His Mafia Princess (Family First #1) Read online

  “You don’t have the balls,” Giovanni said. “Besides, how will you keep the men tight under your control if you killed me? They would then think they could take you out in order to wrestle control from you. And the Russians, are you forgetting that we’ve just called war with them?”

  “I’ve forgotten nothing, but you have,” Gregorio said. “The men are loyal to me. I’ve been the one who has been at their sides and had their backs for the last twenty years, not you. I’ve grown up in this Family, and I’ve always taken the hard missions to prove myself. They would follow me no matter if I killed you or not, and none would dare to challenge me.” He heard several grunts of approval behind him. “As for the Russians, who the fuck did you have planned to lead the war against them? Sure as shit not you. You didn’t even leave your mansion to get your daughter back. What kind of message do you think that sends out to your men? Let me tell you.” Gregorio now held Giovanni close by the front of his shirt. “It tells them that you are a fucking pussy. You are a god damn coward, and that’s why it’s time for a leadership change. You’ve grown too complacent. You’ve grown too fat and too full of your own power.”

  “And you forget who it is that groomed you to take this position on.”

  “Not that you wanted to. You fought me tooth and nail on it. Step down and retract what you just said about the woman I am damn well going to share a life with or I will kill you. There are no questions about it. I will.”

  Gregorio could see the look on Giovanni’s face, and he knew there would be no way around it. “You announce me now before all of the Families or I will kill you.” He looked over his shoulder at Tony. “Get them all on Skype. Every family. I don’t give a fuck what time it is or where they are. You tell those sons of bitches they have no choice in the matter. If any of them don’t come to the meeting, tell them I will personally come to them and tear them apart one by one. I will kill them all with my bare hands.” He was barely holding his temper right now and at the moment couldn’t give a fucking shit what people thought about him.

  “Got it, Boss.” Tony grabbed a laptop from one of the men and brought it closer.

  “Announce it. Do you understand me?” There was no two ways about it. He was damn good and well going to ensure that this mother fucker paid for the insult to Alessandra, after he announced Gregorio was taking over for him. He was angrier that the man had just the day before given his blessing, and now he was trying to take it back. He was willing to shun his daughter and leave her to any that might come her way instead of keeping his word.

  “I am Giovanni Falco. I am your Boss, your Don.” Gregorio watched as Giovanni looked at the small screen, which held men in power on every continent. They were men he had hand-picked, but ones that Gregorio had quietly gained the trust of and the ones that now thought of Gregorio as Boss. “Gregorio has been my second for a number of years, as you all know. I’ve been grooming him to take over for me. I want you all to know that the time has come. I am handing over everything to Gregorio as of today. Do you all understand?”

  “Yes, sir.” The men spoke nearly as a full unit.

  “He is a fine replacement.” This came from the contact in Milan. “And your daughter?”

  Gregorio growled. “She is mine.” He stepped into frame. “Do not even once think to approach her without my express permission.”

  All of the men looked from Gregorio to Giovanni.

  “My daughter is to marry Gregorio in twenty-nine days. You are all invited as well as your loved ones. My secretary will have the wedding planner get in touch with you all to confirm your space. After that, I believe I will take a vacation. Somewhere I’ve never been. I believe I will go to Morocco.” It was a place Gregorio knew was controlled by the Family, a woman of all things and a woman that was pissed at Gregorio.

  Gregorio nodded to the men and added, “I will personally be in touch with all of you today.” He then cut the connection. He looked at Giovanni and said, “Do not think that you will go to Ilsa and have her bend to your will. Do you understand me?”

  “Yes, I understand, but that is not why I would go to Ilsa.” Giovanni actually started to flush a bit, the skin around his neck turning slightly red. “I’ve been seeing Ilsa since Alessandra’s mother died. In truth, I was seeing her before then. Ilsa is…” Giovanni hesitated and then smiled. “She is good for me. She could never have children, which was too bad. However, I’m happy to have her in my life. Especially now. I will enjoy spending time with her.” There was a hesitation to the old man and then he spoke quietly. “I had to know you were good enough for her. Only a man willing to fight for his love would be worthy of her. You were willing not only to fight me but to get rid of me and tell my daughter you had done just that. That took balls.”

  Gregorio got it then. He understood but didn’t. In that moment, he knew that if anything ever happened to Alessandra, he wouldn’t find another lover to replace her. He cared far too much for her to desecrate the memory of that feeling. He bowed his head to his soon to be father-in-law. “Have your wedding planner contact me. In the meantime, I am going to go find Alessandra and ensure she’s okay.”

  “We are flying in a designer to create her dress,” Giovanni said. “She wants to wear her mother’s gown with some updates, so that’s what we will give her. She will have everything she wants. No expenses will be spared.”

  “On that we agree.” Gregorio didn’t have the full funding Giovanni did, but he had more than enough to make Alessandra’s dreams come true. Then he would soon control the Family Funds. “Are we good?” he asked Giovanni.

