Vincenzo

When I was staring down at the sleeping form of my omega, something stirred inside me. It had only been the second time I’d ever slept with an omega in my room. Both times were with Eric.

If it were up to me, it would only ever be Eric.

I loved my job, loved supporting my family. Today, though, given the opportunity, I would have stayed in bed with Eric forever.

He was peaceful while he slept. Clingy, too. He wrapped himself around me the moment he drifted off to sleep and didn’t let go. I held on to him just as tightly.

The worry lines that had marred his face the day before were gone. He had almost a boyish innocence in his relaxed state. His chest rose and fell with soft breaths, his lips twitched slightly with each exhale.

He was the picture of perfection.

Before I left, I grabbed my cell phone and couldn’t resist snapping an image of him. It was dangerous to have on my phone. If my enemies knew I cared enough about an omega to snap a photo of him, he would become a target.

But the allure of capturing that moment outweighed any logic.

I hated having to leave again so quickly after coming back, but one of our distributors was having some trouble remembering who he worked for and was dividing up our supply to our competitors.

Which meant someone had to go out there to give him a bit of a reminder.

And that someone was me. At least I’d have a photo of Eric to keep me company on my travels.

So I’d forced myself to quietly get out of bed and into one of my nicer suits. My bags were already packed, which was a constant state for me lately. It seemed like I always had somewhere to go.

As much as I wanted to, I didn’t have time to text Eric to let him know I was leaving again. He’d been so tired lately, and I didn’t want to wake him. Dominic would mention it to him. I was glad they were friends because Eric needed someone he could trust, and I trusted Dominic with his life.

Within an hour of leaving him in my bed, I was pulling up to the airport where we kept our planes and went straight to the idling Gulfstream. It was only a four-hour flight, but I was ready for a nap.

After we landed, I’d be up for the next twenty-four hours at least, so I poured myself a glass of scotch, downed it, and then went straight to the bedroom in the back. I needed to figure out a way to bring Eric out for a ride. He’d enjoy it.

I could easily picture him on my arm in just about every situation. Dinners with associates, meeting other families, and negotiating deals. He would do it all so well.

But it could never be like that.

That would be cruel. Leading him on was not something I should have been doing, but it was hard not to do nice things for the omega. He deserved so much, and I hated that he was gonna go the rest of his life without getting it.

By the time the plane landed, I was showered and ready for almost anything. My guys were out in the main cabin, arming up, when I walked out. “We ready to do this?”

“Yeah, boss.” Davy tossed me a vest.

I sighed as I slipped it on. I hated having to work in Kevlar, but for what we had planned, it was a necessity. Everyone in my line of work got shot now and then, and the Kevlar was what kept us alive. Taking a hit to the chest hurt like fuck, but it hurt a lot more without the Kevlar. “What’s the plan?”

Traven grabbed an iPad and hit a few buttons before he handed it over to me. “Orsino sent us some photos. We need to start with these guys and work our way down to figure out where the leak is.” He stood over my shoulder and flipped the pages until he got to a picture of a man I didn’t recognize and tapped the screen to zoom in. “I think this is him. He’s only been with us for eight or nine months, and he’s moved through the ranks pretty quickly. He knows shit that some of our highest-level guys don’t know, and if anybody is working both sides of the coin, my money is on him.”

I glanced through the guy’s stats to see who he was. He was part of the Cardoza family out on the West Coast. They primarily worked with the cartels down in Mexico and left us alone. But if they were interested in expanding their distribution networks, infiltrating ours would be the way to do it. “I agree. I think we start with him.”

“I’ll let the ground team know.” Davy handed me several weapons to attach to my body.

I had a few that I always carried, but in situations like this, we needed to be armed to the teeth.

I washed the blood off my hands in the hotel bathroom. My knuckles would be bruised for sure. I couldn't help but wonder what Eric was doing right at that moment. Probably not washing blood off himself. I snorted out a laugh at the image.

It wasn't often that I had to do the roughing up, but when I did, it was beneficial for people to see just what the family was capable of, lest they get any ideas about us getting too soft now that Lorenzo had taken over.

I dried my hands and left the room. A few bloody towels wouldn’t raise too many eyebrows from the hotel staff. They knew who we were.

Davy was sitting on the chair in my room. His mouth curved in a smile, and he laughed to himself at something that was on his phone.

I raised an eyebrow. "What's funny?"

He looked up suddenly, like I surprised him. "My omega sent me my honey-do list for when I get back. He somehow managed to drill a hole through the floor while he was putting together a bookshelf. I guess it's up to me to fix it."

"An omega, huh? How did I not know you were mated?" I usually kept closer tabs on the men I had around me. Not to be nosy but because I wanted to know the men who were in charge of watching my back.

Davy tucked his phone away. "Not sure. He and I are going on six years, I think, or seven. I suppose I should know for sure, but I don’t keep track of that shit. He lets me know when our anniversary is getting close so I don’t miss it."

I was quiet for a moment, imagining what that must be like. "How does he feel about the work you do and how often it takes you away from home?"

He shrugged. "My mate loves all of me. My job is a part of that. As for the traveling, honestly, I think he enjoys that I'm away from the house sometimes more often than I'm there. He's come with me on trips before.”

Where the hell had I been during all this? “Six years together, and I've never met him?"

Davy shrugged. "You can meet him now. Well, not now. He's at home. But I guess because I've never been in your personal guard before now, sir."

"Right." I nodded, feeling slightly better at that reminder. He used to work more closely with the lake house staff.

He was quiet for a moment, and I suspected he had a question for me on the tip of his tongue, but he didn't ask it. Still, it made me think that perhaps having an omega of my own at home was not beyond the realm of possibility. Lorenzo had one. Davy did too. Why was I so different?

"You should bring him by the house sometime," I said. "Have dinner with us when things settle down. I'm sure Lorenzo and Dominic would like to meet him."

Davy was an up-and-comer in the family business. It would do us well to learn more about him. "Thanks. We'd like that."