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She and Ciro had had a terrible argument one day, and she’d seen him at the pond the next, sprinkling something into the water.
I duck down behind one of the beams of the crane. I’ve felt someone shadowing me for at least two weeks now,
I slide up against the metal siding and watch as a Bernardi, huge and muscular with tattoo sleeves, backs his way through the shipping containers. Close-cropped black hair and dark eyes. A thick-lipped mouth,
He surprises me again. He smiles, and his face transforms into something beautiful.
and press a kiss to his lips. He kisses back and I’m surprised yet again by him,
“Me? Why, I do declare, Sandro, that Teddy of yours is just a darling.”
Romeo is dressed, as usual, in tight black clothing that covers his admirable physique from neck to wrists and ankles.
because he reminds me of them. He reminds me most of… The Bernardi Lion.
For weeks, now, I’ve rented a room as “Romeo” and pretended to work here at The Cellar, but in reality, I’m only seeing Julian Castellani.
I have to be careful. I have to make sure I don’t reveal my greatest weakness.
“All I’m saying is, I have no objections to rolling around in the gutter with you, Romeo.”
“Oh,” he breathes, as I pull it off. He stares straight back at me, head slightly tilted, taking in my features. “Hello,” he says. Not a hint of fear. Not a hint of recognition.
“Ah,” he says, and looks up with a rueful smile. “You know, you’re very talented…for a Bernardi.”
He knew who I was when he saw the tattoos.
When AJ found out my address, he laughed so hard he cried.
It still took a while for him to recognize me today. When he walked into the bar at The Cellar for our meeting and looked around, his eyes went right over me and then moved on.
He kisses me. The Bernardi Enforcer is kissing me, as though this was some romantic interlude, and I... I like it.
We met years ago at a formal gathering of Families, held out at Redwood Manor.
He says nothing for a moment, and then, “I feel like someone’s watching me.”
Six feet five inches of muscles that are meant to be admired; so wide he almost filled up the doorway as he came through it.
as the cab drives towards the Bellamy Grand.
But all I can think about is Leo Bernardi.
“Julian,” he says, and he sounds gentle. “What do you think trust is?”
“You think that’s what this is about? Our jobs? This is about loyalty, Julian. Trust. Something you clearly don’t understand.”
I turn a corner and see a shadow leaning against the wall.
“But Julian,” Jack says slowly, “why didn’t you recognize them?”
“He wasn’t going to kill me,” Julian says, and the hand stroking my throbbing forehead feels so soothing, I close my eyes. “You hit him too hard, Jack.”
Julian stares at me, eyes wide as saucers. “Do you prefer roses?” he manages, before I lean harder against his throat.
Pedretti stands confidently in the doorway, dressed in a tailored suit, shoes shining like twin disco balls on his feet. Must be an effect of that promotion he got recently,
“I overheard him one night,” she says quietly. “Back at his house, Gino and I were there for dinner.
The problem with Julian Castellani—apart from all the obvious ones—is that he really fucking does it for me. Arrogant blond psychopathic assassins who like it rough. That’s my type, apparently.
“I’ll kiss it and make it better. Will you let me kiss you, Leo?”
it. I take him around the trunk, and show him a little patch of wildflowers growing at the base.
until I finally had something to hold over him that scared him enough to give them to me. Sandro doesn’t know, either.
“We’re a flash of lightning,” he murmurs. “Bright and dazzling and over in a few seconds. Nothing but noise after it. That’s you and me. So we should enjoy it while we can, but we can’t make out like it’ll ever be more than that.”
Impatiently, I snap, “I just wanted to ask you how you knew you were in love.”
