Dangerous Beauty: Part Two: A Mafia Princess

by Hardin, Michelle

  Anastacia touched his face lovingly and answered his question with complete honesty. “I don’t know, Angelo. I wish I did, but I don’t like to make predictions about you and me. We’re too unpredictable. I’m too unpredictable, even to myself.”

  “Do you still love him, Anastacia?”

  The question was abrupt, and it kind of caught Anastacia off guard. She knew he was talking about Cesare. She searched for anger in his eyes— or anything that indicated he was judging her for her feelings. This was the reason she hated showing emotion. Anger surged through her. Was he judging her for being human? For trying to move on after he broke her heart? She took her hand from his face and turned away from him. “You wake them up, Angelo. I’m going inside,” she said as she began to walk away.

  Her efforts were halted when Angelo grabbed her arm and pulled her back to him. Anastacia fought off her natural reflexes in an effort not to hurt him. It had been a long time since she had been handled like that, and it had only been by Angelo, Robert, or Cesare. No other man would dare touch her in such a way. She’d kill them where they stood.

  “Ana, it was just a question—”

  “It sounded like a judgment to me. What happened between us never would have happened had you not done what you’d done—”

  “It was okay for Cesare to have a son on the way, but not me?”

  “He wasn’t married, Angelo,” Anastacia said, trying to keep her voice low, “and he told me the truth. He stayed in Italy with me and Abriana until she had Kyle, and for a year after that. We were together that entire time. He didn’t love her— he loved me!”

  “I loved you! You know I had to marry Anya to get my son to America. The entire fucking Luchini family was after me!”

  Anastacia gripped Angelo’s shirt and dragged him further away from Nathan and Carter. Once they were a distance away, she turned to him and pressed her finger against his chest.

  “You think I don’t feel shit? That I’m some cold bitch with no heart? Well, I have a heart, Angelo! And you broke it! You hurt me worse than anyone could have ever hurt me, and I hated you for it. Cesare was there when I needed someone— not in America, like you. I couldn’t come to you because Paolo would have found you then. I was protecting you— even after you hurt me!”

  They stood, staring each other down, until Angelo let out a sigh and pulled her to him, wrapping his arms around her tightly.

  He buried his face in her hair. “You’re right, Ana. I apologize. I’m not judging you, Bella.”

  Anastacia tried to resist, but it was no use. She melted into his embrace and rested her head on his chest. “This is why I said I didn’t know, Angelo. One second we’re okay, and the next, we’re fighting about things we can’t change,” she said.

  “I know. I’m sorry. I’m not judging you. It was my fault— all of it. Just … Just tell me that you still love me, Ana. I need to hear you say it. I don’t care about the rest. Whatever it is between you and Cesare has nothing to do with you and me. I don’t want to know. I just need to know that you still love me— that I am not the only one still in love after fourteen years of being apart.”

  He kissed her forehead, and Anastacia wrapped her arms around his waist. She stood on the tips of her toes, and Angelo leaned forward to kiss her lips. “I love you, Angelo Salerno. I have since I was sixteen years old. You were my first love— how can I not love you? How can I ever stop loving you? I know you think I’m cold and emotionless— and I can be, I know that. But there are very few people I have come across in my life that I can truly say I love. You are one of the few. I hate you half the time, but I do still love you,” she said honestly.

  Angelo leaned forward, capturing Anastacia’s lips in a deep passionate kiss. Once parted, Anastacia smiled at him.

  “One day, they’re going to catch us. We need to be more careful. From now on, we fight in places they are not.”

  Angelo looked at Nathan and Carter, still sleeping peacefully without the slightest idea that he and Anastacia were there. He would have reprimanded his son for not being aware of the changes in his surroundings had this not been his home, had he not kept it properly secure for himself and his wife.

  “Anastacia, your daughter sleeps as hard as you do. An earthquake couldn’t wake her up. She takes her ‘lunchtime naps’ in my office, on my couch that she loves so much. I suppose I should give it to her, but then she wouldn’t come to my office to have lunch with me. I find her to be pleasant company. She makes me take breaks each day— says it will make me age quicker if I work too hard,” Angelo said through a chuckle. “She’s quite an intelligent young woman—”

  Angelo stopped talking as Anastacia abruptly left his embrace. He frowned. What the hell did he do now?

