties. According to my contacts, those properties were under scrutiny from the feds for sex trafficking. That was why Grigori had put that business on ice under orders from his pakhan.

So Grigori was a problem and a solution.

He could convince his boss to let the problematic villas go in exchange for business with the De Luccis. That was my reason for being at his poker game last Friday with one of my entrepreneur friends. Unfortunately, hotheads prevailed during the game and a guest of his had a problem with mine. I intervened, but I ended up getting knifed. However, it was Kolya who took care of their problematic guest.

According to Sonny, Grigori had been inquiring about my welfare, worried the bloody poker game would turn me off from continuing to bring him high-profile players.

Sloane hadn’t been part of the plan. Admittedly, it was stupid of me to follow her and proposition her, but I always had a hard-on for the enigmatic mob cleaner. I simply never acted on the attraction until last Friday. In my blood-deprived head, I thought if I had her once, I could move on and tell Sandro Rossi that going after Grigori Petrov was a bad idea.

You see, Sandro came to me and floated the idea about getting rid of Grigori, so Billy, Sloane’s lowlife brother, would get free of the Russians, and therefore free Sloane from the bratva’s clutches.

And therein lay my dilemma. I needed Grigori’s support so I could avoid marrying into their organization. It was not in my best interest to have him whacked.

Sleeping with Sloane was a complication I didn’t need.

“I hope you’ll think about family since the holidays are near.” Ma excelled in sensing my guilt and had a way of piling on top of it. “Find a way to bring Lucy home for Thanksgiving, but especially Christmas.”

“She’s busy playing fixer in DC,” I said dryly. “Besides, she’ll respond more to Pop than to you or me.”

Ma huffed. “Then convince your zio Luca to come visit with Elias.”

“Sera is more convincing with him than I am. Besides, she can use Gio to entice Luca as a playmate for Elias.”

“I’m visiting him for the New Year,” Sera told my mother. “I want to be around the De Luccis this time for Christmas, but I’ll see if I can convince him.”

Ma’s face crumpled. I grabbed the tissue dispenser and passed it to her. She sniffled and dabbed her eyes. Even though Luca was thirty-seven years old, he would always be Ma’s baby brother. We’d flown to Chicago the past two Christmases to show him support. Luca had been a wreck after Natalya disappeared, and if it wasn’t for his son, Elias, he would have gone down a dark, destructive path to seek retribution. Two years had passed. Life had moved on, yet for Luca, it hadn’t. He was still looking for Natalya, which reminded me, I needed to get with Trevor, my intel guy, with information he’d gleaned from an asset that maybe, just maybe, Luca was not crazy and Natalya was alive.

A chill ran down my spine.

I sat beside my mother and put an arm around her. “If Sera won’t be able to convince him, then I’ll give it a shot and let him know he has a second family with us.”

“Grazie, figlio mio,” Ma whispered. “I just worry about him.”

“You worry too much about everyone,” I told her gently. I continued to comfort my mother as my eyes met Sera’s across the room.

She nodded at me.

She would call Luca, and if she failed to convince my uncle to come to New York for Christmas, then I would step in. If I had to, I would fly to Chicago and physically put Luca on a plane.

It was Christmas.

The bonds of family clamped around my chest and I waited for the usual suffocating tightness, but it didn’t come.

I wondered if my weekend with Sloane was simply that. A relief from the power of my position, but I didn’t have time to dwell on that thought.

Duty called.

Chapter

Eight