23.

M ATTEO

“Any new developments?” I asked Rico as he walked into the conference room for our weekly meeting.

“I could ask you the same thing,” Rico answered with a grin as he pulled out his chair to sit down. “How’s domestic life going, Matteo? Has her brother tried to kill you yet?”

“He’s gradually becoming less and less hostile,” I replied with a laugh. “Actually, I kind of like the guy. No bullshit, never minces words, always tells you how he feels even if it’s probably not the right time or place to say it. It’s refreshing. Bella’s a lot like that, and I appreciate it, although I valued her brother’s input a lot less.”

“When is he leaving?” Tonio asked as he walked in with Cento and Ziggy.

“He’s going to stay until Sunday and fly home at the same time as my dad and Bernadette.”

“When did they get here?” Ziggy asked.

“They arrived on Monday, which worked out well because that meant I had Sunday to catch up on sleep and then show Bella and Dylan around over the weekend. Bernadette took Bella to the office on Monday to walk her through everything, and something magical happened yesterday.”

Luca burst out laughing and then coughed to cover it up before with obviously fake innocence asked, “What happened, Matteo?”

“A pipe burst in the building, and when the construction crew came in, they said it would be a few months before the building was habitable again because they found asbestos in the floor tile and have to take all the right precautions to clear it out before they can even begin the repairs.”

“How much did that cost you?” Ziggy asked.

“I didn’t do it!” I insisted.

“Yeah, right,” Luca muttered.

“I’m serious, guys. I didn’t make this happen. The building has been around forever, and it just so happens that back in the day, they had no idea the flooring they installed could cause cancer. We didn’t know because there’s carpet over the majority of it. When the plumber came to take a look, he was obligated to call the city inspectors and then they took over and basically kicked everyone out of the building. Since they can’t work in the building anymore, Bernadette and Bella were discussing new locations for their office. I suggested that they move their headquarters here.”

“Isn’t that convenient?” Luca asked in awe.

Through his laughter, Zach asked, “What are the odds?”

“I swear! I didn’t do it!”

“Just admit that you’re happy it happened and move on,” Rico suggested.

“Or better yet,” Ziggy added, “Admit that you’re a little pissed you didn’t think about it or you would have.”

“Maybe,” I hedged.

“So, Bella will now be working here where there is plenty of security and you can make sure she’s safe.”

“Yes,” I agreed with Tonio. “Exactly!”

“I’m with Luca,” Zach said with a bark of laughter. “You did something to make this happen. Just be honest, man. You can tell us.”

“I’m telling you that I didn’t have anything to do with it.”

“I’ve never doubted your word, Matteo,” Rico assured me. He snickered before he said, “But I’m a little amazed that you can lie with a straight face to not just me, but all of us at the same time.”

“If she’s moving into the building, that will establish a connection between the event planning business and our business,” Luca said with concern. He wasn’t smiling now, and I understood exactly where he was coming from. “That might pose a problem when we need to move things around.”

“I’ve already thought of that, and I have a few ideas.”

“Laundromats are the way to go,” Cento said earnestly.

“You could always open a car wash,” Rico suggested. The rest of us groaned in unison because we knew that Bex had him watching one of her favorite series, Breaking Bad. “That’s really not a bad idea.”

“I’ll agree to open a car wash when you start wearing tracksuits and gold chains,” his brother, Ziggy, said sarcastically.

“Never gonna happen,” Rico assured him. “Why are you picking on me now? Isn’t it Matteo’s turn?”

“Well, since my life seems to be the subject of your concern, I feel like we should get business settled so I can go back to it. Bella and Bernadette should be finished with the decorator any time now, and I’d like to take them to lunch so I can congratulate them on their new office space.”

“And gloat,” Zach said cheerfully.

“I’ve got a meeting in half an hour, so we’ll have to make this quick,” Cento agreed.

“There’s not much to tell, really. We don’t have any idea where Frank is keeping Sokolov’s daughter even though we’ve got so many people on our payroll looking for the bastard, we should go ahead and start our own private investigation business.”

“No new information at all?” Tonio asked incredulously. “The man is a damn ghost.”

“He’s a ghost who was recently seen in Florida,” Ziggy said cheerfully.

“You’re kidding me.” Rico stared at his brother in shock and asked, “When did you find that out?”

