His Tesoro: An Arranged Marriage Age Gap Mafia Romance (Empire of Royals Book 1)
His Tesoro: Chapter 40

Nothing could have pulled me away from Sofiya except for the promise of destroying those responsible for the attack on her. She’d been sleepy after the bath and I’d tucked her into bed with a body pillow between her legs and heating pads wrapped around her. She fell asleep quickly, and I stared at her for too long, hating the thought of leaving her.

But I had a traitor to replace and kill.

I texted Romeo to come up to the apartment and he slipped in a few minutes later. I didn’t want to leave in case Sofiya woke up and needed me.

“Tell me you’ve tracked down the bastard that got away,” I said.

His grimace told me everything, and the rage I’d suppressed for Sofiya’s sake hit me full-force.

“How did they know where she was? Arben has to be behind it, which means he is after my fucking wife.” My voice grew louder until I was almost shouting. Romeo’s eyes widened at my outburst.

I glanced back toward our bedroom, worried I’d woken her. When I didn’t hear anything, I sat down on the couch, weariness seeping into my bones.

“How is she?” Romeo asked.

I swallowed hard. “She’s okay.” This time. But what if it happened again and I couldn’t get to her in time?

The dog popped his head up from his bed in the living room and came over to me, nudging my hand. I begrudgingly patted his head. Sofiya had fussed over him all evening, saying he deserved extra treats after his trauma. At her request, I’d made him scrambled eggs.

I sighed. “I can’t believe Bianchi was the traitor. Or at least, that he was working alone.”

“I agree, but I can’t figure out who it would be.” Romeo sat beside me. “We could have Franco investigate our own ranks, in addition to setting up the decoy runs.”

I nodded. “Do it. Nothing is more important than eliminating the Albanian threat. I’ll work on setting up the decoy runs tomorrow and we’ll carry them out at the end of the week.”

“Are you really going to ask Rustik for reinforcements?”

“Fuck,” I muttered. Asking the Pakhan for reinforcements would show that I was vulnerable. Even with our alliance, I didn’t trust him. “He’s been pushing to come to the city. Says he wants to personally inspect the trade routes.”

Romeo got up to pour us drinks from the bar cart. “Sounds like a load of bullshit.”

I took the whiskey from him. “I agree. But it could be good timing. If we invite him to come next week, we can see if we still need reinforcements. If so, we can discuss it in person.”

Romeo lifted his glass to me in assent.

A wave of exhaustion came over me. I’d been so focused on making sure Sofiya was safe, I hadn’t let myself feel the depth of my fear. But now, it all replayed in my head—how scared she’d sounded on the phone, the endless minutes before I got to her.

“I’ll head to the office now,” I said. “Figure out the decoy plans.”

“No, fratello. Take the night off and spend it with your wife.” He clasped me on the shoulder, squeezing tight.

“What if I can’t protect her?” As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I regretted them. I couldn’t allow any cracks in my armor to show, even to Romeo, this man I’d grown up with.

“You can, you will. I know it. Because you always take care of those close to you.”

I started shaking my head, but Romeo wrapped his hand around my neck. “You didn’t fail them. It wasn’t your fault.”

I threw back the rest of my drink and got up. “I’ll talk to you in the morning.”

Romeo sighed and got up. “I’ll see myself out.”

I put our empty glasses in the kitchen and grabbed a dog treat from the container on the counter, throwing it to Noodle. After years of spending late nights out monitoring my city or hunched over my desk in my office, it felt strange to slip into my bedroom to sleep. Stranger still that my bed wasn’t empty.

I stripped my clothes off and got under the sheets.

“Is everything okay?” Sofiya mumbled, eyes closed as she rolled to face me.

I ran my hand down her hair. “Yes, tesoro.” She smelled like lavender and I breathed her in, adjusting the heating pad that had slipped off her hip. “But I need you to stay at home until we destroy the Albanians.”

“You really think they were after me today?”

I closed my eyes and gathered her close. “Yes. But I’ll protect you. I promise.”

“You already protect me better than anyone.”

My heart twinged at her words. I gathered her to my chest, hoping to God they were true.