Page 6 of Mafia Prize

“It’s been a difficult year.” That’s putting it mildly. As Andrei predicted, Giovanni Castella found out in March that Aldo Caruso was responsible for sinking theSaturniaand killing his youngest son, Luigi. He vowed vengeance. My father was gunned down the same month, as was my uncle Armando and his son, Vito. He would have continued targeting the rest of the family—my sister Elisa, my uncle Renzo, and my cousin Davide—but I was able to negotiate a peace treaty with the help of Ariana Castella, Giovanni’s eldest daughter.

It wasn’t cheap, and it wasn’t easy. We gave up trade routes, money, and territory in exchange for our lives. It’s hard not to be bitter. Everything the family built for generations, my father destroyed with his greed and his hubris, and now we’re in a fight for our very existence.

Max gives me a sympathetic look. “But you’ve survived it.”

“For the moment,” Ciro interjects.

I jerk my head up. “What does that mean?” Who’s after us now? Who wants us dead? “Is there another threat I should know about?”

“Yes,” he replies. For a change, Ciro doesn’t play games with information. “Your uncle Renzo. Why is he the head of the family?”

I frown. “Who else should it be?”

Andrei walks into the room just then. My heart leaps in my chest at the sight of him. He looks just as big and powerful as he always does, but his eyes are tired. Weary but resolute. He looks the way I feel—like life hasn’t been kind to him since the last time we met, but he’s not going down without a fight.

Or maybe I’m just imagining it. Even as my family has struggled for survival, the Sidorov Bratva has thrived. Andrei has made smart, strategic alliances with Ciro in Milan and with Lola in Barcelona. He’s made inroads into Algeria and is in talks with the Colombians. Life hasn’t been unkind to him since he sidelined his father, not at all.

Andrei must have caught the tail end of our conversation. He answers before Ciro can. “You,” he says bluntly. “It wasn’t Renzo who walked into Castella territory, alone and unarmed and emerged with a peace treaty. It wasn’t Renzo who bought those struggling olive fields around Catanzaro and now controls a third of the olive oil exported from Calabria, and it wasn’t him who spearheaded the aggressive expansion into online gambling. It was you.”

I don’t know if I’m pleased that Andrei knows so much about my movements or alarmed. “You give me too much credit,” I say mildly. “Renzo is the oldest member of our family. It’s only proper that he leads it.Youmight not understand?—”

“Because I pushed my father aside in my rise to power?” His lips twist. “I was born into this world, Mira, and moreimportantly, I chose it. I understand it very well, and I know what needs to be done to survive. To thrive. I see no need to hide who I am.” His eyes are dark. “Renzo Caruso is not the tactician you are. These are deep waters we swim in, and he doesn’t have what it takes. He will drown, and if you bend your knee to him, he will drag you down with him.”

I take a deep breath. Ignoring him, I address Helen. “We’re all here, and I really want to win Signor Sidorov’s money. Please deal.”

5

When the game is over, I’m five million euros richer, most of it won from Andrei. I should be ecstatic; I’m not. Last year, I wanted to win so I could escape from my family. This year, I’ve realized that escape is impossible.

My sister Elisa is in love with Manuel Biraghi and wants to marry him. The Biraghi are one of the founding families of the Spina Sacra, the mafia outfit that controls Puglia. The family is old-fashioned and dogmatic. Everything is about honor. The way Sandro Biraghi, Manuel’s father, sees it, Aldo Caruso betrayed an ally, and the stain of his actions falls onto us. He will never allow the marriage to happen, not unless I sweeten the pot.

For the kind of money it requires to secure Elisa’s happiness, I’m going to have to marry Dominic Norcia. It’s only a matter of time.

The room slowly empties out until there’s only Andrei and I left. He breaks the silence first. “Are you okay?”

“I’ve had better years,” I say lightly.

“Do you miss your father?”

Nobody’s asked me this question. Not a single person. If they talk about him to me, they always hint that I should be glad he’s dead.

Aldo Caruso was erratic. Mercurial. He never saw my talent and my skills. To him, a daughter was property, useful only for the alliances her marriage would bring. But as deeply flawed as he was, he was also my father. There are days when grief overtakes me, and there is only sadness. I can’t talk about it to Elisa—she hated him and had her reasons. I can’t talk to Renzo—he spends all day bemoaning the mess my father left us with. And Davide is too young. The men I play poker with might understand my complicated feelings, but while they are my friends within Casanova, they are also my rivals in the outside world. We don’t have the kind of relationship where we share our feelings.

“I do.” Tears well up in my eyes, and I brush them away angrily. I can’t cry in front of Andrei. I won’t. “It makes no sense. He was a terrible father and a terrible human being. There’s no reason I should grieve him.” I wrap my arms around myself in a hug. “I should hate him, not mourn him.”

“Come here.” He tugs me onto his lap and pulls me into his embrace. I rest my head on his shoulder and soak in his strength. “The heart is not always logical,” he says quietly. “It doesn’t understand the word ‘should.’ It wants what it wants.” He strokes my hair. “You’ve had to bear an unbearable burden all year, lisichka. What can I do to make it easier?”

One word from Andrei Sidorov, and my problems will go away. He’s got more money than God. Connections, power, prestige—he’s got it all.

And once again, I have nothing to trade.

“I’m fine.” I get to my feet, wiping my face clean of emotion. “Thank you for offering, but I’m already in your debt. Yourinformation about Spina Sacra’s entry into the arms trade was very useful.”

“I’ve told you before,” he says, his dark eyes holding mine. “You owe me nothing.”

This time next year, I’ll either be married or engaged. Tonight is the last time I’ll be free to sleep with Andrei Sidorov.

And I want to.I want him so much.

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