Page 31 of Mafia Mistress

“A friend. It’s not important.”

“It is important.” I slapped the desk with my palm. “You have a job, you do it. You don’t leave two idiots to do it instead so you can go get some pussy.”

His cheeks flushed as defensiveness settled in the lines of his face. “It wasn’t about pussy. It was a friend.”

I smothered an aggravated sigh. He was clearly lying. No one would leave their responsibilities for a football match and beer with a friend. “You have to set an example, Giulio. As a Ravazzani, you have to be better than the rest. More loyal, more bloodthirsty, more accountable. One day, this will be yours and the men must both fear and respect you.”

“I know, Papà. You’ve told me this since I was old enough to hear it.”

“And yet I am missing four hundred grams of uncut cocaine.”

“I will get it back.”

“No, you won’t. I will handle this with Gratteri. You will pretend nothing is amiss.”

“What will you do to Sergio and Rocco?”

“I haven’t decided. But stealing from the ’ndrina cannot be tolerated. You know this.”

A muscle jumped in his jaw but he didn’t plead for the other two men. It wouldn’t do any good anyway because I made the decisions in this family. If I decided to kill them for stealing from me, there was nothing Giulio could do or say to stop it.

I couldn’t help but ask about last night. “How was dinner?”

“Fine.”

“Marco said you took her to a club after.”

“Yes.”

One word answers? He knew how much I hated that. “Did the two of you get along?”

Did you fuck her after?

“Of course. I like her a lot.”

I tapped my pen on the desk and tried to resist stabbing myself in the thigh with it. “Good. She’s choosing a wedding dress today, but I want your crew out making collections. We need to clean up the books before crimine.”

“I heard. Are we done here? I haven’t had breakfast yet and I need to get going.”

I nodded once and he left quickly, leaving me feeling unsettled. Something about his “friend” bothered me. Who was this woman he was seeing, one who caused him to go against orders? I would need to find out and put a stop to it. Giulio’s first and only priority needed to be this family.

Marco came in a few minutes later and I filled him in. My cousin appeared as confused as I felt. “That’s not like Giulio, to leave a job for some random woman. He’s never one to play with the girls at the clubs or the waitresses. He’s always very respectful. Never even accepts a blow job.”

I hadn’t ever worried about who Giulio was fucking before, but now it had interfered with business. Which meant I had to get involved. “Let’s find out who she is. Have him followed for a few nights. Discreetly.”

“All right.”

I rubbed my eyes, exhausted and weighted down by responsibility. Some days this life threatened to drag me under, to steal the little slice of humanity I still possessed.

But I knew nothing else. I’d been raised from birth to sit exactly in this chair and direct one of the biggest criminal empires in Europe. And I was fucking good at it. My gut told me something was off with Giulio—and I wouldn’t rest until I found it.

“Did you sleep last night?” Marco asked.

“Three hours or so.” It was the usual amount. I hadn’t had a good night’s sleep since I was fourteen years old.

“Rav, you can’t keep going like this. You’ll have a heart attack at your desk.”

“Then I’ll expect you to cry at my funeral.”

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