I rolled my eyes as my fingers typed back.
Me: Never. Why do you ask?
My eyes swept the room again, taking note of the furniture and possible hidden camera placements. If he had cameras in this goddamn room, I wouldn’t even bother with an ultimatum. I’d simply demolish this phone, throw it at his feet, and tell him to go fuck himself. Because he wouldn't win me over with a simple illusion of freedom.
He’d have to give it to me outright.
Teo: Just making sure. My emergency is taking me longer than usual. I won’t be back until late. We’ll continue things in the morning. Make sure you eat so you have your strength.
My fingers started typing back at lightning speed, readying myself for this ultimatum. But, as the messaged formed on the screen, I found I was unable to press the ‘send’ button. Even after reading it out loud, it sounded harsh. And to be honest, I wasn’t sure this was the best use of my knowledge of his wife.
You’ll ruin his life with that ultimatum. Especially if he chooses you.
And if he chose her over me, it would break my heart. So, instead of sending the text message, I deleted it.
Before letting Teo know that I’d be waiting for him in the morning in my bedroom.
8
Mateo
I stared at myself in the bathroom mirror, trying to find a way out. It was rare for me to be blindsided, much less so when it concerned my wife. But, once I arrived at the house, I found that the big ‘emergency’ was nothing more than getting my opinion on a few things for some party she was planning.
My head almost blew through the roof, I had been so angry. But, I kept my cool and gave my opinion as she asked for it. After all, my wife was known for throwing some of the most incredible parties this island had ever witnessed.
There was only one problem with her plan.
I knew something she didn’t.
I pulled my phone out of my pocket and stared down at the text. It rolled through my phone fifteen minutes ago, where I had to promptly excuse myself from the kitchen area where the chef for the party was whipping up bite-sized favors for us to try. Normally, I didn’t need to employ the help of an I.T. specialist. The head of my bodyguard team understood enough about my home’s surveillance system to deal with it when it was on the fritz.
But, something in the back of my head had been gnawing at me.
The morning when I came back to the house a few days ago, everything seemed off. My bodyguards. Lyle. Even Miss Pettigrew. There had been a new feel to the home. A new scent lingering in the air that I couldn’t quite place. After looking through the surveillance footage, though, I’d seen that it had been all calm on the homefront while I’d been away.
Or so I thought.
Maxwell: The footage was doctored. I’m about to send you a side-by-side. Someone hacked your security footage. But, I managed to spruce things up. Give it a few minutes to download.
I pulled up the video and pressed ‘play’ again. And right there, before my very eyes, was Rosana. My wife. I watched as her and a team of men came strutting through my front door, aiming tranquilizer guns at my bodyguards and shooting them without a second thought. The video followed her all the way up the stairs. All the way down the hallway. All the way into that spare apartment.
Charlotte knows I’m married.
Why she wouldn’t tell me, I wasn’t sure. My mind told me she was waiting to use it as leverage, but my gut kept telling me to give her the benefit of the doubt. That wasn’t a habit of mine, ever. But, with Char? Things just seemed… different.
“Sweetheart?”
A knock came at the bathroom door as my wife’s voice sounded on the other end.
“Honey, are you all right?” she asked.
“No time like the present,” I murmured.
“What was that?”
I opened the bathroom door coolly and handed her my phone. “Would you like to explain this?”
She giggled. “Explain what?”
“Press ‘play’ and see for yourself.”
Her eye twitched before she held her head high. And not once did she reach out to play the video.
“It’s cute, you know. Doctoring the security footage. How much did that cost you?” I asked.
Rosana scoffed. “I have every right to know what it is you’re doing in that beach house of yours. Remember why we built it?”
I nodded. “So I could have a place to escape to.”
“Yes. When things became too tough. But, as of lately, you’ve been spending more time there than at home.”
“I always spend more time there than here.”
She leaned against the doorway, her arms crossed over her chest. “I at least used to get you for weekends. Now, I’m lucky if I get you every other night. I wanted to know why.”
“And you didn't think to ask?”
“Would you have really told me the truth if I had?”
I nodded. “I’m well aware of the hierarchy of power that came with our marriage. Yes, I would have told you the truth.”
Her eye twitched again. “So, are you spending your time with her? Is that what’s happening?”
I furrowed my brow. “Why are you so concerned with some woman?”
“Because she’s seeing you more than your own wife.”
“Rosana, you’re on the arm of a different man every night I’m not there. We’ve always had a ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ kind of relationship.”
“But when either one of us asks, we tell. That’s how it works.”
I slid my hands into my pockets. “So, why didn’t you ask?”
She scoffed. “Oh, don’t give me that ‘pocket’ shit. You’re not going to hurt me and you know it. So, cut the tough guy act. You know I’ve always been able to see right through you.”
“Why didn’t you ask, Rosana? You’ve had numerous lovers throughout the course of our marriage. Don’t act as if you care now.”
“I care, just for different reasons.”
I leaned against the bathroom counter. “I’m surprised you’re not playing the fool, to be honest. I fully expected you to start denying things.”
