“Maria. I have a houseguest in my room who will be staying for a while. Can you please take up some breakfast for her and ensure she has everything she needs?” I ask, and she smiles at me broadly with a glint in her eye that I rarely see.

“Of course, darling. Leave the pretty young thing to me,” she says cheerfully, and I sigh. Little Red is the first woman who has been in this house since I kicked my ex-wife out years ago. That’s not to say I haven’t had other women, because I have. Many, in fact. But I never bring them here. They never get close to Leo or my space. Looking at Maria now, her smile a mile wide, I get the feeling that she and Little Red will become firm friends in a matter of hours. She has been dying for another woman to be in this house, and it appears she thinks this one will be staying.

I don’t have time to explain things to her, so leaving Maria to manage the houseguest situation, I shake my head and kiss Leo again before I walk out the door and down the maze of corridors to our meeting rooms. With Little Red front and center in my mind, I wonder how old she is and where she came from. Her face shows a world of innocence, purity, and all these possessive thoughts I have of her need to stop.

I pace through the corridors, frustrated that within a few hours, things can turn to shit. Walking into the meeting room, I slam the door behind me, making all the team who are patiently waiting for me to turn silent. I am furious. I wanted blood this morning, that I can’t deny, but I also wanted answers and they were not forthcoming.

Now we have five men who were part of the fold dead, and other families are going to start asking questions. Until I have the proof and answers I need, it is not going to look favorable for us.

“Carter,” I bark out to my brother from another mother, who, along with Sebastian, is one of my closest confidants. “Give us an overview.”

“We fucked up. They had trigger fingers. Five dead, including Stefano the Russo’s second in command.” His eyes flick to me, and I clench my jaw. I’m glad the fucker’s dead, but truth be told, I probably shouldn’t have killed him.

He continues. “Their paperwork has been audited. They have taken a one-million-dollar loan from us over six months ago for improvements for Allure, with the understanding that the building would be extended and renovated. They have given a six-month sales projection of over two million, with a full payback date of Sunday, the 12th, which was yesterday.”