#Chapter 7: Connection

Albert POV Her gaze held a flicker of something I hadn't anticipated – disgust and a furious distance. It was like she was seeing someone else through me. And for some reason, I didn't want to see that kind of disdain in her eyes. "Do you wish I had connections with them?" "No," she said, her voice firm. "I'd rather not be associated with the mafia at all." Her answer surprised me. The city has been controlled by Italian mafias for decades. Most people living here learned to fawn on them. It had never occurred to me that someone might find my position… undesirable. A small, unexpected smile tugged at the corner of my lips. "Fair," I conceded, drawing out the word. "I have dealings with the mafia and the bratva, but they're all above-board legal transactions. It's just a way to survive." It wasn't a complete lie. There were ways to operate within the fringes of the mafia world without being a full-fledged member. And I wasn't a part of the Mafia. We were the bratva. It was d