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Once I leave the hotel, I head to my car and driving toward the Russo mansion, a place that feels less like home every time I step into it—despite it being the only home I’ve known all my life. There are a few nods and salutes from the men guarding the place as I walk in. I open the giant double doors and catch the ball flying toward my head seconds before it can make contact. An eyebrow lifts as I study the ball in my hand, and my eyes trail over to the direction it came from.
The kid gasps and his blue eyes widen as he takes a step back in fear.
“For fuck’s sake,” I mutter.
I walk over to Matthew Russo. He has short, curly brown hair, chubby cheeks and a cute smile. At least, I guess his smile is cute, but I wouldn’t know because he hasn’t smiled at me since he met me a few months ago. Not that I blame him. His father died and I showed up to take his place.
I force my expression to be neutral as I get on one knee in front of the seven-year-old, handing him the ball. He accepts it with shaky fingers.
“Hey, bud,” I say. “Were you planning on hitting my face with that?”
He shakes his head and swallows softly. “No,cuginoEnzo.”
“Alright. Cause if you were, you’re a terrible shot. It’s okay to want to hit me in the face, but if you’re going to do it, you should do it right.”
He tilts his head in confusion, and I sigh.
“We’ve talked about this, Matthew. You don’t have to be scared of me. I’m your cousin. Family. We protect each other. And sometimes, we feel like beating each other up. But that’s okay.”
“That would sound so much better if you didn’t kill his father six months ago,” a voice pipes up.
Rolling my eyes, I let out another sigh and get to my feet. My gaze immediately connects with Isabella Russo’s icy blue eyes.
“Hello,cugina mia. How’s your day going?” I say with false enthusiasm. “And could you not say stuff like that in front of the kid?”
“Why not?” Isa shrugs. “He knows the truth.”
She gestures for Matthew to come over and he immediately does, moving to hide behind the cousin he trusts. I can’t blame them for their attitude toward me, but there comes a certain point where you’ve got to give a guy some leeway.
“I didn’t kill his father,” I state.
Isa tilts her head to the side, expression cold. “No, you just had someone else do your dirty work.codardo,” she spits, calling me a coward.
My jaw clenches. I have a lot of self-control, but these past few months, Isabella has gotten pretty good at pushing my buttons.
A tense silence follows as I stare at her, but it’s quickly broken when Jason strolls into the living room. He takes in the atmosphere with a raised eyebrow.
“Could we have one normal morning in this house without it feeling like World War III’s about to break out?”
“Shut up, Jason,” Isabella snaps before walking away, taking the kid with her.
I watch them go, wondering when I’ll be able to fix my relationship with my cousins. Or if I even should. Despite what they may think, I’ve got nothing against them. I came back for my family. And they’re a part of that. I’m here to protect them, whether they realize that or not.
“You, come with me,” I say to the insufferable blonde.
Jason follows me up the stairs to the office on the second floor. It used to be a library, but I had it converted into my office. I refuse to use the same office that my father and his brothers made use of in this house. I can barely even set foot in it. Jason takes a seat opposite me as I tell him about the woman I met last night.
“Pull up the footage from the party last night and find her. I want to know everything. Her name, where she’s from, hell, even her credit score.”
Jason scratches the scruff of his beard. “You sure that wouldn’t be a waste of resources? I mean, you’ve got more important shit to do than think about a chick you already slept with.”
I give him a hard look. “She said something about me being careful who I choose to ally myself with. In what world is that not something I have to look into?”
“In a world where you’re not a control freak,” he mutters, and my eyes narrow.
Jason’s the only person apart from my cousins who is allowed to speak to me that way. I’ve known him for a long time, ever since I left home and went to London. One night, I was out late after having too much to drink, and I stumbled on this thin, wiry English kid with blond hair and hollow cheeks. He was able to steal my wallet and my phone, which was already impressive.What he didn’t know was that I’m pretty good at tracking things that belong to me.
I found him and held him at gunpoint, but instead of begging for his life, he smirked at me and told me to make it a kill shot. He was the kind of fearless you don’t see every day, so I decided to keep him around. He’s become the person closest to me in the world. He’s an idiot, but he’s an irreplaceable one. I wouldn’t be where I am now without Jason.