“Oh, don’t take my word for it. That’s exactly what will happen should you decide to go public with anything. Or start talking to your friends. I’ve already got an attorney at the ready to defend me should you decide to use this as leverage. And we all know our crowd loves a good woman that can cry on demand.”
I clenched my jaw. “What do you want, Rosana?”
She smiled. “It’s simple, really. I want my husband back.”
“You want the appearance of us together back, you mean.”
Her face fell. “You might want to watch the way you choose your words. Because if I smell any sort of dissent--.”
“There’s no dissent here, and you know it. I simply want to know why you’re threatened by Charlotte and not by any of the other women I’ve ever brought back to my beach house.”
She blinked. “Because she’s the only woman whose name you ever bothered to learn, Mateo.”
I had strict rules about how to treat the women around me. Testing sexual boundaries? Sure. But, I was never violent towards them. I never hit them, or pushed them around, or tortured them in any way. Unless of course, they begged me for it. And just like my moral code, I had no desire to taunt my wife. I had no desire to push her around, or test her boundaries, or call her bluffs. Though, her bluffs were numerous.
Because I didn’t care about what she did. Or who she did it with. Or where they did it.
I felt nothing for this woman. She wasn’t my love. She was nothing but an arranged marriage that formed an agreement between two powerful island families.
Nothing more, nothing less.
I stared at my wife. “Is there anything else you need from me this evening? Because if not--.”
She smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “Because you have a woman to get back to?”
My face hardened. “Because I have a lif
e to get back to.”
She took a step toward me. “Well, don’t forget about the life you have here. That could be detrimental to your health if you do.”
I watched her walk her fingers up my chest before quickly cupping her hand around the back of my neck.
“Mark my words, Teo: you can’t tip all of the power into your own lap. You don’t get to be the head honcho and command everyone else. Men like you don’t get perfect lives.”
I resisted the urge to spit in her face. “I’m well aware of that.”
She snickered. “Good. Because if you take your rival down? The balance of power shifts on this entire island. Hell, in this entire country. And the kind of power you seek doesn’t happen alone, and it doesn’t happen in a vacuum. You need me. You need me and my family to get what you want, never forget that.”
I pulled away from her grip. “Trust me, you’ll never let me forget it.”
She smiled. “Wonderful. I’m glad we’re on the same page.”
I slipped by her, headed for the front door. “If there’s nothing else.”
She gripped my arm. “Just one more thing before you head off to your common whore.”
She’s just begging for a hand around her throat. “What?”
She giggled. “If you choose to create that vacuum anyway--despite what my family might want--you could find yourself facing an unexpected foe.”
I slowly turned my gaze over my shoulder to look at her. “Is that a threat?”
She shook her head. “A promise, Mateo. Remember where you stand. Always.”
And when she released me from her grasp, I strode for the front door. Ready to get back to my little slice of heaven. Where, hopefully, Charlotte would be waiting for me come the morning.
Just like she said she would be.
9
Mateo
Not even Charlotte could erase shit from my mind as she choked on my cock. And while it felt good, it did nothing for me. Not this morning, anyway. My mind was much too preoccupied with other things at hand. Like the fact that I needed to make a very strong move.
And quickly.
After prematurely ending things and stepping away from Miss Pettigrew, I headed straight for my ‘office’. I needed to think. I needed to decompress and come up with a plan. So, I locked the double doors behind me and eased myself onto my stool.
Before I picked up my color palette.
With every brushstroke against my faded canvas, an image emerged. One of darkness and despair. A bleakness screaming to be released as I painted navies and blacks and crimson reds across the stretched hide. I swirled the colors together and felt my soul take control. My jaw clenched with focus as my wrist flicked and splattered an entire way of life against that fucking canvas. I panted air through my nose. I ground my teeth together as my hand began to tremble. And after my soul collapsed in emotional exhaustion, I stood to study my handiwork.
Only to find a face staring back at me.
“Of course,” I murmured.
Dropping the palette back to the table beside me, I raced out of my ‘office’. I headed down the hallway and charged through what looked like the wall at the end of it, only to be met with the one place I trusted to be locked down more than any other in my entire life. Behind the false wall was a metal door with a keypad. And after punching in the code, it hissed and popped open, revealing the panic room I had also set up as my actual office.
Where I kept things I wanted no one else to find.
“Come on, where is it?” I murmured to myself.
I strode for my mahogany desk, rifling through the papers. I had no clue why the idea hadn’t hit me sooner, but then again, that’s what my painting was for. Sometimes, my emotions understood something my brain hadn’t latched onto yet, and I needed an outlet for them to freely speak.
An outlet that wasn’t painting my walls with someone else’s blood.
“Yes,” I hissed.
After grabbed the papers I flopped down into my leather office chair. As I rifled through the contents of the file, the plan came to fruition in my mind. Lorenzo Lucchese was easily the loosest cannon I’d ever encountered, and that meant he left a trail of mistakes and tears in his wake. In this line of business, appearances were everything. And I had all the evidence to prove that Lorenzo was ruining that for his family.
