“No, my mother always protected me from him,” she assured softly. “But he was your brother,” she once again accused Leon. “You knew what he was like when your father arranged the marriage between his son and the daughter of the head of a Spanish Mafia clan. His reckless behavior was the reason he was shipped off to Italy in the first place.” She gave a disgusted shake of her head. “You should have had the drunken bastard put down like the rabid dog he was before he could take my mother from me.”
Matteo’s heart ached for what Grace had suffered.
Every semblance of the powerful and merciless don appeared to have been stripped from Leon in that moment. Instead, he looked like a defeated man and every one of his forty plus years. “I have searched for you all these years, cara.”
“Then by now, it should have become obvious I didn’t want to be found!”
Leon drew in a sharp breath. “Do you still feel that way now we have met again?”
Some of the tension eased from Grace’s shoulders. “I don’t know anymore what I feel. I don’t… I need time. Matteo, will you take me home, please?” she requested shakily.
In a heartbeat! “Of course,” he instantly assured.
“I want to see you again.” Leon’s demand lacked some of its usual forcefulness. He seemed to realize that too as he added. “You are and always will be a Brunelli,” he reminded her firmly.
It had been the shock of Grace’s life earlier when she heard this man’s voice for the first time and realized the man who’d had her kidnapped and was also the powerful man from New York was, in fact, her own uncle.
It should have occurred to her from Carla’s description of him. There was no more powerful Mafia don in New York than Leonardo Brunelli. He owned that city.
His brother, unfortunately, had been a much weaker man, which was probably why, even though Giovanni was the eldest son, Grace’s grandfather Brunelli had chosen to name his youngest son, Leonardo, his rightful successor, and dispatched Giovanni to Italy.
Grace would be lying if she didn’t admit she had missed seeing her uncle, and her cousin, Natalia—
Dear God, her twenty-year-old cousin, Natalia, was the woman Matteo was supposed to marry!
But he’d said he wouldn’t do it.
Because he loved Grace.
So much had happened in the last couple of hours that Grace hadn’t responded at the warehouse when Matteo told Leon he couldn’t go ahead with his arranged marriage to Leon’s daughter because he was in love with Grace.
Matteo said he loves me, and I didn’t even acknowledge it!
She turned to him now. “Matteo, I—” She broke off as the door to the suite was flung open and a beautiful young woman entered unannounced.
“Papa, I want you to tell Killjoy to back the fuck off!” she announced crossly as she stomped into the room on four-inch heeled sandals. “His overprotectiveness is making my life an ever-living hell!”
“I’m your bodyguard.” A very tall and dark-haired man, his tailored suit doing nothing to hide his wide shoulders and muscular chest, entered the suite behind her. “It’s my job to protect you.”
“Not when it’s from the French count who wanted to make me his countess!”
“Especially then,” the bodyguard grated.
“You’re well named Killjoy!”
“My name is Killian,” he corrected harshly.
“To me, you will always be— Dear God, is that you, Grace?” The woman’s dark gray gaze widened incredulously. “My God, Papa found you!” Natalia cried emotionally before launching herself into Grace’s arms.
Matteo had met Natalia several times in the past, and he couldn’t help noting the differences in the two women as he watched the tearful reunion between the cousins. Grace was about five foot six inches tall and willowy. Natalia was maybe a couple of inches over five feet without those impossible sandals on her feet, and her figure was voluptuous. Their coloring was totally different too, Grace a green-eyed redhead and Natalia had long dark hair and the same gray eyes as her father.
That the two women were genuinely fond of each other was obvious as they sat on the sofa together, arms about each other as they caught up on what had been happening in both their lives during the last five years.
Quite what this meant in regard to Grace’s request he take her home now, he had no idea.
Nor, it seemed, was his supposed fiancée about to acknowledge his presence any time soon, confirming what Matteo had always suspected. Natalia was no more interested in becoming his wife than he was in being her husband. Her flirtation with the French count only added to that conviction.
“Here.”
Matteo glanced sideways to see Leon was holding out a glass of whisky toward him.
Leon grimaced. “There’s five years difference in their ages, but the two of them always did gossip for hours, so we might as well make ourselves comfortable.”
Matteo accepted the glass and took a healthy swallow.
“Our arrangement still stands,” Leon murmured at his side.
His jaw clenched. “I’m not marrying Natalia.”
“No,” Leon accepted ruefully.
“Nor will I marry Grace at your command.”
The older man smirked. “I doubt she would accept you under those circumstances.” He sobered. “No, it’s enough that you’ve given my niece back to me.”
Matteo shook his head. “I think the two of you did that for yourselves.”
“I would never have found her on my own. In fact, I’ve failed to find her for all these years,” he bit out grimly. “My brother was… Grace is right, Gio was a drunken asshole. Not so much when he came to New York, but it was noticeable when I visited the family in Italy.” He shook his head. “I had no idea he was so mentally unbalanced until he killed Constanza and then himself. By the time I flew to Italy to sort the mess out, Gracia had disappeared. For a while, I suspected she might have been kidnapped, and I scoured Italy in search of her, but when no ransom was demanded, I began to look outside
