I lay between Christina and Stephanie, the floor-to-ceiling windows showing the bright lights of Florence. The Catholic church down the street was lit up every night, a guiding star to all the lost souls of this city—including me.

I didn’t stop that woman from walking out of my home.

No one talked to me that way.

But once the rage had passed and I’d fucked two beautiful women in my bed, I reflected on everything she’d said.

If you need two women in your bed every night, then you obviously haven’t met a single woman who can hold her own. That could have been me—but now you’ll never know. She successfully planted a seed of doubt, a hint of regret. I wondered if I had spent the night with just her, would the sex have been as marvelous as she promised.

I guess it didn’t matter anymore. I would never see her again.

Didn’t even know her name.

She was too beautiful to be one of those stupid obsessed women who thought they could change me, who thought they had something special that would make me settle down and marry them.

I would never marry.

I was way too rich to get married.

Women wanted to be in my bed because I was good at fucking. But they agreed to threesomes in the hope they would mean something to me, that I would see them as adventurous and exciting enough to be my wife.

There hadn’t been a single woman who’d turned me down—until now.

My phone vibrated on the nightstand with a call, so I carefully reached over Stephanie to answer it. No one called me at this hour unless it was an emergency.

And it better be an emergency.

I saw the name on the screen. Mother.

I jumped out of bed and walked into the living room to answer it. “Mother, what’s wrong?” Buck naked, I stood in my living room with my hand on my hip. Slowly, I paced, fearing the worst. “Are you alright?”

“I’m so sorry to bother you right now, Cato.” She sighed into the phone, but her tone didn’t hint at any distress. My mother had always been that way, eerily calm even in the most dangerous situations. It made her impossible to read.

“You never bother me. Now tell me.” I stood in front of the window and looked across the city, holding my breath as I waited for an answer.

She sighed before she answered. “He’s here…and I can’t get him to leave.”

I knew exactly who he was. “Why the fuck did you let him in?”

“Said he wanted to talk.”

“He had plenty of time to talk to you twenty-five years ago.” With a clenched jaw and flexed biceps, I started to pace through the living room again. “That was his chance—he blew it.”

Calm like always, she didn’t rise to my anger. “Are you coming, Cato?”

She never had to ask that question. “You know I am.”

Since this was personal, I drove myself. I took my Bugatti west to the countryside, while my team followed behind me. They accompanied me everywhere I went. In this instance, I didn’t need them at all, but if someone wanted me dead, this was a perfect opportunity to catch me alone.

I didn’t take risks.

I called my brother on the drive since this was his business as much as mine. “Bates.”

He sounded wide awake despite the hour. “This should be good…”

“Mother just called me. That piece of shit is at her house right now.”

Bates knew exactly who I was talking about without asking. “What the hell is he doing there at two in the morning?”

“I don’t like it either.” I drove with one hand on the wheel and saw the headlights from the brigade of men behind me. “I’m five minutes away. You can join me if you want, but I’ve got this handled.”

“By the time I make it out there, he’ll already be dead.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right.” I thought of my pistol sitting in the glove compartment. It was fully loaded and ready to go, but not all men deserved the mercy of a bullet. In this case, a clean bullet was way too good for him.

“Let me know what happens.”

“Alright.”

He hung up.

I pulled up to the house, a two-story Tuscan home surrounded by vineyards. In the darkness, the beauty was difficult to see. She had several acres of land, a fountain in the center of a circular driveway, and a gorgeous home I’d bought for her. She preferred the Italian countryside to the city so she could keep up her garden and enjoy the sound of the birds in the morning. I always worried she was too far away—especially during times like this.

A beat-up black car was in the roundabout, and I parked my Bugatti right behind it.

Pissed off, I stormed the front door and shoved it open. “Where the fuck is he?” Whether I was dressed in jeans and a t-shirt or a full suit, I was equally formidable. If someone crossed a member of my family, they wouldn’t live long enough to cross anyone else. I moved past the entryway and the staircase into the living room that faced the back patio.

The second he looked at me, he flinched.

Like a pussy.

He turned to me and held up both hands. “We were just talking—”

I punched him so hard in the face he was on the floor instantly. And he didn’t get up again.

Mother covered her mouth with her hand and silenced her gasp. “Cato, you could kill him.”

I watched his motionless body on the floor. “That’s what I’m going for.”

