~ Niamh ~
"Holy smokes, Dom, you didn't inform us you were bringing your woman and a boy along," the man who sat on a couch alone spoke first, his gaze sliding over me in a quick, appreciative survey before settling on Matteo.
My eyes lingered on him as he got to his feet to grab a bottle of wine from the nearby dark-wood wine bar.
He was tall and lean, with broad shoulders stretching his black shirt and a fencer's body that looked hard as steel.
"Shut the fuck up, Cris, they're here because of Massimo," Domino growled at him.
"Language, Dom, you just brought in a kid," the younger woman, who cuddled close to the younger man, admonished Domino with a stern look. He glanced at my son and shrugged carelessly.
The woman rose to her feet and approached us. She appeared to be in her early thirties, with long dark hair slicked back into a tight, fashionable ponytail and large, dark eyes that held a sharp intelligence.
"What's your name, handsome?" she asked, squatting in front of Matteo with a warm smile.
"Matteo," my son replied nervously, his voice barely above a whisper.
"Mommy gave you a nice name, Matteo," she smiled at me, then rose to her feet and gestured to one of the unoccupied brown leather couches. "Come have a seat. Make yourselves comfortable."
I nodded my thanks with a small smile, grateful for her attempts not to make me feel so intimidated.
I settled onto the couch with Matteo, the expensive material feeling soft and cool against the back of my legs.
"So, I'm Marietta Valentino," the woman continued, while the others watched on quietly, their eyes scrutinizing my son and me like we were specimens under a glass.
"This is my husband, Lorenzo," she pointed at the man close to her who nodded his greeting. "And that's my father, Giacomo, and my mom, Juliette," she gestured to the older couple sitting across from her.
Juliette, elegant and graceful, with dark hair swept into an Audrey-Hepburn-worthy chignon, offered me a warm, motherly smile.
Her tall, lumbering silver fox husband on the other hand, kept a hard expression.
The Italian Don was probably in his sixties, but his body was still heavily built; I would bet everything I owned that he could bench press me.
Marietta continued her introduction. "My elder brother Massimo is not around, but these two nut-heads here are my younger brothers, Domino and Cristiano."
"The favorite, most handsome brother," Cristiano said with a smirk as he passed around glasses of red wine.
Domino shook his head, grumbling his irritation while Marietta snorted with an eye roll.
"Here you go, sweetheart." Cristiano gazed down at me as he handed me a glass, a charming smile playing on his lips.
He was stunning up close, with his messy long dark hair falling onto his dark eyes, perfectly angular features, and a cute cleft in his chin.
"Thank you," I smiled nervously, my fingers trembling slightly as I took the glass. He winked and returned back to his couch, crossing one long leg over the other.
"I believe Marietta is done with introducing us," Juliette said, her voice smooth and calming. "Why don't you introduce yourself, honey?"
I clutched my glass tighter, the cold crystal biting into my palms, and quickly gulped down the wine. The sweet liquid helped settle my roar of nerves as all their gazes settled on me.
"I'm Niamh…Niamh O'Connor, and this is my four-year-old son Matteo," I said.
The name O'Connor seemed to hang in the air for a second before a collective gasp filled the room.
"Did you just say O'Connor?" Don Giacomo spoke for the first time, his deep voice heavy with shock and vibrating anger.
I nodded, and his gaze turned into a furnace.
"Holy smokes, so the rumors about an O'Connor princess were true after all," Cristiano uncrossed his legs and leaned forward in his seat.
"Why the fuck didn't you tell me?" Domino growled at me.
"You never asked," I replied immediately, my spine straightening. If I was going to die in this mansion, I wouldn't do it cowering.
"Don't take it to heart, sweetheart, Dom is the worst person to have a conversation with," Cristiano shook his in mock pity, earning a murderous look from Domino.
"Why is she here?" Don Giacomo pinned Domino with a hard stare. I hadn't believed anyone could faze Domino until then.
"Massimo wanted her safe," Domino replied.
"From who?" Juliette asked.
"What's Massimo's business with an O'Connor?" Don Giacomo pronounced the name with palpable hatred.
"I don't know, Father, he didn't tell me," Domino replied. "He just called me all of a sudden and told me to ambush a Russian van and rescue an asset. He also said I should kill the Russians if necessary, which I did. It wasn't until after the chaos that I found out the asset was a woman and her son," he gestured half-heartedly at me and Matteo.