  “Anastacia, what is it?” he asked.

  Anastacia shook her head. “Nothing, Angelo. It’s just the way you …”

  “The way I what?” Angelo egged her on.

  “The way you are with my daughter— the way you love her and the way you’ve helped her. I can tell she’s dealing with the death of her father better because of you. And you were there to walk her down the aisle on her wedding day. It’s just, I can’t—”

  “Can’t what, Ana? I don’t understand. Do you have a problem with my relationship with your daughter?” Angelo asked, hoping it wasn’t an issue. He loved Carterina like she was his own daughter, and now, she was his daughter by marriage. There was no way he could change their relationship— no way he would. He had always wanted to have a daughter after Nathan, but never had the chance to. Now he had one, and he was not letting her go, especially not one like Carterina.

  Anastacia shook her head firmly. “No, it’s not that. I love that you love her. I love that she has you, and you have her. It’s me.” Anastacia ran her hands down the front of her jeans nervously and swallowed.

  Very out of character for her.

  “What about you?”

  “Ever since I reunited with my baby, I’ve been …” Anastacia made a face of disgust “ … feeling more.”

  Angelo wanted to laugh, but he didn’t. He knew if he did, she would storm off, and he didn’t want that. He knew this issue with emotion wasn’t her fault. It was the way her father had raised her; she was both the man’s princess … and his son.

  He continued to edge her on. He wanted her to open up to him, and she was. This was rare, and he didn’t want to screw it up. “Feeling what?” he asked, hiding his urge to laugh at her discomfort with emotion.

  Anastacia moved closer, as if someone was listening in on them. She put her hands in the back pockets of her jeans and looked away from him.

  “Like I want to—” she cleared her throat “— cry. Not like a few manly tears, either. I mean like full blown PMS type shit. The type of crying my father would have kicked my ass for,” she said, a frown on her stunning face.

  Angelo chuckled softly and turned her face toward him. “And you wanted to cry while I was speaking of Carterina?” he asked.

  Anastacia shifted a little. “Yes,” she answered uncomfortably.

  “Ana, there’s nothing wrong with showing emotion, even through tears. The love a parent has for a child is too intense, too strong, to fight the emotions that come along with it. You’re face to face with her now, so it’s going to be a little more difficult to fight it. Your daughter isn’t afraid to show her emotions.” Angelo chuckled at the thought of Carterina and her ‘floodgates’— her term. “She lets the tears flow freely. You have to admire that, really. I think she’d cry and kill a man at the same time. Hell, she had tears in her eyes the first time she stood in my living room when she was three years old.”

  Anastacia laughed softly, and Angelo savored the sweet, musical sound. “Carterina has been a little crybaby since she was born. Her father tried so hard to get her to understand that her tears would get her nowhere, but she didn’t care. She tried to refrain from crying in her teenage years to please her father, but that lasted about a day or two.” Anastacia smi
led and looked at her daughter on the swing. “I really love her, Angelo. More than I’ve ever loved anything or anyone in my whole life. She means everything to me, and I’m so proud of her.”

  Angelo couldn’t keep the smile from his face. If anyone had ever told him he’d one day be sitting in the garden he had once loathed with Anastacia Stone— whom he’d also once loathed— talking about her daughter— who happened to now be his daughter-in-law— and having a good time laughing, smiling, and arguing, he would have said that person was batshit crazy. But here he was… doing exactly that.

  Anastacia elbowed him in the side playfully. “Stop smiling at me like that.”

  “Like what?” he said through a chuckle.

  “You know like what. You Salernos and your beautiful smiles.”

  Angelo pulled her to him and wrapped his arms around her waist, pressing her back against him. “Why do you always call me beautiful? I am a man, Anastacia. You are beautiful. I am incredibly handsome— and masterfully sculpted by the gods,” he joked. Anastacia surprised Angelo and laughed. That was three times now. He’d been counting.

