Chapter 4

After taking over the family business, I hardly had a moment to myself.

I was either down at the docks watching over shipments or jetting off to different cities to hash things out with other family reps. During that time, I was so worn out that I was on the verge of falling apart.

But all that grinding paid off.

With Isabella backing me up, the Reed family's territory kept expanding, and we locked down a bunch of money-making deals that everyone else could only dream about.

At dinner, my dad and my uncles couldn't stop singing my praises, saying they should've put me in charge ages ago.

Finally, I managed to grab a rare day off and planned to hang out with Isabella for some shopping.

I kept waiting on the curb, getting pretty irritated when she still didn't show up.

At last, I spotted that over-the-top bulletproof Lincoln with its showy license plate.

"If you'd been any later," I joked, "I would have thought our meetup was tomorrow instead."

As the window rolled down, I was totally stunned.

Dante, looking so unfairly handsome it was almost criminal, just appeared out of nowhere, catching me completely off guard.

Noticing my surprise, he said, "Isabella got held up, so she asked me to come get you."

The head of the Falcon family, with a million things on his plate, suddenly playing driver for me? What a lame excuse.

Once I got in, the vibe was painfully awkward. We tossed out the usual lame questions: "Have you eaten?" and "How's it going?"

After that, we sat there in total silence.

Right as I was wondering whether to resort to those pointless questions again, my phone started ringing like it was on a mission to ruin my day.

It was way too noisy outside, so I hit speaker without thinking.

Valentina's voice cut through the noise, shrill and grating.

She snapped, "Are you blind or what? I've been blowing up your phone, and you haven't replied to a single message. Do you even have a brain?"

I was used to her foul mouth, but I couldn't help wondering if Dante, raised in a world of power and privilege, would be put off by it.

I snuck a peek in the rearview mirror.

Dante looked completely unfazed, like nothing could rattle him.

I cleared my throat and replied, "Just get to the point. Didn't you notice I blocked you? I've got a ton of stuff to handle every day. No time to waste arguing with you."

When she realized I'd blocked her, Valentina nearly lost it. But she held back her temper.

She said, "I hear you've made the family business huge, huh? Don't forget: if I hadn't married into the Monti family, you wouldn't be where you are now. Half of what you have is because of me."

I had met plenty of shameless people, but this is a whole new level. I nearly cracked up at her words.

I said, "So what is it you want? Should I just let you take over the Reed family's boss seat?"

But instead of getting the sarcasm, Valentina took it at face value and shamelessly ran with it, like she was entitled to everything.

She said, "Glad you finally got it. But hey, I'm not gonna bleed you dry. At least not all at once. So wire me 2 million right now. I'll take it for now. If I need more, I'll come knocking again."

I couldn't help but roll my eyes. Marcus must've knocked her brains loose; Valentina was acting dumber than ever.

She threw out 2 million like it was pocket change. Why not just ask for the whole Reed family while she was at it?

Suddenly, I spotted someone outside who looked weirdly familiar, so I pressed my face to the window, trying to get a better look.

Once I realized I wasn't imagining things, a grin spread across my face.

I asked, "So, Valentina, how are things with you and your amazing husband these days?"

Valentina snapped right away, her tone turning razor-sharp, "What, you jealous? We're absolutely amazing! Someone like you, who'll never know what it's like to have a guy actually want her, couldn't possibly get it!"

Strangely enough, as Valentina said that, I caught Dante's brow furrowing in the rearview mirror. I had no idea what was bothering him.

I grabbed my phone, snapped a quick shot of the scene outside, and sent it over.

I let out a mocking laugh and said into the phone, "Really? Then take a look at the entrance of Tiffany's across the street. See that guy with his arm around a blonde? Isn't that your husband?"

I'd never seen Valentina so unhinged. She went absolutely ballistic, screaming and swearing over the phone like she'd lost her mind.

I couldn't care less. I tossed my phone onto the seat without a second thought and headed out with Isabella as soon as she showed up.