Mio Sole

25 [Aurora]

**June 29th, 5 pm**

The text from Giovanni wasn't unexpected. Nor was the message it contained.

Père: My office. 10 minutes.

What was surprising was the fact that his office door was open and he wasn't there when I arrived. Instead, his brother Leonardo lounged in his desk chair with his feet propped up on the expensive wood. Another similar looking man that I don't recognize sits across from him, every inch of his posture screaming 'dangerous.'

"Aha! My favorite niece!" Leonardo exclaims, ripping his feet off the desk. I send him a bright smile as I step onto the room with my hands clasped behind my back, willing myself to look as sweet and docile as I did the last time that we met. The pleased expression on his face tells me that it worked.

   "Hello, Leonardo."

   He lets out a loud cackle. "Aurora, dear. If you refuse to call me uncle, you could at least call me Leo or something. Leonardo sounds so formal."

   I shrug. "I don't like nicknames," I say. I look around the room again, my gaze locking on the captivating gray eyes of the other man. His gaze is so entrancing that someone could probably spent hours staring into it without getting bored. It's for that reason that I tear my gaze away almost as quick as it started. "Where is Giovanni? He asked me to meet here."

   The unfamiliar man holds up a phone I recognize to be Giovanni's. "He's out getting a coffee," the man clarifies in a deep voice. "I just thought I'd use the opportunity to meet the niece I've heard so much about."

   I raise my chin a bit as the dots connect in my brain. "You're Alessandro."

   The man cocks his head to the side in surprise. "His my brother mentioned me?"

   I shrug, moving to take the seat next to him to avoid standing in these uncomfortable heels for any longer. I eye him skeptically. "I did my research."

   Amusement brightens Alessandro's face, and he glances at Leonardo. "Did you, now?"

   I grab Giovanni's pen off the desk, twirling the weighted metal between my fingers as I lean back in my chair. A small shrug is the only response I offer. Leonardo sends his brother a warning glare out of the corner of his eye that Alessandro ignores.

   "So you know about the family business, then?" The amusement in his voice only increases at Leonardo's growl.

   I raise a brow at him. "I am aware of the rumors, if that's what you mean." The rumors that the hotels and casinos and nightclubs are all just some cover story for the illegal activity happening behind closed doors. More specifically, the rumors that Giovanni is the leader of the Italian Mafia. I'd barely given the rumors more than a single thought—considered that I know firsthand how wild some of them can be—but the exchange between Leonardo and his brother is making me rethink my judgement. Alessandro raises a brow, waiting for me to continue. "You know, the rumors that your 'business' is a front for some organized crime group."

   "Do you believe them?" Alessandro asks as Leonardo tenses across from me.

   I cock my head to the side, willing my glare to cut straight into his icy heart. "You want me to believe them, don't you?" A serpentine smirk makes its way to his face, and I shut it down with a sharp look. "I don't believe anything I see online. Until I have solid proof, that's all the rumors will be; rumors."

"That's actually what I wanted to speak with you about," Giovanni says from the doorway, a cardboard carrier with four cups in his hand. He sets a cup in front of each of us before grabbing a hold of his chair and tipping it forwards until Leonardo gets to his feet with a grumble. He pulls up an extra chair from the hallway before shutting the door and clicking the lock.