Page 90 of Empire of Temptation

And maybe I liked her attention.

“There.” She sat back and sighed. “God, you’re disgustingly handsome. I could swoon just looking at you.”

The edge of my mouth lifted in a half grin. “Swoon?”

“Shut up. Let’s go. I need to get inside.”

After I walked Valentina into the trattoria, I returned to the car and Aldo headed for home. I scrolled on my phone, waiting for him to say something.

It didn’t take long.

“You should keep her.”

There was no use pretending to misunderstand. I glanced up. “She’s not a kitten, Aldo. She has a life here.”

He waved his hand as he turned a corner. “Dai, these things can be worked out, if both people want to try.”

I grunted and said nothing. Aldo didn’t know what he was talking about. Valentina had a long future ahead of her, one that didn’t include me.

“Are you planning to tell her? You know, about Palmieri and her father? She might be pissed.”

“I don’t see a reason to tell her. If I can find Segreto and get answers, then all of this goes away.”

“And you’ll, what? Return to Catanzaro and leave her here?”

I hadn’t thought much about it, but wasn’t it obvious? “Yes.”

“What if you don’t find Segreto? What if you have to turn her over to Palmieri?”

A dark, sick feeling bloomed behind my sternum, a cancer that slowly infected my bloodstream with dread. I stared at my phone but didn’t see it, my mind stuck on my sweet girl at the mercy of Palmieri and the GDF. She was too trusting, from a small town where no crime occurred, according to her. She didn’t even speak Italian. I couldn’t let Palmieri get his hands on her.

But what happens if I refused?

“I will do what needs to be done as the head of this family,” I said, my voice flat.

“That is what I’m afraid of,” Aldo muttered. Then he turned up the music in the car, drowning us both out.

My brothers were waiting in the kitchen when I returned. They immediately quieted and waited, watching me as I set my travel mug on the marble countertop. Aldo walked in behind me. “Another cappuccino, Luca?”

“Sì, grazie.”

Before I could address the three men staring intently at me, my mobile buzzed. Grateful for the reprieve, I answered. “Pronto.”

“It’s Rossi. Your brothers have left town, I’m told. Does this mean you’ve found her?”

I rubbed my eyes. Rossi was the last person I wanted to deal with right now. “No, I haven’t. There’s another complication here.”

“What complication?”

“Dai, you know I won’t answer that.” Not on my mobile, when anyone could be listening.

“This has dragged on too long, Luca. Our friend in Roma grows impatient.”

“That is too fucking bad. I don’t answer to him.”

“True, but you answer tome. And I want this business concluded.”

I seethed, too angry to speak, my fingers strangling the metal and glass in my hand.

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