Page 10 of Luciano (Belles & Mobsters 1)

Lucia beamed. She loved it when he responded in Italian. I laughed. “Good job.”

“Where is your sister?”

“Oh, she’s getting ready.” I leaned over and whispered. “She has a date tonight.”

Everyone on the island believed Gabriella and I were sisters. It was easier that way. Besides, even if we were sisters, we couldn’t be closer. Certain experiences in life brought you closer than blood ever could.

She chuckled. “She better be careful with Italian boys. They are wild and reckless.”

“I keep telling her the same, but she won’t listen.”

“And you, dear? Any dates for you?” Lucia was nosy, but for some reason I didn’t mind it. It was a goodhearted nosy.

I chucked. “I got one right now.” I pointed to my son. “He’s the best-looking guy around.”

“Sì, sì. That he is.”

“Okay, I better get going. Do you need me to bring you anything back from the market?”

She thought for a second but then shook her head. “I think not.”

“See you later then.”

I put Matteo in his little stroller, and we started our walk towards the market. The breeze felt good, coming right off the Tyrrhenian Sea. The color of the sea took my breath away every single time. It was turquoise and clear, where you can see the bottom of the sea. And that salty smell that lingered in the air, no matter what time of the season, was just addicting.

“Buon giorno, Gracy.” The ice cream shop owner greeted me with a big, toothless smile. Everyone in Italy seemed to have a problem with pronouncing Grace so I became Gracy. There were times I worried about keeping my first name, but considering Grace wasn’t really an unusual name, I decided against changing it.

I waved and smiled. “Buon giorno, Paolo.”

“Gelato?”Ice cream.

I laughed. Dinner time was not for another hour or two. If we had ice cream now, Matteo would never eat his dinner. “Maybe later. After dinner.”

He grinned. We’ve had this conversation several times. He believed it was never a bad time for ice cream. I continued on, but awareness tickled at my neck. My eyes searched out my surroundings. I couldn’t help feeling like I was being watched. I glanced around me several times but saw nobody.

Probably paranoia, I assured myself.

We kept on walking, and within moments, the market spread in front of us. But the feeling didn’t diminish. In fact, it grew with each second. Instead of enjoying my stroll through the market as I usually did, I quickly got the items I needed and cut my outing short. Much to Matteo’s dismay.

If only I trusted my instinct!

Chapter Five

Luciano

We sat around the conference room, in the Vitale skyrise building, the entire Manhattan view stretching on the west wall. The meeting was with the top members of the Columbian crime organization. There were only two of them along with Cassio and myself. We had to keep it low and under the radar. I sent everyone home and ensured there was nobody around to bear witness to this. Luca had ensured that; there was nobody better than him at ensuring people were invisible and things remained unseen. It was Luca’s forté.

Just like guns were Alessio’s forté, laundering money was mine, and drugs were Cassio’s and Nico’s. Raphael Santos did a bit of everything but human trafficking was a leftover legacy of his father’s that he was working on wiping out. We all did a few other things on the side and had legitimate fronts, usually in the form of casinos, but if I needed a drug shipment, usually I went to Cassio and Nico. For guns, it was always Alessio. Anyone that needed money cleaned, they came to me. There was nobody better at it than Vitale men.

My phone beeped. Throwing a glance at it, I noted a reply from the Ghost. I tilted my phone to Cassio to share the message. We shared a look. I wasn’t surprised that the fifth request in less than fifteen days to launder our money was rejected. Neither was Cassio. Nobody wanted to attract attention to themselves.

The Ghost didn’t know it, but it was a test, to ensure we could control the transactions over the next few months. I needed to know which one of my runners would be tempted to get greedy and potentially jump ship when Alphonso reached out to them. He would soon try to do that.

I quickly typed a message back.

* * *

To:The Ghost

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