  She turned to him, surprised. “Did the grumpy old man just tell a joke? And a good one, at that?” She shook her head. “Now I’ve seen it all. You’ve changed some after all.”

  Angelo chuckled. “I didn’t get a sense of humor until my son hit his teenage years and became Mr. Fucking Funny Man. He and Kyle are a couple of smart-asses. I had to develop a sense of humor, or I would have beaten their little asses.”

  Anastacia raised an eyebrow. “There a many things you can describe your son as, Angelo, but little is not one of them.”

  Angelo nodded in agreement. “I know. He wouldn’t stop growing after he turned thirteen. I had to double the food in the house and send the personal shopper out two times a week.”

  “You two had your own little bachelor pad going, huh? I know you loved it.”

  Angelo chuckled. “When he wasn’t pissing me off? Yes. We had fun. But it wasn’t always easy. He was rebellious, irresponsible, and had girls sneaking in and out of my damn house. He tried to play the innocent, like it wasn’t him. He blamed Kyle when he stayed over, and Kyle let him do it, knowing that Cesare would probably give him a raise in allowance instead of kicking his ass. I had to reteach him obedience and respect after his mother died.” Angelo cleared his throat and shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “After he found her in that bathroom, he lost it, and our relationship suffered. He blames me, and I blame myself, for what happened. I still feel like shit for feeling the way I did after I found out he had found his mother dead…” Angelo looked away from Anastacia.

  She placed her hand on his cheek and turned him back to face her. “Tell me, Angelo. I want to know,” she said tenderly.

  “I felt relieved, Ana. Not that she was dead, but that my son hadn’t been there when it happened. Had Anya and I not gotten into that fight, she and Nathan would have left that restaurant together.” He looked directly into Anastacia’s eyes. “Would he have killed my son? Tell me, Ana.”

  Anastacia hesitated before she slowly nodded yes.

  “I wouldn’t have been able to survive if I lost my boy, Anastacia, so yes, I was relieved. I felt like shit for it, but I was.”

  Anastacia nodded and rested her chin on Angelo’s shoulder, watching Nathan and Carter still sleeping. “He grew up to be a great man, Angelo. A strong man. I’ve heard about The Russian. He’s fearless, smart, and terrifying when he wants to be. He was born to be a leader. He’s very similar to you. I always told you when you used to work for Paolo’s father that you had a powerful presence like my father, that you were not created to follow but to lead.” She looked at him smugly. “I’m always right, Salerno. I’m glad you know now that I’m smarter than you.” She kissed his cheek and looked deeply into his eyes. “Your son has a very powerful presence, Angelo, just like you. Once he figures that out and truly lives up to his full potential, not even I would want to get on his bad side. You raised Nathan well. He will make you even more proud of him than you already are. And now that he has my daughter with him …” Anastacia shook her head and released a long breath. “Let’s just say that your son chose his bride well. My daughter was groomed to fit into this world. She was taught to survive and taught how to earn respect. ”

  Anastacia admired Nathan’s potential. She couldn’t help it. She lived and breathed this world. She was born into the darkest part of the underworld and never left it, even after her father died. She knew this world better than anybody, and she knew a leader when she saw one. She could spot success and failure. She could tell who would survive in the underworld and who would die quickly. Nathan was a survivor. He would thrive in this world with ease, just like his father. Hell, probably better.

  Anastacia felt Angelo’s hands cup her face, and he turned her to face him.

  “Anastacia, how do you do that?”

  She frowned. “Do what?” she asked, confused.

  “Talking like that is how you convinced me to go off and do something for myself. Don’t you remember? We were supposed to come to America and …”

  Angelo didn’t continue, remembering that things didn’t turn out the way he and Anastacia had wanted them to. They never got to live out the plan they had made together one rainy night in their secret apartment in Italy. Remembering that night with her was almost too painful. They had been so happy, so hopeful. After they’d made the plan and arrangements, they had made love all night long and well into the morning, celebrating their future together. Sadness suddenly overwhelmed Angelo and his chest tightened. What the hell had he done? Why the hell had he gotten so drunk and accepted Ivan’s gift?

