I Saved the Mafia Boss—Now I'm His Obsession. novel Chapter 45

Adriano

⫘☠︎︎⫘

The meeting was set in Il Segreto, an abandoned 1930s speakeasy turned neutral ground on the Chicago River.

Men filled every wall, pressed into the corners. Lombardis in slick charcoal suits, cufflinks glinting like fangs. Capones in black, always black. No logos, no gold, just clean-cut suits and loaded guns tucked behind ribs.

Nobody touched the wine between us.

I sat at the long walnut table, fingers steepled. To my left, Vincenzo, his jaw locked like stone. On my right, Dante rolled a toothpick between his fingers. Luca, Raphael, and Silvio flanked our father, who hadn’t said a fucking word since entering.

His silence wasn’t empty.

It was rage.

He loved Alessia more than he’d ever loved any of us. More than himself. And now someone had dared to threaten her.

He never thought he'd live to see this day again.

And across from us was Rino fucking Lombardi. Next to him sat his son, Remo, his father's venom minus the subtlety. That bastard had murder written all over him, but he didn’t know how to spell it right.

Between us was a red velvet folder. Inside, a bullshit peace agreement. It was temporary and conditional, works just within the walls of this restaurant. Worth less than the napkins we wiped our mouths with.

But the goal wasn’t peace.

My goal was his fingerprints.

Rino adjusted the collar of his suit like it strangled him. His gaze cut past all of us and smirked.

“Alessia have aged so well,” Rino rasped, eyes gleaming. “Like a wine kept just for me.”

Twenty-five years, and that sick fuck was still hung up.

Vincenzo gritted his teeth, “Watch your mouth.”

Rino smiled, “It was promised, little boy. Don't act new. Alessia was mine before your bastard of a father broke the deal and married her off to that traitor.”

Dante leaned forward, “That traitor’s body fed the flames for touching what’s ours. You should’ve learned then, we don’t take it lightly when someone comes for the Capones.”

Rino poured himself a drink, Dalmore 62. He brought his own bottle. Arrogant son of a bitch.

He drank.

That was it.

That was my moment.

The crystal glass kissed his fingers. I memorized the pattern. I'd have it lifted before dessert. I met Vincenzo’s gaze, a flicker of the eyes. He gave me the tiniest nod.

“Let’s get this over with,” Dad said finally, “You asked for parley. You got it. Talk.”

Rino leaned back smugly, fingers drumming against his glass. “It’s simple, Salvatore. You honor your side of the deal, and this whole thing ends. A marriage for peace, old-school diplomacy.” He snapped his fingers. “You give me what was promised, and the Lombardis become your allies again. Every war, every front, we fight beside you. All I want is what was mine.”

“It’s never gonna happen,” Vincenzo said flatly. “She’s not part of this deal—wasn’t then, sure as fuck isn’t now. I’m not our grandfather, I don’t trade the women in this family for peace like they’re poker chips.”

Remo chuckled darkly, “Funny, coming from you. Wasn’t your own marriage a political move? A little trade-off with the Cosa Nostra, right? I heard you knocked her up before you even married her. And Alessia’s daughter... Allegra, was it? You handed her over to end a war too, didn’t you?” He smirked. “Beautiful women, both of them. Your wife got that ice-blonde thing going on. I always had a thing for blonds…”

Vincenzo was out of his seat in a blink, fury radiating off him like a bomb about to blow until Dad and I both pressed him back with steady hands.

“In case your memory’s as fried as your nephew’s nerves,” I said coldly, “your underboss and your blood are rotting in our basement. You’re in no position to bargain. You don’t offer us shit. We offer you. Here’s the deal—” I leaned in slightly, “We hand over your nephew and your underboss... and you crawl back to whatever sewer you came from.”

Remo waved it off like he was swatting a fly. “Kill ’em. They’re dead weight. They fucked up the second they got caught. Whatever info they gave you? Already obsolete. The minute Romano went dark, we burned the whole playbook and rewrote it from scratch. So go ahead. Do what you want with them. Means nothing now.”

