The Black Diamond: The Lost Boys of Hell's Kitchen An Arranged Marriage Mafia Romance #3 by Bella Barnes

Author:Bella Barnes [Barnes, Bella]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bella Barnes
Published: 2022-12-27T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 21

CONNOR

When I get home from work, I open my monitoring app and I'm relieved to see she’s in her room. She's ignoring me—that’s for the best.

I waited until later than usual to leave work and now I’m starving. Digging through the refrigerator, I see Pierre boxed up my dinner when he left for the day. I grab a container and don’t even bother heating it up before taking it to my office. I prefer to eat in here. It’s quiet. Peaceful. It has a lock on the door to keep my wife out.

I quickly eat my food, barely tasting it as I go through emails. There’s a mountain of them about the merger with Don Russo. But mostly everything happened without a hitch. It’s amazing how smoothly things work when your father-in-law owns the unions and the Department of Building. Inspections are on time and generously in our favor, equipment is delivered without being broken. Instead of putting out fires all day I get ahead of things. I might actually be happy about the merger if it didn’t happen with a gun to my head. Our stock has skyrocketed and shareholders are even richer.

The second email I open is encrypted from the boss of the Bratva.

“Fuck.” I mutter.

He writes: I’m sending you this out of courtesy. Keep Lucky and Finn out of Ivan’s fucking club.

The attached video is of the gunfight last night. I find myself watching it over and over again. There’s a clear image of Natalia crouched behind a fallen table. The feed shows the angle from the bar and I see her calmly scan the room in the mirror as the shots are fired. She’s checking her corners. A man beside her is hit and loses his gun. She barely blinks before she inspects the chamber for bullets, then studies the mirror again. She doesn’t have a shot from this angle but Lucky does. She slides the gun to him and Lucky shoots Lev, ending the shootout. Natalia runs toward Finn once Lev is down to help Lucky get him out of the basement.

Who trained her?

I didn’t think the Mafia trained their daughters. That doesn’t track with what I know about Natalia. Which begs the point, I don’t know her.

I’ve been imagining walking into the council meeting next week and finding out this whole marriage has been a ruse. Natalia in the middle of it—her wide eyes replaced with cold, calculating ones as she pulls the trigger, telling me how much she hates me.

Just like last night.

My phone buzzes in my pocket and Darrah’s name is displayed on the screen.

“Hey,” I say. I hold my breath, knowing what’s at stake with the information Fabian possesses.

“How’s Natalia?” Russo’s gruff voice cuts in.

“She’s fine.” But I’m glad he asked me that question and not his daughter directly.

“Good. We’re convinced Fabian told us everything,” Russo says. “He thought Don Gallo’s war against me was the perfect opportunity to take over my territory as my heir. Gallo says he’s on our side and told me everything Fabian’s been up to.

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