Page 76 of Under His Control

Maybe with some more of that “practice” to make a younger brother or sister for Liv…

I sighed, not caring if everyone noticed how dreamy I sounded.

“That was fast,” Uncle Dante teased.

I shrugged. “Is there any set speed at which a woman can meet her fiancé?”

“No.” He shook his head. “I’m just taking advantage of the moment to throw that judgment back at your face. You were so critical of me and Nina hitting it off when we did. You claimed it was too hurried.”

“Sometimes, life determines it all.” I pondered how it all happened so far. “Because if you hadn’t met Nina and fallen in love, maybe Tessa never would have met Romeo and fallen in love. And if Tessa weren’t in our home, I might not have ever met Liam and Olivia.”

A wide smile stretched my lips.

Now, we just have to have some hope that Franco could move on from Chloe one day.

It was infectious, this falling-in-love business. And no one would ever hear me complaining about it.

29

LIAM

Heading to a golf course to kill an assistant to the governor didn’t sound like a smart idea. I didn’t hesitate to tell Franco that as he drove us there.

“I’m not saying we should wait,” I argued as I sat in the passenger seat and cradled my gun between my knees. He’d taken one of the beat-up trucks for this assignment, all the better to hide and disguise ourselves should anyone be following us.

“The sooner we do this, the better,” he reminded me.

I got that. I did. The Constella Family didn’t do anything rash. I wasn’t sure if it was tradition, self-control, or learning from mistakes in the past, but Dante ran a tight ship. He expected all of us, from Romeo, to Franco, and all the way down to every soldier, to do their best. Doing our best included planning things out.

And setting up an op at a wide-open golf course seemed like a plan that might need more consideration.

“We need to always stay one step ahead of the game,” he added.

“I get that, I do.” I splayed my hand at the window, indicating the open landscape. “But a golf course? It’s a vulnerable area to attempt this.”

Franco shook his head. “It’ll be harder later. He’s taking advantage of the mild weather today. I mean, it’s seventy in late February.”

I chuckled. “It does feel bizarre to have it this warm.”

“Eh. It won’t last. And listen, man, I’m not trying to rush this for the sake of hurrying. He’ll be out of town a lot next month, and it’ll be harder to reach him.”

“Yeah. I can see that. But…” I shrugged, knowing my argument faded the closer we got to the point we’d studied on satellite images. The courses were too crowded, surprisingly, and I realized that this might go smoothly after all.

I was most used to being asked to perform as a sniper in remote locations, in warzones. Not golf courses for the elite members of politics.

“Never mind,” I said, waving him off. “I’ll get it done.”

He chuckled. “You’ll be back in no time. Congrats, by the way.”

I smiled, relaxing with the thought of Eva on my mind again. “Nina already said she’d watch Olivia so Eva and I could celebrate over dinner.”

“I thought you were planning on proposing at that wedding.”

I smirked. “At theendof the wedding, but we didn’t stay until the end.”

“Ah. Right. And Olivia’s not too shaken up?” he asked.

“No. She was scared last night, but she’s all right today. That’s why we wanted to keep her at home, with someone she’s familiar with, like Nina.”

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