After a few seconds of immobility, he slowly lifted his weight with his arms and stumbled to his feet. Blood poured from his nose, and his skin was already becoming discolored. With my height and a similar build, he wasn’t a weak man—but I was definitely stronger. “Cato—”

“Come near my mother again, and I’ll kill you next time.” I never made threats I didn’t mean, and I definitely meant this one. “No one will come looking for you. No one will file a police report. I own everything in this country—and I can make you disappear without a trace. Don’t call my bluff, asshole.” I took a step toward him, tempted to give him a black eye to complement that broken nose.

The asshole was stupid enough to speak again. “I just want—”

“You turned your back on my mother and left her alone to raise two sons. She had no job and no money, and you fucking left anyway. You’re the definition of a coward. Now you show up on her doorstep asking for a handout—because you’re pathetic.” I moved even closer to him. “I’m the man who takes care of her now. I’m a bigger man than you’ll ever be—because my mother knew how to raise a man. We didn’t need you then, and we don’t need you now. Get the fuck out.”

He held my gaze as he breathed hard, the blood dripping down his lips. His facial structure was similar to mine, and it was clear from whom I’d inherited so many of my features. But he didn’t possess a spine, and he didn’t possess honor. “I’m not looking for a handout—”

“Bullshit. I’m a thirty-year-old man. I don’t need a father anymore. You’re twenty years too late. My mother doesn’t need a man without balls. You serve no purpose to either one of us. You stopped being a part of this family when you turned your back on us. That door has been shut and locked. There’s no going back.” I pointed to the front door. “Now get the fuck out.”

He held my gaze a moment longer before he finally made his way toward the door. He wiped his nose on the sleeve of his collared shirt before he crossed the threshold and disappeared. Some of my men would escort him off the premises and follow him to see where he went.

I turned back to my mother. “Are you alright?”

A silk robe was tied across her body, and despite the late hour, her hair was still elegantly styled. A life of luxury suited her, and she kept up her classy appearance constantly. She stepped closer to me, the fatigue in the bags under her eyes. “I’m fine, Cato. Thank you for coming.”

“There should be security guarding the perimeter.” I’d offered it to her before, but she never took it. I had men watching me all the time because I had a lot of enemies—known and unknown. Any man who had my wealth was always a target.

“I don’t want to live that way,” she said dismissively.

“And I don’t want to worry about you.”

“Then don’t.” She looked up at me, her blue eyes identical to mine. “He says he regrets leaving…”

“Because we’re rich, Mother.” Sometimes my mother was naïve, despite the way she’d been betrayed. She wanted to see the good in people even when there was none there. “Of course, he regrets it. His two sons have founded the most lucrative banking company in the world.”

“You’re probably right…but he does seem sincere.”

“He’ll seem sincere until he gets a check.” I was tempted to pay him off. Give him a million-dollar check just so he would leave us alone. That was just pennies to me, and he would never bother us again. But I had too much pride to give him anything, not after he hurt my mother. I couldn’t care less there wasn’t a father figure in my life when I was growing up. My mother was more than enough. But my loyalty to her fueled my rage.

“Maybe.” She tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “You should get going, son. I know you have work in the morning.”

“Alright. Good night.”

She walked me to the door. “I really appreciate you taking care of me, Cato. Not all sons would be so generous.”

I turned my gaze on her before I walked out the door, examining the petite woman who had somehow given birth to two behemoth sons. She worked around the clock to put a roof over our heads and food on the table, and somehow, we always had a nice Christmas. When Bates and I found our success, we didn’t even need to have a conversation about our mother. We took care of her because it was the right thing to do. “It’s the least I can do, Mother.”

I had a three-story home on forty acres of land in Tuscany. The drive branched off the main road and entered a forest of trees that hid the house from view. After nearly a mile, the drive finally reached the black gates with my surname fashioned in iron. A wall made of cobblestone surrounded the entire property, covering the forty acres and making it a hidden gem in the middle of the countryside. Men were stationed all along the wall—whether I was home or not.

It was the perfect meeting place for my biggest clients.

Because it couldn’t be more private.

Clients could slip in and out without being spotted by another living soul. Transactions could be made with fifty men on duty. It was a place where men could loosen their ties and refresh their drink as many times as they wished.

Also, not all my transactions were legal. I made money in a lot of ways, and I broke the law in many ways to make that happen. I hid money from various governments for tax purposes and made a profit off those investments. Any powerful person in this world came to me if they wanted to keep their money safe—and make more money.

Bates and I just finished a meeting with clients from China. They were chauffeured out to the roundabout near the fountain and then guided to the end of the driveway and the iron gate. Photographers and journalists couldn’t follow them here, and my clients were always pleased and comforted by the extreme privacy—along with all the security that combed the property.

