by Merikan,Miss
“Hello,” I said and moved my legs lower so that my body would blur under the water. “Did you have a good day?”
Vincenzo crouched at the edge of the pool, and I had to look up into his face to avoid facing his crotch. “It’s got good now. We should go skinny dipping some time.”
I made sure my laugh didn’t sound too fake. “Oh, no. It’s not something I do.”
“Why? You afraid to catch seaweed in your pussy?” Vincenzo laughed out loud. “My dick could protect it.”
I was stunned for a moment, so much so that his words didn’t outright disgust me. Did he believe this idea was somehow flirty? Sexy? It was as if he had the mind of a fourteen year old who couldn’t help but mask his arousal with stupid jokes.
“I just don’t do that,” I said, making sure I wasn’t too close to him, yet not far away enough for him to be offended. Navigating his fragile ego was a minefield.
“Why not? You will when you’re my wife.” Vincenzo’s gaze on my body became somehow even stickier than before, and no amount of chlorinated water could wash it off. He really believed that would happen. Considering how often he’d approached me with unwanted attention, maybe the perspective of being my husband/master was the only thing keeping him from outright assaulting me.
I composed myself and shrugged. I told myself I would be fine as long as he didn’t molest me physically, but his scrutiny was uncomfortable in its own right. “You would have to convince me.”
“Oh, I have something to convince you, baby girl.” He snorted and cupped his dick through his pants. I wished I hadn’t had lunch, because it was rising to my throat. And yet, the worst thing was that he wasn’t just a clown. He could be dangerous, or he’d never have been made an underboss of a family that was thriving when it came to business.
“I’m a lady. I think you’ll need to try a gentler approach,” I said with a straight face, even though keeping it up would have made me sweat if I weren’t immersed in water.
“I like to see you blush like that.” Vincenzo reached out and brushed his thumb over my nose.
My body acted immediately, and I swam slightly farther away, but before he could jump after me to put me in my place, Santo’s tall form appeared at the entrance.
“My father called.”
I decided to pretend nothing happened and swam along the pool, toward the little metal ladder where I could climb out of the water. With Santo here, Vincenzo would not follow me to the female locker room. Only now when the danger was over was my skin tingly with discomfort.
Emilio, Vincenzo’s bodyguard and buddy watched me as I swam, but got up as soon as Santo approached him.
“They’ve been found. One of our associates put a tracker on them,” Santo said, not even sparing me a glance. “Father had to act fast, so he put out a message to one of our on-call agents nearby, but we need to go in case something goes wrong. If we’re close, we will be able to track them ourselves.”
Vincenzo’s smile widened as if he were the poor man’s Joker, and he stepped closer as I was climbing out of the pool, grabbed my arm and pulled me out by force. His sudden proximity made me recoil, but he still forced me against him, uncaring that his clothes would get wet.
“We’ll see what you’re worth to Seth. If he has any balls left, you’ll be a sufficient bargaining chip.” Vincenzo’s hot breath was on my cheek and I wanted to disappear, which seemed close to impossible with his fingers painfully digging into my arm.
Santo came a few steps closer, but there was no way for him to act on my behalf without making everyone suspicious. “I know she’s a hot piece of ass, but we need to go.” He said and reached out for me as if I were an item he would graciously deal with so that his boss was free to do his manly job.
Vincenzo gave Santo a nod, and pushed me right into Santo’s arms. And yet I couldn’t act as if I wanted to be there, and avoided looking at Santo to play that up.
“Please, just let me change,” I said, glancing up at Vincenzo, as if my life depended on him only. “I’ll be very quick.”
Santo groaned and rolled his eyes. “I’ll get her sorted out, and we’ll be right behind you. Call Switchboard for live updates on the tracker.” He pulled me roughly by the arm, as if dealing with me was the worst of chores.
It didn’t take long for me to change into jeans and a black long-sleeve worn under a fluffy hoodie. My hair was still wet, and I had no makeup on, but I would be ready to go as soon as I grabbed my unpacked luggage from the room upstairs. Despite the necessity to soon reunite with Vincenzo and his entourage, I was excited about being alone in the car with Santo.
