by Cora Reilly
Raffaele was Aria’s cousin. He wasn’t related to me though. With satisfaction, I realized my guess about the car had been right. I’d heard rumors about his swanky persona. “Isn’t he the one who got his finger cut off for gawking at Aria?” Everyone knew that tidbit of information, but I was curious about Dante’s feelings toward the incident. I still remembered the huge stir it had caused years ago.
Dante’s lips thinned. “That’s him. Rocco Scuderi allowed Luca to punish Raffaele.”
We stopped in front of the door. “But you wouldn’t have?”
“I wouldn’t have let someone from New York dish out punishment in my territory,” he said in an unyielding tone. I wasn’t sure why, but my body reacted immediately to Dante’s steely fierceness, yearning to be alone with him, to let him have his way with me like last night.
Ignoring my body’s needs, I said, “So you don’t think Raffaele deserved it.” Personally, I thought it was a bit extreme to cut someone’s finger off for staring, but Luca was known for his cold-bloodedness, even in the Outfit.
“I didn’t say that. But I would have insisted on punishing him myself, seeing as he is my responsibility. But what’s done is done.”
“So is Raffaele the assistant manager?”
“No, he’s responsible for the hookers. He makes sure we have enough of them available at all times. He works together with Tommaso for that purpose.”
My nose wrinkled, my standard reaction to hearing his name. Dante cocked one blond eyebrow. “Is this because of the prostitution, or because of Tommaso? I thought you were friends with his wife Bibiana.”
“Bibiana is my best friend, which is why I can’t stand that man. I don’t suppose there’s any chance that Tommaso might be a traitor, so you can get rid of him?”
Dante scanned my face. “You are being serious.”
“Yes. He’s treated Bibiana like dirt since they married. I wouldn’t shed a single tear if you put a bullet in his head.”
For a couple of heartbeats, our eyes locked and I got the impression that Dante wouldn’t have minded a moment of privacy with me either, but then the moment was gone. “He’s a loyal soldier. He’s never given me any reason to doubt him. There’s nothing I can do about him.”
“Not even if I tell you that he’s raping Bibiana?” I knew Bibiana didn’t want people to know, but maybe Dante could help. It wasn’t as if he would tell others about it.
He put his hand on the door handle, his eyes bleak. “She’s his wife.”
“That doesn’t mean he can rape her,” I hissed.
“I know, but I can’t tell my men how they’re supposed to treat their wives. Even a Capo can’t interfere in a marriage. My decision to forbid rape as punishment or entertainment was already met with resentment.”
I looked away to hide how emotional this topic made me. Sometimes it was easy to forget the horrible things happening in the Outfit.
“Are you ready to go in? Raffaele and Leo, the assistant manager, are waiting in your office to meet you.”
I took a deep breath, then I nodded.
Dante opened the door, and, his hand still pressed against my back, he led me into a long corridor with five more doors.
“I assume these aren’t for the public eye, unlike the doors branching off the main floor?”
“Yes. This is only for you and the other employees. The doors outside lead into several rooms that the prostitutes can use with their customers.”
I nodded. It was surreal that I would soon work here.
Dante steered me toward the door at the end of the hallway and opened it. Behind it was a spacious windowless office with a desk, a meeting table with six chairs, a sofa, and two chairs facing the desk. Raffaele, who was a couple of years younger than me, and a middle-aged man with a mustache occupied the chairs. Both rose when Dante and I entered. My eyes were immediately drawn to Raffaele’s hand. His finger had been re-attached by the Outfit doctor, but it stuck out and was obviously stiff.
“Raffaele, Leo,” Dante said coolly, dropping his hand from my back to shake their hands. Then he gestured toward me. “This is my wife, Valentina. As I told you yesterday, she’ll be taking Dino’s place.” I assumed that was the guy who’d filled his pockets with Outfit money.
I tilted my head, hoping to appear self-confident. I shook first Leo’s hand, who was a few inches shorter than me, then Raffaele’s. Both men greeted me in a friendly manner, but I could see in their eyes that they were unhappy with Dante’s choice to involve me in Outfit business. They couldn’t possibly like having a woman as their boss, even if Leo would still do most of the management work.
“Why don’t you show Valentina around? You know the ins and outs of this place better than I do,” Dante said to Leo, who nodded before facing me with a stiff smile. “This way,” he said as he walked out of the room and headed back to the main floor. “Our opening hours are from six in the evening until six in the morning. Of course sometimes a group of high rollers wants to book the place for a different time slot. Then we open for them.”
It wasn’t even noon yet, so there was still plenty of time before the casino opened its doors. That explained why everything was still deserted. I pointed toward a booth. “Is that where customers exchange their money for chips?”
Leo nodded. “Yes. If a customer doesn’t have any money, we offer them credits.”
“At fair interest rates, I’m sure,” I joked.
“Of course,” Leo agreed with a toothless smile.
“And if they don’t pay back our money, who takes care of it then?”
“The same soldiers who collect all of our money,” Dante said. He was trailing behind us. I wasn’t sure if he was making sure that the men were acting civilized, or if he wanted to see how I was handling myself.
