Chapter 4

MIA

T he fading light cast long shadows across the garden, painting everything in hues of gold and amber.

Calm descended as we sat in silence.

After a beat, I rose. ‘I need to head back inside.'

Lorenzo stood, too, moving with fluid elegance to his feet at the same time as I stepped forward, bringing me into his close personal space.

I jolted as he loomed over me, his chest to my shoulder, his breath in my hair, his sensual musk-soaked cologne and essence washing over me.

In an instant, I was reminded that this was not just any individual; this was one of the foremost feared men, yet one of the most carnal I'd ever met.

We froze, swaying into each other as if magnetised.

Tilting his head, he gazed down at me, my pussy inadvertently clenching as we locked eyes. ‘Whenever you need anything, Mia,' he rasped. ‘Anything at all, call me.'

I gave him a puzzled glance, and his lips turned up.

‘Your phone, bella.'

His gravelled command was adulterated with sultriness and underscored by steel like a man not used to being told no.

I raised a brow yet found myself extending my device, swiping it to the new contacts screen.

He took the mobile from me with a smirk and typed.

He handed it back to me.

Onscreen were the initials that read ‘L.C.', and a series of numbers were under it.

‘Grazie,' was all I managed.

‘Anytime,' he rasped in his unusual European accent, even as his breath hit my ear, sending a bolt of pure, unchecked need through my body.

I nodded and forced my eyes to lock with his, savouring the heat, musk and scent rolling off his frame.

I had an unexpected desire to wrap my hands around him and lift my face further to his. To let those lips give me some of his sexual healing and rip away the pain in my soul.

His eyes dilated, and his mouth quirked as if he perceived what I was thinking.

‘This is for your love for my aunt,' he rasped.

He bent to me, and his hand slipped to my nape in such a gentle hold that tears came to my eyes.

Then he pressed those sultry lips to my cheek, his exhalation tickling my ear.

With a slight lift to the ends of his mouth, he pulled back and stepped away from me.

We locked eyes and stayed that way for moments, just staring into each other until I took a shaky breath and tore myself away because what the fuck?

I took one step before another, my heels almost catching between the terrace slabs.

I firmed my spine as my skin rippled from the furnace of the heated gaze on it, only escaping it when I charged back into the house.

Indoors, the echoes of laughter and subdued conversations floated around me above the soft strains of music.

Mindless and heart-pounding from my recent encounter with Lorenzo, I navigated through the sea of grievers, each offering condolences with sombre faces and gentle pats on the shoulder.

Bianca's absence echoed in every corner, a haunting reminder of the void she had left behind.

Weaving through the mourners, I extended polite nods and brief acknowledgements to those who approached me with sympathy.

Dr. Hawthorne, Bianca's physician, appeared at my side, her expression tender yet probing. ‘How are you holding up, Mia?' she inquired, her voice laced with genuine concern.

I offered her a weary smile, certain that the day's events were etched into every line of my face. ‘I'm doing OK,' I said.

We exchanged a short conversation before I drifted towards the study.

I was drawn to a photo album sitting atop a stack of papers.

Flipping through the pages, memories flooded back—a younger version of Bianca beaming at me from faded photographs, her warmth and kindness captured in each image.

Gazing at her, unable to believe her magnetism, kind heart, and steely strength had been taken from us, I was overwhelmed by it all.

A wave of exhaustion and sadness hit me with a clawing need to flee.

I wanted out.

I needed space to remember her in peace.

I went downstairs, clutching her photo album, the only memento I allowed myself to take from her home, even though she'd urged me, towards the end, to take whatever I wanted.

I slipped out the back where darkness had fallen over the purple-tipped mountains.

The air was heavy with the weight of the night, a silence broken only by the whispering wind and the distant calls of nocturnal creatures.

For a moment, I stood in the front garden, lost in melancholy and solitude. I looked up at the light spilling from the windows, trying to find solace for my grieving heart.

I found none, so I stumbled toward my small VW caddy cargo van. Through tears, I engaged it into drive and disappeared into the night.

Where the mountains were obscured by the thick darkness that had descended upon them, swallowing their peaks and valleys.

LORENZO

Eyes fixed on her departing backside, I swayed with the strength required to tamp down my unexpected desire for her.

All I wanted to do was nab her waist, turn her around and crush my mouth on her soft, pliant lips.

I hissed, feeling like I was about to fall into a deep precipice. My hands clenched to stop myself from striding after her, swooping her in my arms and taking us somewhere private.

Where I'd make her beg for mercy as she cried out my name as she'd never done before with any other man.

What in the hell was I thinking?

Sitting back down, I inhaled deep, trying to calm my runaway soul and let the throbbing in my cock ease.

Easing out a thin herbal cigar from the case in my jacket pocket, I tapped it out and lit it.

Taking a long pull, I flung my head to the back of the chair, relaxed by the bold and harmonic flavour characterised by roasted notes.

Swirling the smoke in my mouth, I forced out the tension, compelling the frustration in my blue balls to drain from me.

Damn, Mia, what a revelation.

Up close, she was even more beautiful than she'd appeared from a distance.

Even though her eyes had brimmed with turmoil, they'd penetrated my soul.

