The Mafia Contract Series

ALESSANDRO

My grandfather’s jet touches down in Los Angeles, and you could cut the atmosphere with a knife.

The entire trip has been a haze of meetings, plotting the downfall of our greatest enemy and making sure he doesn’t see another sunrise.

I’ve been glad of the distraction because it focuses my mind away from the part of me that’s worried things will go wrong. The plan will fail, and I’ll lose everyone close to me, hell even my life, but I wouldn’t change a thing because the most important thing in my world is to bring Winter back where she belongs.

Just her name alone causes my heart to race and the foundations of my world to shake. It’s been so long but seems like yesterday when I held her in my arms. A feeling that’s so special, nothing else will ever measure up. Knowing you are holding your destiny in your hands brings with it a powerful responsibility.

You are now accountable for another person’s life. Their safety is your most important mission and to keep the smile on their face is now your life’s work.

One night only was all we had, but it counted for everything.

Even when Angelo told us she was married to their father’s friend, my love never wavered. It was her worst nightmare coming true and no matter how many people tell me she’s happy, I know deep in my heart she’s not. She’s in a living hell and I’m about to cut the head off the devil holding my woman hostage.

For the past two years, I have lived and breathed Winter Sontauro with one aim in mind. To bring her back to my side, where she belongs.

As we taxi to the stand, my grandfather puffs out a deep sigh, telling me he’s not as comfortable with this situation as I believe.

For now, it’s just the two of us, our men behind the curtain separating the workers from family. Don Majerio has spent a lifetime building his empire and the tales of his road to damnation make for horrifying listening. Cold, cruel and emotionless in every aspect of life, bar one. His family.

Family is everything to him and it always has been.

Unlike my father.

Rumor has it they fell out and with my grandfather’s blessing, my own father gave up his birthright and set up on his own in Boston, leaving his homeland, Sicily, Italy. He turned his back on the family that means so much to my grandfather who set him free on one condition. He must sacrifice his first-born son to take his place, who will inherit the title of Don Majerio on the death of my grandfather. I am that son and my future beckons like a siren dressed in black, her cruel smile promising a life of endless riches, all paid for with the blood and souls of our enemies.

I escaped my fate for two glorious years and lived my dream as a Hollywood producer. Now the debt is being called in because my own request for help is at the cost of my freedom.

“Have you spoken with your friends?”

My grandfather breaks the silence with a question that surprises me a little, but I nod. “They are in place.”

He appears thoughtful before saying with a deep, “Can they be trusted?”Property belongs to Nôvel(D)r/ama.Org.

“With my life.” I spit out the words as if he dares question their integrity and a wry twist to his lips and a brief shake of his head makes me think I’ve disappointed him in some way.

“What?” I’m irritable and the word slips out before I check it. The disrespect noted by the gleam in his eye.

It’s too late to back down now because that would disappoint him even more and I stare at him with a cold, hard expression of my own, causing a moment’s silence to stretch between us like a battle line.

“I trust no one.”

His simple statement doesn’t surprise me, and I bite back.

“Then I pity you.”

To my surprise, he laughs out loud, causing me to stare at him a little harder and then he leans back and raises his glass of whiskey to me in a toast.

“To my successor, who still has a lot to learn.”

“That may be, but I’m willing to take risks to get what I want.”

I shrug, trying desperately to shake off the black cloud that has settled over my soul. I used to revel in it. Wallow in the pain and enjoy feasting on depression. Not now, not today, because this is the day I get my woman back and that black cloud will be lifted for as long as she remains by my side.

“This woman.”

My grandfather surprises me again by referencing the reason I’m here at all.

“Winter.” I stare him in the eye and growl my response, causing him to roll his eyes.

“Is she worth it?”

“Yes.” A simple word that will never be anything else. Of course, she’s worth it. She is everything and I will only become the man my grandfather wants me to be with her by my side.

“You must check emotion, Alessandro.”

He shakes his head as if disappointed. “She is your weakness; she may destroy you.”

I don’t even dignify that with a response and just glare at him with unconcealed rage, causing him to smirk.

“A mafia wife has no place in her husband’s heart. She is there as a wife with a job to do.”

“Are you saying you never loved Nonna?” I throw it out there because I know how much he adores his wife, and he grins.

“I love my wife; I always have, but I have never given her my heart.”

He shrugs. “Possibly because I don’t have one. Wouldn’t you agree, my savage soldier?”

“Then the rumors are true.”

He laughs out loud. “They are fact, not rumor. I love Nonna, but it’s a different kind of love. I make my own decisions based on what is good for the family. I treat her like a queen, but she knows her place. She plays no part in my business and never has. My enemies understand that I make no decisions based on her welfare, which is why she has survived this far. That is why I fear for you, Alessandro.”

“I don’t need your fear.”

I shrug and smooth down the creases in my trousers before removing my shades from the breast pocket of my hand tailored Italian suit.

“She makes you weak.”

“I disagree.”

I know what he’s trying to do. He wants me to harden up, be like him, and earn a reputation as an unforgiving unemotional bastard. As I said before, I pity him.

With a deep sigh, he throws back the final dregs of whiskey in his glass and growls, “Then today will either make you the man I know you are deep inside or destroy you with your own weak flaws.”

“Which are?” I yawn to prove his words don’t get to me and he hisses, “Emotional, trusting and invested.”

“Invested?”

He nods. “It’s too personal. You’ve made this business personal, which could be your downfall. One fuck from an eager pussy could crumble years of careful construction. There are other wet pussies, other eager mouths and an endless supply of willing women who would make all your dreams come true. Your weakness is believing in love.”

I close my ears to his harsh words because I don’t feel like murdering my own grandfather today. I need him too much for that, so I shrug and stand, pulling down the cuffs on my jacket and setting my mood to bastard.

“Thank you for your character assassination, Nonno, but today is about ridding the world of a man who could hold the title as the biggest bastard who ever lived. If you want to help me gift you that title, you must dispose of the only real obstacle in your way.”

His keen eyes search my soul as I stand before him and then slowly, as if he hasn’t got a nerve in his whole body, he stands and beckons me closer. As he pulls me in for a hug, he whispers, “You are more like me than you want to believe. You may not want this life, but this life wants you and the sooner you realize she’s a demanding bitch, the better because she will always be the most important woman in your life and she’s a jealous one. Turn your back on her for one second and she will stick a knife in it. Have your fun, Alessandro, but never at the expense of business.”

He kisses me on both cheeks and it’s at times like this I consider him my grandfather, not the most respected Mafia Don in the world right now.

Now it’s time to face the most feared one and with Club Mafia standing alongside my grandfather and the Majerio family, I’m going to get my girl.