“Fuck.” I knocked back my drink. “What time is it anyway?”
“Two in the morning.”
‘The fuck you doing awake?”
“You know I don’t sleep.”
I laughed. “Good point.”
“Look, I think you should bring her in.”
“You fucking kidding me?”
“I’m not kidding. Bring her to the mansion. We can keep a closer eye on her. I have muscle here.”
“So does Ernesto.”
“And so does everyone. Nobody makes a move in here. You know that.”
I sighed, pouring myself another. He did have a point. Nobody fucked with the sanctity of the compound, or at least they never had. There were too many guys with too many different levels of loyalty to really try to make a move.
It seemed crazy, though. The mansion was the center of the Barone family power. Arturo would be there, Ernesto would be there, and anyone else who might want Cassidy, too. We might be outnumbered, depending on what all the bosses wanted at the time.
But it was also the safest place. We could watch her closely. We could have lots of guys around at all times. Guarding her in this apartment would be a huge expense and a pain in the ass. We just couldn’t do it, even if we wanted to.
I didn’t want to go to that fucking place. I wanted to get her as far away from them as possible. But if Vince thought it was best, I had to trust him.
“Okay,” I said finally. “Fine. I’ll bring her in.”
“I know you don’t want to. We’ll work this out.”
“Yeah,” I grunted. “Sure.”
“I’ll tell the staff.”
“Later.”
I hung up the phone and sighed. I finished my last drink.
What shitty whisky.
I walked quietly into the living room and watched her sleep for a second. She was beautiful and calm, innocent and idealistic. She should have been my enemy. She wanted to shut down my people.
But I wanted her more than I could even begin to understand.
I crouched down next to her and softly said her name. She blinked and woke up slowly.
“Hey,” she said.
“We need to go.”
She sat up, rubbing her eyes. She grabbed a blanket and wrapped it around herself. “Uh, what?”
“Sorry.” I stood up. “We need to go somewhere safer.”
“What are you talking about? Is something wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong, but we’re not that safe here. We need to go.”
“Rafa, I don’t want to go anywhere.”
“Get your stuff together. I’ll drag you out if I have to.”
She stared at me defiantly for a second, and that made my cock stir. But finally she stood up. “Fine,” she said, and disappeared back into her bedroom.
I grinned to myself and leaned up against the door. She didn’t want to leave, and I didn’t blame her.
But she had no clue what was in store for her.
17
Cassidy
The mansion was set just outside the city on a huge plot of land. I thought we were driving through the wilderness, but really we were just driving through the compound’s outer forest.
The mansion itself was enormous. I’d heard of places that big before, but I’d never actually seen anyway. It looked more like a hotel than a house. We parked in a parking garage under the building, and Rafa climbed out.
“Welcome to the heart of crime,” he said.
“It’s huge.”
“You have no clue. This place was built like a fortress.”
“How many rooms does it have?”
He shrugged. “A fucking lot. It’s a goddamn five-star hotel. You’ll see.”
He led the way, walking into the main building.
The entryway took my breath away. It was all gilding and beautiful sculptures. The paint on the walls alone looked more expensive than everything I owned, not to mention the paintings. They were gorgeous, and I even recognized one of them. It should have been in a museum.
But instead, it was hanging in the foyer of the mafia’s mansion.
“Come on,” Rafa said. “We’ll go to Vince’s office.”
“Who’s Vince?”
“My boss.”
“Why does a mobster have an office?”
He laughed. “There’s more business involved than you’d think.”
“I thought you guys went around breaking kneecaps and threatening people.”
“We do. Well, I do. Vince doesn’t so much anymore, not since he started a family.”
“Mobster with a family. That’s a surprise.”
“Anyone can have a family.” I shrugged. “Maybe everyone deserves one.”
I followed him through the halls, too busy looking around at the paintings and the expensive splendor to think about what he had said. I was totally blown away, taken aback and surprised by what I was seeing.