Page 35 of The Mastermind (Mafia Rivals #1)

CESARE

‘I’m taking the plane,’ I announced as I pulled out the dining chair and sat down. I placed my phone face down so I wouldn’t be tempted to look at the screen, only to pick it back up ten seconds later.

Crap, I should’ve left it in the bedroom. But I didn’t want to miss Maddelena’s next text. Especially if it showed signs of her changing her mind.

I was learning she had a habit of second-guessing herself and attempting to wriggle out of agreements hours after they’d been made.

Well, there was no light of day remorse and definitely no take-backsies on the eye-raising text she’d hit me with two hours after she left my hotel room last night.

Am I still in your crosshairs?

Is that impatience or surrender?

It’s a desire to disappear… for a while.

Are you asking me to take you somewhere, bedda?

A long pause before…

Would you?

Hell, yeah.

Yes. But a time, location and duration of my choosing. Agreed?

A shorter pause.

Agreed.

The euphoria that filled me then rivalled every race win so far.

Pack your bags. We leave in the morning.

I’d immediately put the plans in place. Hence the shocked faces staring back at me at the breakfast table.

‘What do you mean, you’re taking the plane?’ Dante asked.

‘I mean you’ll need to find your own transport home. You were going to have to anyway, since Rafa’s taking the other plane.’

‘But we were hoping to catch a ride with you,’ he replied, exchanging a horrified look with his twin.

‘So you want us to, like… fly commercial ?’ Renzo said that like it was a dirty word the nuns at Sunday school would’ve boxed his ears for as a kid.

‘That or take a fucking boat. Don’t give a fuck. You’re grown men. I’m sure you can work it out.’

Rafa, who hadn’t taken his eyes off me since my announcement, twirled his coffee cup. ‘And where exactly will you be taking the plane, if you don’t mind my asking?’

Compulsion dragged my eyes to the phone, then I met his gaze. ‘I do mind you asking, as a matter of fact.’

He tensed, his usually steady gaze sharpening as he tried to read me.

His eyes flicked to the twins, and I knew he was dying to get me alone so he could grill me.

I reached for a fat croissant, slathered it with butter and bit into it, relishing the decadence.

It tasted nowhere near as incredible as Maddelena’s pussy, but I planned on reacquainting myself with that sublime taste before noon.

I blocked out the twins’ grumbling about the inconvenience I’d dumped in their laps, pretty sure one of them would call Bibi within the next five minutes to whine about the injustice.

Rafaelle, however…

Sure enough, the second the twins leapt from the table to chase down our sister, he leaned back in his seat, propping one ankle on his knee. ‘What the fuck is going on?’ he asked with deceptive calm.

‘I’m taking a little detour before heading home.’

‘With her?’

My nostrils flared. ‘You know the answer to that so why are you bothering to ask?’

He exhaled audibly and stared into the middle distance for several beats before he glanced back at me.

‘What I’m about to say are words I thought would never cross my lips but…

aren’t you worried that all this… trysting will draw attention to her?

Have you thought at all about the danger you’re putting her in?

El Topo won’t take kindly to discovering you’re banging his granddaughter.

And that unhinged fucker will not hesitate to take his fury out on her as much as on you. ’

My gut clenched. Hard. Because it had crossed my mind. More than a few times. And my knee-jerk response to that was becoming set in stone. Which was that I couldn’t… wouldn’t let her go. And I would ensure she remained safe… while she was with me.

My shrug felt stiff and starchy. ‘They think it’s the other way around, that she’s leading me around by my dick. For now we… I’m letting them believe that.’

His brows spiked. ‘And then what?’

‘Let it go, brother. I’ll handle it. But keep the rounding up of the traitors quiet, would you? I don’t want the Mancinellis to know we’re onto them just yet.’

He frowned. ‘I’m a miracle worker, sure, but you’re assuming Stan Paul hasn’t blabbed by now.’

‘He’s a fucking coward. He’ll hunker down until the ship starts sinking.’

‘You’re basing a lot on assumptions, frate ?—’

‘And you’re bordering on disrespect. So enough already.

’ Yeah, I was pulling rank just so I didn’t have to hear the truth of what he was saying, which was that this particular racing car was headed straight for a concrete wall.

That at best I had a matter of weeks before it all unravelled.

Because I sure as shit wasn’t going to lose a race just so the Mancinellis would believe their moles were still in place.

