Page 136 of A Beautiful Crime

True equals.

The deep respect I have for this man is unmeasurable. And the love I have for him is infinite.

“He’s working with Niall,” I say matter of factly.

Constantine runs his knuckles along my cheek causing those butterflies to swarm in my stomach. “And Seamus.”

This information doesn’t surprise me. Niall has the same hunger for power as Luca does. Both of them working together will only last for so long. Only long enough to overthrow the true threat against them.

My beloved.

Once they succeed they will fight each other to the death to take reign of the empire Constantine built.

There is no ally in this dark world when you are sitting upon the throne, only enemies.

I wonder who has gathered this damning intel against Luca. It must be someone close to him. A rat within his own ranks. A soldier. It must be a soldier. “You have someone on the inside of The Fiore Famiglia, don’t you?” I ask him.

Constantine smiles down at me. A proud one. And it warms me. I’ve come accustomed to his praise. Needing it as much as I need air to breathe. “Si,” he answers and then adds, “for quite some time now.”

My mind instantly draws all the possible clues as to who it could be.

Truthfully, there is only one person who comes to mind. One who has bestowed a kindness to me when others had not. One who had always treated me as human and not a piece to be molded and manipulated.

Once upon a time he was just merely a soldier. The best of soldiers. Until an attack by a criminal had almost left me dead. An attack he had handled efficiently by saving my life and ending the criminals. By saving my life he had gained respect with my papa. Ranking up from a soldier to becoming my personal bodyguard.

Like a movie, where there’s scattered pictures with red continuous yarn going in various directions it ends on the picture of the man responsible.

I’m struck with a lightning bolt of clarity.

“Who is Gino to you? A family member or a dear friend?”

“A dear friend of my family,” he answers. Before I can question him further he answers the questions as if reading my mind. “My papa had him infiltrate your Famiglia first. Savio was always sleazy and tricky. And my papa saw his power hungry eyes and knew he was never satisfied. Not until he had everything.”

I nod my head in understanding. It did make sense for his papa to place a spy within The Fiore Famiglia . My papa is known for playing dirty. He’s as honest as a fox. The only skin he cares about is his own.

And my papa had wanted control of New York for as long as we lived here.

The Donati Famiglia always stood in his way.

He only offered my hand in marriage for a way in. Soon he’ll try to take Constantine down through me. It’s the way my papa operates.

“And so Gino became a valuable soldier to my papa. Hearing intimate details to always remain not one, but multiple steps ahead.”

Constantine’s eyes shine with pride and ooze desire. My intelligence has proven to be a turn on for him. “It is a crying shame your papa has never utilized your mind.”

Admitting a woman is intelligent is one thing, but for my papa to actually use my intelligence? That would be blasphemy.

My papa and The Sicilian Outfit are traditionalist to the point where it’s obscenely outdated.

It will be their old fashioned way of thinking that will lead them to their demise.

So much for tradition then.

“The hit that had been made against me,” I begin as I remember how the criminal had come out of the blue on the familiar streets of New York I had taken every day with Gino to and from school. I was in my senior year. My days, thanks to my grades, I only had to attend half a day. I still had found it strange, even back then, how a hit had been made against me and not my brothers. I wasn’t a part of The Famiglia . I was hardly known to the public. Luca and Elio had always shined whereas I remained in the shadows. “You made it. Allowing for Gino to save my life and further prove his loyalty. To be appointed as my personal bodyguard.”

Constantine nods his head with a sinful smile. There is no remorse in his eyes. Not that I expect there to be.

He has told me time and time again he is a man who is not politically correct. Nor would he ever claim to be a good man.

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