Page 5 of Protecting Charity

One mission down for the day. Avoiding Mom was a great first step to success. At least, she didn’t ask me about Christopher. I shuddered just thinking of how that discussion would twist.

I toweled off my hair and picked out an outfit, no longer having the desire to finish my shower. There were a few people I needed to skulk off too, to round up some information. I put another can of cat food down for the blubbering baby, closed up, and hurried off.

Chapter 3

Luca

My demons tried ripping their way to the surface, screaming in my head to let them out, even for just a moment. She had me coming close to a breaking point throughout the last two days. Plus had me questioning my judgment, and I don’t have self-doubt. Was it my turn to ask for forgiveness?

How could I pull my gun on her? I only did it to startle her and get her to pause and think for a minute, but it had the opposite effect. There was no fear on her face, just pure rage, and then for her to hit Max of all people when he was trying to help her… had me thinking I handled this wrong in many ways.

At first, when she walked in on me beating the shit out of Noel, I thought it would be our moment together, but shit hit the fan quickly, and there was no way I could prepare for it. I not only had to deal with people in my organization stealing, which was becoming quite a common occurrence. But now, her new vigilante heart was going to have me spending all of my resources on cleaning up her mess. I could have used this time to find her pathetic brother or chop hands off from thieves.

No one looked at the mafia with reverence anymore like they did during the prohibition era, which meant that Charity couldn't run around slaughtering people and exposing us to a world of trouble—more than we already were. The mafia isn’t a fairy tale that people conjured up in their pretty little heads or read about. It was a brutal game of tit-for-tat and cat and mouse; I get you or you get me. A battle of territory and ever-changing adaptability.

Pops was the ideal example of old-school complacency. He didn’t adapt to the changing times. Now, he’s rotting in the penitentiary, with no chance of parole, guarded by people who aren’t family. That’s no way to live. Now that I ran the family, I did it with caution, like I had a head on my shoulders and knew how to use it. Just like I knew that if I was to pull the trigger on Charity, I’d lose not only Max, my best Capo and cousin, but also Nico, my brother.

Having her locked up in that room wasn’t just torment for her, but for me as well. I didn’t want her to be there, but I couldn’t let her insubordination go unpunished. That was how an organization fell apart. If I became too lenient, then people in my crew would think they could get away with anything, and that was a recipe for disaster I didn’t want brewing.

“Vito, get a hold of this woman and bring her here. I need her to work on something for me.” I wrote Adelaide’s information down and handed him the slip of paper. “Be quick about it. It’s imperative we put an end to this.”

Adelaide was a small-time hacker and someone I had used in the past with time-sensitive matters.

We weren’t exactly on good terms right now, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t call on her. He nodded and took off out of my office.

After Giovanni turned to ash in my incinerator, I found a vital void in my staff. Vito, my new head of security, was working extra hard until I found a replacement for his old position.

“Come in,” I said, addressing the tap at the door.

Max straggled in and took a seat across from me. He clamped his hands in front of him then leaned back in his seat, looking calm considering the altercation with Charity. Hell, I was still buzzing with a whole host of emotions. “You shouldn’t have kept her in there for so long.”

“What was I supposed to do? I couldn’t let her walk around and let people get a whiff of that.”

“If you were doing it for the show, then beat her. You know she likes that shit,” he chuckled.

“I didn’t have the self-control for that. She’s lucky all I did was lock her in a room.” I talked a big game, but fuck, I’d do anything for that girl. Including but not limited to locking her up for her own good, even though the thought of bending her over my knee and turning her skin cherry-red with my palm while she screamed my name had crossed my mind. But this was a punishment, and I knew she’d enjoy my hand on her ass too much for her to learn a lesson.

He scoffed. “Yeah, yeah. We all know how you feel. Pulling a gun on her was too much, though, even for you.”

I ground my teeth, not in the frame of mind to discuss my affections and rationale. “Is there another reason you're here?”

He cleared his throat, then sat straight in his chair. “Nico and I are going to help her find the girl.”

“I figured as much.”

It wasn’t as if I didn’t know how they felt about her too. I wasn’t blind. We all have had feelings for her for a long while now, but a certain someone thought he knew better than us. Things were different now, and it was finally time for us to claim her as ours.

“Just letting you know. I’m going to be delegating some of my duties.”

“Keep an eye on her for me. She has me a little worried, like maybe she can’t handle this stress. Doesn’t she seem a little reckless to you?”

“Honestly?”

I nodded. “Always.”

“I think it was more calculated than you wanted to believe it to be. She thought it through more than we’ll ever comprehend. She’s wild and dangerous, but she isn’t stupid and wouldn’t put us at risk.”

Was he right? Did she have her pieces in all the right places and knew her every move as if it was the most dangerous chess game? Was she that calculated? I never doubted her brilliance, but this didn’t seem like her. It had me sitting on the edge of my seat to see where this chaotic ride would take me.

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