No Strings Attached

CHAPTER 23

"Fucking bitch," I groan, clutching at my arm as the bullet lodges itself in my shoulder.

I glare up at her as she starts breathing heavily, as if in shock over what she just did. The door flings open and Anastasia throws my gun at my feet, "Don't you ever speak to me like that again," she spits out, walking out of the room.

I turn around to see my entire fucking family looking at me, all with smirks on their faces.

"You had that coming fratello," Alessio laughs, and my jaw locks as I send a punch to his arm.

Mom doesn't say anything and just walks away with the girls, leaving Dad and Alessio in the door of my room.

"What did you say to her?" Dad asks coldly, and I shake my head as I sit down, relieved to see Issy walking back into my office with her first aid kit.

"Nothing bad," I mutter, knowing that Dad would just shoot me again if I repeated what I said.

He sighs and walks out of the room, Alessio shaking his head and following.

I lean back in the couch as Issy comes to sit beside me, moving my hand to have a proper look at the wound.

"You're lucky it's not deep," she mutters, and I know my cousin is angry with me.

"You shouldn't have been in my office," I defend myself, knowing it's useless, Clarisse is as stubborn as her Mother.

"That's not what you're mad about," she says, putting on gloves as she takes tweezers out of the bag.

I don't bother replying as I let out a hiss of pain as she swiftly removes the bullet. "You know her Grandfather was bullshitting, you're just too proud to admit it," Issy says quietly, and once again I don't respond.

"She told me and Lea the truth," she adds, closing the wound as she tapes it up. "About what?" I ask bitterly.

"Her Grandfather ordered all the hits, including on us, she just follows through on them. And she wasn't going to kill us so get that idea out of your head," she explains, pushing the sleeve of my t-shirt up as she bandages my shoulder.

"She's still dangerous," I say, and I close my eyes when Issy groans. "You're too fucking stubborn Enzo, she's here for our help and you know that. It's not going to help anyone if you spend the entire time not trusting Ana and being a dickhead to everyone," she snaps, standing up, "I'm done fucking helping you," she spits, delivering a sharp punch to my shoulder before walking out and slamming my office door shut.

I let out a breath and run my hands through my hair, in too much pain to register what the next best move is.

It's not like I'm happy with who I've become, I'm not thrilled that my own family is sick of me, I just can't let my guard down.

I can't relax and let anything happen to my family. It almost did once.

When I had just taken over there were rumours that the Russian Mafia was rebuilding, I ignored them. Then one of Anton's remaining supporters almost murdered Mom, and I promised myself nothing like that would ever happen again.

I had to rebuild the legacy of the Italian Mafia. I had to erase the doubts that we'd gone soft, erase the thought that we were soft. That I was unable to lead a Mafia.

But maybe I went too far with Anastasia, using her parents murder against her, but then again, she did threaten to kill me.

I look at my watch and groan when it's only 12:00, I still need to get through the entire fucking day.

I was going to plan a meeting to figure out how we best navigate Anastasia being here, but now I feel as though that would be a waste of time.

There's no doubt that Leonardo poses a threat to my Mafia, and when he finds out we're working with Anastasia I doubt he'll take the news well. I know he has men at his disposal which he will use if he has to. Which leads me to wonder why he would use Anastasia to do all of his dirty work.