“I assume this is a by-invitation-only place, so how does word get around? Do customers have to sign some kind of non-disclosure clause?”
Raffaele snorted, but fell silent when Dante shot him a glower.
“We don’t need non-disclosure clauses. We tell customers that they can’t tell people about this place unless they ask us for permission in advance and we do a background check on the person. Our customers know to keep their mouths shut.”
“Nobody wants to mess with us unless they have a death wish,” Raffaele said proudly.
Raffaele was starting to grate on my nerves. He was a bit too sure of himself. Losing a finger didn’t seem to have diminished his self-esteem. “And you are responsible for the girls?”
“I make sure the whores make our customers happy. And I choose the sluts who sit at the bar to get the men horny, and I also decide who’s going to be the complimentary girls. I test all of them to make sure they know how to suck a cock and can take it up their asses. Anal is a must. Most poor bastards don’t get that at home.”
Dante’s eyes were burning with anger, but he wasn’t interfering. Maybe he thought it would make me look weak. I was going to be the head of this casino, after all. “I hope you don’t talk like that around customers,” I said to Raffaele.
Raffaele’s throat turned red—from anger or embarrassment, I couldn’t tell. Probably a little of both. He opened his mouth then closed it after a glance at Dante. I had a feeling that Raffaele would give me more trouble than Leo.
“Are any of the girls in already? I’d like to talk to them.”
Raffaele’s eyes darted between Leo and Dante, as if he needed their approval before he could answer a simple question. “Most of them work in Club Palermo until five and then come over here after that.”
The girls who worked here were from Club Palermo? Had any of them slept with Dante? I had to ask Bibiana if she knew the names of the women Dante chose when he frequented the club. “Then I’ll talk to them tomorrow. Make sure they come in early so I can have a word with them before our doors open.”
“What is there to talk about? They are brainless whores, nothing more than three-hole sluts.”
“Raffaele, tha
t is enough. I don’t tolerate you talking to my wife like that,” Dante said in a dangerously low voice.
Raffaele lowered his head, but not before sending me a scathing look. I decided to ignore him for now. “Are any important high rollers visiting today?”
Leo shook his head. “No. But tomorrow two senators and a few of their friends are coming in. They don’t gamble that much. They mostly spend the nights with the girls.”
“So we humor them because we want them to protect our interests in the Senate?”
“Exactly,” Leo said, surprised, as if he couldn’t believe a woman could come to such a conclusion by herself. Men in our world would be surprised how much their wives and daughters knew about the life the men were trying to protect them from. You can’t grow up in a mob family and not figure out most of what’s going on.
Dante nodded his head in approval, and a strange sense of pride filled me.
“Okay, then I’ll be there tomorrow to introduce myself to them, and meet the rest of our employees. I hope we’re going to work well together.”
Leo nodded, but Raffaele obviously didn’t think we would. Dante put his hand on my back and we headed back to our car.
“So what do you think?” he asked as he started the car.
“I think Raffaele will give me trouble. He obviously doesn’t like me.”
“He doesn’t do well with women in general, unless they are prostitutes and have to do what he says. Don’t take it personal.”
“I don’t. I couldn’t care less what he thinks of me.”
“No,” Dante disagreed. “He should respect you.”
“Because it would reflect badly on you if he didn’t.”
“That, and because you are his boss. You are going to make sure everything runs smoothly. Leo will hopefully help you.”
“He seemed okay. But you don’t trust him?”
“I don’t trust either of them.”
I nodded. “They seemed surprised when I said something clever. It really annoyed me.”
“Most men in the mob prefer to think of their women as ignorant and clueless. I know the same men who disapproved of my ruling against rape will disapprove of you working in our casino.”
“I think the mob should stop underestimating women.”
Dante gave me a sideways glance. “Maybe you can convince them.”
Did he really believe that? A question burnt on the tip of my tongue. “Did your first wife work?”
His expression darkened. “No. She kept busy with social engagements as most women in our world do.”
“Oh, of course.” I wondered if despite having offered me a job in the casino, he was unhappy with my desire to work. Would he prefer a trophy wife? Someone who looked good at parties, who warmed his bed and who kept the staff in check? I decided to change the topic. “My mother invited me over. I assume you have work to do?”
“Yes, I do. But I can drive you to your parents’ house if you want. It’s on the way. I can tell Enzo or Taft to pick you up when you’re done.”
“My mother will be delighted,” I said, rolling my eyes.
“Would you rather we drive home and you drive to your parents without me?”
“No,” I said quickly. “I wasn’t joking. My mother will be giddy with pleasure over seeing you again.”
“Your father is one of my underbosses. It’s not like your mother hasn’t met me countless times.”
“But not as her son-in-law. I’ve never seen her happier than when she found out you were stooping to marry me.”
Dante’s brows drew together. “Because you were married before?”
“Of course. I was damaged goods by our standards. Not a pure, innocent girl like Gianna or the many other girls fawning over you at parties.”
“Believe me, I’m more than happy that I didn’t agree to marry Gianna. She’s a troublemaker. I don’t have the patience for someone like her. And I don’t pay much attention to girls at parties.”
