Page 24 of Madness

“Numbers are down.” Tristan’s voice pulled me back to the present. “I found another spy. Same results as the last.”

Meaning another Gallo family member was at the gambling club, and he couldn’t extract any information out of him. I should’ve been annoyed. Should’ve cared, but I didn’t.

“Is he still alive?” I sighed.

“No, but I was thinking.” Tristan went on when I didn’t respond. “If they’re going to keep hitting our clubs, maybe we should start claiming their territory. If they can steal our gambling customers, we should start selling to their junkies.”

“We don’t sell drugs.” I rubbed between my eyes. I was annoyed now. It was directed at mycoglionecousin.He was trying to fix his mistakes by making an even bigger one.

“There’s a lot of mon-“

“Non direcazzate!” Don’t talk bullshit.I cut him off before I had to hear this fucking stupid idea again. “It’s more of a pain than it’s worth. If I wanted your suggestion, I’d ask for it. Do your job.” I disconnected before he responded.

I rested my head against the back of the seat as I ran a hand through my hair. I didn’t want to deal with business tonight. I wanted to go back to that apartment. I wanted to wake up the little dove and play with her. I could picture the terror in her eyes when she realized how easily I could get to her. I could already feel her tight pussy strangling my cock as I fucked her into the mattress. I could hear her screaming my name.

“Seibravo?” You good.Bash’s eyes looked at me in the rear-view mirror.

“Si.”

I didn’t feel like explaining that I didn’t know. I felt out of control. I didn’t like it. Control was my life. I needed a plan. Needed to figure out how to get this little dove out of my mind.

* * *

Twenty minutes later, we pulled up to my father’s estate. The home I’d come to live in when I was ten until I moved out at twenty. Family obligation still brought me back for dinner every other Sunday. Not only to update the boss on numbers but to see my sister.

The two-story stone building looked more like a museum than a home. It was a statement to the wealth we had. To the power, we’d earned. I walked up the front steps at a steady pace. I no longer noticed the armed guards or the towering gates. It had long ago become a part of the background, normalized.

The second I opened the large wooden double door, a small body slammed into my chest. I gathered my little sister into my arms. I didn’t like affection. Mostly because I didn’t like people. Alessandra was an exception.

“Occhioni.” Big eyes.

I pulled back to look at her. Her long chestnut hair was in two braids, making her look even younger than twenty-one. She was tiny. Her head barely reached my chest. Her light blue eyes were rounded. They easily showed her every emotion and earned her the nickname.

I’d noticed they’d become sadder over the last year or so, but she would deny it when I asked. As she’d done the last time. Something had changed in her. Maybe it was because her mother had died, caught in an assassination attempt on our father. Or perhaps it was the knowledge that she would soon be married off.

Arranged marriages were still common in the Italian Mafia, especially if you were a girl born into this world. Alessandra had known it since her birth. Lately, she’d been dressing differently. She’d stopped wearing her frilly dresses. Instead, she wore pants and long sleeves in neutral colors. Gone were the colorful prints and patterns she used to favor.

It was like she was trying to hide her beauty. As if it could save her from that fate. Leif had shielded her as long as he could, but she was getting older. Soon our father would ask her to fulfill her role in the family.

“You don’t visit enough,fratello.”She sighed as she looped her arm in mine and led me down the hall to the dining room.

The marble tile clicked under her heels. Like the outside, the inside was made to display what we had. Expensive stone on the floor, opulent chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, famous paintings on the walls, and gaudy statues standing in the hall. It was also heavily fortified with a panic room in the basement. Safety was important, especially with Alessandra in the house. She wouldn’t be the first Mafia princess to be kidnapped and used as a bargaining chip.

My father and Leif were already seated at the table. The family resemblance was obvious. The three of us had the same dark, almost black hair, olive skin, and coiled muscles that came from needing to defend our lives if necessary. Leif and my father also had the same shade of dark brown eyes.

The table was set as if we were expecting royalty to join us for dinner. That was how my father saw himself. He was the king of this city. The Boss. The Don. No one questioned his power. His ruthlessness. His brutality.

Until recently.

“Maddox.” My father greeted happily as I pulled out a chair for Alessandra before walking to him. I kissed both his cheeks as a sign of respect.

“Papà.”This close, I could see the lines around his eyes. The fatigue of the impending war with the Gallos weighed heavy on him. Not because he cared about the death or destruction it would cause but because he risked losing his power. The only thing he cared about.

From his expression, I knew this would not be just another family dinner. There would be business to discuss. But not yet. Not when my sister was still in the room.

I took my place on his left, Alessandra next to me. “Occhioni,tell me, how’s college life?”

Leif had convinced our father to let Alessandra attend school rather than marry at eighteen. He reasoned that no man wanted a dumb wife. He was almost as protective of her as I was.

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