“Sokolov has been receiving pictures from Frank at least once a week, teasing him that his daughter is far away and being held captive overseas somewhere. He’s alluded to the Middle East, but the computer guru I’ve got on payroll insists that’s not the case and swears that she’ll be able to pinpoint the location soon. She’s just waiting on another picture or two to add to her data, and she’ll have an area pinned down,” Ziggy explained.

“That’s the best news I’ve had in a long while,” Rico admitted.

“Other than that, we’ve got the usual business, but that can be taken care of via email for the most part. I’ll have my assistant bring some paperwork around for your signatures regarding a few things, but as far as I’m concerned, no news is good news. We can go about our lives cautiously just like we have been but with a little pep in our step now because this craziness could soon be over.”

Zach lifted his coffee cup and said, “To The Four Families - prosperous and vengeful, sometimes a little more one than the other, but hopefully, we’ll be able to equal out the scales soon.”

In unison, the rest of us raised our coffee mugs and water bottles as we cheered, “The Four Families.”

◆◆◆

“I didn’t want to bring it up with everyone around, but what’s going on with Constance?” I asked Luca.

Stan was a good friend of mine, probably because she was closer in age to me, my brother, and Zach than the other members of The Four Families organization. However, since the shooting all those months ago, she’d changed from the happy-go-lucky friend to the worried caregiver with the weight of the world on her shoulders. I hated to see her this way, but it was a situation of her own making since she insisted that the guard who had been forever changed that day was her responsibility and should live in her suite with her along with an army of nursing staff who were there around the clock.

“You haven’t talked to her?”

“No. I’ve been a horrible friend to her because I’ve had Bella on the brain for weeks on end. What’s happening?”

“She’s moving to be closer to a therapy hospital that will hopefully help Sully find a way to function on his own so she can start to live her life again.”

“What about Park?”

“I don’t know, man,” Luca said sadly. “It’s a fucked-up situation all around.”

“That sucks.”

“I’m going to hang out with Tabby while Ember naps, and I think we’re coming to your house for dinner. Dad’s cooking.”

“Of course he is,” I assured him. “My house hasn’t smelled this good since the last time they came to visit.”

“I’m not trying to argue, but the food Bella’s brother made the other night was to die for. I tried to get his word that he’d at least consider our offer to open up his own place in the city, but he’s a stubborn one.”

“Bella said he doesn’t feel right leaving their family so soon after she did. Apparently, it’s been really hard on their mom.”

“When are Bella’s parents coming to visit?”

“She mentioned that there’s a lull in business during the winter months, so they might come up then.”

“Invite them to the wedding,” Luca suggested.

“I might do that, but the last thing I want to hear about right now is anything that has to do with your damn wedding.”

“I hear ya, man. Doesn’t the fact that we’re already legally married count for anything?”

“You know it doesn’t. She’s gonna get the fairytale wedding of her dreams, and if you even flinch at an idea, you’ll have Mom all over your ass.”

“I tried to get Papa to step in, but he just laughed at me.” I couldn’t help but laugh, too, especially when I saw the desperate look in my brother’s eyes. “Just wait. You’re going to ask her to marry you, and then you’ll get to experience the same hell I’m going through.”

“Nah. Bella wouldn’t . . .”

“Do you honestly think that a wedding planner would have a simple wedding, Matteo? Especially with Mama in her ear?”

“Shit.”

“Welcome to my world.”

◆◆◆

BELLA

“It’s not too late for you to say ‘fuck it’ and come home with me.”

“I’m happy, Dylan.”

“If that changes, just call me.”

“I will as long as you remember that before you lock yourself in your house and sulk until Mom starts posting missing persons flyers? Matteo and Luca have suggested you let them back you so you can open a restaurant here,” I reminded him.

“Yeah because I want to be the first person to open a mob-funded barbecue joint.”

“Surely you wouldn’t be the first,” I joked, not even trying to argue since that is exactly what it would be and we both knew it.

“I feel better knowing that you’ll be working here instead of commuting across that hellscape every morning and evening.”

“I have to admit that I’m kind of happy about that myself. The traffic here is insane. ”

“I’d go crazy. Remember that movie where the man loses his shit in traffic and goes on a killing spree?”

“Yeah. What was that movie?” I asked.

“ Falling Down, ” Alazei interjected from the doorway. “Excellent flick.”

“If I had to deal with this many people around and that much traffic on my commute every single day, I’d be re-enacting that movie within a week.”

