Page 9 of Anastasia

We walked out of the room and over to the dining room where there was wine already laid out for us.

I didn’t want to drink since I would need to drive back to the hospital, but I still accepted my glass. “So, please inform me about this whole club thing. I saw a guy today with a lot of tattoos and he seemed scary.”

“Tattoos? Were they everywhere on his skin?” Janice asked with wide eyes.

“Yes,” I drawled out, thinking about the man. “He had this angel tattoo on his neck.”

“That was Mr. Rossi. He rarely comes to the club. None of the girls have ever even seen his face, we have only heard stories about him. The man you need to look out for is Mr. Romano,” she said. This only made me more suspicious.

“Okay, but why?”

“Let’s just say many people compare him to the devil. If you thought Mr. Rossi was scary, wait until you meet Mr. Romano,” Janice said. My eyes wandered over to Liliana to see she was passed out with her head knocked back on the chair.

“What the hell am I getting myself into?” I whispered to myself.

Valentino

Love made people weak. Weakness was for those who loved. It was a good thing that I would never be someone like the soldier I shot. I would never sell out my business for awoman. Love was blocked from the stone that formed around my heart all those years ago. The only love I had were for my guns that aided me in the deaths of those who betrayed me.

My mind kept replaying the gunshots that pierced through one of Dimitri’s soldiers. I never expected to obtain the expensive information that he shared with almost no problem. All I had to do was bring up the woman he loved, and he was ready to tell me everything, including something I never knew…Dimitri had a daughter. I smiled genuinely for the first time in years as I pulled back the trigger and took his life.Dimitri had a daughter. For once, I had the power to make Dimitri feel what I felt all those years ago.

“Valentino!” Vincenzo boomed out angrily as he stormed into my office. “What the hell are you planning?”

A small, sarcastic smile graced my lips as I held out a folder for him. It was the same folder I kept since I was nine when my parents were taken from me. The folder was only growing and growing as I found out more information about Dmitri Ivanov.

He didn’t waste a moment pulling open the folder as his eyes rested on the contents. I watched as he pulled out a picture of a girl, Dmitri’s daughter.

“Who is this?” he asked, placing the picture of the girl down on my desk. A smirk spread across my face as I looked at him.

“Orabella Martinez. Well, that’s what she thinks. She is truly Orabella Ivanov, the daughter Dmitri loves oh so dearly and has been hiding. When we tried to take a hit out on Dmitri, we failed. He knows we’re onto him, which is why he faked his death. So, now we need to turn to our plan B, Orabella. We have to move fast before he realizes we know who she is,” I explained. He glared down at the photo of the girl.

“Since when do we kidnap children?” Vincenzo asked in disgust.

I scoffed. “This is an old picture; the girl is actually nineteen. Just so you can refresh your memory, Dmitri murdered our mother, who was carrying our baby sister, andyourfather. I would do anything to make Dmitri burn in all of his sins, and you should, too.”

He sighed. Vincenzo knew I was right, but he was soft. His heart was too sensitive for the life we lived. He cared too much even when he tried his best to pretend he didn’t. It was one of the reasons why he couldn’t be Don. Instead, he became cover-up for safety purposes. Many people were more likely to fuck up in front of someone who wasn’t the boss, than someone who was.

“So, what are you planning for her?” Vincenzo asked.

Leaning back in my chair, I folded my arms across my chest. There was so much brewing between me and Dmitri, I knew he was planning to attack at any moment. I didn’t have enough time or energy to watch over a girl who belonged to a man I would kill with no hesitation. In all honesty, I was worried I wouldn’t be as kind as Vincenzo if I met her face-to-face.

“Well, you will bring her here, watch over her until we need her, and keep her as far away from me as possible…that’s all,” I answered.

He rubbed the bridge of his nose as his eyes cast down at the girl. The wheels in his head were continuously turning. “Fine, but I’m only doing this for our family.”

“As do I, brother…as do I.” Just as my younger brother opened his mouth to speak, a soft knock sounded on the door. Vincenzo sighed before getting up from his seat and storming out of the room like a child.

I sent a small smile to Valerio, who stood outside of my doorframe, witnessing Vincenzo’s child-like behavior. He was a man I trusted dearly with my club. The girls loved him and trusted him, which was essential for my business to run properly. I needed their trust.

He walked over to my desk before placing a file down in front of me. I glanced at him with a raised brow as I took in his nonchalant expression.

“What’s this?” I questioned.

“A new recruit. The bartender, Kayla, told me this girl will be coming in later today for an audition, and after using her number to track this girl down, I have a good feeling about her,” he informed me.

Narrowing my eyes, I gazed down at the file before looking at all its contents. Valerio always looked into potential employees’ background to make sure they weren’t sent from any of my enemies. Every person who walked into my club had to have no other intentions than to have a good time or to make money. It was protocol to get as much information about anyone new who entered my club.

As I looked over the file, her picture caught my attention. She looked like the kind of woman Dmitri would send to seductively get information about me. I found it difficult to believe her record was clean, but I wanted to trust Valerio’s expertise in finding out everything about anyone.

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