The Hitman's Mark

Prologue

Blood diamonds, no doubt, Matteo mused.

"I'm surprised he didn't get her a tiara," Alfonso drawled, clearly unimpressed.

At the center of the courtyard, Leonardo took the diamond necklace from his daughter's hands. She swept a curtain of phony blonde hair to one shoulder and allowed her father to clasp the necklace around her neck. The diamond pendant fell perfectly between the neckline of her golden dress, as if she'd known what her father would give her and chose an ensemble that would best display the jewelry.

Matteo couldn't blame Alfonso for his disenchantment with the young woman.

Fortunately, Leonardo and his entourage spent little time at the family's Scarsdale mansion. But when the boss did return home to visit his wife and daughter, Valentina seemed determined to wreak as much havoc as possible to gain her father's attention. In those instances, Leonardo dispatched Alfonso to deal with her. Unlucky bastard.

"Why did he insist on throwing the party outside?" Matteo finally muttered, crossing his arms against his chest as he scanned the surrounding treeline.

An iron gate surrounded the Romano family's property in Scarsdale, New York, but dozens of visitors traversed the mansion's expansive grounds for this party. It wouldn't have been difficult for someone with ill intentions to slip in unnoticed...

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Alfonso shrug. "Maybe he plans on gifting Valentina another horse and didn't want the animal to shit all over the living room again. Sofia'd have his balls for that."

"Again?" One corner of Matteo's lips tugged up at the thought of Sofia Romano yelling at her husband. She was the only person brave enough to raise her voice with the dangerous man.

His smile faded as Valentina flipped her faux-blonde, beauty pageant curls back over her shoulder and wrapped her arms around Leo's torso. Even from a distance, Matteo saw the adoration rimming her round, doe-like eyes while she gazed at her father. For a moment, he thought he understood why Leonardo Romano chose to risk his own safety to bring such a smile to his daughter's lips...

Sofia stepped closer to her little family, wrapping her arms around Leo's neck to sandwich Valentina in her parents' embrace. Despite himself, Matteo smiled.

The don's wife tilted her head to press a red lip-stick kiss to Leo's cheek, and a deafening CRACK sounded throughout the courtyard.

A gunshot, followed by screams. So many screams, then chaos.

Matteo bolted into action as partygoers scattered around him. He scanned the treeline for the source of the single gunshot—a precision sharpshooter with a sniper rifle, if he'd heard correctly—but found nothing at first investigation. Other guards were already running for the trees and bushes surrounding the courtyard, so Matteo turned his attention back to Don Leonardo and his family.

The breath guttered out of Matteo's lungs at the sight of Sofia slumped in her husband's arms. Splattered blood stained her previously immaculate light-pink cocktail dress, stemming from a wound on the back of her head, hidden beneath an intricate brunette updo.

"Sofia? Sofia. Amore. Wake up!" Leonardo shouted, struggling to keep her limp body upright. He shook her shoulders, staggering back under the unsupported weight.

Matteo lunged forward and wrapped his arms around Sofia's waist, shouldering some of the burden away from the don. He smelled the blood, felt it seeping through the fabric of his button-up.

She'd been shot. The bullet buried itself deep in the back of her skull, likely killing her on impact. A bullet that would've lodged itself in Leonardo's skull if Sofia hadn't leaned in to kiss his cheek at the last moment. Nausea threatened to creep up Matteo's throat.