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CHAPTER ONE
THE sun was a blurred golden orb in a lowering sky as the sirocco blew in froh the ruins of the castello like the voices of the rebellious gladiators who had once defended this bit of Sicily against the power and ht of ancient Rome
Stefano Lucchesi thought of those men as he mounted the last stone steps and stood on the top of the cliff To the west, Mount Etna slumbered in the humid air Below, the stormy waters of the Mediterranean pounded the rocky shore
Howfor the enemy? Romans, Greeks, Arabs and Normans had all spilled their blood here in the na in wait for unwary ships like packs of hungry wolves
Invader after invader had conquered this land of his ancestors, until, at last, it shook free of its shackles and created enerew fat on the sweat of those who tilled this rocky soil
Stefano turned his back to the sea, dug his hands into the pockets of his jeans and surveyed his kingdom Time had not treated it kindly All that remained of the castello were tumbled stone walls and a handful of pillars
Perhaps that was as it should be There was a certain ironic justice in the way tirandfather three tirandfather had ultimately lost in a feud so bitter it had ended in bloodshed, had long-ago crumbled to dust
Even the land had been sold Stefano had ordered his attorney to buy it back, piece by piece, froy black suits who rerandfather Stefano had named a price that was more than fair, but the attorney’s representatives had no success
All the old er to sell land that was basically dry and barren until they heard the buyer’s name
“Lucchesi?” they said
One even spat on the ground by way of punctuation
Stefano was amazed that the name should still evoke violent emotion after rinned, shook his head and said that Stefano needed to rent the Godfather movies and watch them from start to finish
“It’s the Mafia thing,” Jack said “How can you have Sicilian blood running through your veins and not understand? Those old guys knew your grandpa They hated him Why should you expect a welcome from them?”
Why, indeed?
Stefano knew little about the Mafia He’d grown up in Arated decades before his birth His father died when he was a baby and his ed him from city to city in a frenzied search for excitement Stefano elve when she died
His paternal grandparents, who he hardly knew, took him in
Tough, street sance, he couldn’t have been easy for therandmother fed hirandfather tolerated him, disciplined him and finally loved him with all his heart
Perhaps his grandfather’s advanced years, coupled with Stefano having come to know him so late in the old man’s life, explained why he didn’t have what Jack called “the Mafia thing” in his blood His grandfather never told hie He told him, instead, of La Sicilia, of Castello Lucchesi, of the cliffs and the volcano and the sea
Those were the things that beat in Stefano’s blood, the things he cherished without ever having seen them
It was only on his deathbed that the old lia, of how he’d had to abandon everything and come to America to save what he could: Stefano’s father and, by extension, Stefano
“I will get it all back,” Stefano had vowed
It took tih by his senior year, he was i summer internships, he’d learned to hate the falseness of the corporate life that had been his goal, to despise the “old boy” network that was already working to deny him entry, the handshake that often accompanied the knife in the back
His college roommate felt the same way TJ was into coht in Internet start-up co to be one of those billionaires He had a great idea, he had the skill, the vision…
All he needed was the money
One winter day, his hard-earned next semester’s tuition in hand, Stefano cli north, to a casino where he bought into a ga he’d ever done since the day he’d prorandfather to win back the Lucchesi honor, but he didn’t let himself think about that
He told hiood poker player; he played for fun in school In fact, he’d won his old VW at a poker table at a uy thought he’d been bluffing with a flush showing on the table
That day at the casino, Stefano won more than a VW
He won thousands of dollars
The casino gave hiered to it, showered, slept, ate and returned to the table Three days later, he drove back to school, dumped a small fortune on his surprised roommate’s bed and watched TJ stare at the bills in disbelief
“Whadja do, man, rob a bank?”
“There’s your start-up investment,” Stefano said “I want fifty-one percent control”
A muscle jerked in Stefano’s jaw Fast-forward a dozen years
The start-up had h his money was invested in aerospace companies, in Texas oil, in luxury condos in Manhattan, he’d never forgotten the pledge he’d randfather
Two years ago, he’d set out to fulfill it, but it had taken the conversation with his attorney to remind him that there were places and people where ancient vendettas still e
The hot sirocco wind beat at Stefano’s back, whipping his dark hair around his lean face He pushed the strands back and again tucked his hands into the pockets of his jeans
“Double our initial offer,” he’d instructed his attorney
“That’s far too much money The land isn’t worth—”
“No, but their pride is Make the offer, and make it clear that I havethem an offer they can’t refuse”
Jack hadsilence At last, he’d cleared his throat
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“You watched those movies, huh?”
Stefano had laughed “Just et back to me”
Noas done All this—the land, the cliffs, what remained of the castello and the view that stretched on forever—was his So was the house he’d built, just beyond the ruins He’d had the architect blend it into the rugged scenery and use stones froh-ceilinged, alls of glass that looked over the volcano and the sea
Stefano srandfather, he was certain, would have been pleased
Tonight, just after ain with a bottle of lass to the sea and toast the spirit of all those who’d coone before him
And he would try to keep this place invisible to the rest of the world
If the tabloids got word, they’d have a field day hat he’d done It would put a sexy spin on the gossip that already swirled around hi an empire, they said He was a man of mystery He was uno lupo solo A lone wolf
They were right about that, at least Lucchesi Enterprises had ure Because of it, he cherished seclusion in his day-to-day life
He’d followed his usual practice in building his new house, hiring only those who agreed to sign contracts that contained confidentiality clauses,those clauses Word would get out eventually, he knew, but this would give hi room
A little while ago, a helicopter had buzzed overhead There was nothing unusual in that; helicopters were part of the twenty-first century Still, he’d looked up, wondering if soht up with him
“Stef-an-oh”
Stefano caught his breath Was it the wind? The sound of that voice, calling his name No It had to be the wind
“Stef-annn-oh Yoo-hoo Don’t you hear me?”
He blinked The wind couldn’t put words into sentences, couldn’t paint the slender figure of a wo up at hi back her blond hair, the other cupping her mouth
Carla? His heart thudded It couldn’t be She was in New York He’d left her there onedown her perfectlywhen she realized heto a shriek as she told hiht of him
The trouble had started when she burst into his apart roo at photos of the island: the ept cliffs, the old ruins and the new house
“O, what is this?”
There’d been no sense in saying he didn’t know The architect had put together a handsome final portfolio, and each photo was neatly labeled
Castello Lucchesi, Sicily
“A house,” he’d said indifferently, as if that were all there was to it
“Your house,” she’d said, in that breathless way he’d once found char “And it’s perfect for the cover of the premiere issue of Bridal Dreams”
“No”
“Now, Stefano,” she’d said, slipping into his lap, “you knoas hired to azine in the world The first issue can make me or break me”
No, he’d said again, and she’d changed tack, twisted around so she was straddling him, put her hot mouth to his