Page 4 of Finn

“Are you shitting me right now, Finn? You just told me that you plan to marry Mario Amatto’s daughter, and you what? Expect me to quietly congratulate you on what is probably one of the worst ideas you’ve ever had?” The volume of his voice rises with each word, right along with my irritation with his tone.

“Listen,” I say as we pull up to my house. “Mom and Dad aren’t aware of the proposal Amatto gave me, so I’d appreciate you keeping this to yourself.”

I don’t feel the need to explain my decision to my brother. My mother, on the other hand, is definitely going to have some very strong opinions on the subject.

“Who else knows?”

“Cillian. And now you.”

I park in the long circular driveway in front of my house, and Eoghan shakes his head before opening the passenger door.

I live about thirty minutes outside of the city on nearly ten acres of land. The property has been in my family for generations. Years ago, I knocked down the old house that no one was living in and built a new one, which cost a pretty fucking penny. Especially with all the personal touches I’ve added, such as a spacious safe room and an underground gun range—and a soundproof basement. If I need to stay in the city, I have a penthouse, but this is my home.

I texted Cillian before leaving Shine and asked him to meet me at my house. We need to go over a few things. Fortunately for me, his car is already parked.

Good. At least there’s someone else around to take the brunt of Eoghan’s ire.

“Oh, I wouldn’t dream of delivering the news to our mother. But you’d better make sure I’m in the room when you break it to her.” The cheerful look in his eyes tells me how excited he is to watch my mom hand me my ass for even considering this and for keeping it from her. I may be the boss, but Eoghan and I are still brothers and have always reveled in the other getting in trouble with our parents.

Walking into the house, I head straight to my office after texting Cillian to meet me and Eoghan there. A mahogany desk sits in front of a large window and the dark-green drapes are open to let in the natural sunlight. I let my mother design the room for me so she could feel like she contributed to my home in some way. I shouldn’t be surprised that it looks so similar to my father’s office, with the leather couch and tobacco-colored club chairs in front of the desk. I even let her convince me to cover the walls in wallpaper. I felt like a complete tool as I sat with my mother and combed through wallpaper samples, but I have to admit, this is one of my favorite rooms in the house. The bar cart set up in the corner, though? It might be my favorite detail of the room. I keep it well stocked for conversations such as this.

“What’s going on?” Cillian asks when he makes his way in, wearing workout clothes and a fresh layer of sweat coating his face and shirt. Another thing I had put in was a state-of-the-art gym. Something the three of us have in common is our love for fighting, and we all despise losing, so building a space to keep us in peak physical shape was a must when I remodeled my home. Both Cillian and Eoghan are regular visitors to my house, and it isn’t just to spend time with me; it’s to use the equipment. Beats out anything in the city you’d have to pay a ridiculous fee for.

“Well, my brother just told me about his insane plan to marry a Mafia princess,” Eoghan remarks, walking over to the bar in the corner of my office. He holds up the bottle of whiskey, and Cillian and I nod.

“Ah,” Cillian says, sitting in front of my desk and accepting the glass from Eoghan. “Maybe this place could do with a woman’s touch.” My lieutenant smirks as he takes a sip from his glass.

“There will be no touching of anything. This is going to be a business arrangement. That’s all,” I say, rolling my eyes as I scrub my fingers through my hair.

Eoghan sits in the club chair next to Cillian and stares at me like I have two heads.

“Are you out of your mind? Word on the street is she isn’t looking for anyone to make a housewife out of her. She’s a ball-busting harpy if the rumors are true.”

Cillian turns to my brother. “Word on the street? What fucking street? How would you know anything about Alessia Amatto?”

Eoghan shrugs. “I keep my ears open. Her dad is a player in our world.”

“It doesn’t matter what her reputation is. If her dad wants to come to an agreement for our mutual benefit, then she doesn’t have much of a choice. The end goal is to push the Cataldis out and position our family and the Amattos where we want to be. Alessia will have to learn to accept the role she has to play in this. End of story.”

My brother chuckles and sips his whiskey. “Yeah, we’ll see about that.”

Chapter two

Alessia

The muffled pop coming from my gun as I shoot at the paper target is almost as satisfying as when I hit a bull’s-eye. That noise has come to symbolize power and dedication throughout the years. I’m a firm believer that practice makes perfect, and I’ve clocked a lot of hours here to become the markswoman I am today. Plus, there’s nothing quite like blowing off a little steam at the gun range, or a lot of steam, as the case may be. When I think of the deal my father is trying to get me to go along with, my anger spikes and I raise the gun and shoot three more rounds. A wide smile spreads across my mouth when I see my aim is true and there’re three holes in the head of the target.

“Alessia.”

I turn to Enzo standing behind me and remove my noise-canceling earbuds before laying my gun on the table next to me.

“Yes?” My bodyguard holds his phone out to me.

I don’t have to ask who’s on the line, knowing full well that because I wasn’t answering my phone, my father called Enzo to get ahold of me.

I roll my eyes and take the phone from Enzo’s outstretched hand.

“Hello, Father.”

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