Page 15 of Unrelenting (Ruthless Temptations #1)

THIRTEEN

Lorenzo

When I wake, everything around me is dark. I reach out to turn on the light but can’t find the lamp on the nightstand.

Realizing I’m not in my own bed, I fumble around until I discover a switch embedded in the wooden headboard. I turn it on and immediately screw my eyes shut as harsh light illuminates the room.

It takes a minute before I can open my eyes fully and examine my surroundings.

As soon as I’m able to focus, I recognize this as one of the guest bedrooms in Damiano’s house. I need a moment to remember why I’m here and not at home or, better yet, in Lucia’s bed.

Slowly it comes back to me. That shitshow of a wedding. The attack. Shit. I was injured.

Reaching up, I run my fingers tentatively along my forehead. There’s a row of stitches there. I don’t remember someone patching me up. It seems like I was really out of it for a while. I need to get up, so I swing my legs over the edge of the bed and push to my feet.

At first I’m unsteady, wobbling like a toddler taking his first steps. I soon get myself under control.

As I head for the door, it occurs to me I should put some clothes on before I walk through the house, but I’m eager to find my brother and ask him how I ended up here.

I walk downstairs, encountering Damiano’s housekeeper, Lina, on the way. She doesn’t bat an eyelash at my state of undress. In this house, the staff have learned to mask their reactions and mind their own business.

“Lorenzo,” she greets me with a motherly smile. Lina is in her late fifties and has an ever-expanding brood of grandchildren to dote on, but she still fusses over Damiano and me.

“Is my brother home?”

“He’s in the dining room.”

I nod my thanks and make my way along the corridor to the left of the staircase. The stone floor is cold beneath my feet.

My brother’s house is a lot grander than my apartment. It has east and west wings, servants’ quarters in the attic and a basement with actual dungeons.

Built during the Renaissance, it was home to one of the families who ruled Florence when it was a city state. I suppose it’s more of a palazzo than a house.

Damiano has tried to persuade me to move in here. He has a vision of us raising our respective families under one roof. I’m not opposed to the idea.

There’s plenty of space and extensive gardens for kids to roam free. It would help strengthen family bonds for the next generation, and we could guarantee each other’s safety more easily.

But I won’t contemplate it unless Gabriele comes too. Although he’s distanced himself from us in the last couple of years, he’s still our brother. He belongs at our side.

When I reach the dining room, an opulent ode to excessive wealth with its velvet drapes and gold chandeliers, Damiano is sitting alone at the head of the table, which seats twenty-four people.

Though I doubt he feels it, he cuts a lonely figure, like the flawed hero of some Victorian novel.

“You’re awake,” he observes as I drop onto the seat to his right. There’s a dish of spaghetti pomodoro on the table along with a basket of freshly baked bread. I can smell its yeasty goodness. “Do you want some dinner?”

Not waiting for my response, he clicks his fingers. His butler, Gianni, emerges from the shadows. Creepy bastard. I swear the man isn’t human. Damiano seems able to conjure him from thin air.

“Bring a plate for my brother.”

Gianni bows, then goes to the cabinet at the side of the room to fetch a porcelain plate and some silverware. As he sets it down in front of me, I look up at his wizened face. “You know, I could have got that myself.”

“It’s my job,” Gianni says in his nasally voice before fading into the background once more.

Grabbing the silver tongs, I serve myself a heap of spaghetti. My stomach growls as the aroma of fresh garlic and tomato hits me. Damiano’s cook, Tomasso, is incredible. He’s not as good as Lucia, of course, but still up there among the best in the city.

“How long have I been out?” I ask as I take my first bite of the mouth-watering pasta.

“Forty-eight hours, give or take.”

“Shit.” I didn’t expect it to be so long. A lot can happen in forty-eight hours. I glance over my shoulder. “Where’s Olivia?”

“Sulking in her room.”

That’s nothing new. “Why? What’s bugging her ass now?”

Damiano pours me a glass of water, then takes a sip of his wine. I guess it’s not sensible for me to have alcohol right now, but it pisses me off that he didn’t give me the choice.

“We’re taking her home the day after tomorrow.”

“We are?” Though I’m not opposed to taking a trip to New York, I would prefer to be consulted rather than informed about our plans. I have a life of my own, after all.

Damiano nods. “She’s getting married at the end of the week.”

My eyes widen. “You’re shitting me. Piotr proposed?”

Damiano chuckles. “I’m not sure proposed is the right word. He took her out to your girlfriend’s restaurant and by the end of the night, she had his ring on her finger.”

That reminds me, I really need to call Lucia and let her know why I’ve not been around the last couple of days. I left her place in a hurry the other morning. She’s probably wondering what’s going on, if I’m ghosting her.

“Where’s my phone?”