  Anastacia gripped his shoulders and shook him. “No, Angelo. I know what you’re thinking, and I want you to stop …”

  “Bu—”

  “No regrets! If you and I had stayed together, if we would have run off to America and gotten married, this would never have happened,” she said, pointing to Carter and Nathan. “They are worth it. All the pain, the separation. Nathan and Carterina are worth it.”

  As if Angelo had been shaken from a daze, he snapped back to reality. Of course, his son was worth it. Angelo couldn’t imagine his life without Nathan. He hadn’t been planned, but Angelo had loved him from the moment he found out he was going to be a father. Anastacia was right. He didn’t know what he was thinking, regretting anything in the past. He would go back and go through all of that— all of it— all over again if at the end he had his boy.

  Anastacia smiled. “I see that you’ve come to your senses. Now say it,” she said.

  Angelo frowned and shook his head. “I will not feed that oversized ego of yours. Sometimes you sound like my son,” Angelo said, rolling his eyes.

  “Why not just say it out loud, Angelo. You’ve already said it in your head,” she said with a knowing smile.

  How the hell did she know that? “You’re right, Ana. They are worth it,” he said, then pressed his lips to hers.

  “Mmm …” Anastacia let out an exaggerated moan against his lips. Angelo chuckled. “I missed Angelo Salerno’s sweet kisses,” she said against his lips. Angelo laughed as she jumped on his lap and playfully kissed him all over his face. This was the Anastacia he remembered from their time together. This was the way she was when it had been just the two of them in the secret apartment they had moved into together just two weeks after meeting. He savored the moment and loosened up. “Come on, grumpy old man. Kiss me.”

  Angelo buried his face in her neck and jumped up from his seat, carrying her in his arms. Anastacia gasped, “Oh my God! How in hell are you so strong?” she whispered. When Angelo pinched her side with one hand, she let out a small squeal. “Angelo! Angelo, no! You know how much I hate it! Don’t!” she pleaded.

  The feared and respected Anastacia Stone had a secret— a well-kept secret. One that could possibly put a little dent in her well-preserved bad-ass reputation. She was ticklish. An understatement, really. She treated
her secret as an illness, an incurable disease. She hated her affliction. She absolutely hated being tickled. But that had never stopped Angelo from shamelessly using it to hear her laugh.

  “Angelo, I swear to you, I will kick your ass if you make me scream, and we wake up Carterina and Nathan.”

  “I already made you scream this morning on the plane, Anastacia. Right now, I’m just going to make you laugh.”

  “You’re an arrogant asshole. I didn’t scream— I just said ‘fuck me’ a little louder than I usually do.”

  Angelo laughed. “Okay, whatever you say, Ana.”

  “Put me down, or we’re never having sex again, Angelo. I swear we won’t.”

  Angelo let out a deep chuckle. “Bullshit. We can’t be around each other and not have sex. We’ve tried and failed more times than I can count, woman.”

  The low grunt coming from the gazebo made both Anastacia and Angelo freeze, and their heads snapped in the direction of the swing.

  Nathan began shifting, pulling Carter close to him as the muscles in his arms flexed. That was a protective move— he knew they weren’t alone.

  “Shit,” Angelo muttered. “He knows somebody’s here. He’s about to wake up.”

  Angelo and Anastacia scrambled to pull themselves together quickly.

  He looked over at Anastacia. “How much you want to bet the smart-ass knows it’s me here, but he threatens to kill me anyway?” he said.

  Anastacia smiled. “He’s your son, Angelo. Of course, he’ll be grumpy when he wakes up.”

  Angelo smiled and rolled his eyes.

  12

  Nathan & Carterina

  Nathan shifted a little in his deep slumber. Something was off.

  He took a deep breath, and the smell of fresh flowers and Carter’s scent greeted his nostrils. Yep, they were still outside, so it wasn’t that. He focused his senses on making sure Carter was still in his arms, and she was, so that wasn’t it, either. What hell was it then? he asked himself, then let out a grunt and pulled Carter closer to him.