Owned by the mafia boss

ALESSIO

I couldn’t afford another crisis.

We were still dealing with Carmela’s return, negotiating restitution for what Legion’s patched member did to my ex, and Ignacio’s giant fuck-up with the Irish. Nico had offered them apartments in one of the luxury apartment buildings I had a stake in, and they had accepted that along with a cut of our profits. In exchange, we had been free to murder Crash when we found him.

Now those negotiations were off the table.

My lawyer’s nasal voice dragged my attention to our phone call. “He’s been indicted by a Brooklyn grand jury in connection with the killings of two capos in New York, thirty years ago. If he’s smart, Costa will plead guilty to racketeering and conspiracy to commit murder. He does not want this to go to trial.”

I rubbed my forehead as I paced the hotel suite, curtains drawn tight across the windows. “How many years is he going away?”

“Depends on his priors. Could be anywhere from five to ten years.”

Fuck.

A stone dropped in my stomach.

Nico in jail was the last thing I wanted, but every lawyer I called told me the same thing. He was going down. Nothing I could do.

A fist hammered the door. “Alessio, it’s me.”

Vinn.

“I have to let you go. Thanks for your time.”

“You’re welcome, Mr. Salvatore.”

I hung up on the lawyer and stepped over Mia’s suitcase, making my way to the door. I unlatched the chain and deadbolt, revealing a motionless Vinn waiting in the hotel’s hallway.

“Come in.”

I stepped back, and he breezed inside. It was unwise to linger out in the open with our leadership compromised. “Tell me something good.”

“Anthony’s becoming a problem. He’s sowing confusion and chaos by calling himself boss and giving orders to our men. He’s also a magnet for any street thug who’d love credit for killing Nico’s son.”

Great.

I raked my hair as Vinn stood like a soldier at attention, his eyes half-closed as though he could sleep standing up. “Double his bodyguards. Hire the Bratva if you have to.”

“I’m not sure more people surrounding him is the answer.”

“I am not telling Nico I did nothing while his son was in danger.”

“We need to control him.”

I was aware of that. “His father is in jail, and he was the only one who kept him in line. The little asshole will not listen to reason. He will get himself killed but we don’t have to make it easy. Vinn, he’s not getting out for a long time. We’re on our own.”

The enormity of that responsibility loomed over me like a falling skyscraper. We’d been cut at the knees with Nico’s unexpected arrest.

“We have a meeting with Nico in a few days.”

“Right.”

I closed Mia’s suitcase and righted it, wheeling it to the door where it joined mine. “How’s John?”

“He’s recovering.”

After a gangbanger knifed my driver in broad daylight, I had moved Mia and me into a hotel.

“Follow me. I need to change rooms.”

Again.

We switched rooms every day. Too many assholes wanted me dead. I opened the door and wearily shoved the suitcases into the hallway.

Anything to keep her safe.

A BUZZER SOUNDED as the door unlocked, admitting me into a bleak visitation area. A couple of fifties tucked into an officer’s pocket ensured that Nico and I would be allowed an extra hour.

Nico sat at a table, wearing an orange jumpsuit. He looked good. My payment with Cesare must’ve worked out because he was whole.

Nico nodded. “Hey, kid.”

“How’re things? Everything okay with our friends?”

“Yeah, thanks. Has the transition been smooth?”

“Not really. I met with everybody to make sure their orders will come from me, but some people are a problem. A Salvatore heading the Costas is tough to swallow.”

Particularly for your son.

“Take them out. You’re acting in my stead. Anybody who disobeys you goes against me.”

“What about Anthony?”

“What about him?”

“He’s out of control, Nico. Back on cocaine.”

Nico’s stoic gaze filled with tears. For someone who had been disappointed thousands of times by his dipshit spawn, he reacted the same.

“What’s he doing?”

“He’s been in our strip club every night, snorting lines. He’s insubordinate. He brags about Costa business to anyone. His bodyguards aren’t controlling him.”

“You need to stop him!”

