Page 24 of Savage Heart

“Doesn’t sound like much of a curse to me. Ask your father if my father ever seemed cursed by being the firstborn and I think he’ll tell you that’s bullshit. They get everything they want. Can you say you’ve been that lucky?”

My cousin looks around the gorgeous terrace off his five-star hotel and then back at me. With a sly grin, he answers, “I’m not sure I’m a good person to ask. I get to live here and run this place. Not exactly a hardship, Alaric. Now you, I get your resentment toward your father and brother. Thank God you showed up at my father’s doorstep. Our side of the family is more like you anyway.”

I nod at that little bit of truth. “Absolutely. I can’t imagine being stuck in Connecticut dealing with Maddox and Sebastian Rule. No, thanks. I’m all good with what Helix has me doing. Not that I’m on the job here now, of course. This is personal thing.”

A stunning woman with long black hair wearing a red dress that hugs every gorgeous inch of her voluptuous body strolls by the table, making both of us turn our heads to watch her as she walks over to a table of three other beautiful women. Gideon’s right. This job certainly wouldn’t qualify as a hardship, for sure.

When she sits down, the two of us look back at each other and smile. “I thought you were in love,” Gideon says with a smile.

“I may be in love, but I’m not dead. I still have eyes that can see when a beautiful woman passes by me,” I answer truthfully.

As if I said something that displeased him, he frowns and sighs. “Love. Hmmm. You’ll have to let me know how that works out for you. I’ve never found it to be something worth my time.”

With a chuckle, I say, “Maybe you should try kidnapping someone. It worked for Sienna and me. Maybe it could work for you too.”

Gideon opens his mouth to say something but closes it almost immediately before finally saying, “Who knew kidnapping was the way to a woman’s heart?”

I look around the terrace and in through the large doors leading into the hotel’s restaurant. “And you have a great place to keep someone. I mean, what woman wouldn’t want to stay here?”

Shaking his head, he answers, “I’m going to end this conversation since I don’t have any idea what to say. As for the party tonight, I think I just saw someone who can get you an invitation to tonight’s festivities so we don’t have to have you scaling Angeloni’s villa’s walls like you’re fucking Romeo.”

I follow his gaze to a woman behind me who’s just walked out onto the terrace from inside. Attractive with platinum blond hair and what looks to be a cool million in diamonds hanging around her neck, she appears a little older than the kind of women I assume Gideon prefers.

“Someone you know well? Or intimately?” I ask as he stands up from the table.

He looks down at me and gives me a knowing smile. “I’ve been known to sample the local delicacies from time to time. She’s not one I’ve ever tried, though. Give me a few minutes.”

I watch him walk over to her and see her smile broadly when he kisses her hand. Gideon knows how to schmooze with the best of them, and as the one who runs this hotel, I imagine he has contacts all over the coast. Good. I’d rather not pull my Romeo and Juliet routine trying to get into Angeloni’s villa tonight. I can, but I’d rather reserve my efforts for when I have to get Sienna the hell out of there.

He and the woman disappear into the hotel, leaving me to try to enjoy this beautiful day while I wait for him to return with good news. I feel guilty reveling in the sunlight and surrounded by beautiful people while Sienna is being kept in God only knows where on the Rossetti estate. I’d bust up in there now if I thought I could find her and get her away from there, but I know better.

The last time I entered the family’s villa to kill her father, they didn’t know I was coming. The benefit of surprise helped immeasurably, as it always does. But this time Matteo likely believes he needs to keep a close eye on his sister since he’s clearly planning on using her to better his fortunes with Angeloni.

I may not know everything about getting into this party, but the information I’ve gleaned about the man himself tells me all I need to know about this merger between those two families. Matteo’s got power, but he needs money. Angeloni is a longtime friend of Salvatore Rossetti with loads of cash, but he wants some of the power of his expected in-laws. So Matteo gets a much-needed infusion of cash, and Lucius Angeloni gets a new plaything to amuse him on top of being connected through marriage to the mafia power in the region.

Everyone wins. Except Sienna, of course.

That’s where I come in. Tonight, whether I get an invitation or not, I’m going to be at that party to rescue her. Her brother made a mistake taking the woman I love. I’ll have to get over the guilt of not watching over her myself more closely, but Matteo Rossetti is the one who’s going to pay for what he’s done to her.

Lost in thought about all I’m going to do to exact my revenge on that son of a bitch brother of hers, I don’t see Gideon sit down until he slides a gold envelope across the table toward me. I guess his friend there got me an invitation to tonight’s party.

“There you go. I knew Giulia would find a way to help us out. All it cost me was a weekend in one of the best suites in the hotel, small change for what she gave me,” Gideon says with an expression of pure satisfaction.

I stare at him for a moment wondering if she gave him something else to put that look on his face but decide not to ask. Maybe he didn’t get a quick blowjob on top of the invitation. Maybe he just enjoys getting people to do what he wants when he asks for things.

But I can’t stop myself from saying, “Any chance that weekend includes you? Because you look pretty damn pleased about something right now.”

He shakes his head. “Never mind why I look pleased right now. Let’s just say I like when things go smoothly with any part of my life and leave it at that. Now you can’t go to this party as Alaric Rule. I don’t want our names connected like that, so you need to figure out who you’re going to be.”

“Not interested in explaining who I am, Gideon? I think I might be insulted,” I tease as I run my fingertips over the embossed lettering on the white invitation.

He grimaces at my joking. “I never like having to explain myself or what I’m up to. Better to have you be someone not related to me since I have to live here after you get to grab the runaway bride and ride off into the sunset.”

“Fair enough. I’ve got other IDs I can use. Just tell me one thing. Am I going to understand a goddamned thing tonight since I don’t speak Italian?”

That makes him throw his head back in laughter. “Such a typical American,” he chides me. “Yes, you’ll be able to understand people. Many of them speak English, so if you feel the need to talk to someone, you should be fine. If you need something translated, just find me. I speak the language fluently.”

I don’t know why hearing that surprises me. “Really? I had no idea.”

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