Author: L A Cotton
Category: Contemporary
Go to read content：https://onlinereadfreenovel.com/l-a-cotton/page,7,549216-prince_of_hearts.html
“Jesus, you’re going to have to beat them off with a stick when she’s older.”
“She’s almost seventeen,” I reminded Matteo.
“Still, that girl has trouble written all over her.”
“You’re not actually checking out my sister—my baby sister?”
“The fuck I am, she’s my cousin,” he ground out. “I’m just saying, I have eyes, and she’s a looker. Takes after your mom.”
“Way to go, man,” Enzo snickered. “First Alessia and now his mom.”
“You know that’s not what I mean. Shit, Nicco, you know I wouldn’t—”
“Relax, I know. Just don’t go talking about my sister like that again, okay?” The thought of my sister ending up with someone like Matteo or Enzo made me want to tear my fucking hair out. She was too good. Too fucking pure. She was all my mom while I was every bit my father. It was a burden I would gladly carry if it meant I could shelter her from this life.
Enzo killed the engine and we climbed out. I’d barely even gotten my feet on the ground when Alessia leaped into my arms. “Nicco,” she breathed, “I missed you.”
“Nice to see you too, Sia.” Enzo chuckled, kicking the gravel with his boot. “Is my dad here?”
“Yeah, he’s inside. Uncle Michele too.”
He shot me a serious look. If Uncle Vincenzo and Matteo’s father, Michele, were here too then it was as a good as a family meeting.
“How’s school?” I asked Alessia, tucking her into my side as we approached the house.
“It’s okay, I guess.” She gave a small shrug.
“Sia, it’s junior year. You need to learn to let loose and have fun. But not too much fun,” I quickly added. “No guys. Definitely no guys until you’re eighteen.”
Or never, if I had anything to say about it.
“Relax, big brother, it’s not like anyone wants to date me anyway.”
“What the fuck does that mean?” I pulled Alessia in front of me, holding her at arm’s length. “Any guy would be lucky to have you.”
Her eyes darted to the ground.
“Sia, talk to me,” I said softly.
She slowly lifted her face to mine and what I saw there gutted me. “I’m a Marchetti, Nicco.
“So?” Being a Marchetti in high school had never been a problem for me. Guys looked the other way and girls all wanted a piece of me. The three of us—me, Enzo, and Matteo—had ruled the halls at high school.
“It was different for you. You’re a guy. It earns you a certain level of respect. Not for me though, it makes me untouchable,” her voice trailed off.
“Someone said something to you, Sia?” Matteo inched closer. “Because if they have—”
“That, that’s the problem.” She didn’t sound angry, just resigned, and it was like a vice around my heart. “No guy will even look twice at me because of who my brother is. Who my family is.”
“Screw them,” Matteo said, and I frowned at him. That was supposed to be my line. But then, he had a younger sister too, so I guess he knew how to handle this kind of thing. “If a guy is intimidated by the fact you’re a Marchetti then he doesn’t deserve you.”
“Thanks, Matt.” Alessia gave him a coy smile. “Maybe I need to find someone older. A college—”
“Do not finish that sentence,” I growled.
Enzo chuckled darkly from the porch. “Told ya.” He motioned swinging a bat. I flipped him off.
“Come on, we don’t want to keep daddy dearest waiting.” He didn’t like tardiness.
And I had a feeling the day was already about take a turn without getting berated by my old man for being late.
“Hang out with me for a little while later?” Alessia asked.
“You know it.” I gave her a warm smile before following my friends into the house to find out whatever awaited us.
WE FOUND MY FATHER and uncles in the den. It was my father’s office/meeting room/room where he liked to entertain. And until a little over a year ago, it had been strictly off limits to me and my cousins. But ever since graduating high school, we’d been officially initiated into the family. A deep shudder worked down my spine, remembering exactly what we’d done that night. But it what was it was. The world was a dog eat dog place, and we all had our parts to play.
