Page 96 of Sins of the Orchid

“You better go before I change my mind and we spend all day in bed.”

My stomach fluttered.

“I wouldn’t mind that one bit,” I teased, then hurried back inside. I grabbed a few of my things and rushed into the shower.

CHAPTER30

Santino

Iwatched Amore disappear through the door and not long after, I heard the shower water running. I pictured her stripping off my shirt and those sexy boyshorts and had to fight the urge to go after her.

She was my temptation. My obsession. My addiction. My everything.

I crossed the line the second I landed in Italy. A better man would have come clean with Amore and ended this thing we had going. I was far from a good man. The wrong side of the law was where I was always meant to be. The Cosa Nostra was home. I thrived in it. I was exceptionally good at it too.

As I’d always known though, I was fucking selfish. I would have Amore as my wife, even if it meant war with the Bennetti family. I didn’t fear them. I gave the old man a chance to see it my way. He fucking refused. Starting a feud was the only thing left because giving up Amore wasn’t an option.

I had Renzo, Lorenzo, every New York lawyer on my payroll, and even Gabriel fucking Carrera digging for the contract that named the man she was promised to. So far nothing. I had governors, senators, and a shitton of high officials in my pocket due to their secrets. Yet, a single fucking name from a marriage contract could not be found.

The anger burned and twisted inside me. I’d lose my goddamn mind if any other man touched her. The war with the Bennetti’s would be the least of our worries.

I even had half a mind to ask Adriano to attempt digging for the information. But he’d tell her, and it was the last thing I wanted. Besides, I couldn’t ask him without revealing that Amore and I have been sleeping together since Pà’s funeral. And she wanted to tell him when he came to visit her in a few months. Face-to-face.

If the name was not found by then, I’d talk to him. Adriano had a keen way of digging up information.

Fuck!I would sleep better if the man was dead already. Then I’d sign that contract and countdown the days until Amore was mine.

My phone rang. It was Carrera.

“Yeah.” He better have a fucking name for me. I was worked up, my shoulders tense with pent-up need to get this obstacle eliminated. Until Amore’s intended lay dead with a bullet in his skull and the threat from the Perèz Cartel was eliminated, I wouldn’t rest.

“Did you know Amore was in Venezuela?” The question caught me off guard and surprise washed over me. The feeling was immediately replaced by a fear for her. She was safe, here with me right now, but the dread of what could have happened to her hit me straight in the center of my chest.

“No.” Amore hadn’t mentioned leaving Italy.

Why would she go to South America? The Perèz Cartel attacked her in the city and had been haunting her. She knew that; she acknowledged that much. Though the reason behind the attack remained a mystery. Amore wasn’t a threat to the Perèz Cartel. My gut feeling was telling me her father and grandmother knew why. It had something to do with the Andersons, I was sure of it.

“Is your source reliable?” I questioned him. Amore wasn’t reckless.

“Yes.”

“When was she there?”

“Last week.”

What the fuck was going on?

“Alone?”

He only hesitated for a fraction of a second, but it was enough for me to notice it and become suspicious. “I believe so.”

That was all it took to lose my trust. However, I wouldn’t let him know and acted as if I hadn’t noticed.

“Anything on the attacker?” I knew there was nothing. All my men were on it.

“No.”

“Okay, keep looking.” I ended the call. That man was the key to finding out the connection to the attacks on Amore. I just needed a fucking name. He was like a damn phantom.