I watched Rino swirl his drink, leaned back, dragged on my cigarette, eyes on the rim of that glass.

“Means nothing, huh?” I exhaled smoke toward the chandelier. “You sure about that, Remo? Because from where I’m sitting, your uncle screamed like a little girl while the rats ate through his guts.”

Remo’s jaw twitched. Rino didn’t show any emotions, but I saw his thumb pause for a beat on the side of the glass before he brought it to his lips.

“You want Alessia?” I said quietly, almost like it was a joke. “You’re twenty-five years late.”

Rino’s eyes burned over the rim as he sipped. “She was promised. Promises mean something to men like us. To real men.”

Dante muttered, “You want a woman who’d rather gouge her eyes out than sit across from you?”

Rino ignored him. “She was mine, and Rossi stole her. You Capones think time washes away blood but blood remembers. And so do I.”

“I don’t remember Alessia wearing a leash or signing her life away to you. Last I checked, she walked out of that arrangement with her head up and married a man she chose for herself.”

“And he betrayed her,” Rino hissed. “That coward fed intel to the Cosa Nostra behind your backs. He sold you out and disappeared. That marriage humiliated me, broke the alliance. My men died for it.”

“Our men died too,” Dad said, “Your obsession with Alessia started this war, Rino. You couldn’t let go, so you burned half the city trying to reclaim a woman who never wanted you.”

Rino smiled and it was serpent-like. “Doesn’t matter what she wanted. She was promised.”

“The promise ended a long time ago,” I said, “Now, this is just a fucking delusion.”

He leaned forward, resting his palms on the table, fingers just inches from that glass. “Call it what you want. You give her to me, and the war ends. Refuse and I’ll tear down everything you’ve built and erase the Capone bloodline forever. I've got the numbers, the power and the weapons to do it. You give me what was promised,” Rino said, “and the war ends.”

Vincenzo glared at him, “There is no deal.”

Remo leaned back, legs spread, tapping a gold ring against the table. “First you send Allegra to fuck her way into the Cosa Nostra's mercy, now you whine about family values? Alessia should’ve stayed ours. If she was engaged to me instead of my father, she wouldn’t have run off and spread her legs for that traitorous pretty boy. I would’ve tamed her.”

My jaw clenched.

Luca was up before anyone else could blink.

He didn’t yell, didn't draw weapons. He just stood behind his chair and stared at Remo like he was already dead.

“You open your mouth about our aunt again,” Luca said softly, “and I will cut your fucking tongue out and sew it into your asshole sideways.”

“She was promised by men long dead, under rules no one fucking lives by anymore,” Raphael added.

“That’s rich,” Remo sneered. “You Capones love rewriting the rules when it suits you. But facts are facts. She was the Lombardi bride. And when she ran off, she took more than a name—she took loyalty. Respect. She embarrassed us. Now it's time to pay.”

In a flash, Luca had a blade out, the sharp edge gleaming as he moved to lunge. But before it could pierce into Remo’s throat, Dad lifted a single hand. Luca froze, jaw clenched, and slowly sat back down but he didn’t take his eyes off Remo for even a second.

“I get it,” Remo said after a beat, smirking. “You Capone boys still suck on her tit, huh? What’s next, she gonna teach you how to hold a spoon? Is that what Auntie Alessia taught you, Luca?

Luca didn't move, he just smiled, real slow. “She taught me where to stab a man so he pisses himself before he dies.”

Remo’s grin faltered.

“Enough,” Rino snapped, glaring at his own son, “This meeting is about resolution.”

“No,” Vincenzo said, “this meeting was your last shot to walk away breathing. You blew it.”

“And let’s be fucking real,” I added, leaning in, “you don’t want peace. You want to resurrect some sick fucking fantasy you’ve been jerking off to since Bush Senior was in office. Alessia doesn’t belong to you. Never did.”

“She will,” Rino whispered.

I raised an eyebrow. “You want her? Go dig up the guy she loved. Ask him what happens when someone touches what’s ours.”

Rino’s face twitched.

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