Family is everything to me. I’d run through fire for my parents and my younger brother, Nico.
I did.
I ran through the fire that consumed my parents’ home ten years ago, after someone my father thought of as a friend set it ablaze. It wasn’t enough to save my mother from being paralysed from the waist down or my father from dying from smoke poisoning.
That’s a lesson I’ll never forget. The smaller my circle, the better I can protect them. I don’t trust anyone outside of Nico and my mother; everyone else is a traitor in disguise or will die by associating with us, and I don’t need more heartbreak in my life.
Losing my father almost broke me, but that’s irrelevant to Lewis. He wants tangible proof, not the emotions I keep locked tight in a vault in my chest no one can get access to.
“If I get a wife, you’ll back me?” I ask, the cogs already turning in my head.
“Of course. I would like nothing more than to further your political career, my friend.”
Years of training keep me from recoiling at the endearment.
“Thank you for your time. I’ll be in touch.”
I stand and leave in a hurry, people giving me a wide berth on my way out, my mood radiating off me in waves.
When I’m outside, I pace back and forth in front of my ride, pulling at my roots. I do a mental check of every candidate but come up empty. The underground families of West Hill wouldn’t be too happy with the spotlight of politics, the socialites would do everything to lock me down with a babe. No way I’m bringing a kid into this fucked up world.
“Fuck,” I groan into the ether.
My phone rings with a call from someone I wish I’d never have to deal with. “Oh, for fuck’s sake!”
Pierce is the most presumptuous man I’ve ever had the displeasure to know, and unfortunately, my cousin. With our mothers being sisters and really close, the prick has been a pain in my ass since we were young enough to throw punches at each other. Mostly, I was on the receiving end until a growth spurt at thirteen.
I know he was just a kid at the time and was probably fucked in the head after his mother practically kidnapped him, but I don’t deal well with people who go against opponents smaller than them. Back then, I was the smaller one.
Better me than Nico.
The asshole believes he’s better than anyone because he’s never dabbled with mafia business, and puts criminals behind bars by giving information to the government. A fucking snitch is what he is. But I guess I should be grateful he never used his resources to send me or my own to jail.
“Cugino, to what do I owe the pleasure?” My voice drips with sarcasm. I’ll do anything to fuck with him. At this point, it’s pretty much a game.
“My wife’s been abducted.”
Well hello to you, too. Did his mother never teach him manners?
“I didn’t even know you were married. Congratulations, but what does that have to do with me?”
“I need your help.”
I’m the last person Pierce would call for help. He’s a cyber genius who can find anyone. The only other person who can challenge his gift with hacking is me. The situation must be dire.
“Pierce Security Company is yours,” he says simply, as if I haven’t been trying to buy and merge it with my own business for the past three years. Or at least, that’s what I want him to believe, that I’m after him, that he won’t sleep soundly until I own him. I don’t give a shit about the company; it’s just too fun to mess with his head.
He sounds desperate. I must have grown a heart, or maybe I’m swayed by our family ties because I consider helping him, no strings attached. Well, no more strings attached.
I get myself together with a shake of my head.
Pierce needs his girl home, and I need a wife. That’s a perfect business arrangement if I ever saw one.
I put him on hold without ceremony and dig into the superficial information I can gather with a simple internet search. This wife of his must have sisters.
The results come up.
Well, well, well. My holier-than-thou cousin has been busy.