Quiet Wealth by J.L. Drake
The party was in full swing, and I did a quick scan to see if I could spot Sienna. My father came up as he greeted people and handed me a drink.
“Are you all right?”
Not in the least. I felt like I was twenty again, standing at the edge of the pond staring at the most beautiful girl I had ever laid eyes on. I read once that when your soul meets its match, they connect in a way that can never be undone. I knew this was true because there had never been one day since I left that I hadn’t thought of Sienna. Every day, I had to face the painful reminder of the sacrifice I had made. Francesco promised that he had people watching out for her but never once shared any details about what she was up to or where she was. He said it was for the best, and he made sure I knew that they didn’t share any of those details with him either. We needed to make sure we cut as many ties with her as possible, for her own safety, yet here we were.
“Did you know she was coming?” I sidestepped his question and referred to the mandatory guest list.
“Of course not, son. I would never put you in such a difficult situation.” He turned to look at me, and I saw he was being honest. My father might be the boss of our syndicate, and had the power to make a lot of things happen, but he was always a father first. “I had no idea. We made a very difficult family decision back then, and if I had any idea that she was coming, I would have handled the situation very differently. Francesco was just as blindsided.” He took a moment to sip his drink. “Mariano had someone else’s name down, and we did our usual background check, and she was cleared. I plan on having a chat with Mariano myself. We have rules for a reason.”
“He’s slipping,” I confessed.
“I know.”
“And now she’s here, and…” The heavy weight on my chest left me feeling exhausted, “I’m not sure how to navigate this.”
“How deep is she?”
“I don’t know.”
“We’ll handle this, son. We always do.”
“That is true. We do.”
“Remember, Elio, time may have passed, but that doesn’t mean the threat has lessened. It is still very dangerous, perhaps more so. But she’s here now, and if you want her—”
“I know.” I cut him off, not needing a reminder of why we had left her years ago.
“Very well.” He dropped the topic and exited just as Aurora approached me, holding up something.
“Have you seen Mariano?”
“No, why?” I was curt.
“I want to take a photo with his date.”
“Why?” I was becoming very unamused with Aurora, or maybe it was because the only woman I truly loved just appeared at my parents’ party on the arm of my best friend.
“Why?” Her tone drew my attention. “Because she’s famous.”
“What?”
“You can have this copy because I will be buying more.” She handed me a rolled-up magazine. “Now, where did he go? I have a zillion questions for her, starting with whether her breasts are real.”
I shook my head, trying to get her words out of my brain.
“My friends are going to lose their heads when they see me with her.”
Resting my drink on the piano, I unrolled the glossy magazine and took in the sexy cover with Sienna draped in a red silk sheet staring into the camera with such raw pain I felt her gaze burn right into my soul. The headline read, “Abandonment, living on the streets, to success.”
So many questions swam around my head, but the biggest one was what were the odds that she and Mariano would ever have met, let alone be here on this very night.
“Elio,” Francesco appeared by my side, and by the look on his face it wasn’t going to be good, “a word?”
With an inward sigh, I turned the magazine face down and let him speak quietly about what was going on.
“Gain and Brando are here and asked to speak with you now.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes.”
I downed my drink, and we headed for the door. Taking the stairs two at a time, I motioned for them to start talking.
“We thought you might like to know who S is.” Gain reached over my shoulder and handed me a photo, and I felt my mouth go dry.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, boss.” He nodded, handing me another photo of Stefano Coppola talking to one of my men at the dockyard. “He has stepped in for his father, who apparently became ill a couple of months ago. He is creating quite the shitstorm with his new power as head boss.”
Great, a new young mob boss with control over our biggest rival syndicate. Let the storm begin.