Nothing happened under my watch.

I sat in the leather chair near the window, my legs crossed and my fingers resting under my chin. It was a bright summer day in Tuscany, and the brilliant rays penetrated through the glass and shone across my thigh. My callused fingertips brushed against my chin, soft from shaving that morning.

Bates sat in the comfortable armchair with his empty glass of scotch on the table. He was looking through the paperwork we’d just discussed with our clients. We were being given a great deal of money for safekeeping, which would be disguised as international investments in America. We evaded foreign detection and took advantage of the interest rates. He licked his thumb before he turned the page.

I kept my gaze out the window, thinking about nothing but also everything. “Bates.”

“Hmm?” Wearing jeans and a t-shirt, he’d ditched a classic suit because we didn’t need fancy clothes for meetings at this place. The estate spoke for itself.

“Doesn’t it feel like the same shit over and over again?” From the third story, I could see over the cobblestone wall and to my neighbor’s property. Vineyards backed up all the way to my property line, but his actual residence was too far away to be seen.

Bates lifted his gaze from the documents in his lap. “You could say that—not that I’m complaining.”

Every day felt like déjà vu. My routine was almost always the same. I was referred to new clients from happy clients, and then I made new deals that increased my institutional holdings. More money was thrown on the table, but the pile was always so big I couldn’t see it grow anymore. As a thirty-year-old man, I’d accomplished everything a sixty-year-old man could only dream of. It used to be exciting. Now it seemed repetitive.

Bates lifted his gaze again, his eyes narrowing on me. “We just scored a huge deal. Don’t sit there and tell me you’re bored.”

I slowly turned in my chair and faced him, forcing my gaze away from the window and the landscape around my property.

Bates watched me with powerful eyes, regarding me like an opponent rather than a brother. The folder was open across his crossed legs, the signatures collected.

My glass was empty, and my mind was dead. Throughout the entire meeting, my heart rate didn’t rise once. It was the same meeting I’d had a million times, just with different faces. It was the same conversation I’d had a million times, the same handshake. “Yes. I’m bored.”

Bates slowly raised his right eyebrow, regarding me like I was losing my mind. He shut the folder without taking his eyes off me and tossed it on the large wooden table where the men had been gathered just twenty minutes ago. Their empty glasses still remained because the maids knew better than to interrupt us. “You have everything any man could ever want. How the hell could you be bored?”

“Good question.”

Bates turned silent as he waited for me to elaborate. When I didn’t speak, he pressed forward. “The women are boring you?”

There was nothing wrong with the women in my bed. Beautiful, sexy, and adventurous, they were exactly what I fantasized about. I always fucked two women at once. Made it carnal and animalistic. A single woman seemed too intimate now. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been with just a single woman. It must have been years ago. “I suppose.”

“Jesus, I hope this isn’t going where I think it is…”

“And where do you think that is?”

“You want a wife?”

If being with different women every single night was boring, then a marriage would be even worse. My head would explode from mundane repetitiveness. “No. It’s the last thing on my mind.”

Bates released an audible sigh of relief.

Marriage wasn’t in the cards for either of us. It was too complicated. There wasn’t a single woman in the world who wouldn’t be tempted by our wealth. The second she got her hands on it, it would destroy her. It would complicate our business relationship, even if we drafted all the legal paperwork to keep her hands off the company in the event of divorce. It was something we’d agreed on a long time ago. So far, neither one of us struggled to keep our promise. After so many years of fucking around, women were all the same.

“Then what’s your problem, Cato?”

I didn’t have a single thing to complain about, and it would be childish to be ungrateful. My family struggled when I was young, and I would forever be humbled by my years of being poor. But now my life lacked purpose. “Wish I knew.”

“Does this have anything to do with what happened to Mother the other night?”

“No.” I made sure that asshole stayed away from her. This time, I put a team of security on her premises—even though she wasn’t happy about it.

“Then where is this coming from?”

Those green eyes popped into my mind, brilliant like emeralds and highlighted by the sternness of her eyebrows. She had the most elegant neck, long and slender with gorgeous skin. Her lips were soft like pillows, and her small tongue was both timid and inviting. The desire in her eyes had flickered away when she’d seen Christina beside her—and that longing never returned. She told me off before she marched out of my home, taking me to task like I wasn’t the most powerful man in this country. It was the most interesting conversation I’d had in a year. “No idea.”