Page 20 of His to Honor

Damiano shrugs. “It’s nothing. Fifty euro, maybe.”

“You intend to pay it?”

“Yeah, it’s not worth the hassle to contest it.”

Things are obviously different here. Back in New York, no member of the Volante organization would pay a ticket. It would give the authorities the wrong idea about who runs the city. But how Damiano handles things here is none of my business.

“So, what’s wrong with my sister?”

“Piotr Reznov came to see her.”

The hairs on the back of my neck rise. Piotr’s uncle, the current head of the Reznov Bratva, is marrying my mother. The Reznovsare longtime allies of ours, but I can’t see why he would want to speak to my sister.

“Why?”

Damiano arches an eyebrow and waits for me to join the dots.

“He wants to marry her?”

“They had a discussion about it.”

“That’s why she’s such a mess? She doesn’t want him?”

“I don’t know what Olivia feels about him. They had a heated discussion, and she threw him out.”

I raise an eyebrow. I didn’t think Piotr Reznov could have heated discussions. Even when he’s in the midst of a fight, he appears unnervingly cold.

“It wasn’t Reznov who upset her,” Damiano says. “She called Antonio, and then the meltdown commenced. I brought her here because she wanted to speak to Giulia.”

It stings a little that she didn’t want to confide in me about how she feels, but I guess Giulia knows more about what it’s like to be a woman in our world than I do. While I can sympathize with the way our girls are bartered off in marriage deals, it’s not something I’ll ever experience.

“Yes, about Giulia.” I knock back the rest of the vodka. “Why didn’t you warn me she was coming?”

“Antonio wanted it to be a surprise. She’s a friend, no? There was no security risk.”

“That’s not the point. I wasn’t expecting company last night.”

Something must show on my face, because Damiano smirks knowingly. “What did you do?”

“Something that can’t be undone.”

My cousin swirls the amber liquid around his glass. “Do you want to undo it?”

“No.” My tone is firm, my mind already made up. I wouldn’t change what’s been set in motion between me and Giulia. Now all I have to do is make sure she understands her new reality.

CHAPTER 7

Giulia

When I came into the house, ready to smack some sense into Olivia, I was acting out of pure anger. Loaded for bear is the expression my dad would use. He heard it in some old black and white movie when I was a kid and decided it was the perfect way to describe me when I lose my temper. I get mad and scream, shout, break things. Most parents would try to rein that in, but my dad always encouraged me to vent my anger. Luckily, it doesn’t happen very often. I tend to be calm, collected, but on the rare occasions when I do snap, the people around me better watch out.

After hearing how Livvy got Isabella into trouble, I wanted to punish her, but that wasn’t the sole reason my temper flared. I’m confused about what happened between me and Matteo and worried about where we’ll go next. Pushing his buttons was reckless, and I got more than I bargained for.

No, that’s a lie. I got exactly what I expected, and I liked it so much it scares me. I needed an outlet, but purging my raging emotions by laying into Livvy would have been unfair.

Fortunately, the moment I laid eyes on her, my anger fizzled out. Matteo’s sister was so obviously upset, I couldn’t lift a finger against her. On most days, Livvy dresses to impress, but today she’s in jeans and a t-shirt. She’s wearing sneakers. I wouldn’t have thought she’d own a pair. Her hair is tousled and mascara runs down her cheeks in dirty black streaks.

Even if she didn’t look so utterly pathetic, I doubt I’d have hit her. Though I’ve been trained in self-defense and I can handle a gun, violence isn’t in my nature. Sure, I’ll smash a vase or slam a door, but I don’t like the thought of putting my hands on someone in anger. In that, I take after my poor, late mother.

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