Nico

"He really shouldn't be here," the doctor advised Levi. "We should have taken him to the hospital yesterday."


"No!" I protested, though my voice came out weak and desperate. "You can't do this! Who will protect the estate if I'm gone?"

Levi turned to me, weariness etched on his face. I could envision the burden of managing security alone weighing on him. "Calm down. You've got three broken ribs, a fractured skull, and you're still trying to get up. You're making me feel guilty."

I tried to reach out to him, pleading, "Don't send me away! I can't... I can't..." Exhaustion overwhelmed me, forcing me back against the pillows. I despised feeling so powerless, unable to even speak without pain.


"You see the situation," the doctor persisted. "We've given him all the blood we can, but we can't treat a skull fracture here. His life is at risk staying here."

"No!" I attempted to shout, but my body refused to cooperate. Panic started to grip me, the worst feeling yet.


Levi hesitated briefly, then shook the doctor's hand firmly. "Alright. Send him."

'NO!" I screamed.

Levi ignored me. 'Thank you for all you've done. Call the ambulance. I'd appreciate it if you went with him. We want someone from inside the family working on him, not some stranger."

'Of course, Consigliere. Consider it done."

The doctor waved to some of the medics and nurses standing around. They left, but Levi stayed behind. He waited until the door closed before he faced me.

He came over to my bed and squeezed my shoulder. 'You're going in, man. I'm sorry. You can't stay here."

'No!" I moaned.

'The family takes care of its own, especially someone as loyal and dedicated as you. I wouldn't be taking care of our own if I kept you here. You're a mess. We've done all we can here. Just go to the hospital and concentrate on getting better. Then you can come back to work."

I compressed my lips and looked away. I couldn't go to the hospital, not with the estate basically under siege from the Navaros and God only knew what else.

He took another step nearer and lowered his voice to a breathless whisper. 'You've obviously been wasted on the front lines all these years. I'm going to have to seriously think about moving you up the chain command big time. You don't belong down there with the grunts."

I couldn't look at him. This was the worst humiliation yet. What good was a mob enforcer stranded in bed—or worse, a hospital bed.

Levi crushed my shoulder again, and I winced in spite of myself—just in case I needed more confirmation that I was totally unfit to do my job.

'Get better. Get stronger. Let the doctors fix you up… and for God's sake, don't try to get up until the doctors tell you that you can."

'But…"

He held up his hand and shut his eyes. I couldn't argue with that gesture. That guy never had to say a word to enforce his authority. He was the perfect person to take over for Don Alonzo.

'If I hear anything about you resisting the doctors or causing trouble at the hospital, I'm going to arrange to have you stay there for an extra week for every infraction. Understand?"

I gulped and nodded, but I couldn't look at him. He squeezed me again and let himself out of the room.

Now I was all alone in my misery. This wasn't the first time I got hurt in the line of duty, but it was definitely the worst. The doctors said I made it worse by attacking Ryder in Geneva's room.

I kept thinking of ways I could get out of this, but Levi's word was law. He was basically the don now. If Don Alonzo told me to go to the hospital, I never would have dared to argue with him.

I still struggled to accept that Don Alonzo was gone. He brought me up off the streets and gave me a job when I had nothing. The guy was like the father I never had, and now he was gone.

I couldn't let him down by winding up in the hospital, especially not with Geneva in danger, and Levi needed me to help run the security forces. If I left now, the whole shooting match would go to pieces.

I couldn't get out of it, though. Just thinking about getting up hurt. My head pounded, and every breath was agony. The tight medical tape strapped around my ribs helped a little, but the constant pain only forced into awareness how fucked up I really was.

The door opened again. I thought it was the doctor coming back. I turned around to make a cutting remark and froze when I saw Geneva standing there.

She looked incredible in a pair of tight capri pants and a fresh, white T-shirt. The girl glowed with beauty and vitality. She was by far the most beautiful woman I'd ever laid eyes on, but even that hurt.

I couldn't see her looking at me with a mixture of pain and pity. I liked her better when she hated me. At least then we both knew where we stood. Now she actually cared about me, and that threatened my whole carefully constructed defense.

I turned back to the balcony. Sunshine streamed through the windows, but the nice day only made me feel worse. I shouldn't be leaving. I should be staying here and guarding this place. No one else was going to do it.

I wished more than anything that she would leave, but she didn't. She sat down on the edge of my bed, and just when I thought my world couldn't get any worse, she slipped her hand into mine. 'I just wanted to thank you again, Nico… for protecting me."

I yanked my hand away. 'You already said that. You don't have to say it again. Just leave me alone."

She didn't move except to stiffen. 'Why do you hate me so much? What did I ever do to you?"

'Nothing, okay? Just get out of here. You don't have to rub my nose in it."