Now, all I had to do was show what I knew to the businesses they owned.
“Unless…” I whispered.
I slapped the folder closed and put it away. I had one more option at my disposal first. One more attempt to get the Luccheses off mine and Miss Pettigrew’s back for good. I crossed my leg over my knee and picked up my office phone, dialing out to a number I never should have had in the first place.
And when Lorenzo picked up his phone, I grinned.
“What?” he asked.
I chuckled. “Sound a bit out of breath there.”
He paused. “Who the fuck is this?”
“What? Don’t recognize my voice?”
He paused again. “You fucking bastard. How the hell did you--?”
I waved my hand in the air. “Save the insults for another day. I want to make this phone call quick. We need to speak. In private, but in person.”
“I’m not going anywhere with you, you son of a--.”
“Fifteen more seconds. Meet me at Lo Scoglio in an hour.”
“And if I don’t?”
I smiled. “Norma.”
He growled. “What did you just say?”
“An hour, Lorenzo. Don’t keep me waiting.”
I dropped my phone back into its holster and stood up from my desk. My phone immediately started ringing again, but it only made me smile. I knew I’d gotten beneath his skin enough to get him to come to this meeting.
Now, I had to make it work to my advantage.
After locking up my office, I headed straight for my town car outside. I fed my driver where we were headed and decided to get a headstart on things. I wanted to scout out the cafe and make sure Lorenzo didn’t surround me with his goons.
I also wanted to make sure all of the exit points were locked down in case he decided to run.
You’ll play by my rules this time, fucker.
I sipped on a creamed coffee and picked at a fruit salad while I waited for Lorenzo to arrive. And right on time, he plopped his lazy ass in the wrought iron chair in front of me. His face told me exactly how angry he was. The small specks of blood against his shirt collar told me where he had come from.
But, the fact that he didn’t want to order anything told me he wouldn’t be staying long.
“How the fuck do you know about Norma?” he growled.
My eyes flickered down his body. “Sit back and relax. This will take a bit.”
He leaned forward. “I’m not doing shit you say. I want you to know that--.
I held up my hand. “All you need to know is that I know.”
He clicked his tongue. “You want something.”
“Don’t I always?”
He scoffed. “What is it, then? Spit it out?”
“Are you sure you don’t want to enjoy a nice cup of coffee on a day like this? The air is brisk, even though the sun it--.”
“Cut to the chase before I kill you myself.”
I grinned. “I really hope you try.”
I slipped a small pistol from its holster on my hip and cocked it underneath the table. The tablecloth wafted in the wind, covering up my position. But, I knew Lorenzo heard it. He slowly eased back against his chair and placed both of his hands on the table like the good little attention slut he was.
Then, I started talking.
“I want to speak with you about an alliance.”
Lorenzo blinked. “A what?”
I nodded. “You heard me. An alliance. I think the two of us could work together very well.”
“Says the man aiming his gun at me.”
“Maybe you should learn to not be so hot-headed.”
He smir
ked. “And yet, here you are, begging for a friendship with me.”
I shook my head. “Not a friendship, and not begging.”
“So, you’re demanding an alliance? No wonder you don’t have many allies.”
“I don’t have allies because I don’t need them.”
He smiled, but it didn’t find his eyes. “Then, why come to me and ask for an alliance?”
“Because whether you realize it or not, you and I want the same thing.”
He crossed his arms over his chest. “And what might that be?”
I cocked my head. “Your half-brother out of his position of power.”
His temples throbbed. “All right. Say I give a shit about that. What’s in it for me?”
“Other than a shot at being the head of the family?”
“Yep. Other than that.”
I shrugged. “Name your price.”
He chuckled. “Charlotte.”
I didn’t hesitate. “No.”
He shrugged. “You said you wanted my price. She’s my price.”
“Charlotte isn’t up for negotiation.”
He stood. “Then, I suppose you’re shit out of luck.”
“Don’t forget what I have pointed at you underneath the tablecloth.”
He placed his hands against the top of the table. “If you wanted to shoot me, you would’ve already done so. But, you won’t harm me. Not today. You need this alliance, I can see it in your eyes. So, if you want it? You give me Charlotte.”
I blinked. “No.”
He straightened his back. “That’s too bad, then. Because I could have really given you an advantage over my half-brother.”
As I watched him leave, I knew what I had to do. If he didn’t want to play nice, then I’d have to subdue him into submission. And I had all of the information to do that right at my fingertips. I uncocked my gun and holstered it before standing to my feet. I took out a few fifty euro bills and tossed them onto the table, then headed back to my car. My eyes clocked Lorenzo all the way to his convertible before he jumped inside. And as he sped away, his engine revving louder than Satan himself, Plan B formulated in my mind.
“Where to, Mr. Emiliano?”
Liar : An Enemies to Lovers Mafia Romance (Sold to The Don Book 2) Page 5