Page 34 of A Mafia's Treasure

“I’m here, aren’t I? What do you need?” I ask, stepping forward to grab hold of the bag and nod at him to continue with his punishment. His fists pound away as I stand firm.

“The jobs on hold. Apparently, the target has taken a trip and won’t be back for a while.” He punches harder and harder.

“Okay, and?” I look at him waiting to see what the issue is.

“You have to be here day and night, so I’ve put a cot out for you to sleep on. You have to be ready.” He stops punching and wipes his brow.

“You’re fucking joking, right?” I throw a towel at him.

“Do I look like I’m fucking joking?” His brows raise.

“You know I’m good at what I do. I don’t need to sleep here to get shit done,” I argue.

“This is important to the boss, so it’s important to us,” he tells me as he reaches for a bottle of water.

“Fan-fucking-tastic!” I throw my arms up in annoyance and walk toward the lockers to grab my trainers.

“Oh, and that means no more visits to the club before the job is done.” He points at me.

“What!” My mouth drops in shock. “How long for?” I ask.

“Could be a week, a month at most. It depends when the target is back,” he says nonchalantly.

“For fuck’s sake, you can’t be serious. You want me to go without sex until I’ve killed this guy?” I screech.

He smiles and moves closer to me. “Damn straight.”

Chapter25

Nico

One month! One fucking month and I haven’t heard a word from her beside the odd text saying she’s busy at work.

If I wasn’t so invested in getting Brendon fucking O’Connor out of the way, I would have spent some time investigating the woman who has been infiltrating my every waking moment.

Now is not the time. I can’t let her get into my head not when I have this son of a bitch running around trying to cause fucking trouble wherever he goes.

Now the spineless bastard has gone away for a while, so I have to track him down. The word is he’ll be back soon, so Frankie can come out of training and get this issue sorted and leave me some time to look into the beautiful Francesca.

Pushing back on my chair, I pull my hair free from its band and run my fingers through it. It’s days like these I could do with having an underboss. The guys were right, and I should appoint someone, but the position was meant for one person and one person only … Gabriele.

My brother was meant to stand by my side. We always did everything together until the day we didn’t. I still don’t understand what happened. One minute he was here, and the next, what, he just disappeared?

My father wasn’t able to find him, and I’ve haven’t gotten any closer. But the day I find the people responsible for my brother’s disappearance, will be the day I paint the city fucking red!

I stare at myself in the mirror above the open fireplace behind my desk and scream, punching the mirror and hearing it crack beneath my knuckles … Seven years bad luck! As if that’s gonna make a fucking difference.

I’m angry for allowing myself to get distracted by my past, by a woman, especially when I have shit to do.

I turn to face the window and look out at the expansive grounds and sigh. I must pay Tony a visit to see what he’s up to. I know he’s hiding something, but I can’t figure out what. After Ivan planted the seed, I need to nip it in the bud before it takes root.

I can feel the frustration building and it doesn’t help that I haven’t fucked anyone in almost a month … trust me, I’ve fucking tried and failed.

No one compares to her, and shaking the snake myself isn’t cutting it.

I pour myself a glass of vodka from the cabinet in the corner and drain it in one, repeating the process a few more times while I collect my thoughts.

I have men searching for my brother, but old wounds shouldn’t be scraped at. That’s history and doesn’t need to be thought about now.

---