Page 48 of Scorned Beauty

“And become your mistress?”

“No.” I closed the distance between us. “More.”

“Mistress and more come with expectations, remember?”

I stroked the side of her cheek and gave her a firm kiss on her mouth. Anything more and I wouldn’t be able to leave, but I had an emergency meeting at The Underground in an hour. I wasn’t supposed to be in New Jersey. “Just give me time to sort my shit together.”

“I’m serious, Dom. We’re over.”

I didn’t answer her because I had none. I didn’t make promises I couldn’t keep. It killed me to leave her, but making sure she had protection wasn’t up for discussion. I didn’t have time to argue with her. I called in a favor to an associate in the executive protection business. This had to be covert. Knowing Sloane, she wasn’t going to appreciate someone shadowing her.The De Lucci side of my family, including the Archers, had their hands full with whatever was going down with Luca.

Chapter

Thirteen

Dom

It wassix a.m. when I pulled into the penthouse. Fucking hell. Luca found Natalya. She had amnesia, so she couldn’t tell him who was behind her kidnapping yet. Our minds were reeling with this turn of events. After more than two years of obsessively searching for her, he’d finally brought her home. Emotions of grief mixed with hope were a palpable ache in my chest. Grief for the lost years, not only for Luca but for their son, Elias. Hope because I would finally see my uncle happy instead of barely existing for the sake of his son.

But the challenges were only beginning.

And it seemed I had another challenge awaiting me at the penthouse.

She texted me earlier.

Only close family had access to my residence.

Lucy was one of them.

She was waiting in the living room, watching Manhattan wake up.

She spun around when I walked into the foyer.

“Is it true?” she asked. “Zio Luca found Natalya?”

“Yes. Who told you?”

The Archers and De Luccis agreed to keep this information on a tight leash, and I was glad I went to Sloane before we all met at The Underground. And I lucked out that Sloane needed space from me. It would give me more breathing room to deal with the family.

“Mamma.” Lucy never outgrew the way my mother insisted on being called, and despite how my sister despised my mother’s dream of marrying us off to suitable families with noble bloodlines, the Italian word formotherstuck for my sister.

“You can’t share this with anyone, Lucy.” I shrugged out of my suit jacket and sprawled on the couch, drained.

“Don’t you think I know that?” she snapped and sat in the armchair across from me. I quirked a brow at her. She was in an oversized Georgetown sweatshirt over jeans. Her hair was in a ponytail, not the fancy twisted knot I usually saw her sporting.

“Are you staying?” I asked.

“Depends.”

I vented an irritated breath. “Out with it. I’m fucking tired.”

“I think I’m in trouble.”

“What trouble?” Lucy reminded me of Sloane. Aggravatingly independent. She finished law school but never took the bar exams. Instead, she mingled with the DC crowd and had her own friends in high places. Being a De Lucci opened many doors, but her friends were the fucking elitists I steered clear of. Lucy hated the violence that was associated with the mafia. She was on Pop’s side when I announced I was joining the crime family. She blamed our mother’s method of guilt-tripping for my choices. What my sister didn’t understand was I wouldn’t thrive like Matteo and Nico in the world of real estate and finance. I preferred backroom deals and blood oaths…okay, maybe notblood oaths. I liked making money. And I preferred if the government stayed the fuck out of it.

“A friend of mine, a lawyer, got killed last night.”

I leaned forward, my annoyance at my sister swiftly changing to concern. I trusted my instincts and Lucy’s. She handled her problems with her “I know a guy” routine. She knew that I knew that she was the go-to for the power players in DC for her ability to get information and dirt on people. A fixer's fixer. We just didn’t talk about it. I had security on her and Lucy was aware of this. She just didn’t want them tailing her like the Secret Service.