“In my office. I didn’t want it disturbing you while you recovered.” Damiano grins. “Your girlfriend’s been blowing it up today. I think she’s mad at you.”

Dropping my cutlery, I get to my feet.

“Where are you going?” Damiano asks.

“To grab my phone. I need to speak to Lucia.”

Damiano shakes his head.

“No, you need to sit your ass down and eat. You’ve been out of it for two days. Another few minutes won’t make any difference.”

He’s right. I sit down and grab my fork. I twirl it in my spaghetti and take a big bite. Then, I take a chunk of bread from the basket. It’s soft and still warm from the oven. I mop up a little sauce with it and pop it in my mouth. Delicious.

“Who patched me up?” I ask.

“Gianni.”

I suppress a shudder at the thought of the butler’s long, bony fingers touching me.

“He did a good job,” Damiano says. “Shouldn’t leave much of a scar.”

“Shame. I hear the ladies love a scar.”

“Tell that to our brother.”

I curse myself inwardly for my flippant comment.

Gabriele is having a hard time adjusting to how he looks since he was wounded in an ambush. He’s barely emerged from his villa outside of Rome since it happened.

Lately, he hasn’t even been going to hospital appointments, according to his housekeeper, who reports back to us.

“I shouldn’t have said that.”

Damiano waves off my regret with a flick of his wrist.

“So, has anything else happened while I was out?” I ask.

“Matteo and Giulia made up.”

Of course they did. A forced wedding and a shootout were clearly just bumps on the road for those two.

“Oh, and some lawyer visited your girlfriend.”

“What?”

“The backers of the restaurant next door want to buy her out. I believe she’s quite upset. She thinks you’re behind it.”

“What the fuck?” I slam my fork down on the table. “You should have told me that straight away.”

Damiano shrugs. “You wouldn’t have eaten your dinner if I’d led with that.”

“Damn right I wouldn’t have.”

Pushing to my feet, I storm from the room and head along the corridor toward Damiano’s office.

When I get there, I key the code into the security panel. One-Nine-Seven-Three. It’s the year our mother was born. It doesn’t work.

I try again, but all I get is an angry bleep telling me I’ve got the code wrong. I’m about to go back to demand Damiano tells me the correct number when he reaches past me to key in the code.

“I changed the number. One-Zero-Zero-Four.”

That’s the date he killed our old man almost fifteen years ago. “Why?”

Damiano shrugs. “I fired a maid and had to change all the security codes. I thought it was fitting to pick the date I became boss.”

The date he became boss by putting a bullet in our father’s head. It seems fucking macabre if you ask me, but of course he didn’t.

As the door swings open, I storm over to Damiano’s desk and start rummaging through the papers, looking for my phone.

“Top drawer,” he says.

I retrieve the phone and see Damiano is correct. Lucia has been blowing up my phone. There are dozens of voicemails, but I go to the text messages first.

“Fuck you, Lorenzo, it’s over.” I read aloud. “Fuck you, Lorenzo, you’ll never get your hands on Gianetta’s.” I scroll to the next one. “Go fuck yourself, you two-faced prick.”

Damiano smirks. “Seems like she really wants you to fuck yourself.”

“Fuck your self,” I snarl. “How did you know a lawyer visited her?”

“She yelled at Daniele when he went to take her home.”

Of course, she did. I can just imagine my little kitten spitting out her rage at him.

“Do we know who this lawyer is or who he’s working for?”

Damiano shrugs. “I’ve got someone looking into it. My best guess is it’s the Rossinis. It seems her ex is due to get out of prison any day now. Fucking Lucia over could be a welcome home gift for him.”

“I’m going to kill every last one of them.” Taking Damiano’s spare gun, a Glock 47, from the desk drawer. I go to tuck it into the back of my pants and realize I’m still in my underwear.

“You’re not killing anyone.” Damiano holds a hand out for the gun. To avoid argument, I give it to him. It’s not like I don’t have my own armory at home. “Not until we have proof it’s them.”

I stew over that for a minute and then nod.

“Yeah, okay.”

As much as I hate to admit it, Damiano is right. I need to be sure the Rossinis are the ones trying to buy Lucia out before I act against them. I barge past Damiano and head along the hallway toward the door to the garage.

“Where are you going?” he calls after me.

“To see Lucia, and I’m taking one of your cars.”

“You don’t want to have a shower first?” he asks. “Maybe put on some clothes?”

Damn it. I hate my fucking brother sometimes because once again he has a point. After being in bed for so long, I smell kind of ripe.

Changing course, I head for the stairs instead. Damiano’s amused laughter follows me as I make my way to my room.

If I didn’t have places to be, I’d go back and punch the asshole in the face.

For today, he gets a reprieve. The most important thing right now is Lucia. I have to see her and set her straight.