Page 134 of Arturo's Temptation

I was under strict instructions as we drove to the docks to ignore the pair of them, keep my eyes on the road and my “big mouth shut”. I may have done as was demanded of me but thatdidn’t mean I couldn’t sense the nerves radiating from Bella. Throughout the dark drive, all Lorenzo had managed to get out of her was an occasional nod here or an mhm there as he explained how this evening would go down, play by play. By the third time he started explaining what she had to do my patience was hanging by a thread.

“When you take the son of a bitch’s life, I want you to watch the life drain from his eyes and know you protected what’s ours. Eventually, you’ll come to love the fact that your face will be the last one someone sees.” Lorenzo seemed so sure, but Bella was anything but. She could hide it all she liked from her father, but I knew my woman. I knew taking someone’s life would kill her from the inside out.

When we pulled up to the docks, it was eerie and dimly lit by a few half broken flood lights that bounced off the lapping waves. The smell of rotting seaweed and salt from the ocean hit my nostrils as I rolled down the black tinted window. Beside a sea of rusting shipping containers, Riley waited patiently as we parked up. Red, Gino and Emmet were the first to file out of their SUV and jogged over to meet him, exchanging a few laughs.

“You ready, Bells?” Lorenzo asked, making me stiffen. Everything in my body was urging me to put pedal to the metal and get us the hell out of there but I didn’t. This was her family’s business, and one way or another this was how it had to be.

“I guess.” I felt her shift, her leather pants crunching against the leather seat. For the first time, a strong taste of copper tinged my mouth and my heart pumped faster.

“There is no ‘I guess’ Isabella, you need to show this fucker and everyone else for that matter you aren’t afraid to take this man’s life. A life he doesn’t deserve after the shit he’s been pulling.”

“I’m not afraid, Pa. I’m ready.” I could hear her voice break through the slight tremble she tried to hide. Lorenzo may nothave noticed, but I fucking did. Tonight was a test, and a crude one at that. Her father wanted to show off the skills she’d learnt—ones I had taught her—to prove to his boys that she could be a leader, a leader they all needed and expected her to be. But most of all, tonight was for Bella to finally learn what she was capable of, and I’d be behind her the whole time; supporting her silently.

The moment we exited the car, Riley’s face lit up like a fucking Christmas tree. His beady little eyes looked at Bella as if she were a delicacy, one to be tasted slowly. And given the chance he’d do just that.

Over my dead body you twat.

Let’s kill him. I mean why not? Lorenzo can find another guy to oversee this shit, can’t he?

That ain’t what tonight’s about.

But if he touches your girl, that’s a different story, right?

Too fuckin’ right it is.

“Isabella Ricci,” the fucker then actually whistled. “You’re even more gorgeous than I imagined.” He held out his ringed hand waiting for her to shake it. As I stood there, holding back a monster’s worth of rage, Isabella nodded and gripped his hand tightly, giving off a wave of professionalism. To my intense satisfaction, her grip made the sod whimper.

Ha. When I said I had taught my woman everything, I had meant it.

“Rule number one: if anyone in this business actually puts out their hand for you to shake, you take it and grip it till it turns blue.”

Man, she never disappointed.

“Wow, strong grip there. You’re just like your old man.” he smiled, stretching out his fingers repeatedly.Patronising wanker.

She nodded curtly as Lorenzo looked on, proud enough to combust. “Now, you want to fill me in on what’s been happening with our shipments?” Bella asked, confidence flowing from her as bright as the midday sun.

“Your father knows the ins and outs, he can?—”

“That’s all well and good that he knows the ins and outs, but I didn’t ask you to tell me what my father knows. I asked you to explain it tome. So how about you stop pussy footing around and you tell me what I need to know.” Gone was the Bella I had first met, the one who bent over backwards to please everyone and anyone. The one I was looking at tonight was a motherfucking boss.

“Right, yes, sorry,” Riley practically fell over his words as Bella looked around at the area, surveying it, taking in each and every minute detail of her surroundings.Good fucking girl.“Excuse me for asking but what happened to Luca?” Bella paused for a moment, her eyes catching his over her shoulder.

“My brother wasn’t cut out to be a leader. He was simply my backup.” The words left her mouth with no remorse. Fact was, everything she had said was true. Blunt, but true.

Luca was a poor choice to lead the Riccis, I’d learned that in the short time I’d come to live with them. Where loss had crushed him, it had made my Bella strong and more determined to live. It had taken Lorenzo a long time to finally admit that he’d only given Luca the reins because he knew how much he wanted it and how much Bella didn’t. Greed for money, power and dominance can push a man to think he wants almost anything. But Lorenzo knew as well as I did that although Luca was a shrewd businessman he’d never be able to make the difficult choices; he didn’t have the stomach. He’d had to learn that the hard way when he couldn’t juggle his responsibilities to the family and to his son. And eventually something had to give.

“Cut the bullshit and tell me what I need to know,” she said, her voice catching on the wind.

For the next ten minutes Riley filled her in on how the shipments on each arrival were weighing less, not by much, a little here and there, but when someone finally began to add it all up they realised a substantial amount had gone missing. We then all sat back and watched as she fired question after question at Riley, making the poor sod actually look like he was going to spew all over his designer trainers.

“She’s a natural, right?” Lorenzo asked, catching my ear.

“She’s doin’ great. She was the right choice. Luca was right to step down.” On the outside my face was blank. On the inside I was fucking dancing. I was so proud of her at that moment.

“Show me where the fucker is.” she demanded, standing with grace from her makeshift seat.

“Of course, right this way, Miss Ricci.”Not for long.

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