I was tired of having the same conversations. “Anthony doesn’t listen to me.”

“Yes, he does!”

“Only because I’ve been playing the your-father-won’t-like-that card for a decade. It’s different now. You’re in jail. He does anything he wants.”

“Please.” Nico lurched, desperation written on his lined face. “There is nothing I care about more than my son.”

“I can’t. I’m stretched thin.”

“Then delegate!”

“Michael and Vinn have enough on their plates, and Anthony is a grown man. He’s made his bed. Guards are with him round-the-clock, but they can’t prevent him from doing drugs.”

“You can’t throw in the towel! He’s my legacy, for Christ’s sake!”

“Nico, I don’t have time. I’m trying to start a family of my own.”

“Who gave you that girl, you bastard? Listen. Nothing is as important as my flesh and blood. Help him. Protect him. He’s all I have left in this world.”

“You’re not hearing me.”

“I don’t take orders from you. I give them,” he snapped. “Go to Anthony. Fix him. Do everything you can. You’re the only one I trust.”

“I’ll try, but this can’t continue much longer.”

As soon as Mia got pregnant, I would check out of Nico’s bullshit so fast. I’d done what I could for Anthony, and I’d stopped caring about him years ago.

The only thing that’d save Anthony was death.

Fuck him.

THINGS HAD COOLED DOWN.

After my cops detained two gangbangers casing my home, I delivered their heads to the Legion MC president who hired them. Then I sent police raids into their drug trafficking businesses, and suddenly the president was amenable to negotiating. Shortly after that, the Irish fell into line. Word had spread. I wouldn’t roll over and let them kill me.

Such was the nature of this life.

We’d moved back into the house. Mia looked up from her phone, her features darkening when the light went black. “Where have you been?”

“Strip club.”

A normal wife would’ve reacted with outrage, but Mia raised her brow. God, she was perfect.

“Anthony again?”

“Yeah.”

Mia frowned as she slid off the bed, her silk nightgown shimmering in waves of dark pink. “Nobody ever left a strip club looking so miserable.”

I was miserable. “I hate him. He keeps me away from you.”

Mia wrapped her arms around me.

I didn’t remember when we last talked. My day to day was consumed with putting out fires, babysitting Anthony, and finding a spare minute to eat and sleep.

She pushed me onto the mattress. I was too tired to finish undressing. As soon as my head hit the pillow, my mind buzzed with a list of things I needed to get done. Mia lay beside me, threading her fingers into my hair.

“Heavy lies the crown.”

“How do you know what I’m thinking?”

“It’s all over you.”

I hated that I’d brought my shitty mood home. “We won’t be like this forever. Just until the madness dies down and people learn their place.”

“Are you enjoying it?”

Not at all. “It’s more work than I thought it’d be.”Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive © material.

It wasn’t rewarding to protect a thirty-something man-child from three-thousand-dollar bottle service plus bags of cocaine as big as my fist. Strip clubs disgusted me. The loud music gave me a headache. The workload was too much. I didn’t have an underboss sharing the responsibilities.

“Sleep.”

“No, I miss you.”

“You’ve been up for days. It’s not healthy.”

I was already shutting down, as though the word sleep triggered a response. She removed my shoes, jacket, and tie. She dragged the comforter over my chest and kissed my temple.

I cupped her face. “Stay.”

It was an echo of that first night when she begged me to join her, and I’d been unable to resist. Mia slipped inside the sheets, her tiny body folded into mine. I smiled, sinking into bliss.

“Will we be able to have dinner together this week?” Her voice tugged me from the abyss.

“Not if you want to eat at a reasonable hour.”

“What’s that?”

“Eleven. Two a. m. Five. Whenever Anthony feels like leaving the casino, the club, or…” I cleared my throat, my black spots creeping over my vision. “We’ve a thing…Sanctum. Check…calendar.”

She nuzzled my neck, the sweetness of her vanilla scent enveloping me with safety.

“I’ll go. Sleep.”

I didn’t want to leave her.

I wanted out.