Page 70 of Twisted Vows

His top lip lifts into a smirk. “So will you attend?”

I pause. “You know I generally don’t, Padrino.”

Feet shuffle behind me, and I can sense some of the men reaching for their waist holsters.

With difficulty, I stay still and keep my breath even. The lessons my brother drilled into me resurface. “Never look scared in your enemy’s presence. Even in the face of death, never give them the satisfaction.”

Gio gestures with lazy fingers. “You and that new wife of yours will attend all our events. Our guests expect unity. You will play the part.”

A command disguised as courtesy. Loathing claws at me, but to deny him is to risk being shot. Sophia’s safety rests on this charade…and on me. So, I reply with a curt nod.

“Good.” Then he drops the poisoned gift. “One more thing. A journalist has been sniffing around some of my most trusted government contacts. Apparently, he’s found something. The other men failed to silence him. Now, you’ll clean it up before our honored guest arrives, and we’ll grant him freedom from this journalist as our first offering tonight.”

My blood goes cold. “But…”

“Failure’s not an option, Enzo. It’s been a while since I called upon you for a task. It’s time to prove you should still wear the stripes as this family’s enforcer, or I might as well find someone else.”

His implication bites me in the face. He wants to kick me out but needs a concrete reason to convince the dons I’m no longer an asset. Until he gets what he wants, he’ll use the threat of yanking the family’s protection of Sophia as leverage to force me to fall in line.

My pride snarls, but refusal is not an option. “Consider it done.” My voice is steel, but Gabi brightens like I’ve handed him a present.

A snap of his fingers has the men waiting with their hands on their gun belts returning to ease. Rocco hands me a file on the target as I walk out the door.

Leaving the main villa feels like clawing out of a gilded cage. The air outside is sharp in my lungs.

The drive back to the mini villa that I now share with Sophia is silent except for the radio’s yapping. My hands grip the wheel too tight. A journalist. Not a rival. Not a threat to the family. Just some guy doing his job by asking questions that discomfort powerful men.

I’ve killed before. Will again. But this feels dirty in a way that sticks. Gabi knows exactly what he’s asking. Knows it’ll cost me a piece of myself I can’t get back.

Inside, the mini villa is too quiet. No Sophia. No soft voice drifting through the halls. The maid, Arya, bows low, her eyes nervous.

“Where is she?”

“Your wife went into town, signore. With Nonna Rosa. She mentioned something about a dress fitting for the Benedetti dinner.”

After Arya leaves, I catch myself leaning against the doorway, the weight heavy on my shoulders. Sophia was out in the east garden bed two days ago, on her knees in the dirt, pulling weeds with her bare hands and cursing under her breath about slugs. I watched from the study window.

Strange thing, this…how easily Sophia steps into Benedetti circles. Already weaving herself into places meant for the wives of men like me. My protective instinct wars with the unease inside me.

Since the night of the attack, I’ve tried to pretend everything is normal. Walling off thoughts is my surefire way of avoiding uncomfortable subjects. It’s meant to control the fire, yet the more I try to ignore it, the more memories of her lips on mine and her full breasts pressing into my chest fan in my mind.

Looking around the house one more time, I head down to the main villa’s basement gym.

Marco spots me, grinning as sweat drips down his chin. His sparring partner uses the time to rush in on him, but Marco quickly sidesteps and lands a hard jab to the man’s jaw, sending him sprawling.

I get straight to the point. “I want you to reach out to the hacker kid.”

“Billy?”

I respond by pressing my phone into his hand. He dials Billy, a skinny, twitchy twenty-year-old whose real name is Oliver Bellamy. Marco and I found him in a ditch two years back, left for dead by gang members whose distribution system he’d hacked. He owes me his life.

The boy’s a tech genius with a rapid typing speed and a mind sharper than most blades. After I pulled him from that ditch, I had Marco keep tabs on him. Keep him safe. Now his loyalty runs bone-deep.

Billy answers the call on the first ring. Marco informs him that I want to ask him a favor.

“Boss.” Marco’s voice comes out thin and nervous as he hands me the phone.

“I need you to find someone. His exact location. I’m sending you the photo.”