Page 6 of The Queen's Vow (Ruthless Games 2)

THREE

GIANCARLO

“Do you want a drink?” Rebecca handed me a glass of expensive red wine.

I didn’t need to see the label or the price tag. Sebastien Daria had kick ass taste in Italian red wine.

“God, yes.” I kissed her.

“This is your place, Gian?”

I eyed her over the rim of the glass I sipped. That split-second hesitation nagged me. I trusted Rebecca. I believed she trusted me. As an MIT-educated, mafia-trained cyber expert, firewalls were my life. Firewalls kept me and my family alive. And out of prison.

If my heart committed to Rebecca like this, that made her my family too. She rode here blindfolded. What she didn’t know was I’d made Sebastien and Anthony wear one too.

“Giancarlo.” Rebecca said my name differently. My paranoid brain heard: Giancarlo, your queen asked you a question.

Looking at her, all I saw was the sweet face of an angel. She assumed control of her father’s business including the underground crime syndicate in a flash when the FBI came to her with a pending indictment for him. She hadn’t planned on being queen. Everyone thought her brother Nate, the international singing sensation, would take over.

Only, anyone who followed Nate Domenico on Instagram, the pictures of him on stage, bathing in hot tubs with groupies, smoking weed, and crashed out drunk on his tour bus confirmed anyone’s suspicions that no way would he give up that life to sit in an office and be followed by guards 24/7.

What we all expected? That Rebecca would marry Anthony and he’d be the new king.

Rebecca killed that idea when she assumed control for herself and refused to marry him. Couldn’t marry him because she loved Bastien. And me. Then finally, Anthony too.

I snapped out of it, seeing Rebecca’s gorgeous blue eyes narrow at me. Not in anger, but in confusion.

“Sorry, Becca. Yes. This place is mine. I set it up a few years ago. My father has another place for him and my mother.”

Don’t hide all your mafia eggs in one basket.

“Despite it being in the middle of nowhere...” She glanced out my office window that faced only trees and the lake. “It’s wonderful.”

“That wasn’t an accident. If something went down, I didn’t want to stay in a hell hole.” I brought her close to me and pointed out the window that faced the front of the house. Feeling brave for revealing all my secrets, I said, “See the driveway?”

She leaned her back against my chest. “Some of it. I see mostly bushes.”

Dropping a kiss on her forehead, I said, “That’s not laziness. That’s strategic. I let it grow over on purpose. It’s rigged up with a tripwire so I’ll know someone uninvited is heading this way.”

“What if someone tries to drive down it from the road?”

“I had a gate installed. Also, the driveway stretches out for close to a mile. All this property used to be a camp.”

“That means there’s a monster in the lake,” she joked.

“The only monster is right here,” I said, dragging her hand over my hard cock as I kissed her.

“And there.” She pointed to the kitchen where Anthony and Sebastien cooked and smiled. They even kissed on occasion.

Something I never thought I’d see. “Very true. And we’re sworn to protect you.”

“If the driveway is grown over, is that why we came across the lake?” Becca swayed gently, still looking out the window.

I nodded. “I purchased a decrepit house on the other side. I only use the garage and the boat launch.”

Nodding, she stepped out of my embrace and turned to face me. “Gian?” Her voice stilled me.

“Becca.”

“Does your brother know about this place?” She asked about Salvatore, my Navy SEAL brother who’d been missing for several months.

Yes, he knew about it.

There never had been a reason for me not to trust Salvatore. My grandfather had turned on my mother when she refused to marry the man he’d chosen for her. Instead, she married my father, an Irish crime boss from Boston forcing Grandad to cut them off. After that, my father isolated us in an iron dome of trust.

What I hadn’t fathomed until now was how my future wife, or in this case, Rebecca, would fit into that dome. How many Byrne secrets do I tell her?

Exhaling, I said, “No.”

She cinched her eyebrows together. “Does he have his own...” Her voice drifted off. “Did he have his own safehouse?”

“We don’t know if he’s dead,” I bit out and then lowered my head. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay.” She rubbed my arms. “I didn’t mean for it sound so final.”

“I know.” I held her again.

I’d wanted Rebecca for so long and hadn’t even realized it. When her father had disappeared and she defied who he wanted her to marry, like my mother, I let my heart open up to the idea I had a shot with her.

I never imagined I’d have to share her.

That’s how much life can fuck with you. And make you so completely whole at the same time.

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