“There are times . . .” Alazei trailed off before she sighed dramatically. “Bella, your two o’clock arrived a few minutes early.”

“My two o’clock? But I . . .”

“It was a last-minute booking,” Alazei explained.

“Oh! Thank you,” I said before I looked over at my brother and waved him toward the door. “Go back upstairs and join Matteo’s father in the kitchen. I know you’d rather be hanging out with him anyway.”

“You’re right,” Dylan said with no shame at all as he walked toward the door of my new office. “He’s much cooler than you are.”

“No one is,” I argued. “Alazei, will you let Heather know that I’ll be available in five minutes?”

“Yes,” Alazei said with a smile before she pulled the door shut behind her.

I leaned back in my chair and looked out the window at the park a few stories below. I had seen Central Park in hundreds of movies and television shows, but until I saw it from Rico’s suite at the top of the hotel, I had absolutely no idea how big it really was.

There were quite a few things that amazed me about my life now, and every time I thought about them, I had to shake my head to clear away all the doubts and fears that tried to creep in. It had only been a week since I moved to New York, and in that time, I’d met some women - and men - that I knew would be lifelong friends. I got comfortable in my new home that I shared with Matteo, even leaving my mark on the place by adding my personal items to the decor and changing a few things around the suite.

The one thing that would take a little more time to get used to was having security with me every second that I wasn’t locked inside the penthouse, but knowing that at least one of my own personal guards and a few of Matteo’s men were right outside the door ready to jump into action the second I decided to leave the apartment did make me feel secure.

When my office door opened, I looked up expecting to see Heather, my assistant, escorting my very first customer into my office, but instead found the man I couldn’t stop thinking about.

“Hello, Twang.”

“Matteo!” I said cheerfully as I jumped out of my chair and rushed around the desk to greet him. “Hurry and give me a kiss. There’s a client waiting out there for me, and I told Alazei . . .”

“It’s me. I’m the client.”

“You can’t just book up my time because your office is a few floors away,” I chided as I wrapped my arms around his neck.

“I can come down and kiss you whenever I want to, though,” Matteo reminded me.

“You can, but I need to work just like you do.”

“This is an official meeting,” Matteo said before he dropped a quick kiss on my lips and then nudged me toward my desk so I could sit back down. Once I was seated, Matteo sat down in one of the empty chairs and said, “I’d like to talk to you about the possibility of an event I’m wondering if I need to start preparing myself for.”

“What event?” I asked as I opened my laptop to check my upcoming client list. “I don’t have you listed . . .”

“It probably won’t be for a year or so. Maybe sooner. Yeah. Sooner rather than later.”

I looked over my computer screen at Matteo and asked, “That’s clear as mud.”

“It’s just hypothetical for now.”

“A hypothetical event?”

“Yes.”

“Okay. Give me some details, and I’ll let you know what we’re working with.”

“Let’s say that someone, I’m not saying who because he isn’t quite there yet and knows that you aren’t either, but hypothetically, this guy asks you to marry him. What sort of wedding would you want to have? Quick trip to Vegas where we could get married overlooking the lights of the Strip or maybe on a yacht somewhere tropical? Or would you want this hypothetical wedding to be big and showy like Mom has convinced Tabby to have?”

My heart started racing the second he mentioned he was considering asking me to marry him, but then it calmed because I knew that was exactly what I wanted - to spend the rest of my life laughing and arguing with Matteo Russo and then laughing and making up when we were through.

“Are you asking what kind of wedding I want to have?”

“Yes,” Matteo said quickly.

“Will my answer change the odds of you actually proposing?”

“Of course not.”

“You’re a shit liar, New York.”

Matteo laughed before he said, “You and my mom seem to have figured out a truth serum that makes it impossible for me to lie to either of you.”

“Be honest, Matteo. What would happen if I said I want a blowout extravaganza right here in the hotel with hundreds of guests, a million flowers, a dress big enough for its own zip code, and fifteen attendants standing at the front of a cathedral with me?”

Matteo swallowed hard and said, “I’d say that it might be a while before you get an official proposal because I’d have to work my mind around that possibility.”

“But you won’t kick me out of your bed in the meanwhile, will you?”

Matteo scoffed before he said, “No.”

“Let me assure you that I will not want a blowout wedding in this hotel or any other. Does that make you feel any better?”