  “Yeah. We are good.” It was clear Giovanni hadn’t wanted to give up his position, but he was because of the simple fact that Gregorio was younger. Not only that, but it was clear Gregorio had fostered relationships with everyone in the Family. Therefore he knew not to fight a losing battle.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Three weeks later, Gregorio frowned as he looked at the Russian who hung from the rafters. “So are you going to tell me just exactly why it was you were following my very soon to be wife around?” He punctuated his question with a jab to the ribcage of the bastard.

  “You know why.” The man coughed as he swayed from the brutal assault. “Because he still wants her.”

  “The son?” Gregorio knew he didn’t have to ask, but he did all the same.

  “Yes and he will have her. There will be a moment in time when you are not watching, and he will take her. He won’t let go. He wants her and he will take her.” The man was rewarded with another punch to his lower ribs, which resulted in a loud cracking sound.

  “He won’t ever have her.” Gregorio grabbed the man by his hair and held him up. He lifted his leg slightly and pulled a ka-bar knife from his hidden holster. The blade didn’t glint as most blades would. It wasn’t designed to be flashy but effective. “When you get to Hell, save your boss a seat. He’s soon going to be joining you.” Without any fanfare, he slid the blade over the man’s neck and watched with a smile on his face as the crimson stain of blood dripped down from his neck, over the curve of his jaw, and into his face. He heard the man screaming but didn’t care. Where Alessandra was concerned, there was nothing he wouldn’t do, no lines he wouldn’t cross for her.

  Gregorio walked away from the man after wiping the blade on the man’s shirt. A smile was on his lips, one of supreme satisfaction because of the kill. He was a killer, through and through, and knew it. The only people who would ever be privy to the softer side of him were Alessandra and any child they might be blessed with, but only if the child wasn’t a massive fuck up.

  Stopping beside Tony, he smiled. “Please be so good as to have someone take the trash out for us?”

  “You enjoyed that, didn’t you?” Tony had a shit eating grin on his face, Gregorio noticed.

  “I did. I needed that. With all of the wedding hoopla going on, I needed to kill someone or I might actually say something that would cause Alessandra pain.”

  Tony s
norted. “You would never do or say anything that would hurt her. We both know it, Boss. She is your weakness. You are going to need to double the guard on her, you know that right? Anyone who knows you will see it as well. They will all see she’s the one thing that could be used against you.”

  “This is true, but they all also know me well enough to understand that if they even dare to touch a hair on her head, I will kill them. I’ve made that point with Vasily’s henchman that came after her.”

  “It’s still worrisome that the son is still out and no one has been able to find him. We’ve also not been able to flush Vasily out.”

  “I have a plan for that,” Gregorio told his second. “He will come if we dangle the right bait in front of him.”

  “And what would that bait be?”

  “He will come when we hit up his bank where he keeps the bulk of his funds in diamonds in his safety deposit box.”

  “And you know about this how?”

  “He has a whore in his house that likes the blow we have. She’s a junkie and will do anything at all for her next hit. Joseph Ferrante is her favorite dealer, and since he’s one of ours…”

  “Gotcha,” Tony said with a nod. “Do you know who you want to do the bank?”

  “I do. They should be here in a couple of hours. We are going to meet with them, and they will give us the run down. They have hit several banks and are very good. Just in case, however, we do have our usual safety nets in place.”

  “Families?” Tony asked.

  “Yes.” Gregorio nodded. The two men were leaving the basement where the dead body was and headed toward the main floor. The insurance policy they would have was in keeping the robbers’ families in their personal care. That way, if there was a moment where they were caught, they wouldn’t give up the Family. It was simply the way it was. Between that and the cops Greg had in his pocket, they would be fine. “The good thing is that the whore lifted the key to Vasily’s box so one will be opened and closed easily.”

  “Are they going to imitate Vasily?”

  “As far as I know, yes. We will know more soon.”

  Tony nodded and looked out the window once more. He then looked to Gregorio and asked, “Perhaps I should meet with them alone so you won’t be in the crosshairs. The last thing we need is for the cops to see that the power has shifted inside of our Organization.”

  “We both know they will know that soon anyway. They have far too many fucking snitches around and in our home. That is another thing Giovanni let fly, which pisses me off completely.”

  “How do you plan on flushing them out?”

  “Set a trap. We will play diversion.” It was where they would send out misinformation to different sources and see where the cops showed up. It was really that simple. “We will dangle bait in from of the fucking Feds and cops and see what pans out.”

  “Reports from the heads are all saying the same thing. They are saying the Irish are siding with us along the coast.”

  “They are proving to be a good alliance. It’s my hope that after we have dealt with the Russians, we will be able to broker some sort of truce. If not…” He lifted his shoulder slightly and smiled when he looked to his friend. “If not, then we will go back to fighting. It simply is the way it will be.”

  “I understand, sir,” Tony said. “Enough of that, however. Have you thought anymore about your bachelor party?”

  “I have. There is an opening for us at the Red Tent this weekend. We need to ensure Alessandra is protected while we are there for the party, but yes, we will have a good time, my friend. There are whores lined up for everyone.”

  “You included?”

