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Richmond, Virginia…

 

“Good afternoon, Judge Falcone.” Pauline spoke softly. The fear of incurring the judge’s wrath for any interruption in his concentration was well justified.

Judge Paolo Falcone was not a man anyone wanted to offend in any capacity. The dark, brooding judge was not just a man of wealth, but he was also a man of power and immense influence. Two years ago, he had achieved what he had thought was the pinnacle in his career, the promise of an appointment to the U.S. Court of Appeals, and in the same year, his wife of over twenty years filed for divorce. 

He had always been a serious, brooding man, but since that day, he has also been cold, snide, and volatile.

So, Pauline was sensible in approaching her boss with extreme caution. After all, she was his fifth secretary in the past two months, and she had been working for him for only three weeks now.

“What is it?” The judge’s crisp, impatient voice pierced through the large room to reach her, where she still stood at the threshold of the judge’s office.

“Your son is here to see you,” Pauline answered uncertainly. While she had been aware that the judge had a family, given the family snapshot he kept on his desk, she had no idea that his children were so grown. The picture on his desk was that of a dark-skinned beauty with two small children standing beside her and one of the cutest babies Pauline had ever seen in the woman’s lap. 

It was shocking to be confronted with an adult male, who was as tall as the judge’s own six-foot-four height and almost as broad across the shoulders. The adult male looked so much like a younger version of the judge that Pauline had at first been speechless. And when the young man smiled, she had almost fallen off her chair. She had certainly never seen the judge smile. That was, until today.

Well, it wasn’t a smile really. It was more a softening of his usual scowl and a glow in his startling cerulean-blue eyes. Another feature his son shared with the judge, together with their thick, curly jet-black hair, which the son wore just long enough for the curls to reach his eyebrows and over his ears. However, the judge wore his hair cut short, clearly not allowing his beautiful hair to diminish his tough-as-nails image. And the other surprise that stunned Pauline was the judge’s usual harsh voice softening to a warm rumble as he greeted his son.

Pauline closed the door of the judge’s office, giving father and son their privacy.

“How are you, mio figlio?” Paola pulled his son into a bear hug, even though he had just seen him the night before.

“All good, Papa,” Dominik murmured and returned his father’s affectionate embrace. The uncompromising and unconditional love his father always showed to him and his siblings was only one of the things Dominik admired about his larger-than-life parent. Really, in the parents’ stakes, Dominik had always felt that he had seriously lucked out. Despite their wealth and high-powered jobs, although his mother’s job only recently became high-powered when his sister graduated high school two years ago, his parents had always been there for them. Which was really a great fete considering that all three children were high performance athletes in three different sports.

Dominik was a professional basketball player. His sister, Abigail, was a gymnast, and his brother, Matteo, was a soccer player. Abigail was now a sophomore in college, Matteo was graduating high school in a few months, and Dominik was in his first year in the NBA.

“You were amazing last night.” Paolo smiled. His heart felt as if it was expanding in his chest. Pride and love for his son engulfed him.

“Knowing that you were there made me feel as though I could beat those suckers all by myself,” Dominik teased. His grin grew wider at Paolo’s deep, appreciative laugh.

“Your mother didn’t seem too happy to see me,” Paolo said soberly. His mind was flooded with the memory of his first physical sighting of his wife last night after two years. He had nearly been brought to his knees. God, he missed her.

He missed Trinity more than he ever thought possible. Sure, he had drowned himself in work, every day to the point of exhaustion, hoping to diminish the pain. But nothing worked.

He missed her scent.

He missed the feel of her soft skin.

He missed the sound of her sultry voice, usually so filled with love for him.

And most of all, he missed being able to reach for her each night and bury himself in her. For the entire two years, he grieved the loss of his other half to the point that he felt half dead, barely breathing, barely functioning, and barely surviving. He had become a living organism who slept, woke, ate, went to work, ate maybe, and then slept again. Each day had been the same for the past few years on rinse and repeat.

But last night, the sight of Trinity in a pair of skinny white jeans, brown leather boots, a lacy white top, and brown leather jacket, which fit her as though custom-made for her five-foot-five frame, had reawakened him. She had sent his senses into a tailspin, making him feel lightheaded as the blood rushed from his brain to his lower region. She had taken his breath away.

Dominik ducked his head sheepishly. Ever since his parents’ separation, he had felt torn about the role he had been forced to play for his father. Hell, he knew that his father had an entire team of bodyguards watching over all of them, but he made it Dominik’s job to give him intimate insights into what was happening behind closed doors. Who did his mother talk to on her cellphone or home phone? What did his mother feel? What did she disclose to him and his siblings? Any and everything that bodyguards, who were paid to keep a watchful eye in secret, could not possibly know.

“She is lonely, Papa,” Dominik eventually answered. “It doesn’t help that she is so damn beautiful and young looking that even the guys on my team want to date her, and the coaches are even worse.”

