Chapter 2

I've often wondered what it would feel like. To have someone look at me and actually see me. Not the version I show the world or the version that my brothers know. But the real me, the man on the inside that only appears in the dark. When I'm alone. When no one else is around.

What I don't do, ever, is let that part of me see the light of day. Which is why when she looked at me like she knew, it threw me off my game. I don't know who she is. I know her name. I know where she works, and I know that she has no criminal history as an adult. There were a few minor charges I managed to dig up from her youth. But nothing that screamed red flag.

When my older brother started seeing his now girlfriend, I made it my job to compile every single piece of information I could on the chick as well as all her known associates. Which included her three closest friends. One of those friends being Daisy Blake, the woman who just looked at me like she could see right through to my fucking soul.

Of course, Gio has no idea that I know about Eloise yet. He thinks he's keeping the whole thing under wraps. He's not. And I especially like to know everyone my brothers interact with. What their motives are and what their history says about them.

I won't allow any of them to be in harm's way if I can help it. So I might have trackers on all of their cars. I might have also planted a few bugs. I don't listen often, but when our big brother was taking his sweet-ass time to pick a fucking house, I got curious. He's not one to be indecisive. And I wasn't shocked to find him screwing the real estate agent. However, what did give me pause was to find him dating her. Gio has never dated, never shown interest in a woman for longer than one night. Which told me this one was different, so I started looking into the girl and her friends, including the one who currently has my mind reeling.

The way she looked at me, I can't get it out of my head.

Do I know Daisy from somewhere else?

She looked at me like she recognised me. That's impossible though. There's no fucking way she could see the truth. I've buried it so fucking far down. I locked that bitch up with a key and then tossed it into the depths of hell.

Why? Because I can't let people see me. I can't be who I truly want to be, so instead, I'm the version of myself I need to be. I'm a ruthless son of a bitch who has no qualms about sending you or anyone else to hell. I'm the brother everyone comes to for information. I'm the one who can always be relied on. The one all four of my brothers use as a sounding board for all of their fucking issues. I don't mind. I do it because it's what they need, and like I said, I'll do anything for my brothers.

Gio is the eldest, the current head of our family after killing our father. Something that was long overdue if you ask me. Then there's Santo—guy's a shell of the man he used to be. But then again, if you found your fiancée beaten to death on the morning of what was meant to be your wedding day, you'd probably be fucked up in the head too.

Shelli's death has affected all of us. We loved her like a sister, but she was Santo's soul mate. That much was clear to anyone who saw them together. High school sweethearts who overcame all the odds that were thrown their way. And for what? It still ended in disaster while my brother continues to fight his demons and force his lungs to keep breathing, when what he really wants is to be lying in the ground right beside her.

Oh, and the best part of it all? The reason Gio finally offed our father? That would be Shelli. The old man killed her. Why? Well, that's a question we're all still looking for answers to.

I came into the world a few years behind Santo. After me is Marcello, and then the baby of the family is Vin; although he's not much of a baby anymore at seventeen going on thirty.

Everything I do is for them, my brothers. I will fucking squash anything or anyone looking to threaten them. Which is why I've followed Daisy Blake into a café across town. I don't like the way she looked at me as if she knew something I didn't. Or something she shouldn't know.

I clock her as soon as I walk through the doors. It's hard not to. She has that sort of natural beauty. A tall, willowy body. Long, thick blonde curls that hang loosely over one of her shoulders. Pale blue eyes, thick pouty lips. Her face is flawless, perfectly painted, like she's just stepped off the set of a makeup ad.

She's sitting with someone, a young girl. I can't see who it is from here, just the back of the kid's head. I can see Daisy, though, and she looks like she's about to cry. Her eyes are glassy and her breaths are quickening.

Who's she meeting up with?

I open the file I have saved on my phone and scroll through the contents. She's an only child. Which doesn't answer my question. What about this interaction has her so upset?

As I continue to sift through my intel, a message from Gio pops up on my screen.

Gio:

Family meeting. My office. Now.

Me:

On my way.

I discreetly slide out of my seat and take another quick look at Daisy. I don't know what it is, but something is drawing me to her. I'm struck by this strange feeling to stay here, watch her instead of going home like I know I should.

I can't do that though. Because in our line of work, your life isn't yours. It's theirs. Whoever is sitting on that throne. The head of the family. They're the ones pulling your strings like a goddamn puppet master. I've spent my entire life being manipulated by my father. Now, my older brother's the one tugging me left and right. Although I have to admit working for Gio is a shitload better. That being said, I'm not stupid enough to not turn up when he's summoning us.

Maybe it's the ingrained behavioural response embedded in me like a second skin, or it could just be respect for my older brother. I don't know. But when I walk out of the café, I really fucking wish I hadn't. That I could just say fuck it and walk right back in.

