Page 9 of Snowed in with the Mafia
“You see, my name is not Alessia. Well, it is, just not the Conti part. My father was Roberto Moreno, the last head of the Passero family, and he dismantled the entire family. My father wasn’t a violent man; he just wanted peace and to make my mother happy. So, he bought her a farm, Twin Orchid, and they lived happily until my mother died when I was fourteen and my father when I turned seventeen.
"But somehow, my uncle convinced some of the elders that Twin Orchid belongs to the Passero trust because I was too young to own it myself, and they voted on it. At least two of the seven voted against it, but now my uncle owns the farm. However, since it wasn’t a unanimous vote, there’s a stipulation that I can buy the farm back from the trust—and from my uncle—for one hundred thousand dollars. I asked for two hundred thousand because I believe my information is worth that.”
I take a much-needed breath and raise my gaze to the men before me. I expect them to interrupt, but they don’t, and I continue like a freight train.
“Do you see how everything makes sense now? My aunt and uncle’s plan was to deceive you into thinking I was someone else. Then, when I got pregnant, he’d claim the Passero had the Falchi approval and that the families are now united by blood. He thought that was how he would bring the Passero family back into power.
“If you think I’m being disloyal to my family, you’re wrong. Tony Moreno, his wife, and daughter are not my family. They’re insufferable and unspeakably corrupt, as evidenced by this whole ruse they’ve set up to ensnare you. My family is Gianna, my sister. The farm is all we have left of my parents. She… won’t do well if we lose it.”
I bite my lip. The silence is beyond deafening.
“I just saved your entire sovereignty. I don’t think you ever wanted to be deceived into having an heir born from a Moreno, whose entire family is just a bunch of thieves and crooks, as history shows. So, thank you for your time and your money. I guess I’ll be on my way… the same way I got here. I hope you have a nice life, and I wish you well on your journey to find the perfect virgin to have your heir.” I smile, nod, and stop myself from taking a bow as if I just delivered a spectacular soliloquy.
Heart pounding out of my chest, I turn to leave. They don’t stop me. Thank god.
I rush upstairs to grab my coat and suitcase, and when I check my phone there’s a message from Manny to say the money is in his bank account. Excitement rushes through me as I hurry back downstairs. I leave my suitcase at the front door and drape my coat over it before going to find Eileen. She can help me get out of here. But after nearly twenty minutes of searching every room and resorting to shouting her name, I accept that she isn’t anywhere to be found.
Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no.
I run back upstairs to the bedroom I was in earlier and look out the window. The snow is falling so heavily now that I can barely see outside, but straining my eyes, I notice that the helicopter I saw before on the pad—the one that brought me here—is no longer there.
No. No. No.
Frantic now, I go back downstairs. I have to get out of here. Maybe the helicopter moved. Maybe Eileen has her own quarters outside of the cabin mansion.
I try to open the front door, but it’s locked. There isn’t even a key in sight or a keypad—nothing I can use to open the damn door, with its trio of falcons engraved into the dark wood staring back at me.
Okay, fine.
I find my way back to the room where I left them. I’m out of breath by the time I step inside. My gaze falters as I take them in again. They’re lounging about without a care in the world, wholly unsurprised to see me standing there, a frazzled mess. I can’t ignore the raging snowstorm outside. How on earth am I getting back home?
“I... hi. Um... I need to leave, but I can’t find Eileen—she said she would help me with anything I needed. I also can’t see the helicopter; I could see it before, but now it’s gone. I was wondering if you have another one, I could use, please?”
They rise to their full height, and instinctively, I take a step back. Now I understand why I panicked so hard when I couldn’t find Eileen and the helicopter. I can’t be here with them. They do strange things to my body, and I’m not equipped or experienced enough to handle it.
“We sent Eileen back home with the helicopter. We didn’t want her stranded here with us during the storm. There is no way out of here for you, kitten,” Vincenzo says.
My mouth dries as his words sink in. Everything around me feels ominous. The three men who patiently listened to me while I bravely laid out my uncle’s mass-scale deception to regain power have now become dark and insidious.
Fear spreads hotly down my spine, yet the tug in my lower stomach, the uneasy feeling between my legs, intensifies. What is happening to me? I’m in danger. My nipples shouldn’t be hardening to the point of pain.
“I don’t understand. I told you everything. I stopped you from making a huge mistake. I prevented you from getting me pregnant; your heir would have been half Passero. I saved you,” I plead.
“What if we didn’t need saving, Alessia?” Nico says, and I realize I entered falcon territory armed as a hummingbird.
Chapter Nine
Luca
I can’t take my eyes off the stunning beauty before us, with her bright orange sweater, long skirt, and hair so thick and dark that I have to flex my hand to stop my fingers from threading through her tresses and pulling her head back as I make her come with my cock deep inside her. The physical part is shared among the men closer to me than even brothers, Nico Santoro and Vincenzo Rosso.
She is even more exquisite in person, and from the moment she walked into the ceremony room, regardless of what Nico and Vince say or feel, she disrupted the natural order of our lives.
I warned them—both of them. I sensed something dangerous in her, to us, but it wasn’t something I disfavored. We may have claimed her like we do a precious gemstone, or a priceless artifact, a fine painting, the acquisition clinical, calculating, and mostly self-serving, but there’s something else about her.
From a single photo of her, shown to us by the Vergine Selettore, something uncanny happened to us. Nico and Vince immediately saw her as an enemy, a threat, a woman best kept close as a possession of ours. I told them we’re playing with Sirena—a siren bound to be our life and our death.
She’s going to change who we are; she probably already has, despite Nico and Vince believing otherwise, convinced that they’re stronger than she is and that she wouldn’t affect them if we kept her close.
