Sex and the Billionaire Crime Boss - Season 3

Ch. 5: Angel

"Angelica," Max says, "is Gino's niece."

"You're sleeping with Gino's niece?" My voice comes out in a high-pitched squeak.

Of all the things he could have said, that has to be the one I least expected.

"No." The edge is still there in his voice, mixed with what sounds a bit like exasperation. "I am not sleeping with Gino's niece. I am not sleeping with Angelica."

"I know what I saw."

"Do you?"

"Yes. What I saw was this gorgeous woman who looks like she's barely 20 years old standing in your apartment in one of your shirts and probably nothing else, with her high heels scattered on the floor, and her hair mussed up. And you," I continue with just the slightest waver in my voice, "calling her Angel and telling her to go back in the bedroom."

"And between yelling insults and accusations at me, slapping my face, and then running down the hallway, you never gave me a chance to tell you what was going on."

"It seemed pretty obvious to me. If you had a reasonable explanation you'd have come after me."

"Would I really?" He seems to think it over. "Yes, I probably would have if I hadn't been worried she wouldn't be there when I got back. Angel's her nickname, by the way. And I've known her since she was a baby."

I study his face, trying to gauge if he's telling me the truth. Max promised he'd never lie to me, but the evidence is pretty damning.

"So if that's true," I ask him, "what was she doing in your apartment mostly naked?"

His expression darkens when I say the words if that's true, but his voice remains calm.

"Gabe alerted me that Angel had been drinking a lot of champagne and she was about to leave with one of the gallery patrons. An older, married man who undoubtedly told Angel he was single. I told Gabe to take her to my apartment, and I'd be along shortly to deal with her."

"Deal with her? How? I don't understand."

"Keep her safe. Make sure she didn't go downstairs to the club and keep drinking and get herself into more trouble."

"So you're what, her babysitter?"

Max gives a short laugh. "I used to be, starting back when I was 12 or 13. My father would take me along to meetings with Gino and the other mob guys, but I wasn't allowed to sit in. Instead, they'd send me off to keep an eye on Angel while they were meeting."

"So she lives with Gino? Her uncle?"

"Yes. Her mother - Gino's little sister - died when Angel was just a baby. It was a hit from a rival mob family against Angel's dad. He was a made man, so taking him out almost caused a war. His wife just happened to get in the way.

Gino's the one who found them, dead in their house. The baby crying in her crib. He'd gotten a tip-off, but it was too late. He didn't get there in time. But he tracked down who ordered the hit and the men who carried it out. Vincenzo made sure they didn't die pleasantly."

I shiver at the thought of the world Angelica was born into. The world Max grew up in.

"I didn't realize Vincenzo had been with Gino that long. He looks too young to have been in his" - I struggle for the right word - "line of work for more than 20 years."

Max nods. "He was only around 19 at the time, but already had a solid reputation as an enforcer. Taking care of this for Gino established him as the top hit man for the organization."