  “No. As hard as it is for you to understand, I will remain faithful to her. I won’t be like her father.”

  “I understand.” Tony nodded and then Greg saw him get that faraway look on his face.

  Gregorio reached out and put his hand on his friend’s shoulder. He gave it a squeeze. He didn’t say anything else, just gave his friend that show of camaraderie in the moment. Greg got it. Hell, if something happened to Alessandra or she suddenly disappeared overnight, he would lose his ever fucking loving shit. No, he couldn’t think about it, because if he thought about it he would drive himself fucking crazy. “Come on, let’s go and grab a beer.”

  “You payin?” Tony asked with a laugh, pulling himself out of the funk he had been in. Gregorio noticed the shadows as they left his friends eyes, at least for now.

  “You bet your ass I am. The first round and then I will let all of you guys take turns buying me drinks. After all, I’m supplying the ass, right?”

  “This is true, and if I know you, and I do…” Tony smirked. “It’s going to be some Grade A prime ass too.”

  “Only the best for those closest to me,” Gregorio said with a smile.

  “Good. I figured as much, but I wanted to check and make sure. Sadly, we both know what working for a Boss whose tighter than the bark on a tree with his money is like.”

  “That we do, sadly. The good thing is that you have known me my whole life and I have known you yours. We grew up in the streets together, Tony, and that’s what counts. We have both paid in blood to learn that trust isn’t a commodity that can be traded in.”

  ****

  Later that afternoon at the bar, Gregorio lifted his hand for a beer. Before either he or Tony could utter another word, one of the women came up to them and smiled. “Can I get either of you to let me dance for you, or both?” She hopefully eyed both men up with a look Greg could only liken to a starving animal looking at fresh meat.

  “Me,” Tony said with a grin and grabbed her. “You good, Boss?”

  “I’m good. Go, have fun.” He tipped his drink to his friend. He watched Tony being led away and looked from man to man to ensure they were all having fun. When he was certain his men were settled and happy, he rose to his feet and walked out, the night already paid for.

  Once he was in the parking lot, Gregorio had the overwhelming urge to see his fiancé, to see Alessandra. With that in mind, he turned on his heels and left the area. He wanted to go home to her, plain and simple.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Alessandra heard the garage door opening and looked up at the clock. She hadn’t expected him home so soon, but there he was pulling into the garage. She looked at the women who were all around her and laughed. “Can one of you please tell him he can’t come in here?” When all of the women looked at her with fear in their eyes, she shook her head. “Just explain to him I’m in my wedding gown and he can’t see me.” She heard him in the kitchen then. When none of the women moved, Alessandra sighed and then shouted out to Gregorio. “I’m in my wedding gown for the final fitting. I’m sorry, but we commandeered your office so please don’t come in here.”

  “You took my office over?” She heard his muttered words on the other side of his door.

  “You bet your cute butt we did. It was the only room that had enough large space with doors that locked. Now go and do something else for like a half hour, please? I will be out and they will leave with the dress.”

  She heard him grumbling and just smiled. “I love that man. He doesn’t know it yet, but I love that man and I’m going to make it my life’s mission to ensure he knows it every day for the rest of his life.”

  She heard their laughter, their giggles and saw their shocked looks but didn’t care. All that mattered was that she saw the real Gregorio under all the gruffness and the armor he wore easily. Oh she wasn’t stupid enough to think he wasn’t deadly, because she knew he was, but she also knew he would never, ever harm her.

  ****

  Half an hour later, Gregorio turned and watched the women leaving his office and bit back the growl. He hated having people he didn’t know in his office, but he couldn’t deny Alessandra anything. He would, however, talk to her about it, tell her why he disliked it. Their lives were lived on the edge. If anyone got anything on him, he would go to jail for the rest of time, as would much of
her family. She would be left penniless and that was something he refused to allow to happen.

  When he saw her approaching him, he couldn’t stop his smile. He had a shitty day, but just seeing her made it all better. He wasn’t surprised when she simply wrapped her arms around him and held him. She had been doing things like that for the last three and a half weeks. Just small things like reaching out to hold his hand or hugging him when he needed it and didn’t even realize it.

  He was thankful she was no longer hurting from her short time in Vasily’s hold. In fact, the burns on her side were now just small pink scars that would forever remind him he hadn’t protected her as well as he should have.

  Rubbing his large hands up and down her back, he pressed a kiss to her cheek and whispered against her ear, “Did you miss me today?”

  “You know I did. I always seem to miss you. Did you miss me?”

  “I did. Is your gown almost ready?”

  “Today was the last fitting. Tomorrow I will go back to Daddy’s home so you can get yourself ready and so I can get ready as well. We will have our full twenty-four hours away from each other before the wedding.”

  “I don’t like that.” He bristled at the idea of being without her for even a night, not now that he had her sleeping with him and enjoying it as much as he was.

  “I know, but the wedding is being done in the backyard. Besides, from what you and Daddy have told me, there has been a huge increase in the guards around his place too. I take it that is your doing?”

  “Yes, I knew you wanted to be married in the rose gardens there, so I ensured the grounds were well covered.”