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CHAPTER ONE

DANTE

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“Adelina!” I hiss and toss another stone at her window.

I know she’s ignoring me.

I could break into the Baldoni mansion, but getting inside the property grounds without being seen by one of her father’s soldiers was difficult enough.

Not that difficult.

Plus, there was that one guard...but he’ll wake up shortly with a headache, sore ego, and live to see another day. God knows enough people have died tonight, and I didn’t want to add anymore to the body count.

A gangster with a conscience. Go figure.

I hear voices from the side of the house and curse under my breath. Where the fuck is she?

“Adelina!!” I hiss again, louder. I hear the metallic clang of the latch, and the window bangs open.

Jesus.

Can she be any noisier?

“What do you want Dante?” Adelina growls loudly.

I narrow my eyes and prop my hands on my hips, ignoring the sheer nightie she wears and the hint of dark nipple I can see underneath.

When I say “ignore,” I mean take a really good look. As I have every other minute of my life when I’m near her.

“So, you did know I was out here?” I growl.

My cock twitches despite my annoyance as the fabric flutters in the breeze.

Despite the situation.

Then again, it would take a nuclear explosion to stop me noticing anything about this woman.

“I was sleeping.” She glares down at me from the second story, and there’s not a hint of sleepiness in her voice. “Go away!”

Goddamn brat. But Adelina Baldoni is a sexy brat. For some insane reason, I’m in love with this beautiful, dark-haired Italian mafia princess. She’s rude, sassy, argumentative, and says she has no feelings for me.

Liar.

And I’m done with her lies.

“I need you to let me in,” I say with a bit more urgency.

“I’m not fucking Rapunzel. Go find someone else to play with,” she replies, and I roll my eyes so hard I give myself an instant headache. Tonight, I don’t have time for her attitude so I say the one thing that will get her attention. “Frank Baldassare is dead. Let me in.”

Adelina blinks.

Then blinks again, and I watch her green eyes soften.

Frank “The Fire” Baldassare was the head of the Baldassare crime family until a few hours ago. He was also my father. She understands the ripple effect this is going to have across those in our world. Gangsters. Crime families. Mafias.

Here in the United States and farther afield.

Plus, she knew my father, although it would be a push to say she liked him. All of us were raised to respect—and fear —the heads of the families, and my father was no different.

Now, I’m one of them.

A Don .

Head of the Baldassare crime family.

“Oh god. How?”

Adelina has a tough exterior, but we grew up together and I’ve been in love with her since the day she was born. No one knows her the way I do. In saying that, I’ve never worked out why she went from being my little shadow to a pretty young girl who suddenly hated me.

She doesn’t hate me.

She craves me. Desire pours from her, even if she covers it up with her smart mouth.

Whether she loves me or not is another thing.

But that’s a topic for tomorrow. Right now, the FBI is looking for me after a bust at one of our warehouses, and I need a place to hide.

I glance around at the flower garden under Adelina’s window and feel the chill of the night air creeping inside my body now the adrenaline is wearing off.

“How about I tell you the bedtime story when I’m inside? Open the damn door,” I say.

Adalina turns to look behind her suddenly.

Fuck.

Carlos Baldoni wouldn’t react well to me being here if he knew about my father’s death. There’s no way they could yet, but neither he nor his son Leo would welcome me into their home if they did.

A leadership change like the one that’s just taken place alters things, and I’m no longer the kid who fancies his daughter or shadowed my father learning the business.

Going home is not an option. That’s the first place the feds will look for me.

The Baldoni estate is the last place.

They know no sound-minded, newly minted don is going to flee to another don’s house.

Unless they are me.

What I should be doing is rounding up my soldiers, demanding their loyalty—as they had been to my father— and assuring them they have a place in my business.

But tonight was a shit show and I’m lucky to be alive.

I don’t have long. My family is in a state of chaos, and my position is extremely vulnerable until I step visibly into the leadership role. In both the legal and illegal companies I now own.

Jesus, the ink probably isn’t even dry on my father’s death certificate, and I’m already thinking like this.

In this fucked-up world, you have to.

I will grieve him when I’m safe.

I’m no good to anyone dead or in prison, including my mother or sister.

“Fine, but you’re not going anywhere near my bed, so you can get that idea out of your head, Dante Baldassare.”

We’ll see about that.

I’ve told her I’m going to marry her one day, and she’s told me I’m crazy. Actually, what she said was when hell freezes over, but no one actually knows the temperature of hell, so for all we know, it could be chilly.

My shitty sense of humor aside, what Adelina doesn’t know is I’ve been biding my time to make her mine.

And I will.

She’ll know soon enough.

“Meet me downstairs.” She ignores my smirk.

“I am downstairs.” I glance around as Adelina slams the window closed.

Jesus Christ.

I swear she’s trying to wake the fucking dead.

Fuck the dead—it’s her father and brother I don’t want to wake.

“Dante!” I hear her call out from around the back, and an armed soldier steps out from the tree line a few yards from me.

“I’m with her.” I grin, climbing out of the gardens. “Woah tiger.” I lift my hands casually. “Don’t do something your boss is going to shoot you for tomorrow morning.”

He pales.

“He’s with me,” Adelina says, and we both turn our heads to take in the half naked mafia princess standing with her hands on her hips.

Hell no.

I glance back at the guard who looks like all his Christmases have come at once. Which is understandable considering she’s wearing nothing but her nightgown and a silk dressing gown which hangs open.

But like I said, hell fucking no .

“Avert your eyes before I shoot them out of your head.” I growl, and he follows my order with a “yes sir” and returns to his station.

He knows who I am.

Most people in the crime world do.

Or should.

The heir to any crime family is the second most important person, and given there are only a handful of families in the New York area, I’m pretty well known.

I glance at Adelina and go to her, then tug her gown closed. “You trying to get your father’s men killed?”

“I have no opinion on the matter.” She shrugs and slaps at my hands, and her gown falls open again. “You, on the other hand, I would throw a party if my father lined you up and played target practice on your forehead. Now stop touching me.”

She spins and walks back inside the house.

I follow, smiling.

It’s when she’s not hating me with a passion I need to worry.

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