His Juliet: An Age Gap Hurt Comfort Mafia Romance (Empire of Royals Book 2)

“They planted a false trail to lead us to the port tonight, and we fucking fell for it.” Matteo’s icy rage radiated through the conference room, matching what we all felt. It was five in the morning and none of us had slept. The Albanian soldiers hadn’t been a match for us, even with the element of surprise on their side. We’d killed most of them and taken three of them alive.

They were currently waiting for me in the basement.

Even so, two of our soldiers were in the hospital with gunshot wounds.

“How are they getting around our soldiers, our cameras? This is our city!” Matteo slammed his fist down on the table.

Franco was hunched over his laptop with dark circles under his eyes. He was the one who’d found the intel about the port, and I knew he was blaming himself. This was bigger than him, though. We couldn’t keep underestimating the Albanians.

“The soldiers we fought at the port were not well trained,” I said. “They had the numbers and the element of surprise. They should have been able to take more of us out. But they were disorganized. Their shots went wide. Some of them tried to run away.”

“They were young, too,” Enzo added. “Clearly undisciplined. It doesn’t make sense.”

“Unless they were just a diversion, a sacrifice to distract us from what the Butcher was actually doing tonight,” Matteo said.

Uneasy murmurs echoed around the room as the Don’s statement sank in. I eyed the capos. They looked furious, especially Carlo—the two injured men were his. It was essential for us to trust each other, but I wouldn’t be complacent after our enforcer, Domenico, betrayed us last year. His betrayal had put Sofiya and the entire Family at risk. We couldn’t allow other organizations to sense any weakness or they would make an attempt to move into the city.

“I’ve tapped into as many cameras in the city as I can and am running continuous facial recognition software to track the Butcher and the other Albanians we’ve been able to identify. We get glimpses of them, but then they seem to fucking vanish into thin air.” Franco tore at his hair.

“Capos, double the patrols in your domains by tomorrow. Angelo will help you coordinate plans and schedules if needed,” Matteo said.

The capos nodded in assent.

“You’re dismissed. I will send more instructions soon.”

I turned towards the door, ready to take out my aggression on the men in the basement, when Matteo spoke. “Romeo, stay behind.”

Once everyone had left, I turned to my brother. I could speak more freely now that we were alone.

“You should ask for Sienna’s help,” I said. “Franco is good, but for whatever reason, he’s not a match for the Albanians right now.”

“I can’t involve her.”

“I know you want to protect her⁠—”

“I will not involve her unless it’s our only remaining option. I won’t do anything to jeopardize her safety.” Matteo’s hand slashed through the air in agitation.

I understood where he was coming from, but I still thought he was making a mistake.

“I just don’t understand this,” he said, shaking his head. “The Albanians were supposed to be a fractured mess after I killed Arben. We should have been able to destroy them easily, but now we need more support.”

I scrubbed my hand down my face, dread rising in me as I realized where this was heading.

“I need you to go to Chicago and meet with Dimitri Ivanov,” he said.

Dimitri was Sofiya’s brother and the new head of the Russian Bratva. We had spoken to him on the phone a couple of months ago to cement our alliance, but so far, neither of us had called on the other for backup.

“You want to bring Bratva soldiers into our city?”

“What other option do we have?”

I wished I could think of some brilliant answer, but I had nothing. I was just as infuriated and confused as Matteo. We owned New York. I had fought alongside my brother to win back the city from his corrupt uncle—had sacrificed so much in the fight—and we had held it ever since.

“You really want me to be the one to broker this deal?” I thrived off my work as second-in-command precisely because I could bring my brand of chaos to the position. Sitting around in long, tedious meetings to make deals and alliances was my definition of misery. I preferred action. Violence. And leaving New York would mean leaving Juliet. I shifted in my chair, discomfort clawing at my chest at the idea of being hundreds of miles away from her while the Butcher roamed the city.

“There’s no one I trust more than you.” Matteo fixed his steady gaze on me. “Sofiya said she would go with me to Chicago, but she’s just weeks away from delivering and I don’t want anything to stress her or the baby.”

“Can Dimitri come here instead?”

“I asked, but he can’t come in the next couple days because he’s waiting for a diamond shipment.” At my cocked eyebrow, he continued. “He made contacts in the diamond trade while living abroad and wants to bring it here. We spoke yesterday about the Bratva potentially using our trade routes. But this can’t wait until next week. We need to end the Albanians now.”

