Heartless Prince by Brook Wilder
Chapter 28
Lucas
The next morning, I woke with a shitty headache and a throbbing cock, forcing me to take care of business in the shower before I could even get my day started. After putting on my custom black power suit, I jogged down the stairs, and found Rocco waiting for me.
“I want her watched,” I told him, ignoring the buzz of need that threaded through me at the mere thought of her. “No one goes in; no one even fucking looks at her.”
“Is that really what you want?” Rocco raised an eyebrow. “You want her watched, but nobody actually keeps track of her? That’s going to be fucking hard.”
I gave him a murderous stare as I walked past him toward the door.
“You know what I mean. Remind her that she’s my prisoner.”
“Yes, Don,” he answered and he opened the door. I walked out into the dreary day, feeling the smattering of rain against my face. It would do nothing to improve my mood today. Which suited me just fine.
I spent the majority of the night dreaming about Leda, about her under me, about her riding me, about her whispering words in my ear that I never wanted to hear.
Words that I eagerly echoed in the dream.
She did something to me and didn’t even realize it. This had to stop now.
I slid into the SUV, pulled out my phone, and tapped it against my leg. I had business today, and where business normally gave me my pleasure, instead there was a need. A need to climb back into bed with Leda. The need to see her and to touch her.
It was nearly unbearable, and I needed to turn off that part of my brain today.
“There was a list waiting with her breakfast tray this morning.”
The SUV started down the drive and I glanced at Rocco, who still had that shit-eating grin on his face. “What?”
Rocco crossed his arms over his chest. “She made a list of things she wants.”
I smiled inwardly. Only Leda would feel like she could make demands. “What sort of list?”
“You can read it if you’d like,” Rocco responded, pulling out the small piece of paper and handing it over to me. “Figured you wanted to.”
I took it and read the elegant handwriting. Leda had requested a few beauty products, some real clothing, and books.
She wanted books, nonfiction preferably, maybe with some suspense. There were even a few authors listed, and an unexpected chuckle escaped me. “She knows she’s a prisoner, right?”
“Was that what you’ve been telling yourself, boss?” Rocco asked, arching a brow.
I glowered at him before looking at the list again. Normally I would have laughed and crumpled the paper, not giving it another thought. After all, Leda wasn’t here on some leisure trip. She was supposed to be suffering.
Yet something deep inside gave me pause, and I swallowed hard. “Get her this shit,” I told Rocco, handing the list back over. The surprise on his face was priceless.
“Yes, Don.” He tucked the list in his shirt pocket. “I will make sure it’s done today.”
I ignored him, flipping through my phone idly to bring up my emails. It was out of character for me to give in so quickly and readily. Rocco knew it, which was why he was looking at me with that shit-eating grin on his face.
The trip didn’t take long, and when the SUV pulled up to the warehouse, Rocco was the first one out. It took me a while to get used to the habit of someone else opening my own door. I was too used to stepping out first and surveying the scene before opening it for Cosimo. Old habits died hard.
Rocco opened the door and I stepped out, buttoning my suit coat as I did so.
One of my other capos, Emil Corvo, waited at the entrance to the warehouse. He dipped his head in acknowledgment as I approached.
“Don.”
“Emil,” I said smoothly. “Got something to show me?”
He nodded and I followed him inside. The smell of wood shavings hung heavy in the air. Crates upon crates were stacked high against the walls, and Emil cracked one open to let me see the guns tucked in there.
“These were ready for shipment, but Adrian has held them up. I asked him about it and he kept coming back with excuses.”
Fucking Adrian. If he wanted to stage a fucking coup, at least have the brains of doing it with some fucking grace and common sense.
“What was Adrian’s excuse?”
“He said that he was acting on your word,” Emil replied.
“Of course he fucking did,” I snorted. I trusted Emil, and there had never been a need for him to prove his word to me. “What else did he say?”
“Nothing else.” Emil cleared his throat. “But word among the capos is that Adrian wants to change up who runs which shops. Some are saying that the boys in the Lower East ought to be put closer to the Battery, and vice versa.”
That bastard. He wanted to play my own games against me. I had threatened him, stolen what he thought was his, and the only way for him to get rid of me was either to kill me or get the capos to turn their backs, to leave me vulnerable to attack.
“And how are they taking this news?” I asked.
“Well, depends on who you ask. The ones in the Lower East don’t want the shit detail. But the ones in the Battery are chomping at the bits.” Emil replied.
“Getting restive?” I asked.
Emil nodded.
I had seen this coming. With some guns in the mix, Adrian had gotten himself a nice little army. The exact kind he could use to violently take over the Cavazzo Mafia. Unless I did something about it.
“Ship them today,” I said. “I want confirmation by the end of the day that they have all been sent.”
“Yes, Don.”
The boy showed some real promise and initiative on that front. Too bad he couldn’t have put that same initiative on behalf of working for me. But he was too goddamn dumb to realize that once Dons started taking control of Mafias by force, it would be a long time before the cycle of violence stopped.
It was always more preferable for someone else to do the dirty business.
“Anything else?”
“There’s also rumors,” Emil continued. “About the D’Agostino girl. Rumors that you’re willing to go to war over her. And the thing is: I don’t think the rest of the capos like the idea of dying for some bitch.”
My heart bristled at the word.
“They may not like it,” I growled. “But need I remind them that Cosimo demanded they give their loyalties to me?”
“No offense, Don,” Emil said after a moment as I struggled to keep my anger under control, my outward appearance still impassive. “But the prospect of a war really isn’t popular with the boys. Might be best to put her back on the auction block. Adrian is turning more heads than I like right now, telling the boys that you are using the Cavazzo money to bring the D’Agostino Mafia to our doorstep.”
No other capo was brave enough to talk to me like Emil was, mainly because Emil had been an enforcer with me. We shared plenty of great times—kills and girls—together. The day that I had elevated his status to capo was probably the best day of his fucking life.
Still, I wanted to deck him for telling me that I should give up Leda. He didn’t know the internal war that was raging inside me, how she tore me up with just a single night together—making me question who was really ever in control to begin with.
“Keep an eye on the rest of them.” I ordered Emil as I straightened the cuffs of my sleeves. “If you get so much as a hint of treason from any of them—”
“Car crashes, gas leaks, and other unforeseeable accidents.” Emil finished my sentence. “I’ll keep them quiet. But I gotta say. It’d be nice to know why we’re doing all this shit.”
“All in good time, Emil.” I said. “You’ll just have to trust me.”
Emil cocked an eyebrow but ultimately, he held his tongue.
“As you say, Don.” He gave me a curt nod and walked away.
I couldn’t reveal my play to Emil. The more people who knew a plan, the more likely somebody ended up talking. Right now, only Rocco and I were privy to this. When the time was right, Emil and the appropriate capos would be clued in.
Adrian blabbing about this shit was forcing my hand. Killing him would just prove to the capos on the fence that he was right. Leaving him alive meant that he continued to spread these rumors.
No, I needed this war to come now.
I had to escalate.
Which meant that giving up Leda was not a fucking option.