I stroll into Gio's office a quick car ride later and find Marcel and Vin already here. "What'd I miss?" I ask while my eyes flick around the room. My stomach drops the moment I realise one of us is missing. "Where's Santo?"

"Asleep," Gio says.

"Okay, so what's this about? Some of us have lives to live outside this office." I drop my ass next to Vin, who's leaning back on one of the sofas.

"No, you don't. We need to talk about Santo," Gio grunts.

"What about him?" Marcel asks.

"He's losing it, and we're losing him. We need to do something to help him realise that Shelli might be gone but he's still alive." Gio sighs.

"What do you have in mind?" I lift a questioning brow because I'm out of fucking ideas. We've all been following him like a pack of lost fucking puppies, as much as we can anyway. He's still a grown-ass man. And there's not a lot we can do to stop him from doing what he wants.

"I'm having a monument built. For Shelli. Somewhere he can go and remember the good," Gio tells us.

"A monument? Where?" I ask him.

"That park they used to visit all the time," Marcel answers.

"Well, he's either going to love it or hate it." I shrug.

"Until we see improvement, I want someone on his tail at all times. I won't let that fucker take him too," Gio curses as he throws himself down into his desk chair.

"I agree," I tell him.

"Yep, me too," Vin adds.

With that, I push to my feet. Walk out of the office and head up to my room. I need to find out who Daisy was meeting up with. I pull out my computer, start typing, and get lost in the rabbit hole of my search.

We've always made it a point to eat breakfast together. So when Gio walks through the door in the morning, late, those of us who actually spent the night in our own beds look up at him.

"Walk of shame?" Marcel asks.

"There is no shame. I have a girlfriend." Gio smiles. He fucking smiles, and let me tell you… when Gio De Bellis smiles, it's scary as shit. And foreign.

"You what?" I scrunch up my face in disgust. Of course, I was expecting this, but it doesn't change how odd it is to hear those words come out of his mouth.

"Why?" Marcel asks.

"Does she know that she's your girlfriend, or is this your way of telling us you finally lost your mind? Are you sure she's real?" Vin chimes in.

"She's real and, yes, she knows. Her name is Eloise," Gio says.

"She hot?" Vin lifts a brow with a stupid grin on his face. I can vouch for the fact that she is. I'm not stupid enough to say that aloud though.

"I'm not answering that." Gio points at Vin, who laughs.

"So she's one of those personality types then?"

"She's the whole fucking package is what she is." Gio smirks.

"Save yourself the trouble and let her go. The life we live isn't meant for women. Have you forgotten what happened to Shelli? Why would you want to bring some poor, innocent girl into this shit?" Santo mumbles under his breath with his glare fixed on Gio.

"Of course, I haven't forgotten. And I have thought about it. A lot. I've decided I don't want to let her go. I know the risk, but to not have something you want because of fear of what might be isn't living. I'm not letting her go." Gio's words are slow, deliberate, thought out. Almost like he's talking down a wild animal.

"Yeah, good luck with that," Santo grunts. Before his chair drags across the tile floor as he gets up to storm out of the room.

"How did the only one of us who was all for this forever and marriage shit turn into the most cynical fucker in the bunch?" Marcel shakes his head.

"He found his fiancée dead—that's how," Gio grinds out.

"I know that," Marcel says, then refocuses his attention on our brother's new girlfriend. "So, what's this chick do?"

"She's a real estate agent," Gio answers.

"Holy shit, you're banging the chick who sold you this house. That's why it took so damn long to pick one out, isn't it?" I grin at him.

"One, don't be disrespectful. And, two, I took my time to ensure it was the perfect home for us," Gio replies before quickly changing the subject. "Find anything on where that money went yet?"

The money he's referring to is the mysterious three million dollars that our father left to an anonymous benefactor in his will. It's fucking strange, and knowing the old bastard like we do, I'm certain he's fucking laughing at us from the pits of hell right now.

"Nothing. Whoever it is has done a great job at not being traced," Marcel says. He went through all the accounts, has been trying to pull up even the smallest bread crumb.

"I've gone through every single property the old man had to his name. Haven't found shit," I tell Gio.

"There's actually one other place you can look." Vin takes a piece of paper out of his schoolbag and scribbles something down. "Go to this address. It's one of Dad's lesser-known properties—well, I guess ours now. Or yours. I don't want anything to do with the shithole," he tells Gio before dropping the paper onto the table and swiftly exiting the room.

"What the fuck was that about?" Gio looks from me to Marcel.

"No idea." Marcel swipes up the paper and scans the address. "You recognise it?"

Gio shakes his head. "You two, go check it out," he directs to me. "I have to head out to Cinque. I have a meeting with Mancini." Then he plucks a cold piece of bacon from the table and walks out of the room.

"I'll be ready in fifteen," Marcel says, glancing in my direction before following in Gio's footsteps.

Great. Guess I know how the rest of my fucking day is going to play out now. Searching through more of my father's bullshit.