“So much better,” Matteo said before he leaned back in his chair and looked up at the ceiling. “I must have an angel up there watching out for me because I don't know if I could take a big New York wedding, especially now that I’ve watched how crazy the planning is making Luca.”

I glanced at the clock in the corner of my computer screen and then stood up to walk around the desk again. Matteo lifted his head and watched me, a gleam in his eye that I was all too familiar with. When I put my hand out for his, he lifted his without a word and let it rest in mine.

He smiled knowingly when I leaned forward and put my hand on the arm of the chair and then hummed when I settled my lips on his for a very long, very hot kiss.

“I’ve got some time before my appointment,” I told him as I dropped down to my knees in front of his chair.

“Oh, hell yes!” Matteo hissed when he looked down at me staring up at him from between his splayed knees.

“I guess I’ll have to take the lead here,” I suggested as I ran my hands up his thighs.

“By all means, please do.”

“Matteo Russo, I love you with all of my heart and soul.”

“I love you, too, Twang.”

“I want to spend the rest of my life with you, and that’s not just hypothetical.”

Matteo smiled before he said, “I want the same thing, but I had to make sure I knew exactly what I was getting into.”

“You’re a smart businessman, and you know how to play the odds,” I complimented.

“Thank you.”

“I am also a smart woman, and I don’t like to wait for chance to take over.”

“I’ve noticed.”

I took Matteo’s hand in mine and smiled up at him before I asked, “Matteo, will you do me the honor of being my husband?”

Matteo’s mouth dropped open in shock, and he frowned as he said, “This is not how it’s supposed to go!”

“Oh! I’m sorry. Let me try again,” I said before I kissed his knuckles and then held his hand between mine. “I love you, Matteo. Will you marry me?”

Matteo dropped my hand as he leaned forward, and I squealed when he wrapped his arms around me and lifted me up so that I had no choice but to rest my legs beside his thighs and hold onto his neck, afraid that I might fall back on the floor and make a fool of myself, or at least more of a fool than I already was considering how in love I was with this man.

“I’m supposed to ask you to marry me underneath the moonlight after I’ve given you about three mind-blowing orgasms,” Matteo murmured near my ear before he nipped at my earlobe.

“That’s not an answer, New York.”

Matteo’s laugh gave me goosebumps, or it might have been what his tongue felt like as it trailed down my neck. Or possibly his hands that had lifted up my skirt and were skimming very close to my pantyline every time he rubbed back and forth.

“Yes, Twang, I’ll marry you on one condition.”

“What’s that?”

“No big socialite wedding where I have to invite a bunch of people I don’t like to before I feed them an overpriced meal and have to mingle and pretend that I don’t want to set them on fire.”

“You’re not supposed to remind me of my brother when your hands are that close to doing wicked things to me,” I murmured.

Matteo laughed and then whispered, “I love you, Bella Conner, and I want to make you Bella Russo as soon as possible.”

“I’ll accept your condition, Matteo,” I whispered back before I said, “I love you too.”

It didn’t take more than a few seconds before my panties were a scrap on the floor and his cock was pushing into me, that same stretch that I’d come to love making me breathe out slowly while my body adjusted to his inside me.

Our joining was frantic and hot, just like always, and the second I felt the pad of his thumb stroke my clit, I was a goner. The only thing stopping me from letting everyone on this floor of the hotel know how much fun I was having was his mouth on mine. After just a few more thrusts, Matteo groaned loudly and came deep inside me.

“Fuck, Bella, I love you so much,” Matteo whispered as he held me tightly against his chest. “I’m going to marry you, just name the time and place. I’ll be there. There’s a gorgeous cove in Hawaii that . . .”

It took me a few seconds to catch my breath before I could finally speak, and when I did, I leaned back so I could see his reaction.

“I told you that I don’t want a big blowout New York wedding, Matteo.”

“I know.”

“But I didn’t say that I don’t want a big blowout Rojo wedding, complete with half a dozen bridesmaids, a dress that trails halfway down the aisle, three flower girls, and a ring bearer that is so cute every woman in the place feels her ovaries do a backflip.”

“Fuck,” Matteo muttered.

“I might not be as good as you are at poker, sweetheart, but I can kick your ass in chess. That move is what we like to call checkmate.”

“For you, I’ll take my life in my hands and travel all the way to Texas to make you my wife.”

“You must love me an awful lot.”

“More than words can ever explain.”