And once Stefano realised Maddelena wasn’t the saboteur they wanted her to be, shit would truly hit the fan.

Rafa sighed. ‘Tell me you’re at a least bringing Fist with you?’

My mouth twitched into a grin. ‘He’ll hunt me down and smother me to death with those baseball-mitt fists if I don’t.’

Maddelena

I double-checked the hotel room out of habit for anything I’d left behind, even though the butler had been exceptional in his duties, including getting my things packed within half an hour of my informing him I would be checking out a day early.

The text I’d sent to Cesare on a desperate whim last night had set a wild chain of events in motion.

I didn’t realise the sheer lunacy of it or whether he would even be on board with it until he’d replied thirty seconds later, and my breath whooshed out before I burst out laughing with the hysteria trapped in my chest.

Even before the echo of Sofiya’s footsteps had faded I knew I wasn’t on board with simply handing myself over to my grandfather’s whims.

Not after what I’d learned.

Not after what Cesare had made me feel.

Whatever fate awaited me after this interlude of sui generis , I would either accept or rebel some more.

Funny, I hadn’t quite made up my mind which way I’d go.

But if Bonafacio was this blasé about losing the services of his moneywoman, reducing me to a faceless stranger’s housewife only good for breeding the next generation of Mancinellis, then he deserved a taster of what life would be like without me.

‘Your bags have been loaded and the car is ready for you downstairs, Miss.’

I examined my reflection in the giant living room mirror, checking for signs of the terror lurking within.

Outwardly, I looked calm and collected, my bold gold and white Dolce & Gabbana sundress showing off my lightly tanned shoulders, arms, and a respectable amount of cleavage. I straightened the tasteful hoop earrings and slid on oversized Celine sunglasses.

My shaky breath seemed to burrow all the way to my heels, and when I exhaled, out came a layer or two of fear.

Last night, Cesare had as much as admitted Liv Ivanovski was behind the sabotage, possibly with the full blessing of Bonafacio.

In a moment of panic, I’d wondered if that would be the end of his interest in me. Having him fall on me straight after, and gorging himself on me for hours after that, had allayed my panic.

But then he’d accepted my departure with zero complaint, merely lying back in bed, his powerful biceps flexing as he tucked his hands behind his head and watched me dress. Hell, he hadn’t even asked me when I intended to leave Singapore.

Was that why I made the insane proposal? Or had I played perfectly into his hands?

What the hell did it matter?

‘Thank you, Sam.’ I smiled, tucked my yellow Birkin into the crook of my elbow and followed him into the lift. If he was surprised my minders weren’t shadowing me, he didn’t show it.

I’d texted Sofiya an hour ago with a request for her to take care of them. I didn’t know how she had but I was grateful.

I plucked out my phone when I reached the ground floor. What I was doing was pure insanity but while I had a crumb of common sense left, I’d at least put some precautions in place.

When I spotted Cesare outside, leaning against his Bentley SUV, my footsteps faltered to a stop.

He looked menacingly divine in a black shirt opened at the throat and sleeves folded back to reveal those brawny hair-dusted arms that had pinned me so deliciously to his bed last night.

Black slacks and his customary Italian loafers completed the look.

Despite the busy foyer, his fierce gaze zeroed in on me. He clocked my hesitation, and his jaw rippled. Come to me , his gaze growled. Now .

One foot moved, the compulsion irresistible.

Shit, I was really doing this.

Resuming walking, I typed quickly before I lost my nerve.

I’ve decided not to head straight home.

I’m taking the week. Be in touch when I can.

Love you. Mx

With his sunglasses dangling from his fingers, he watched me with predatory focus, nodding at the phone I was slotting back into my purse when I reached touching distance. ‘Who was that?’ he growled.

‘I was texting my sister.’

One corner of his mouth tilted. ‘What’s the point? You don’t know where I’m taking you. And I’m thinking you’ve either turned off your phone or are about to, so you can’t be reached?’

It was scary how intuitive he was. But then I shouldn’t have been surprised. That single-minded precision and instinct had won him two championships. And if he’d indeed succeeded in flushing out his traitors, he could win a third. ‘No comment,’ I quipped.

He straightened, waved Fist away and opened the back door himself.

‘Get in the fucking car,’ he rasped. His hand slid from the small of my back to my ass when I didn’t move fast enough, squeezing the flesh he’d spanked before helping me up.

‘Now, bedda .’ My gasp earned me a wicked grin. ‘That’s for sassing me.’