Romeo The Mafia Casanova

Blinking.

Trying to hold what was left of my life together.

“Sit.” He nodded toward one of the chairs. My father was on his right, Romeo’s father to his left. A few associates were scattered around the room, pretending to stare out the window or look at their phones when we all knew they were watching, waiting, ready to pounce if need be.

Romeo pulled out the wooden chair, his long elegant fingers a welcome distraction because I remembered what those fingers could do.

They brought pleasure, pain, heartache, hate.

Slowly I lowered myself to the chair, back straight, eyes locked on one of the most powerful bosses in the world. He was almost too pretty to be ruthless but we all knew the truth. Sometimes the prettiest things in the world were far more warning than invitation.

He was the former, with his golden blond hair, light eyes, chiseled jaw, and full lips, but Andrei was all fallen angel, no chance of redemption, not that he would want it in the first place since he actually enjoyed his seat in Hell and welcomed sin like a long lost lover.

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At the end of the day, these men were ruthless, feared, monsters in plain sight but family over everything.

It was everything.

No matter what.

Family always came first.

“We have a few questions.” He leaned forward, his hands clasped on the table. “I know this is difficult but, you were the last person to see Tristian…”

I squeezed my eyes shut and whispered. “Yes, he was in a hurry.” I left out the part where he smelled like cheap perfume or how he’d slapped me so hard across the face it’d taken me a whole hour to try to cover the bruise that was still faintly on my cheek.

The guilt in his eyes would haunt me for an eternity until he decided to bait me, betray me, put his hands on me, not with a lover’s touch.

“We had been…having some communication issues.” That sounded better than fighting. “And honestly, I was so thankful that he was smiling and acting like himself that I didn’t ask when I should have.” I lied through my teeth; it was better than the truth.

Why ruin the perfect image of a man I started to think I didn’t know?

Andrei bit back a curse. “I believe I already know the answer, but I’ll ask anyway-who’s in charge of the finances?”

I frowned. “He’s the accountant; I’m horrible with numbers.”

The entire room tensed as Andrei leaned back and lowered his head like he was about to make a human sacrifice and felt guilty about it. “Show her.”

My father shared a look with Romeo, who was still standing behind me, then slowly slid a folder toward me. With shaking hands, I grabbed the manila folder.

How could something so plain terrify a person so much?

I reached into the folder and pulled out a stack of papers-bank statements, to be exact.

Highlighted at the very top was the sum of all of our accounts.

My stomach rolled. “Th-this it isn’t. It can’t be right.”

He wouldn’t.

There was no way.

We were well off for sure; he’d been paid extremely well, and I had a trust fund from my father… But this? This enormous amount?

“Twenty-five million dollars,” Andrei said it slowly like I had a learning disability or maybe because I was having trouble believing it myself.

Twenty-five million?

Oh Tristian.

My eyes filled with tears.

What have you done?

“I don’t understand.”

“Do you know, Eden,” Andrei said with a smirk, “how valuable information can be?”

A chill ran down my spine as I tried to defend him in vain, maybe it was one last attempt to salvage his image. “He would never”

Andrei pounded his fists against the table, causing me to jump a foot.

As he spewed, “HE DID!”