"He called me too," Lorenzo revealed. "He told me to set up a roadblock between Houston and Dallas."
Don Giacomo cursed, his angry gaze repeatedly sliding from me to Matteo.
"Why were you in the van with the Russians?" He asked me.
I remembered Domino's earlier warning that I shouldn't even think of lying when questioned, and took a deep breath.
I told them everything, starting from my father's coma to my uncle's deal with the Romanovs that involved me, my son, and a shipment of drugs in exchange for their help to fight against my father if he ever woke up from coma.
When I was done with my story, the Italian Don was on his feet, red with pure rage.
"So why the hell did Massimo step in and sabotage a deal involving the O'Connors and the Romanovs?" he growled.
"That's the million-dollar question—why risk a war because of a woman and her son?" Lorenzo chipped in.
"There has to be a reason," Marietta said, her voice steady. "We all know Massimo; he won't make any rash decisions without having a valuable motive."
"There is no good enough reason for the chaos he just caused!" Don Giacomo roared, making the crystals in the chandelier chime softly as he glared at his daughter, who flinched.
The Italian Don turned back to frown at me and Matteo for a moment before settling his gaze on Domino.
"Take them to Dallas right now," he instructed Domino. "I'll call Vladimir and tell him you thought it was a small gang smuggling drugs into our territory without notifying us. I will apologize for the misconception and offer him a tank load of weapons as compensation for the men he lost."
"Okay, Father," Domino rose to his feet immediately, looking at me to follow suit.
Dread filled me, and I looked around them as if any of them could reverse the Don's decision.
I couldn't go back to the Russians. Not when I finally thought I was free.
I watched on as the family decided my fate, as if my son and I weren't even present.
"Darling, you need to calm down," Juliette said to her husband, holding his arm gently. "I think we should wait for Massimo to return and explain his actions. Among us, Massimo is the most calculating; he wouldn't just do anything without a reasonable motive."
"That's true, Father, we must wait to hear Massimo's reasons," Cristiano supported. "We can't send them back to the Russians after he just took the risk of rescuing them without hearing what he has to say."
Marietta nodded in agreement.
"Are you saying this because you truly want to wait for Mass or because you wanna have a shot with her?" Domino grumbled, shooting his brother an irritated look.
"Obviously both. She's smoking hot, isn't she?" Cristiano smirked, winking at me, not even offended by the accusation.
My cheeks reddened at his blunt words, while Domino looked disgusted with him. Marietta rolled her eyes and shook her head, and Juliette even looked amused.
Suddenly, the room fell quiet, and the atmosphere electrified as everyone stared at Don Giacomo to make his final decision.
The Italian Don stared at everyone as he spoke. "I am not waiting for anybody. The longer we wait, the faster this turns into a war, and we can't go against the Irish and Russian syndicates at the same time, the consequences are too great. I won't risk my family and everything I've built because of a careless decision!"
Panic clawed at my throat and I felt the sting of tears in my eyes as the Don looked at Domino and said with a clear note of finality in his voice.
"Take her back to the Russians now."
Domino signaled for me to rise, but before I could find my feet, the double doors burst open and I stilled as if glued to the seat, my heart pounding heavily as my eyes landed on the man who walked in.
I stopped breathing completely. It was him.
Cristiano whistled. "Speak of the devil."
The fear in me disappeared instantly, replaced by hot anger and poisonous hatred as I looked at the same man I had met at a club in El Paso five years ago.
The same man who had lured me to his bed with a fake name, taken my virginity, and disappeared the next morning before I could even wake, leaving behind two hundred dollars as payment like I was the cheapest prostitute.
The father of my son.
I had slept with a Valentino prince after all, the heir of the Italian mafia syndicate even. I could imagine the disappointment and anger on my father's face.
Alessio—scratch that.
Massimo Valentino stood before me, his riveting presence commanding everyone's attention.
His eyes were so dark and intense as they swept over the entire room before finally locking onto me and Matteo.
They lingered on Matteo for a long, silent beat that made my skin crawl before he finally spoke, his deep voice brokering no argument as it cut through the silence of the room.
"That's my son and his mother. They are not leaving."
Everyone froze.
I stood up, my legs shaking with the sheer force of my rage, and looked him dead in the eyes, my hatred for him evident in my gaze.
I'd rather go back to the Romanovs than spend a second under his protection.