Page 7 of Betraying the Mafia Boss

It’s hard to believe everything will be okay when I’m up against a Mafia boss who has the only family I have left, but it’s oddly comforting to cry my heart out for the first time since I found myself in this mess and to hear someone telling me it will all be fine.

It doesn’t matter that I know nothing will be fine.

It doesn’t matter that my life fell apart when my grandmother went missing from the retirement home a month ago and I received the call I knew would change my life forever.

Elio Valentes has some scores to settle with the Romano’s, and he’s left it up to me to lead Vincent Romano to his trap in exchange for my grandmother’s life.

Chapter Three

Vincent

Dominic has the same look on his face as he’s always had for the last twenty-years or so. His eyes are narrowed on me as if he can read me the longer he stares at me.

I shift and let out a sigh. “What?”

It’s been an hour since I received his call and ten minutes since I’ve been sitting here waiting for him to finish going through a long list of emails and finally tell me why he called me here.

Don’t get me wrong, I love my brothers. So much so, I would give up both my kidneys for them. It’s the destructive path of the Mafia I don’t agree with, mostly because I see what it did to our parents, and I fear losing my brothers more than I fear anything else.

Marcus understands me somewhat. He thinks my fear is unreasonable but still, he tries to understand me. Dominic, on the other hand, thinks I’m weak and a complete coward. He believes I wouldn’t have turned out this way if he had been harder on me while I was growing up. We’ll never see eye-to-eye. He gets off on bloodshed. I get off on whiskey, pussy, and helping the needy.

“What have you been up to?” he asks, sounding like I’d be better off killing hundred men over the weekend than I am drinking with my friends at the strip club.

I swivel the leather and mesh chair I’m sitting on. My shoes are propped on his mahogany desk just because I want to piss him off.

I shrug. “Minding my own business. You should learn to do that.”

He smirks, then rests back and cracks his knuckles. “You’re an annoying piece of shit, you know that? You’re lucky you’re my brother.”

“Or you would have killed me. I’ve heard that since I was seven,” I retort, returning his smirk with one of my own. Despite the fact we don’t get along very well, I like to think Dominic and I are alike in many ways that don’t include the spilling of blood.

We’re both stubborn and temperamental. And we will do absolutely anything to see that our loved ones are safe. Just like I shed blood for the first time to protect my nephew, Lucas, years ago.

“Good. You need to remind yourself of that every day.” His smirk fades and I know he’s serious. “Now, what did you get up to over the weekend?”

“Is there a problem?”

He exhales, clearly exasperated. “I need you to be careful. Elio Valentes is still on the loose.”

Right. He is. “I don’t see how that affects me.”

“You’re a Romano and believe me, it affects you even more than it does me and Marcus. You’re not in the business with the rest of the famiglia, you’re vulnerable.”

My brow lifts. “You’re both more vulnerable than I am considering you both have wives and kids. I can hold my own.”

Dominic’s jaw clenches. “Just don’t go out of Luca’s sight and call me if there’s anything suspicious.”

I bite back my retort when I sense the genuine concern in my brother’s voice. “Don’t worry about me, brother. I’m good. How’re Elena and the kids?”

“They’re good, too,” he answers with a small smile, only a softening of the edges of his mouth.

“Tell Elena I’ll come over some time. I need to get a few toys for the kids and I’m sure Lucas misses playing video games with me.”

A warm smile spreads on Dominic’s face. “Playing video games with his Uncle Vincent is all he ever talks about. You need to come around soon.”

“I will.” It’s the charity event tonight. Between my ward rounds with the doctors and taking care of the children in the pediatric wards, I really don’t have much time to spend with my family, even though I miss them. “Is that all you called me for?”

“For now.”

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