Twisted Hearts (The Camorra Chronicles #5)(8)

Toni shrugged. “Dad’s got to work. There’s a lot to prepare for the next fight.”

“A girl shouldn’t drive around alone in this city,” Mom said, coming up from behind. She embraced Toni briefly.

We all headed into the kitchen where the table was already set. Dad carried the huge pot of stew over to the table and gave Toni a smile. Only Nonna’s reaction was rather reserved. Not only did she disapprove of Toni’s dad raising her alone, Nonna also disapproved of the fact that Toni wasn’t a full-fledged Italian. Her Grandma had been from Corse, and that came close to a crime in Nonna’s eyes.

“Good evening, Mrs. Bazzoli,” Toni greeted my nonna with a bright smile as usual as she sat down beside me. Toni was good at ignoring other people’s rejection, which was probably why we got along so well. We weren’t really part of the IT-crowd in school.

After dinner, Toni and I headed up to my room and flung us on my bed with the girls’ magazines she’d smuggled into the house in her overnight bag.

“Did you bring the clothes?”

She nodded with a conspiratorial smile. “But you know that I don’t do sports outside of school, so I didn’t have many to choose from.”

“Everything is better than the old baggy clothes from my brother.”

“What was with him? He acted strange around me today.”

I distracted myself with one of the magazines and shrugged, not having the guts to tell Toni that Diego found out about her crush and her period because he was a nosy idiot. “Oh, he’s just angry because I get to train with Savio tomorrow. You know how he is. If he could, he’d put me on a leash.”

Toni nodded. “He’s a bit overbearing, but it means he cares.”

A hint of sadness rang in her voice.

“Your dad loves you, Toni. He’s just very busy trying to make the Arena a success. It’s not easy to earn the respect of the Camorrista considering…”

“Considering we’re not fully Italian.”

“Yeah,” I said, then nudged her and pointed toward the article I’d opened. “How to tell if a boy is into you.”

Toni grinned. “Are you going to use this on Savio tomorrow?”

I giggled. “Maybe.”

“You have to tell me everything in detail.”

“You know there won’t be anything that interesting to tell.”

She rolled her eyes. “You really sure you don’t want to give kissing a chance before marriage?”

I pushed her. “No!”

She giggled. “I would kiss Diego if he made a move.”

“Eeewww! Toni, please, I just ate. I don’t want to imagine you kissing my brother.”

She feigned a dreamy expression. “I’m sure he is a marvelous kisser.”

I tried shoving her off my bed, but she snatched the covers and with a screech, we both landed on the floor.

A knock sounded. “What’s going on here? Some people are trying to sleep,” Diego muttered, dressed in sweatpants and T-Shirt, but his hair was freshly styled and a hint of black jeans peeked out of his pant leg.

“I doubt you’ll get much sleep tonight,” I said, nodding toward his ankle. He followed my gaze then grimaced and quickly hid the black fabric. “You keep your nose out of my business.”

“Why? You have your nose in my business all the time.”

“Which is why I should tell on you,” he said with a nod toward the magazines.

“Goodnight, Diego and tell Savio hi.”

Toni and I exchanged a look and burst into a new wave of giggles. He shook his head slowly then left but didn’t close the door.

I almost rolled my eyes. Overbearing brother as usual. He would probably spend the night partying again. Did he really think I hadn’t noticed? Our rooms were right beside each other and the walls paper-thin.





It was midday when I pulled up in front of the church. I hadn’t been inside one of these buildings in years, and didn’t really feel any urge to change that. I’d probably go up in flames the second I passed the threshold. With a name like Falcone, my brothers and I had VIP tickets for the antlered bastard’s fiery show anyway.

A crowd had gathered in front of the church and tables with bowls were set up.

The roar of my engine drew many looks and when I got out, most of the men nodded in greeting. This commune consisted mostly of Camorra families, so I knew all the men, and none of the women, which was unusual enough. No matter where I showed up, the risk of meeting a former fuck buddy was always high, not here, however. Remo had made his point perfectly clear regarding me making a move on girls from traditional families and so I stayed away. I preferred my balls attached to my body.

Diego headed over to me at once, looking like a fucking mother-in-law’s delight with a polo-shirt and dress pants. The rest of his family was still immersed in conversation with the priest.

Dark shadows spread under Diego’s eyes. “You look like shit. Long night?” I flashed him a grin. We’d partied until six in the morning, so he couldn’t have gotten more than one hour of sleep before he had to get up for church.

“I need to talk to you.”

I leaned against my Bugatti and cocked one eyebrow. “Am I in trouble?” I asked mockingly.

“I’m not in the mood for jokes. I need to have a word with you before I allow you to spend time with my sister.”