Page 30 of Luciano (Belles & Mobsters 1)

A moment of silence and an exhale. “Okay, are you going to tell me whether or not you found your wife?”

“I did, and she’s back here.”

“Hmm.” He cleared his throat, covering his surprise. “She came willingly?”

“No.”

“Is she working with Alphonso?”

God, I fucking hated even thinking that she might be working with Alphonso.

“I don’t know,” I gritted. “She isn’t exactly cooperating. Or talking much.”

“We’ll need to keep an eye on everything she does.”

“Cassio, she is my wife, and none of your fucking concern.” I tried hard to keep my calm. Just the thought of any other man around my wife or even concerning himself with her, was enough to send me into a rage. “I have a tracker on both her and her friend’s phone. I will handle my wife, my way.”

Silence followed. I didn’t give a fuck if Cassio liked it or not. It wasn’t up for discussion. Yes, I banked on him needing me, but even if he didn’t, nobody was to touch my wife.

“Okay, we’ll do this your way. You’ll keep me informed. Yeah?”

Anyone else, Cassio would have killed them for telling him off like that. The fact he let it slide for me said a lot. It was at this precise moment that I knew we would always have each other’s back. No doubts, no questions asked.

“Yes.”

“Is she okay?” There was nothing but concern in his voice. “More importantly, are you?”

“She has a kid,” I grumbled. “Anyhow, tell us what we missed?”

A heartbeat of dead silence and then he answered, changing the subject. After all, what was there to say about it!

“Well, while you two were strutting through Europe,” he said teasingly, trying to lighten the mood. Massimo and I rolled our eyes at the same moment. “Alphonso and my father struck a deal. Romano is playing the Columbians. He and my father plan on ripping Raphael off the moment Alphonso receives the goods. So they get free shipments of women and drugs, and keep all the money.”

“Do the Columbians know?” I didn’t want to see anything happen to Raphael and his men. Yes, we were all criminals, but Raphael was like us. He stuck to drugs and arms smuggling, staying clear off human trafficking. If something was to happen to him, the next guy that stepped into his spot might not be sohonorable.Yes, Raphael’s father was a bastard but so was Cassio’s. We were our own men, not our father’s men. Luckily, my father was a great man but not all of us were lucky like that.

“Yes, I alerted them.”

“Anything else?”

“There is something else, but we don’t have any details yet.” Cassio didn’t seem happy about it. He was very much like me in that regard. He hated waiting on information. “Luca hacked into our father’s email and found correspondence with Alphonso referencing an old agreement between my father and the Romano family. There isn’t much more than that. We still have some digging to do before we know exactly what it is, but I don’t have a good feeling about it.”

“Have you run it by Nico?”

There wasn’t a man walking this Earth that was more coolheaded than Nico. And he had an unkeen way of digging up the past. Probably all his vast contacts in every known, and unknown, agency on this damn planet. It was the reason he made a good advisor. The man was a human machine.

“Yes. He mentioned an old standing agreement between the Romano and King family that traded women of high social circles to high ranking members of the mafia. And he seems to think this agreement wasn’t only with the Romano family. He’s chasing it down.”

“You are kidding me?” It certainly sounded like a bad joke. “Like a matchmaking service for mobsters or some shit?”

“Fuck if I know. My bastard father and his ancestors kept a tight lid on it. There are only a few people that even know about it. Personally, I think it is some made up garbage.”

I didn’t point out to Cassio that his father’s ancestors were his as well. He hated his father’s guts and anything related to his father. I didn’t blame him. That man was a monster. Cassio and Luca were his sons, but he mistreated them, like they were disposable commodities. It was the reason Cassio and Luca only associated with their mother’s side of the family. Marco King, their half-brother, was no better than Benito King. He was younger than Cassio and Luca but he was a cruel asshole that enjoyed inflicting pain. Just like their father. Marco’s mother was no better. Some airheaded, gold digging, blonde bimbo that insisted she was a natural redhead. The whole world knew she wasn’t. It was probably the reason Marco King was obsessed with redheads. Something definitely wrong with that one.

“Matchmaking for mobsters,” I muttered. “Now there is something I have never encountered.”

“You and me both.”

We worked through a few more outstanding items. I would have to get in contact with Ghost soon and schedule the next three dates I would require services. That actually improved my mood slightly. For some reason, I liked corresponding with Ghost. I found the humor that shone through those short messages entertained me.

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