Mine just so happened to be the only son to Antonio Marchetti, boss of Dominion, or as it was called among outsiders: The New England Mafia. With his cousin, Alonso Marchetti, running the Boston faction, my father, with my uncles at his side, and a string of cousins, extended family, and associates in the ranks, owned and controlled various businesses in and around Verona County. Most were legitimate, providing a smokescreen for racketeering, money laundering, and gambling.
Verona County was built and founded on mafia money. The very foundations it stood on were tainted with blood and deceit. But people were happy to turn a blind eye to what went on around them, to forget their less than holy roots, if it meant they got to drive around in their posh cars, wearing their expensive fucking suits and clothes, eating rich people’s food and sipping bottles of champagne that cost enough to feed a third world country.
“Niccolò, boys, get in here. Have a drink.” My father motioned to Genevieve, the housekeeper, although I was pretty sure her duties far extended servicing just the household chores.
I sucked in a harsh breath. My father had aged well. His eyes still sparkled with the Marchetti charm and he still had a head full of dark unruly hair. He also kept physically fit thanks to many hours spent at my uncle Mario’s gym. But he was my father, and I knew him better than anyone. I saw what others didn’t see—the extra crows feet around his eyes, the dark cloud circling him.
My father was tired. Worn down by life. And although I knew he would never admit it, I suspected he still suffered with a broken heart. Which was fucking ironic since he was the reason my mother fled.
Enzo and Matteo accepted a glass of whisky each, but I refrained, opting for water instead, preferring to keep my wits about me. “What’s going on?” I asked, pulling out the various envelopes of cash and throwing them down on the table. Michele got up to collect them, depositing them in my father’s safe. They’d count the cash later before cleaning it.
All I wanted to do was get down to business. The sooner we were done, the sooner I could spend some time with Alessia and then get the hell out of here.
“How is college?” Uncle Vincenzo asked, relaxing back in the big leather chair. “Plenty of fresh pussy?” One of his thick brows rose suggestively.
“Really, old man?” Enzo scowled. “If Nonna heard you—”
“You should know by now, son, what happens inside these four walls, stays inside these four walls.” He chuckled as if we didn’t all know just how important the code of silence was. “So, how is it, really? Have you managed to bed any—”
“Enzo,” my father scolded his younger brother. “We haven’t come here to talk about your son’s sex life. Although, kid, I gotta say it, remember to wrap that shit. The last thing we need is some girl getting knocked up with Marchetti seed.”
“Jesus,” I muttered under my breath.
“A-fucking-men to that.” Uncle Vincenzo lifted his glass before necking the contents.
“Thanks, Gen, you’re excused. If we need anything, I’ll be sure to call.”
The housekeeper nodded, before scurrying out of the room. She couldn’t have been much older than me. Far too young to be underneath my father but he wasn’t exactly the type of man you told no.
“How’s things in that department?” Uncle Michele flicked his head to the door.
“It’s not serious,” my father said quietly, loosening his tie as his eyes slid to mine.
“Don’t look at me. Whatever you do in your spare time is your business.”
“Niccolò, do you have to be—”
“Are we ever going to get to the point of this meeting?” I grumbled.
“You’re right.” My father’s expression hardened. “There�
�s been an interesting development with Capizola.”
“Tommy finally found some dirt on him?”
Tommy, one of our best, most trusted investigators had been watching Roberto for years. Trying to find enough dirt to knock Capizola off his pedestal. But so far, he’d come up with nothing but a few parking tickets and planning regulation violations.
“Not exactly. But we think we might know where his daughter is.”
We all sat straighter. “She’s alive?” Matteo asked.
“You didn’t really believe she was dead?” I asked around a smirk. He was so fucking gullible sometimes.
“No one has seen her for the best part of five years.” He shrugged. “I figured perhaps she was pushing up daisies and her old man wanted to keep up pretenses.”
He had a point. In a world where money and power were everything, for someone like Capizola, having a living heir was vital.
I knew that first-hand.
