Page 8 of Betraying the Mafia Boss

I frown, bringing my legs down from the table. “You know there’s something called a phone and you could have said all of this over the phone, right? Or did you miss seeing my face.”

“You wish. Get the hell out of here, man.”

I chuckle and push up from my seat. “Gladly.” I stop just when I reach the door and spin around. “Brother?”

Dominic looks up from his iMac. “What?”

“Stay safe and call me if you ever need me. I mean it.” Days like this one are when I believe I’m really not very different from my brothers, because I’ll burn the world down for the people I love.

Still, I’m better at taming my dark desires than they are.

My brother smiles. “Get out of here.”

I smile back at him, then turn around and leave. My white Mercedes is waiting for me in the parking lot of the skyscraper when I go down. It’s tinted, but I feel Luca staring at me from inside as I near it and slide in the driver’s seat.

“What took you so long?”

“Aren’t you my bodyguard? You don’t get to ask questions.” I press the start button on the car and put on my seatbelt as the engine grumbles to life beneath me.

Luca gives me a death stare. “I’m your friend, not your fucking bodyguard. I’m wasting all of my good years basically living in a hospital with you.”

Fisting the steering wheel, I navigate the car onto the busy road. It’s almost eight on a Monday morning so the road is crammed with cars and pedestrians in a hurry to reach their destinations.

“Oh, that. It’s really hard to remember you’re my friend when you report everything I do to my brother.”

Luca scratches his beards. “Common, he’s Capo. You know I can’t lie to him. I’m a dead man if I do.”

“What makes you think you’re not a dead man for ratting me out?”

“I’m the only friend you’ve got, man. Plus, you don’t have it in you to kill.” I glance away from the road briefly to look at him. “That one time was an exception.”

It’s twenty minutes later when the white hospital building looms in the distance. LifePlus is written boldly on the steel signboard hanging on the top floor. I pull over in the parking lot and climb out the car, slamming the door behind me.

Luca does the same, but unlike me, he has that displeased look on his face. He’d rather be anywhere but here. Not my fault he’s so loyal to his Capo.

“You know you can go do whatever you want and meet me here later, right?” I ask. I find him annoying sometimes, but he was right when he said he was the only friend I have.

The only other friend I ever had died in combat two years ago. And I couldn’t save him.

“As if.” He starts walking towards the entrance and I follow him.

I wave at the nurse at the reception desk and she flashes a wide smile at me. Her cheeks turn red and her eyes look as if Cupid just shot an arrow at her. Luca and I wait for the elevator and when it finally opens, I take a step toward it but I’m shoved backward when someone pushes past me.

Her scent invades my nostrils. It’s soft and sweet and flavorful. Like strawberries and vanilla.

“Hey!” Luca bites out with a thick Italian accent, planting a hand on his hip. “Learn some fucking manners, will you?”

Isabella turns around, her big brown eyes staring innocently at him. She’s wearing pink scrubs today, with a white turtleneck beneath it. A black tote is draped over her shoulder and the color compliments the black crocs on her feet. “What?”

Her voice is croaky and I can’t help noticing her eyes are red and puffy. Had she been crying?

“Are you okay?” It’s not my business if she’s been crying, but it seems I’m not in control of my emotions around her.

She crosses her arms over her chest and draws her brows together. “Is there a reason why you’d think I’m not?”

As expected, a woman like her would be defensive. She wouldn’t want to show pain or weakness in front of others. I don’t know if I’m proud of her in that moment, or if it annoys me. If something or someone hurt her, I want to know what or who it was and I want to make her feel better.

“Your eyes, they’re…”

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