Page 18 of Fierce Hearts

"Of course." He focused on his phone, and I felt a frustrating tightness in my chest. Was he shutting me out?

I couldn't go to the Bahamas anyway, even if I didn't have work. The Savocas had bad blood with several players there, and I wasn't about to run the risk of causing unrest with an appearance. I may have cut myself off from my family, but I still bore the name.

My phone chimed in my purse, saving me from trying to figure out how to fill the uneasy silence. I fished it out, glancing at the screen.

Every muscle in my body tensed as I read the name displayed: 'Ernesto.'

My uncle never called. Not since I'd walked away from the family business. There was only one reason he would be reaching out now, and my stomach churned.

Marco.

"Sofia?" Gray's voice was sharp with concern. "What's wrong?"

I stared at the phone as it continued to ring, my heart pounding in my chest.

"I have to take this," I murmured. I drew in a deep breath to ground myself before I accepted the call, pressing the phone to my ear.

"Hello?"

"Sofia." My uncle's emotionless voice sent a chill down my spine. He didn't waste time on pleasantries. Why would he? I was nothing to him. But it was his next words that had the wind knocked out of me. "Marco is dead. You need to come back to us. The family needs you."

The world seemed to tilt as a chill swept through me. Marco—my cousin, the one who had taken over operations when I turned it down and left—was dead. And now they wanted me back.

What did he even mean by that? Why?

And why was Marco dead? What had happened to him?

This couldn't be happening. Not now.

"Sofia?" Gray's warm hand on my arm startled me, snapping me back to the present.

I looked at him, really looked at him—the man who was deeply embedded in a world I had tried desperately to escape, the man whose best friend had just married my best friend, the man I'd spent the night with despite knowing better.

The man who had no idea who I really was. Of the things I'd done in the name of my family. Of my past I'd tried to run from.

And now, my past was calling me home.

CHAPTER5

SOFIA

Istared at my phone, Uncle Ernesto's voice echoing in my ears.Marco is dead. The family needs you.

"When?" I managed to ask, my voice barely audible.

"Last night. He was ambushed after a dinner out." Ernesto's tone was clipped, businesslike. As if we weren't discussing my cousin's murder—his own son. "I'll be in touch with details. Be ready."

The line went dead before I could respond. I lowered the phone, staring at the disconnected call on the screen as if it might offer some explanation for the bomb that had just been dropped.

Marco had been ambushed? By who? Sure, I knew the Savocas had enemies, but Marco had been leading things well. Everything had been going smoothly as far as I knew.

Then again, it wasn't like I'd stayed in touch.

Was Ernesto just grieving? He'd sounded too… formal. Maybe it was the shock of it all. Not to mention he'd be expected to now take Marco's place as head of the family. A title he'd missed out on when my father had died due to his own errors.

This wasn't right. Not Marco.

"Sofia?" Gray's voice broke through my shock. His hand was still on my arm, warm and steady. "What's wrong?"

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