“So, where is she?” I turned my focus back to my father.
“We think she’s attending Montague University this year.”
“What?” I balked. “No way he’d send her there.” He had too many enemies watching him, waiting for the opportune moment to strike.
“Obviously we don’t think he’s sent her there under her true identity.”
“Hiding her in plain sight... makes sense.” Enzo said. “And it wouldn’t be hard. No one has seen her in years. I doubt she still looks like a child.”
“You think the intel is good?” I asked my father, and he nodded.
“Tristan will know her. They’re cousins, and Roberto treats him like a son. He’s the key. Get to him and you’ll get to her.”
“Yeah, but let’s be real here, it’s not like he’ll be parading her around campus.” Enzo snorted. “It won’t be someone in his circle, that’s way too obvious.”
“Get to her to do what exactly?” Matteo asked.
“Son,” Michele grumbled, throwing my father an apologetic look. Matteo straddled the fine line between wanting to embrace the life and wanting more. Unlike Enzo, he wasn’t inherently angry, and unlike me, he wasn’t permanently numb.
Until her. My mind flickered to Lina. Wondering what she was doing right now this second. I wanted her so fucking much. On the back of my bike. In my bed. Underneath me.
I wanted her any way I could fucking get her, but it wouldn’t be fair, to either of us, for me to pull her into this world.
A world where we were talking about using an innocent girl to get to her father.
“If we have to spell it out to you, Matt, then you’re not the sons we raised.” My father’s words lingered in the air, heavy and laced with meaning.
Beside me, Matteo shifted uncomfortably. I narrowed my eyes, hardly surprised my father wanted us to handle this. It was, after all, why we were at MU. Not only did it give the illusion of our family wanting a more legitimate future, it placed us somewhere where we could have our ear to the ground. Kids talked. Especially kids so drunk and high on college life. But a year into college, and our intel was lacking to say the least. My father and our uncles didn’t seem too concerned. Taking down Roberto Capizola was the endgame. As long as we kept up pretenses, attended classes, and brought in some cash from our on and off campus ventures, they were happy enough.
“We’ll handle it,” Enzo said. “When we figure out who she is, how far can we take it?”
The air rippled with dark energy as my father ran his finger around his glass of whisky. “Whatever it takes to make her break. She’s the missing piece of the puzzle. Get to her and we’ll have the leverage we need to get the upper hand,” my father’s voice dropped an octave. “I’ve watched Capizola bleed his redeemed soul bullshit all across Verona. He wants La Riva, then he’d better be prepared to take it from my bloody broken fingers because this is our home and I won’t go down without a fight.”
The men raised their glasses, toasting their plan. Enzo joined them, always too thirsty, too eager, to get his hands dirty. Matteo was a mask of uncertainty, but he clinked his glass with the others, nonetheless.
Everyone looked at me expectantly. One day, I’d sit here in my father’s chair, calling the shots and toasting my plan. It was a future I’d never asked for. A future I didn’t want. I didn’t want the responsibility or the power. Getting my hands dirty, fine. I could do that. I could swallow the orders and see them through. I could even handle being a capo and having my own crew. But I didn’t want to be the person making the big decisions.
“Niccolò.” Antonio Marchetti didn’t like to be kept waiting. His hard, assessing gaze on mine, I lifted my glass and gave him a sharp nod.
I might not have wanted this life.
But it was mine regardless.
Because no one walked away from the family except in a body bag.
Especially not the only son of the boss.
Chapter 7
Arianne
Ididn’t see Nicco for the rest of the week. It was almost as if he’d disappeared off the face of the earth. He wasn’t in Professor Mandrake’s class, and I didn’t see him and his friends in the food court, or around campus.
If it wasn’t for the lingering memory of his lips against mine, I would have thought he was a figment of my imagination. But nothing that good could be made up.
Could it?
“You’re looking for him again, aren’t you?” Nora asked as we walked back to our dorm building.
“Who?” I played dumb.
