Page 229 of Lorenzo

Lorenzo gives me a look. “Not anymore.”

“No,” I agree, my smile softening. “Not anymore.”

He starts walking again, and I fall into step beside him. His security remains at a distance.

There is a difference between knowing about a threat and understanding it. I know about Marcello Greco now. I know why he might be interested in me.

Marcello wants Lorenzo to believe that loving someone means eventually being powerless to save them.

It's now my job to make sure that he never succeeds. No matter what.

Chapter Twenty Nine

Lorenzo

The next morning, I stand at the windows in Mario’s office at Conti Enterprises and look down at the stop-and-go of traffic in the steady rain along the street while my brothers settle in behind me.

I did not sleep particularly well.

Donna did, eventually, after spending hours going over the plan from every possible angle and then arguing with me when I suggested several modifications designed primarily to keep her farther away from the dangerous part of it.

She rejected every one.

I rejected several of hers.

Somewhere around midnight, we reached something resembling a compromise, although I suspect Donna would describe it as me finally accepting that she knows how to do her job.

She is probably right.

That does not mean I have to enjoy it.

I turn away from the windows and cross back toward the seating area in front of Mario’s desk. Ricardo has taken one of the chairs, Diego another, while Mario remains behind his desk with a cup of coffee in his hand.

I sit and rest one ankle over my opposite knee.

“Donna and I talked last night,” I begin.

Diego’s mouth immediately curves.

I point at him. “About Marcello.”

“I said nothing.”

“Your face did.”

“Not much I can do about that.”

Ricardo glances at him. “No matter how much we wish it were so.”

Diego gives him an unimpressed look, and Mario takes a sip of his coffee.

“Continue,” Mario says before either of them can derail the meeting.

“We know Marcello is going to come after Donna one way or another.” I look between them as I speak. “The break-ins make that obvious. Whether he sees her as a threat because of the investigation, leverage against me, or both, he has already turned his attention toward her.”

A fact that I hate, but one that can't be ignored.

Yesterday, I could look at the facts and treat them as a problem that needed solving. This morning, after waking with Donna beside me and Mocha sprawled across the rug near the bed, the same facts feel more personal.