'Rub your nose in what? You saved me—twice. Do you think I could ever forget that?"

'I don't care. Just go away. You've already done enough. Don't make it worse."

She gasped, but I still couldn't look at her. 'What did I ever do to make you hate me so much?"

'Nothing, okay? Go marry Charles the way you want and leave me alone. It isn't like you could ever look sideways at me. I'm nobody."

The words fell out of my mouth before I could stop them. I cringed. I shouldn't have said those words out loud. I swore I would never tell her. Now they hung in the air with a soul-crushing weight.

She couldn't even gasp. I kept my head turned so I wouldn't see her sitting there with her jaw on the floor, but her eyes kept drilling into me. Her hand went cold against my fingers.

Damn it. I shouldn't have said anything. Of course, she didn't know how I felt about her. How could she when I never told her? I never told anyone.

She was a princess. I was a scumbag from the gutter. I had no family and no money, except for what I earned working for her father and now for her family.

I never should have told her. I should have taken that secret to my grave.

She slipped her hand out of mine and lurched to the door. It slammed, and a dangerous silence fell over the house.

Now she would run off to Levi and tell him. I would never be allowed near Geneva Levine again, so why did I feel so rotten about that? Wasn't that what I wanted in the first place?

It didn't matter anymore. Being near her or away from her amounted to the same thing in the end. It was hopeless, and now that she knew, she would start hating me even more, if that was even possible.

RYDER

Istepped out of the limo and inhaled a long, deep breath of the fresh air. The Levine family estate looked even better in daylight than it did at night.

All the memories from last week came rushing back now that I was here again. That evening I spent in Geneva's bedroom kept haunting my mind all week.

I couldn't say I actually spent the evening there. I was only in her room for a matter of minutes, and then it ended with a bang—literally.

Still, I would carry that night with me as one of the most exhilarating of my life. Now I was back here with the prospect of seeing her again.

She must have listened to me and believed that I wanted to propose. When my father contacted Levi Evangelista about me proposing to Geneva, Levi must have been at least partly receptive. I wouldn't be here otherwise.

No one could expect the Levines to take a proposal from me at face value, not after the way our families had been at odds these last several months. Still, Levi didn't hang up on my father. That was a step in the right direction.

My father, Marco Navaro, stepped out of the limo behind me and surveyed the estate with obvious approval. 'Take a good look, son. This will all be yours someday."

'I have to win Geneva over first."

My next younger brother, Enzo, got out after my father. He nodded at the estate. 'This is what I'm talking about. Now I see why the Levines are the richest, biggest, most powerful family on the block. Only they would be able to afford a spread like this right in the heart of Manhattan."

My youngest brother, 'Ricky" Riccardo, got out next, but he didn't even glance at the grounds. He didn't appreciate the finer things.

I couldn't help but smile when I looked up at her balcony overlooking the driveway. The family had repaired the balcony doors after Nico Greco threw me out of them. That balcony would always make me happy. I would see it every day when I came home and probably every night from the inside.

Whoever married Geneva might inherit all of this, but the money, influence, and power didn't concern me. Whoever married her would claimher, that angel from the other night.

Whoever married her would spend every night with her. Whoever married her would spend every night enjoying the magical delights of her body and her delightful, beautiful, delectable ways.

But first I had to win her over. I also had to win over Levi Evangelista, and I had my work cut out for me there. He strode through the big front doors, and his flinty glare at me, my father, and my brothers left absolutely no doubt how he felt about us.

He walked up to my father and stuck out his hand. 'Don Marco—welcome to our humble home."

They kissed on both cheeks according to custom, but anyone could see how stiff and distant they held each other.

'Thank you for seeing us, Consigliere. It's an honor to offer my son as a suitor for your Geneva's hand."

Levi only waved toward the house. 'Come inside, and we can discuss this properly."

My father waved toward my brothers. 'You know my other sons, Enzo and Riccardo."

Levi nodded. 'I know them. Come inside."

He turned back toward the house, and a chill fell over me when I saw the man standing behind Levi.

He looked like he got run over by a truck, but the swelling around his eyes had gone down enough that I recognized him instantly. It was Nico Greco, the guy Enzo and I beat up outside the estate wall, and then he attacked me in Geneva's bedroom.

He glared right at me and didn't even pretend to be polite the way Levi did. Nico held himself stiff and straight.

I wouldn't have expected any man to be upright even a week after taking a beating like the one we gave him. I would be surprised anyone could survive it, but he obviously did. He even made it back to Geneva's bedroom in time to interrupt what could have been the greatest night of my life.

Levi walked past him into the house. Nico stood guard by the door so my father, my brothers, and I had to walk past him too just to get into the house.

I didn't want to turn my back on him. The bruising around his face had started turning nasty colors. Cuts, splits, and stitches made him look something like Frankenstein's monster.