My fingers had itched to stroke her auburn hair as it caught the dying sunlight in a fiery halo. To ease back the sorrow on her delicate features etched with the weight of grief.

I understood how she felt, her need for solitude mirroring my desire to escape the suffocating weight of grief and obligation.

It was rare for me to let myself open up and be vulnerable in front of another person, but Mia's quiet strength and raw emotion had me suckered.

No woman had ever captivated me this way before, not just physically but also how she'd carried herself with such quiet dignity.

Or, as I'd witnessed standing so close to her, the depth of emotion that lurked beneath her guarded facade.

I dragged on the cheroot, its aromatic notes mingling with the cool night air.

With my eyes closed, I imagined her face, my heart clenching as I exhaled a cloud of smoke into the night air.

The sound of crickets filled the silence around me, their chirping a rhythmic backdrop to my thoughts.

I lingered on the terrace in the lovely little garden for some time, soaking in its ambience and peace, my thoughts meandering from Bianca and back again to the woman who'd done us a great service with little want for reward.

Voices broke through my reverie as some guests discovered the hidden terrace.

With an exhale, I sat up.

Tossing the cigar stub into a nearby ashtray, my eye caught a glint on the chair she'd been seated in.

I leaned and reached, retrieving a delicate gold chain and locket snagged on the wood.

In the weak light of the early moon, I flipped open the pendant and found a tiny black-and-white photo nestled inside.

It was a portrait of a young woman with striking hair and piercing eyes—the resemblance between the woman in the photograph and Mia was uncanny. Her gaze filled with strength and resilience that spoke volumes.

Fingering the necklace, I discovered the clasp was broken.

I sighed.

It must have slipped from her nape when she lingered with me earlier.

Given the miniature picture hidden within the pendant, this wasn't just any old piece of trinket but a connection to her mother.

Suddenly invested, I knew I had to return the necklace to Mia, not wanting to think of her worrying about it.

Stepping back into the house, I cast my eyes around, searching with no luck.

Mauri appeared by my side. ‘Need anything, boss?'

I opened my palm, revealing the jewellery. ‘Mia, the woman in lilac, dropped this outside. We need to find her.'

‘Si, padrone,' he murmured. ‘I'll track her down.'

I shook my head when he extended a hand to take the pendant. ‘If you do, bring her to me.'

He raised a brow but kept his expression detached as always.

On the other hand, I had lost all will to maintain an impersonal front, not ready to let go of her yet.

He strode off as Vitto approached me.

‘Everything alright?'

My brother's deep voice rumbled with concern, eyes scanning my face for any hint of distress.

I squeezed the necklace, the metal biting into my skin. ‘It will be. Just need to find someone.'

My tone brooked no argument as my eyes swept the room for the woman who was captivating my thoughts.

‘Who?' Vitto pushed.

‘Remember the M. Kassa, the person who's kept this shit afloat for our aunt?'

He raised a brow. ‘Si?'

‘I found her.'

‘A woman?'

I nodded. ‘Had a conversation with her outside, but she dropped something when she left, and I must give it back,' I muttered.

I marched off on the hunt, leaving behind my incredulous sibling.

Fifteen minutes later, I rendezvoused with Mauri in the front hallway.

‘She's not anywhere in the house or grounds,' he grunted.

I hadn't seen her either. ‘Fuck. How'd I get this to her? I'm in meetings for the next three days in Sydney, then I'm on a flight back to Naples.'

‘I'll track her down,' Mauri murmured, ever tuned in to my desires.

Letting go with reluctance, I handed the pendant and necklace to him. ‘Please have the clasp inspected and place it in a jewellery box. Find her and deliver it to her.'

Logic told me I had an email for her, but somehow, I was imbued with an urgency to make sure she got back her pendant sooner rather than later and in person.

Mauri nodded, tucking the jewellery into his pocket. ‘Consider it done, boss,' he assured me.

It struck me that my desire to ensure Mia's necklace was returned to her was trivial. Especially in light of all our family's divesting efforts I was leading, the attempt to keep dissident members of the Omertà Alliance obedient, and the passing of our Queen.

Yet it felt epic to me, an omen of how much a minor encounter had come to signify so much in such little time.

At that moment, all I wanted to return to the hotel, where I'd be able to muse alone and in silence about the heaviness of the day and the woman who'd appeared in a burst of lilac light through it, making me believe and giving me hope for the first time in a long time.

‘Let's roll,' I declared as Vitto emerged in the corridor.

The three of us tracked to the parked car and drove back to Sydney with the moon and stars lighting our way.

We dropped Vitto off at his one-bedroom warehouse apartment, which I'd expressed no desire to share, and then headed to our hotel.

I gave Mauri explicit instructions on what else he needed to do if he found Mia, and then we parted as he took off to his room and me to mine.

That night, I prowled my darkened suite, thoughts consumed by Mia and her beguiling energy.

I wondered if I'd ever see her again as the weight of missed chances and unfinished conversations pressed on me, a reminder of the fleeting nature of human interactions.

As the hours slipped away and the night deepened, her presence lingered in my soul, haunting me with questions and an unplaced, unfamiliar longing.