I huffed. “You are a man. How can you not notice their smoldering glances?”
“Smoldering?” Dante asked with a hint of amusement. “And I didn’t say I didn’t notice. I make sure to always be aware of everything going on in a room around me, but I’m not interested in their silly attempts at flirting. They fawn over an image they have of me, but I’m not that man.”
“I don’t know. Girls think you’re sexy because you are powerful and aloof. The ice prince whose heart they want to melt.”
Dante shook his head, then something changed on his face and he slanted me another glance. “So your mother didn’t know you never consummated your first marriage?”
“Of course not. I don’t talk to her about things like that. And believe me, she would have found a way to tell you about my virginity because it would have increased my worth. She’d die from happiness if she found out you are the man who took my virtue.” I froze. “You’re not going to tell anyone about Antonio, are you?”
Dante narrowed his eyes in thought. “I don’t see how that would help anyone. Of course, it would make my search for Antonio’s lover easier if I could involve my men.”
“I’m not going to tell you his name,” I interjected, knowing where this was going, and really hoping he wouldn’t get angry again.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Dante pulled up in front of my old home and turned off the engine before he faced me. “I assumed as much. I still don’t understand why. That man you’re protecting, he’s not your blood and from what I gather you were never close. After all, he stole your husband, so why do you insist on choosing him over me?”
“I don’t choose him over you,” I said, honestly shocked. “But I know what you’re going to do to him, what you have to do to protect the Outfit, and I can’t condemn him to death. If you swear that he won’t come to any harm, then I might change my mind.”
“You know as well as I do that I can’t swear it. There are rules for a reason. We have to protect the secrets of the Outfit. If details about our structures, our business, or traditions went public, many people you know would go to jail, me and your father included.”
“He would never tell anyone about the Outfit. Antonio told him about our oaths.”
“But he isn’t bound by them. We all keep the silence because we’re bound by honor and duty, and because we would all pay the price if we didn’t, but that man has no reason to keep our secrets now that Antonio is dead. Not everyone honors a dead man’s wish as much as you do.”
“But he loved Antonio.”
“How can you know that? But if it were the case, wouldn’t that make him hate our world even more?”
“What do you mean?”
“Because of the rules of the Outfit, Antonio couldn’t be open about his sexuality. He had to hide his desires and his lover, and ultimately he died because he was a Made Man. The Russians killed him because he was one of us. You see, the man you’re protecting has a lot of reasons to despise our world and want it gone.”
I’d never considered it from that standpoint, and was seriously freaked. What if Dante was right? I hadn’t seen Frank since I’d told him about Antonio’s death a year ago. He’d left quickly, silent and out of it. He hadn’t tried to contact me, and I had only known his mobile number, but that had stopped working shortly after the funeral. I’d simply assumed Frank had wanted to cut off anything that linked him to the mob. Had he talked to anyone about Antonio? About the Outfit? I didn’t want to believe it. He had reason to detest the Outfit and its ways. Not only had he been forced to hide his relationship with Antonio, but he didn’t even get the chance to say goodbye to him. Neither had I. All that had been left of Antonio was a burned corpse. I’d never seen it—Father had forbidden me from doing so. He’d said there was nothing left for me to recognize. The Russians had even cut his head off before they’d set him on fire. The Outfit never found it.
Dante watched me closely. Or was he trying to manipulate me? Even so, what he’d said was the truth.
“Will you come to the door to say hi to my mother? She’ll be disappointed if you stay in the car,” I said to distract him.
Dante wore a knowing look but didn’t try to push the topic of Antonio’s lover. He got out of the Mercedes, walked around the hood and opened my door for me. His hand found its usual spot on my lower back as we walked to the front door. I’d barely rung the bell when the door was already opened and my mother beamed at us. She’d probably been spying on us through the windows.
“Dante, I didn’t expect you to come. How wonderful of you to pay us a visit,” she said with a wide smile. She pulled Dante into an embrace. He remained stiff but briefly patted her back. At least he was against public displays of affection in general, and not just with me.
“I’m only here to drop Valentina off. I don’t have time to stay. There’s still much work to do.” He straightened and Mamma had no choice but to release him.
Her face fell. “Of course. Now that you’re Capo, you have many responsibilities. How wonderful of you to take time out of your busy schedule to drive Valentina around town.” Mamma smiled at me. “You got yourself a gentleman.”
I gave Dante an I-told-you-so look. A flicker of something softer filled his eyes before he excused himself and headed back to his car. The moment he’d driven off, Mamma closed the door, gripped my arm and practically dragged me into the living room. “Giovanni! Valentina is here!” she screamed.
“Papà is here?”
“I told him you’d be coming over. He wanted to have a word with you as well.”
I groaned.
“Don’t be like that. Your father and I are worried about your well-being. We want to know if married life is treating you well.”
“You mean you want to make sure I’m not messing up with Dante.”
Mamma pursed her lips. “You are twisting my words in my mouth today.”
Papà came into the living room, closing his cuff links, his checkered jacket slung over his shoulder. “I don’t have much time. I’m actually having a meeting with the Consigliere and your husband later. So how are things between you and the Boss?”