Part of his hair had been shaved off, and a vicious line of stitches dotted a terrible gash on the side of his skull, but that hateful fury in his hard, black eyes left nothing at all to the imagination.

None of the other New York Italian mob families would let a guy as injured as this go back on duty to guard their highest royalty, but this guy was in a class by himself. I wouldn't like to tangle with him even in this state. He looked perfectly capable of tearing someone apart with his bare hands.

I had to turn my back on him to get into the house. He followed too closely on our way to Levi's office. I had to fight the urge to turn around and face Nico in case he attacked me again.

His whole presence radiated murderous rage like he might explode on me at any second, but he didn't. He just stood there throbbing with hatred while the four of us lined up in front of Levi's desk.

I perked up once I got inside and discovered Geneva already there. She stood to one side. As soon as we went in, Nico moved over and stationed himself at her side exactly the way he did at her father's funeral. A man would be taking his life in his hands trying to get near her.

This was going to be harder than I thought, especially now that Charles Terranova was staying right here at the estate where he could spend every day with her.

She glowed with her usual radiance. She wore an immaculate dark blue business suit. Her hair cascaded down her face and shoulders in a shimmering waterfall of bliss.

I had a flashback of her slumped in front of her mirror touching herself and then gasping in my mouth while I fingered her.

I couldn't stop staring at her. She actually took my attention away from Nico. Her skin, eyes, and hair glowed with… was it sexual energy, or did my own memory of that night cloud my judgment?

She was supposed to be a virgin when she got married, but that might be breaking down now that she was surrounded by suitors.

Was Charles making strides to get into her panties… or could it be Levi? He might be old, but no one could call the guy over the hill. He was at least as powerfully built as Charles, and probably more so.

His eyes flashed as much as ever, and he obviously had the Levine empire under control. He was almost as influential as Don Alonzo had been. That made sense since they ran the empire together while Don Alonzo was alive.

Geneva was definitely thriving and getting her rocks off somewhere. I highly doubted she was doing it all by herself in her upstairs bedroom.

My father either didn't notice anything out of the ordinary or else he pretended not to. My father completely ignored Nico and Geneva and concentrated everything on Levi.

'Well, Consigliere. Here we are. Now we can discuss my son's proposal. We would like to offer him as a suitor for Miss Geneva's hand in marriage. I'm sure you'll find Ryder's inheritance substantial enough to tempt even a bride as influential as Miss Levine."

'Your proposal is noted, and we will take it under consideration," Levi returned in a flat, emotionless tone. 'I must tell you, Don Marco, that we will not accept any proposal from a family so hostile to the Levines' interests—as the Navaros have proven themselves to be countless times."

'I have no idea what you mean. We have never acted against the Levine family's interests. We have always conducted ourselves according to tradition and respected the Levines' territorial claims. You know this yourself, Consigliere."

Levi narrowed his eyes even more and compressed his lips. 'What about the Tribeca warehouse attack? What about the Uptown market attack earlier last month? What about all the other attacks your people have perpetrated against our assets all over New York? How can you even dare to stand there and deny it?"

My father waved that away. 'I assure you the Navaros had nothing to do with any of that. You must have mistaken us for someone else. Perhaps someone is attacking the Levines and making it appear that we are doing it. Perhaps one of the other families is deliberately trying to undermine this very marriage."

I resisted the urge to glance over at my father. How could he bald-faced lie to Levi Evangelista like this?

Of course, the Navaros perpetrated all those attacks and many more. My father had been at war against the Levines for years.

He just did it in a way that gave him a way to deny it so he didn't have to bring it right out in the open.

He couldn't bring it right out in the open. The Navaros couldn't win against a family as powerful as the Levines—not in open warfare.

We had to weaken them first by chipping away at their territory and their powerhouse businesses.

Levi didn't buy the ruse, either. 'There is no marriage, and there never will be until we satisfy ourselves that this union will be in our family's interest. Until then, Ryder and Geneva are both free to pursue other options."

'Perhaps Miss Geneva should be the one to decide whether Ryder's proposal has any merit." My father turned to Geneva for the first time. 'What do you think, Miss Levine?"

'I am Geneva's guardian, and she won't marry anyone without my approval," Levi snarled. 'For a man who speaks so highly of tradition and respect, you aren't getting off to a very impressive start."

My father opened his mouth to say something else, but I had heard enough. This was going to disintegrate into an argument, and that would derail my chances.

'Charles Terranova is staying here for an indefinite visit," I interrupted. 'He's staying here to get acquainted with Geneva so they can both decide if they want to get married. I should have the same opportunity. I should come to stay here to spend time with Geneva one-on-one."

'That's out of the question," Levi fired back. 'Charles Terranova is Geneva's childhood friend and the son of an allied family. You…"