 Paolo gritted his teeth as his blue eyes iced over in fury. “Just make sure that those assholes know that nobody touches my wife.” His anger made his voice deep and deadly.

“Papa, you need to come home and handle your business. Mom told us last night that she is going on a date with Avery Kemp. I don’t have to tell you what a player Avery is. He is the star guard on our team, for Christ’s sake. You know what a guy like that is like.”

“That asshole is fifteen years her junior! What the fuck is she thinking?” Paolo’s chest heaved in agitation. Each word felt as if it was being ripped from his insides.

“That’s just what I’m saying, Papa.” Dominik started pacing about the spacious office. It was the first time that he had been to his father’s new offices. Well, this was the first time that his father had been situated in the United States in two years.

The president and six influential senators from the Senate’s Intelligence Committee, leaders from both parties, had promised him an appointment to the highest appellate court once he completed an unusual request from the Italian government. They had known the dangerous assignment they were asking. Not just dangerous to him, but dangerous to everyone he loved. 

Paolo had known the danger too, but that appointment to the higher court was his ultimate dream. And at such a young age, he would be reaching it far sooner than he could have ever hoped. It was what he had worked so hard for and a dream that he couldn’t possibly pass up.

Paolo was asked to preside over a case against the Lucchese mafia family. The Italian government had justifiably been alarmed over the mafia family’s extensive influence in law enforcement and the judiciary in Italy. Paolo would be the impartial judge of the no-jury trial. Everyone had thought that the trial would take about three months. However, with repeated assassinations, not only of the prosecuting attorneys but also witnesses, the case had spanned years. Forced to reach out, Paolo amassed a team of independent prosecuting attorneys from the militaries of NATO countries and another military team to guard and protect all remaining witnesses. 

Finally, two years and three months after he had arrived in Italy, Paolo returned to Richmond, Virginia, with one goal and one goal only. And it wasn’t to ascend to the higher appellate court. Instead, it was to get his wife back.

“Don’t worry, mio figlio. This development is actually very promising.” Paolo smiled when he didn’t feel like smiling. He knew that he needed to reign in his temper and take this worry off Dominik’s shoulders. And Dominik would be feeling as if he had to do something because he was the oldest, he would want to protect both his parents. “Your mother saw me last night. She knows that I have no intention of ever letting her go. This is her rebelling against that.”

“You know how stubborn Mom can be. She will never forgive you for cheating on her.”

“Your mother has been the only woman for me since I made her mine more than twenty-five years ago. I loved her then and have loved her more every year since. I know the mountain your mother will try to erect between us.”

“I never thought this would ever happen to our family,” Dominik said softly, his distress and sadness palpable.

Paolo closed the space between him and his son and enveloped him in a strong embrace. “This is not your fight. And I promise you that I will make this right. I have taught you that if you break something, it is your responsibility to fix it. I will fix this.”

Dominik slowly pulled away.

Paolo noting the absolute hurt in his son’s eyes. which were so much like his own, almost unmanned him. “This is not your fight or your worry, mio figlio,” he told him again.

The worry lines on Dominik’s face didn’t ease in the least. 

“After that incredible performance last night, you will be assured the Rookie of the Year award.” Paolo deliberately changed the direction of their conversation. Any explanation he had in defense of his wife’s demand for a divorce, Paolo felt Trinity should hear direct from him first. So, for the next half-hour, they discussed not only Dominik’s rookie of the year chances, but Paolo took the time to catch up with his son’s private life off the basketball court.

Even as he spoke to his son, Paolo was making plans for his long overdue rendezvous with Trinity.

His thoughts revolved around making damn sure that Trinity did nothing intimate with that asshole tonight. He especially contemplated spanking her ass until she couldn’t sit for even considering letting another man touch what was his. And if by some quirk of fate that bastard dared to touch her, Paolo would cheerfully carve the fucker into tiny pieces.

 As a police officer with criminal families from both sides, Paolo’s father had wanted to ensure that Paolo could protect himself. So, his father had trained him from the age of six years old to load and accurately fire a weapon. His father also taught him how to box.

And then, after his parents died, his uncles, his mother’s brothers, forced him to train to become a “made man.” His mother, Lousia, was the sister of the Messina mafia family, who originated from Sicily but was now a global crime syndicate. And for a few years after his parents’ deaths, his uncles had taken an unwelcomed interest in him, an interest that Paolo’s parents would have never agreed to. 

Not wanting to become a criminal, something his policeman father would certainly not have allowed, Paolo went to his father’s old sergeant, who was also his godfather, for help. It turned out that his mother had left a letter with his godfather for her brothers if they ever appeared in Paolo’s life. She begged them to not force Paolo into their organization as a final gift to her. Effectively, saving Paolo from that life.

Yeah, Paolo would relish an opportunity to revert to his baser instinct and remind that young pup Avery to never even look at his woman, but given his history with Trinity, Paolo was confident that he wouldn’t need to.