“Oh hush, you’re so looking for hotty. Not that I blame you.”
“I haven’t seen him all week. That’s weird, right?”
“He’s a guy. They’re all fucking weird.” Nora wore college life well. She’d always been a free spirit but living on my father’s estate had clipped her wings to some degree. Since we’d arrived at MU though, I’d watched her blossom.
“Did you decide what to wear to the party tonight?”
“About that...”
She ground to a halt and ducked in front of me, fixing her eyes right on me. “Oh no, I don’t like that tone.”
“It’s just, I’m not sure parties are my thing.” When Nora had mentioned the masquerade party at my cousin’s frat house, I’d given her non-committal maybe. I probably should have told her no, but she’d been so excited. I didn’t want to drag her down, I wanted Nora to have the full college experience... I just wasn’t sure it was what I wanted.
No, I was more interested in the flyer I’d gotten from the Student Community Action Committee. They were looking for volunteers to help at the local shelter. I’d spent so long cut off from the real world, locked away in my ivory tower, there was something that called to me about helping others. I’d never wanted for anything in life, I never would. I was born into a life of money and privilege. But it didn’t mean I took it for granted. If my father had taught me anything, it was that the higher we found ourselves, the more humbly we should walk. He worked hard, made a lot of money, and yes, he lived a life of privilege, but he also gave to those less fortunate. He donated to charity and contributed his time to non-profits.
I wanted to follow in those footsteps, the ones he trod that made a real difference.
“I think I’m going to do it,” I said, feeling a sense of rightness wash over me.
“Yeah, you’ll come?” Nora’s eyes lit up and I immediately felt a pang of guilt.
“No, I... uh, I meant volunteer with the SCA.”
“The student action thing?”
I nodded. “They need volunteers to help at the shelter.”
“That’s great, Lina, but do you need to go right now?”
“Well, no.”
“So you’ll come? I know shitface will be there but it’s a masquerade party, we’ll blend. Besides, he’ll no doubt have a harem all wanting to get on his dick.”
“Nora!”
“What?” She hooked her arm through mine, “you know I’m not wrong.”
“No, but you’re so...”
“Liberated?” She snuggled close to me. “I feel it, Lina. Like I can really be myself here, you know?”
“I’m happy you’re happy,” I said. We reached the door and Nora released me to dig out her keycard. I noticed a guy over by the corner of the building, pretending not to watch us. He looked familiar. I’d seen him around campus a few times, always alone, always waiting for something, or someone.
Huh.
Strange.
Nora fumbled with the key, drawing my attention. “I can never get the stupid thing to—”
“Here.” I took it from her and gently pressed it against the pad. The door clicked open. “Just needed a magic touch.”
She rolled her eyes, pushing open the door and slipping inside. I went to follow her but paused at the last second. There was something else about him, a gentle nagging in the back of my head.
Then it hit me.
It was the guy Nicco had been with the night I’d fled from Scott. His cousin. What was his name? Ba... Bailey! Yes, that was it. He’d been in the alley. It was his car Nicco had driven me in.
My eyes shifted to the corner of the building, but Bailey was gone.
And I was beginning to think I was losing my mind.
NORA HAD PICKED OUT the gaudiest, most over the top, Columbine Venetian masks she could possibly find. I was almost relieved no one would be able to recognize me; they were that bad. But she assured me it was what everyone would be wearing. Apparently, she’d met a guy who had the inside scoop. I just hoped he wasn’t on the football team with Tristan and Scott because that would be all kinds of awkward.
“He’s a sophomore so he doesn’t exactly hang with them,” she clarified. “But he is on the team.”
“Seriously? I don’t like this. I don’t like it at all.”
“What would you rather be doing? Reading one of your smutty romance novels in your flannel pajamas, eating your bodyweight in Twizzlers?”
My mouth opened and then snapped shut. “You know I’m right. You blew off going home for the weekend for a reason. So let’s make the most of it. If the party sucks, we’ll leave. And I promise to stay by your side tonight.”