Page 20 of The Last Vendetta

“And Nickolas is an angry asshole who always wants to fight someone over something.”

I nodded, entertained that she knew this. He was my peer, and it was common knowledge that Nickolas Romano was a hothead. But no woman—no properly obedient and quiet Mafia daughter—would ever share her opinion like that so freely.

Except her.

“My mother’s going to be furious, nagging at him all night for ‘dragging down the Acardi name’,” she groused.

“She doesn’t like it when he fights?” I guessed.

“She doesn’t like it when he fights and everyone sees how weak and old he is and that he loses.”

Fair enough. It wasn’t a pretty image. Then again, if Nickolas offended Rocco, the man would have to stand up and fight back.

I couldn’t ignore how easily she confided in me. While I suspected she might only be freer with her words because we'd succumbed to lust, I knew I had to take advantage anyway.

Giulia knew the same people I did. She might not realize the worth of the nuggets of information people might share around her. Like the other women and daughters of our world, she filed into the background, submissive and not expected to have her own thoughts. If she overheard anything, something people might be too nervous to tell me…

“Giulia. We need to talk.” I slid my forearms along the bar top, edging closer to her without looking up and facing her. She caught on, not glancing at me either. We had to speak but not let anyone realize that we were. We were enemies, or at least our Families were.

“For fuck’s sake, Renzo. Here? Now?”

“Where’s Cecilia?” I whispered as I brought my glass to my lips, hiding the movement of my mouth in case anyone was watching us.

She stiffened. “What?”

“Where is Cecilia? Have you heard?”

Through my peripheral vision, I watched her frown. “I thought you’d want to talk about…”

“No.” I didn’t want to talk about how good she felt or gloat about proving her wrong, that I was thoroughly capable of pleasuring a woman—pleasuring her. If I had my way, I’d prefer to repeat that action, to steal her away and fuck her like I’ve been fantasizing about since the moment I first touched her pussy on the patio.

I dared to look at her, letting her see the desire I doubted I’d ever be able to dial down for her.

She swallowed. Her throat flexed with the force of that motion, and I felt triumphant to know I’d unsettled her and had gotten her this flustered.

“I don’t… know.” She cleared her throat again, dropping back into this secret conversation.

If she were any other woman, she’d fuss and insist that we talk about what we did or put me on the spot to demand more. Something. But she understood the assignment. I was only speaking to her to get intel, and she wasn’t going to withhold it or use that against me.

“She’s not here,” she added as she lifted her glass to also cover up what she said.

I know that. “I am capable of making that observation on my own.”

“But I heard a few asking about where she is. My mother is very curious about it too.”

I risked another direct glance at her, raising one brow. This was going somewhere now. Isabella Acardi always snooped in other people’s business.

“She’s been asking and gossiping,” she replied. “And it seems like many think Cecilia ran away and is hiding.”

“Where—”Fuck. I caught a reflection in a bottle on the bar’s shelves, and it was enough to make me shut up and leave. Speak of the devil. Isabella Acardi was coming straight for her.

Without finishing my conversation with Giulia, I was wrenched away from her once more.

I didn’t want to be caught talking with the enemy, and I didn’t want this woman to know I was sort of using her daughter as a secret source of intel, either. Keeping my distance from Isabella was necessary, but at the same time, I loathed how it kept me away from her daughter whom I craved.

After I left Giulia to deal with her mother, I ran into my parent. Gio stopped me in the hallway leading to the restrooms, and I sighed. I was exhausted of his presence. He wasn’t leaning on me for emotional support. I was just the shove-in, the replacement for the heir he’d lost. From a life of never speaking to him, out of sight and out of mind, this was a heavy adjustment to get used to.

“You need to figure out who killed Luka,” he reminded me.

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