Free YOU'RE MINE: A Bad Boy Mafia Romance (Carbone Crime Family) by Emma Spring Page A

to do.
    I probably should have told her about what Aiden did, but as I’m not totally sure it’s the truth, it didn’t seem like the best course of action. Plus, why would she trust me? I haven’t really given her any reason to. The Italians have never given her any reason to be trusted, and I can’t help but worry that it’s going to be a barrier that we can never overcome.
    Maybe our marriage will always be tainted with what others have done… if we even have a marriage anymore.
    Urgh. As I drive along the city on my bike, wanting to clear my head a bit, I realize that there is only one thing that I can do to make me feel better. I have to go and see Diego and the rest of the guys, to make a plan. I’ve already sent him a message to get someone on the lookout outside of my apartment, so I already know that he’s hanging out at the strip club, just waiting for the next instructions to come his way. I can’t just sit around any longer, doing nothing. I’ll end up driving myself insane.
    I speed around the corner, quickly sliding my bike into its normal parking spot, and I stalk my way inside like I own the place. The world might be falling apart around me, going completely topsy-turvy, but that doesn’t stop me needing to keep my attitude going. Everyone really needs to believe that I have this shit under control, or they won’t respect my authority.
    Respect – that’s what the mob business is all about! If I lose that, then I’ll be left with nothing, I’ll be overthrown – it doesn’t even matter who my dad is when it comes to that sort of thing.
    “Yo man, you okay, dude?” Diego asks the second that he sees me. “Do we have a plan yet?” He’s so keen to get started, which fuels my mood even further. I’m already conflicted and a little raging, which has only been made worse with my argument with Sophia.
    I need all of this over and done with, before it really wrecks things between us. Things were just getting good, and I don’t want everyone else to interfere with that.
    “We need to sit down and talk about it – make a plan of our own. Everyone else is fucking stupid, and I’m sick of it. This could get out of control before we know it.”
    “Yeah, man, you’re right.” He agrees, nodding vigorously. “I’ll gather up the guys.”
    As he makes his way around the strip club, grabbing our boys from various lap dancing rooms, I take a seat and allow my mind to whir. We have limited information on this Aiden, and we need to really find out more about him. I want to hit him hard, to kill him, but I’m going to have to see what everyone else says first. I can’t make this decision by myself because it affects the lives of others. We all know that we could get killed every day, it comes with the territory, but I never want to be the one to force people into things they don’t want to do – especially after Mike’s death.
    When everyone sits down, we instantly jump into it, discussing what happened.
    “…it’s so fucked up…!”
    “It had to be them, we wouldn’t have done that now.”
    “Umberto is pissed…”
    In the end, I feel like I need to take control of things to stop it from becoming a massive gossiping session. These guys can be worse than a bunch of old women when left to it, and it drives me crazy.
    “So the question is,” I speak loudly, shutting everyone else down. “What the fuck are we going to do about it?”
    “I think we should fuck them up, hit them hard when they aren’t expecting it,” Diego argues. “If we wait too long, we give them time to get settled into their new positions and they’ll be on the defensive. Right now, everything is a fucking mess for them, and I think we should take advantage of that.”
    “No,” one of my other guys – Liam – jumps in quickly. “I disagree. We should wait until Umberto has all the information he needs. We should sort it out when we’re all better prepared too.”
    When it comes to decisions like this, when