‘You alright, Enz?’
No. I wasn’t fucking alright. I felt like punching the wall, despite the fact that I’d just spent two hours in Luca’s gym taking out my frustration on the punching bag while fighting the insane urge to fist my cock and jack off in the bathroom. Again. At the rate I was going, the damn thing would be nothing but raw, bloody skin.
I was too old to be so jacked up over a woman. But I couldn’t get the picture of Sera in that fucking scrap of a pink dress out of my head. Or in the creamy lace one that hugged her ass and tits. I shifted on the couch, trying to adjust myself discreetly in my pants, and glad I was sitting down so the raging erection I had wasn’t immediately apparent. ‘I’m fine.’
Tristan studied my face and read my mood accurately, as usual. He also knew me well enough to know when it was better to change the subject. ‘How was the reception?’
My head fell back against the couch cushion. Just the night I was trying not to think about. ‘I didn’t go. But I had the concierge at the hotel send over an apology and an expensive gift.’
He gave me a thoughtful look and ambled over to the table against the far wall of Luca’s office, where he helped himself to some ice water. There was a bottle of expensive whiskey sitting there, Luca’s drink of choice, but Tristan didn’t imbibe. Not for as long as I’ve known him, which was going on thirty-three years now. ‘I thought you were going to make an appearance?’
‘I was. I did. But my date wasn’t feeling well, so I took her home. We left as soon as we got there,’ I explained. ‘Barely even made it in the door.’
Joining me at the new sitting area in front of the desk, thanks to Veda wanting somewhere she could curl up with her schoolbooks while Luca worked, he sat on the opposite end of the couch. ‘I hope it’s nothing serious with Jade.’
Jesus fucking Christ. I tried to keep a grip on my patience. He was just asking questions. I should be grateful he was being so talkative, because when he got too quiet, it was time to worry. ‘It wasn’t Jade.’
Both eyebrows rose. ‘Did something happen between you two?’
His shock at my statement wasn’t surprising. Jade had been my steady companion for shit like this for going on four years now. She was stunning, mature, educated, not too chatty, and knew when to disappear to the ladies’ room without my having to tell her to. I shook my head. ‘No. She wasn’t feeling well and sent a friend in her stead.’ A little girl with ocean eyes and bubble gum hair who stole a figurine from the entryway of the restaurant when she thought I wasn’t watching. An old-looking crucifix that had probably been brought over from Italy with everything else in that place. A little girl who didn’t know how to dress, or how to show up when she was ordered to. Instead, she had the fucking balls to very politely tell me no when her presence was requested.
The only problem was she wasn’t a little girl at all. Not with a body like that. The curves of her breasts and hips peeking out of that dress still haunted me. I’ve been walking around with a fucking semi in my pants since the night she showed up at my door.
I forced myself to refocus on the conversation. ‘But she must’ve gotten the same thing Jade had.’ I leaned forward with my elbows on my knees and took off my sunglasses so I could rub my eyes. ‘Anyway, I didn’t go. So there’s nothing to report.’
Finally, Tristan took the hint. ‘Do you know what this is all about?’ he asked, indicating this meeting Luca had called us into.
I shook my head and pulled out my phone to check the time. ‘But we’ll find out soon enough.’
No sooner had the words left my mouth than Luca walked into his office. I noticed right away that he seemed distracted. After greeting us with a nod, he went directly to the whiskey and poured himself a generous glass, then joined us in the seating area in front of his desk, taking a seat in one of the two plush chairs on the other side of the glass coffee table.
‘Is Veda okay?’ I asked. ‘Is something going on?’
He shook his head. ‘She’s fine. Getting ready to go to the tutoring lab at the college to get some help with one of her classes.’
I stood up to escort her.
‘Enzo, sit,’ Luca told me, gesturing toward the couch cushion I’d just abandoned.
I hesitated. ‘Did you want Tris to go?’
‘No, I need both of you to hear this. I have three of the guards taking her just for today.’
‘What’s going on?’ I unbuttoned my jacket and sat back down.
He took a sip of his whiskey and reached over and pulled a file off his desk, laying it on the table between us. He opened it and spun around a few of the photos that were inside so we could see them. They were snapshots of Ciro Cordaro walking into a club, a made man who’d been giving our associates up in Dallas a hard time. ‘What’s he doing now?’