“Fuck.” I leaned back in my chair with a groan. “More fucking meetings.”

Matteo snorted. “Welcome to my world.”

“You sure you don’t want me to go out and shoot someone?”

“Hopefully you’ll have the opportunity to soon. Hopefully we both will.”

I grinned. “You chafing against your new domestic life, fratello?”

He rolled his eyes. “I just…” He swallowed hard and looked out the window. “I need the baby to be here and for both of them to be safe and healthy. I can’t stand feeling so out of control.”

It was a sign of the trust between us that he was willing to be vulnerable.

“They’ll both be fine. The doctor says everything’s looking good, right?” Matteo had insisted the doctor make daily house visits to check on Sofiya, going so far as to purchase his own ultrasound machine to ensure the baby was doing well.

He gave a jerky nod. “But what if they’re wrong?”

“You’ve got her the best medical team around. I guess this is when you just have to trust.”

“Not my strong suit.”

“No kidding. When do you want me in Chicago?”

“Tonight.”

Shit. That would mean missing my pizza date with Juliet.

“Unless there’s something else you have to do?” He steepled his fingers together, his gaze piercing.

My heart pounded in my chest. “What do you mean?”

He said nothing. An uncomfortable silence stretched between us until I broke.

“How the fuck did you find out?”

“I know everything.”

“But—”

Matteo rolled his eyes. “For fuck’s sake, Romeo, I know you. You’ve been smiling at your phone in meetings. Sneaking away at weird times. And then I overheard Sofiya and Sienna talking about a bookstore they visited.”

“What?” I snapped.

“Yes, and the lovely bookstore owner they met. Did you think you were going to be able to keep this hidden from them? From me?” Matteo’s voice grew louder, and I swallowed hard. I didn’t like keeping things from my brother, but it was dangerous to keep things from my Don. Our relationship demanded complete honesty and trust. I had broken that by keeping Juliet secret.

“So, who is she?” he asked.noveldrama

“Her name’s Juliet,” I answered immediately. “She manages the bookstore where I hid from the Butcher.”

“She was there with you?”

I nodded. “We spent the night together.”

Matteo’s eyebrows shot up.

“Not like that,” I said with a huff. “We were both stuck there, so we talked.”

“Okay,” he said slowly. “And what is she to you?”

That was the fucking question of the century, wasn’t it?

“We’re friends,” I finally said.

“Friends,” Matteo repeated dryly.

“Yes.”

“Since when do you have friends?”

“I’m not the antisocial one in this room.”

“You know what I mean. I’ve never known you to have a friend outside the Family, and certainly not a woman.”

I shrugged. “First time for everything.”

“You can’t keep these things from me.” There was a steely edge to his voice, and I deserved it.

“I know. I’m sorry. I didn’t plan to keep talking to her or seeing her. It just happened.”

“Have you told her who you are?”

I shook my head.

“Good. You need to be careful. We can’t trust people outside the Family, especially now.”

The idea of Juliet posing a risk to me was laughable. It was much more likely that I put her at risk. The thought settled like a heavy weight in my stomach.

Matteo pushed up from his desk. “I’ve scheduled the jet to leave at ten tomorrow night.”

Relief rushed through me that I’d be able to keep my dinner date with Juliet, although I kept my face impassive. “I’ll be there.”

“Take three men with you. I have no reason to doubt Ivanov’s trustworthiness, especially since he cares for Sofiya, but this alliance is new and we need to be careful. The girls are on lockdown until the threat passes.”

“They’ll love that.” Sarcasm dripped from my words. Matteo would be unyielding on this point, and I agreed with him. Sofiya and Sienna would hate being stuck inside, but nothing was worth risking their safety.

Matteo headed to the door. “Let’s go to the basement and see what these bastards have to say for themselves.”

“Think they’ll know something?”

“Probably not, if they really are pawns. But I’ll take anything that gives us insight into what the Albanians are doing or what their future plans are.”

I clasped him on the shoulder. “We won’t let anything happen to Sofiya and Sienna.”

He gave me a jerky nod.

“And I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about Juliet.”

He took a deep breath and some of the tension from his shoulders melted away—the only sign I got that I was forgiven. Matteo wasn’t one for expressing his feelings, but after all these years, I could read his small tells.

As we exited the elevator on the lowest floor, the damp chill of the basement air swirling around me, I released the restraints on my inner darkness, allowing it to come to the surface.

I opened the door to the cells with a smile.