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him and my quest to be with him, all my negativity was erased.
    He was my future.
    ***
    RICCARDO
    “Stefano, are you not working out this morning?” Sebastiano asked an unusually subdued Stefano.
    “Not today, Boss. I don’t feel too good. I think I may have had one too many last night,” Stefano admitted.
    I warned them, both him and Raphael, not to rock up with a hangover, and what the fuck did he do? He not only rocked up with one, but he admitted to having a hangover. All we needed was Raphael to enter in the same state as Stefano, and Sebastiano would truly lose it.
    “Yeah, well, after the hit that went down yesterday afternoon, you probably needed it. Riccardo filled me in on how it played out. Is Vincenzo okay? I’ve not seen him yet this morning,” Sebastiano asked.
    “He’s on his way, with Grace too. He’s managed to convince her to come out to the birthday today,” I told Sebastiano.
    Ever since the rape, Grace was too embarrassed to face any of us. Grace confided to Sierra that she thinks us guys, her famiglia , will see her differently and think that maybe she’s easy or some kind of whore. Sierra wanted to warn us not to harp on about the attack the next time we saw her because she was trying to move on and put it behind her.
    “That’s good news. She needs to be around her family. We will get her through this. And you,” Sebastiano pointed at Stefano, “keep right away from her,” he warned him. “For some reason, you scare the fuck out of her.”
    “Me? What the fuck did I do?” Stefano asked innocently. “Riccardo is the one she should be scared of, not me. He likes them young, don’t you, Capo?”
    Fucking bastard. If Sebastiano wasn’t there working out with us, I would’ve retaliated, but I had to keep working out and exercise Lorena out of my system. Stefano knew how much I wanted Lorena and the prick was trying to shift the light off himself and onto me.
    “If you’re just going to stand there and cause trouble, I suggest you leave before I let go of these bars and knock some sense into you,” I warned.
    “Yeah, whatever, you got no gloves on anyway. You won’t touch anyone without those fucking things covering your hands,” Stefano taunted.
    My pull ups forgotten, I jumped down off the bars and lunged for him, grabbing him by his throat. But Sebastiano was too quick and pulled me back before I could do harm.
    “Fucking calm down, Riccardo!” Sebastiano shouted. “It’s my son’s birthday and I don’t want any fights amongst my men today. You are my family. We have enough enemies to contend with. We don’t need to attack one another. Now, when you are both finished with your workouts, get the fuck downstairs. Sierra needs our help and I am relying on my men to keep the peace around here.”
    Stefano smirked at me as he left the gym with Sebastiano. I almost attacked him again but managed to control myself. Damn, I was so frustrated. Knowing I was going to see Lorena all day today was my biggest frustration. Jesus. I’m losing my fucking mind over this woman . I needed to resolve this and resolve it fast. Something had to give.
    If she tried to flirt with me today, there was no telling what I would do. My control around her was slipping with every passing day, slipping fast. I managed to keep my distance and keep my dick in my pants around her, surely I could manage to do it for one more day.
    It couldn’t be that hard.

CHAPTER FIVE
    LORENA
    “Lorena, you can’t fry them like that. You’ll burn yourself,” Nonna Angela warned me as the hot oil spurted out of the pan and onto my arm. It didn’t even hurt. She was just as much of a control freak as everyone else in the family.
    God, I loved making Italian zeppole with Nonna Angela. It was so much fun. I had been in the kitchen all morning. I’d seen almost everyone come in and out, all except Riccardo. He was most definitely avoiding me because he loved Nonna’s zeppole and he was usually the first person in