‘He’s overstepped. Again. And now he’s raising hell, saying his daughter has been kidnapped.’
‘Was she?’ Tristan asked.
He shook his head. ‘I’ve heard nothing that would lead me to think that’s the case. Maybe she just wanted to get away from her father before she got caught in his crossfire. Maybe for her own reasons. In any case, she didn’t feel the need to tell him she was leaving.’
‘So why is this our problem?’ I asked him. ‘She probably ran off with her current fuck or something. Or she’s staying with a friend.’
‘It’s not.’ Luca rifled through the photos and papers in the file until he found what he was looking for. ‘However, it was asked of us to keep an eye out for her, just in case. And to encourage the ongoing relationship we have with the family in Dallas, I told my father I would handle it.’ He found the photo he was looking for and pulled it out from between the others. ‘Here she is. The photo was taken about a year ago when she graduated from college, but from what I understand, she hasn’t changed much.’
His words echoed in my head, muffled, as if I was hearing them through a glass wall as I stared at the girl in the picture. She had long, dark hair and was wearing a graduation gown with cords around her neck. Her cap was hanging from the fingertips of one hand. Her father was in the photo with her, but he wasn’t touching her. He wasn’t even smiling. There was no pride in his eyes, just an overall expression of annoyance that he was required to be there.
But all of that was noticed subconsciously. She looked different. Even younger and more innocent. But I knew that face. That perfect, stunning face. There was no makeup. No nose piercing. But it was her. It was Sera.
‘Her name is Serafina,’ Luca said. ‘People call her Fina.’
‘Or Sera,’ I murmured.
Luca glanced up at me. ‘Possibly. But I was told she goes by Fina.’
I picked up the photo, studying the girl in it as Luca continued talking. ‘I told her father I’d do what I could to see if she was in the area, but honestly, I think it’s a waste of fucking time. If she really ran off on him, she could be anywhere by now. She’s probably not even in the fucking state.’
I realized I was staring at her too long and handed the picture off to Tristan before it looked suspicious. ‘And if we find her?’ he asked. ‘Is Mr. Cordaro just wanting to know she’s safe, or does he want her returned?’ He handed the photo back to Luca. No one mentioned the fact that if she’d graduated from college, she was of legal age to make her own choices. Those rules didn’t matter in the world of most mafia men. Especially the older generations.
Luca put the photo back inside the folder and closed it. ‘If we spot her, we’re to call her father and he’ll send a couple of his soldiers down here to retrieve her. Apparently, he’d just arranged a marriage for her, but was unable to tell her before she disappeared.’
My heart sped up and a red haze clouded the corners of my vision as I imagined some fat old man groping her tits and ass. ‘Maybe she did know, and that’s why she ran. Maybe she doesn’t want to get married.’
‘Not our problem,’ Luca told me shortly.
I don’t know why I didn’t tell him right away that I knew where she was. Or, at the very least, that I could find her easily. All I knew was that the thought of handing her off to some other man had my hands shaking and my guts twisted in a knot. I concentrated on my breathing, keeping it steady and even as Tristan and Luca talked about all of the trouble Sera’s father was causing in Dallas. Like Luca, he was making moves to try to get himself positioned as the next boss. Unlike Luca, he was doing it by taking out the wrong people and causing even more rife within the organization. Also, unlike Luca, Cero was in no way, shape, or form the type of person you wanted running anything. Especially not when your life could be on the line.
I tried to focus on what they were saying until my heartbeat slowed, but it was no use. I had to warn her. ‘I need to make a call.’
Luca stopped talking and looked over at me, his blue eyes more curious than angry at the interruption.
‘Sorry,’ I told him. ‘I just remembered I needed to check on something at the club for you before the girls get there.’
Concern crossed his features. Luca didn’t like anything or anyone threatening his workers. ‘Is there an issue I need to be aware of?’
I shook my head and stood up. ‘I don’t think so. Something showed up on the security camera last night. Probably just some kids fucking with the backdoor of the club, but I want to make sure we have extra security tonight, just in case.’
Luca gave me a nod. ‘Go do what you need to do. Tris can handle doing a search for the daughter on his own.’
Goddammit. I didn’t have much time. Tristan would hunt her down like a wolf on the trail of a wounded deer, and he wouldn’t stop until he found her. I needed to get to her first and find out what the hell was going on before I allowed anyone to turn her back over to her father.
