Chapter 4

This entire week has been shit. The Bonetti family is trying to take over our territory now that my grandfather is dead.

Two weeks ago, I was a total playboy. I took and gave nothing in return. My grandfather wanted me to continue his legacy. He'd wanted my father to take over, but when Dad died two years ago from lung cancer, I knew my days were limited.

In between doing the tasks I was assigned, I slept my way through this city. I could have any woman. I know I'm good-looking. And I have access to more money than most people can fathom. But my world is also a dangerous one. And that's exactly why I shouldn't have Lena.

Yet, she's a fucking siren and I can't stop thinking about her.

"You need to focus," Joe says as the men around the table discuss the latest run-in with the Bonetti family.

My gaze snaps to his. "Don't tell me what to fucking do. You answer to me now, you hear?" I ask as I walk over to him and whip my knife from my pocket, holding it to his neck.

He swallows. "Yeah, I hear you," he mutters.

I put the knife away. "Good. I'm going out. I need to clear my head."

"Rocco, we have to figure out what to do about Marco Bonetti. He's going to fuck up our truce," Joe laments. I know all too well that Marco is a ticking bomb. After his brother was accidentally killed in a car chase between him and my cousin Paulie, he's not been right. Even with his cousin, Dino, running their shop, no one seems to be able to keep in line. And what was a minor sore to my grandfather, has become a major thorn in my side. Marco wants Dino to step up and squash us, but Dino and I go way back. For now, a childhood bond over trading baseball cards in the schoolyard is the only thing keeping our neighbors from going to war. And that's a little too thin of a connection for my comfort.

"Don't go disappearing to one of your girls' houses. We need you here. It's not like before and we still can't get into Vince's files. I've got three tech guys trying to crack his passcode," Joe calls out. The stress of the last ten days rips me apart and I turn, marching back to the table and slamming my hands on it. No one jumps, but I do get some wide-eyed stares.

"You think I fucking don't know that, Joe. Remember who you are talking to. We'll figure something out. Now do your job and find out where Marco is lying low. We can't deal with him if we don't know where he is, can we?" I growl. I need to get into my grandfather's files. I know he has dirt on Marco and that information might just take him down for good.

"We're looking. We'll find him. He can't hide for too long," Joe replies.

I storm out of the room and head to my car. My bodyguards come after me.

"I'm going to Antonio's. Call Bryce and get extra security," I yell as I peel out of my garage with them hurrying behind me. They hate it when I drive myself. I know I shouldn't, but damn, it feels good to be in control of something, even if it's just a fiberglass-covered piece of machinery. Maybe that's why I go through women like tissues. I like the control.

I park across the street from the restaurant and stare inside. A smirk forms on my lips. She's there. She actually came back.

I wasn't sure she would. I even took the liberty of finding out where she lives in case I needed to "run into her" in another way. I've never had to chase a woman before, but Lena, well, she's different.

I watch her swirl her glass of wine. She looks down at her phone and then back at the door. It's six o'clock on the nose.

I open my car door and walk into the restaurant. My bodyguards who have parked around the back of the restaurant come around front and follow me inside, taking a seat by the door.

I watch her look up and make eye contact with me. Her face flushes ever so slightly.

Does she even realize how her body responds to me? What I wouldn't give to see her body beneath mine.

"You came back," I state as I take my seat across from her.

She shrugs. "I guess I did," she replies.

Antonio walks over to us. "Your usual, Lena?"

She nods as he sets down salads in front of us and looks at me. "Same, Antonio," I murmur as I keep my gaze fixed on Lena. She blushes. Tonight, she's wearing a hunter-green dress that brings out those flecks of green in her eyes.

She takes a bite of salad and I watch her lips close around the fork. She's not being overtly sexual, yet every move she makes is turning me on. Joe is right, I should go find one of my regular girls, but I don't want them, I want her.

"You don't want your salad?" she asks as she motions to my plate with her fork. I love that she loves food.

"What if I want a bite of yours?" I ask as I lean forward with my elbows on the table.

She rolls her eyes. "Does that usually work for you?" she asks.

I glare. "Does what work for me?"

She motions up and down. "This whole alpha-playboy thing?"

I chuckle. I can't believe she called me out. Women never do that. They never challenge me, because they know who I am. But does she? If she does, she's certainly playing with fire. Oh, Little Miss Lena, you are intriguing.

"How do you know that I'm a playboy?" I ask as I take my fork and steal a piece of tomato off her plate.

She raises a well-shaped eyebrow. "There's this amazing thing called the Internet," she states.

"So you searched me, huh?" I ask.

She nods. "You know, I never searched Vince. I guess I just made an assumption, and I liked our game of not prying into each other's lives. But then…after last week, I admit, I was curious," she starts.

"And?" I ask.

"And I'm not sure I should be here, Rocco. The smart part of my brain tells me you're a dangerous playboy who will either break my heart or get me killed, and if I was a smarter woman or maybe a stronger one, I'd have turned away and never looked back," she explains.

"And you think that doesn't make you strong?" I ask, pleased that she's found out who I am and still decided to come here.

"I don't know. I guess we'll see," she muses as she finishes her salad.

"I guess we will," I agree.

"Hans and Simon are back again too," she says motioning toward my bodyguards, using the ridiculous names she made up for them last week.

"That they are," I reply.

"I'm dumb for having not realized," she mutters.

"Realized what?"

"That they're your bodyguards. That the men I spoke to Vince about were his bodyguards. That I sat next to a cold-blooded killer for three years and never suspected a single thing," she goes on.

"No, that doesn't make you dumb, Lena. That makes you true. Your friendship with Vince was real," I explain.

"Was it?" she asks sadly.

"It was," I state, not wanting to admit that I want just one small ounce of that type of relationship. I want what Vince had, but I also want so much more with her. But I'm not sure I should take it.

"What are you thinking?" she asks.

"I'm thinking…that you're like a beautiful flower growing in a field. I want to pluck you and take you home to enjoy for myself, but another part of me wants to leave you in that field to grow wild and free," I state the truth because lying to her feels wrong. I'm not sure when I grew morals and values, but I suddenly feel like a monster about to pounce on my unknowing victim.