Page 47 of Luciano (Belles & Mobsters 1)

The inheritance was from my mother’s side. My grandparents from my mother’s side were wealthy, and I was their only grandchild. They left me every single cent, about five hundred million.

“That inheritance won’t do us any good if we are dead,” I muttered. “Besides, we don’t need that money. We have an arrangement with Ruthless King. He accepted the terms of keeping our privacy. We keep laundering the money till we have enough to survive.”

We watched each other in silence for a few heartbeats before I continued.

“We were going toruninto my uncle’s lawyer tonight anyhow,” I told her. “We continue with that plan. If I can get my hands on the will, maybe there is something in it that would allow us to get it out of my uncle’s hands. We keep digging for the name of Uncle’s kid. And if we could somehow find a way to get closer to Grandma or Uncle, we’ll kill them.”

“Jesus, those are a lot of ifs,” she mumbled. I knew it but I had nothing else. It wasn’t as if two of us were master criminals. “Maybe you shouldn’t insist on an annulment?”

The suggestion threw me off loop.

“Why?” She knew what Luciano did; she hated his guts as much as I did.

She took a shuddering breath in and slowly exhaled. “Well, if something happens to us, Matteo will need him. Nonno is good with him, and I know you don’t like it, but Matteo likes Luciano. Nonno and your husband are a million times better than your uncle or your grandmother.”

She was right about that. My family would destroy everything good about my son. There wasn’t any doubt that he would be better off with his father or Nonno. It actually warmed my heart to see Matteo’s little head leaning against Luciano this morning. Yes, it hurt, but in a weird way, it was a good kind of hurt. My heart squeezed at seeing my son with his father. The resemblance was so striking to me, but nobody noticed it.

“I am happy Matteo likes them,” I ended up saying. Pushing my hand through my hair, I felt like we were at the crossroads. She was right, if something happened to us, Matteo would need Nonno and Luciano. “I should probably put a will in place.”

“We could get rid of your uncle-” She let the words linger. “By killing Ian. Somehow draw him out.”

“If we killed Ian, we aren’t much better than my uncle,” I told her in a whisper. Though if I was being honest, it crossed my mind to use him and kill him. Now what did that say about us? “Besides, how would we do it?”

Ella shuddered. “Shoot him, I guess. You are pretty good with the gun now.” There was a huge difference between shooting a target and a human. “God, I never want to see your uncle or grandmother again.”

I wrapped my arms around me. It was my sentiment exactly.

“Let’s worry about tonight,” I suggested. “Maybe we can somehow use Ian. Drug him or something” Her eyes snapped to me in surprise. Before Luciano seduced me, everyone thought Ian and I dated. We didn’t and never would. He was my uncle’s puppet. Yes, it wasn’t the best idea to drug him but our options were limited. “He’d never know.”

She raised her hand. “You don’t have to justify it to me,” she replied. Ian gave my uncle power of attorney over my well-being and my inheritance, removing the individual my parents designated. In fact, he did such a convincing job, I never even knew who was supposed to be my original caretaker. “He used you, has been using you all the while betraying you.”

“Yeah, seems to be a running theme.”

“So, I am all for giving him back some of his own medicine. Fuck, I suggested we kill him, so it isn’t like I have any room to talk about what is right or not.”

“Killing him doesn’t sit well with me,” I told her honestly. “His biggest crime is that he is my uncle’s lawyer and under his spell.”

I didn’t give a crap if those two were lovers, whether they loved each other or used each other. However, I did care that my uncle was able to use him to get what he wanted. But I considered it to be due to my uncle’s devious and evil mind. Or maybe I didn’t give enough credit to Ian. Who the hell knew!

“We’ll make it seem like a coincidence we ran into Ian,” I added.

“As long as your uncle is not with him,” Ella muttered under her breath.

“I guess if they are both there, maybe we should kill them both,” I retorted dryly, changing my earlier opinion. We might as well go all the way to hell. “God, how did we become this?” I muttered.

“We’ve been dealt some shitty cards.” Now, that was an understatement of the century. Our families with some fucked up agreement, offering their daughters up to criminals. “But hey, at least we found each other.”

I smiled softly at her statement. Despite all the things that happened, I was glad it brought us together

“And that’s priceless.” I meant it too. Ella and I have been through so much; to hell and back together. “Okay, let’s start with Ian. I’ll put a will in place and have a contingency plan for Matteo in case shit goes awry. Let’s focus on getting some information from Ian. Anything that would hurt my uncle. Keep digging for any information on Uncle’s kid. And we’ll swipe a few million out of Uncle’s and Grandma’s bank account tonight; it is their turn to get robbed.”

She nodded in agreement. “And hold off on the annulment.”

I was desperate for a clean slate, a fresh life for Matteo, Ella, and me. But as long as we had ghosts lurking after us, we’d never have a life without looking over our shoulder.

“Okay, I won’t keep bringing it up,” I agreed. “Let’s go check on Matteo and eat something. Then we get ready for our outing. We haven’t even left yet and I am ready to be back and crash for the night.”

“Are you going to sleep in Luciano’s room tonight?” Ella’s eyes twinkled mischievously. “Some noises are so hard to unhear. It was so… hot.”

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