Checking out of the hotel couldn’t have taken more than ten minutes, and I was already buckling up for the ride in the car.
Santo took his place in the driver’s seat and slammed the door shut. “Are you insane?” he hissed at me as soon as we were alone, and I was so taken aback by the outburst, I didn’t know what to say at first. He reached into the glove compartment and shoved a wooly hat at me. “It’s freezing, and your hair is wet!”
I blinked, only to beam at him and pull on the hat. It was adorable that he cared so much about my comfort. “You’re acting like my grandmom.”
Santo grumbled something and started the car, leaving the parking lot with a screech of tires. “It’s only reasonable. Anyway, when push comes to shove, stay close to me. I don’t even know if we will get to them. Acerbi’s been in situations like this one many times, and he always slipped through the cracks like oil. But my father said he’s sure this is a good lead.”
I swallowed, looking at Santo’s handsome profile. Never before had I wanted Seth to disappear as much as I did now. Did that make me a bad person? “What happens if they escape again?”
Santo’s grip tightened on the steering wheel. “I don’t even know anymore. It feels like we’re hunting ghosts. Usually, after this much time, if the person we’re tracking isn’t dead, the bounty for them is still out there, but resources aren’t stretched this much. On top of that…” Santo’s features hardened, “Federico wants Domenico alive. I’m missing a vital piece of the puzzle, and I’m not liking it at all.”
I was surprised by how honest he was. Information like this wasn’t usually shared with the women. It was men’s business, and that was that. But Santo was different. He was real with me, sharing a work-related issue that was troubling him. As if I wasn’t just a pretty girl to him, but someone he considered smart enough not to pass his secrets any further.
I reached out and closed my hand over his thigh to show my support. “You told me he’s one of your best men. He is loyal. Maybe your father thinks he’d be an asset.”
We were speeding to catch up with Vincenzo and his men, and I watched the vast retail park peppered with restaurants standing in the middle of car parks. The urban planning on this side of the pond was so completely unfamiliar to me that I found myself watching the landscape of grass, concrete, and steel.
“Maybe. The question is, who is he loyal to? For all I know, my father might have some plan even I don’t know about.” Santo shook his head. “I need to make sure they don’t kill Seth, and that will be my priority, right after keeping you alive.”
I gave him a soft smile, even though the perspective of being back with the husband who had spent less than a total of twenty-four hours in my presence was making me feel ill. No matter how happy I was with Santo, there was an expiry date on our relationship. It could only exist in a little bubble, away from prying eyes.
I couldn’t help but feel a pang of jealousy for Seth. His bodyguard, who’d scared me on the day I arrived at the Villani house, stood by him no matter what. He’d rejected his organization in the name of staying true to his loyalties. As unpleasant as the man seemed, his conduct had been admirable.
The trip soon became a long and weird cocktail of boring yet tense. Santo wouldn’t let me put on the radio, claiming he needed to be aware of our surroundings, and we just drove on and on and on. In the meantime, we, o
r rather Santo, was called by his father and informed that the associate sent after the two fugitives had been shot.
The tracker was still on their car though, so we were following that trail. Despite secretly rooting for Seth to run away, my mood dropped after that call. It reminded me of Santo risking his life and health every time he worked, possibly about to be in the line of fire again once we caught up. What if his good intentions of keeping Seth safe backfired, and he got shot on the spot? Just imagining him bleeding and lifeless was torture, and I curled up in the seat, resting my bare heels on the edge and watching the trees rush by past the country road we followed now.
“Just don’t take too much risk.”
Santo raised his eyebrows. “How much risk is too much risk?”
My lip trembled. “Don’t risk too much just to get him back. I don’t like it when you’re away and I don’t know what you’re doing.”
Santo glanced at me. “Don’t make that face. I will have to disappear sometimes. I’m already telling you more than I should.”
“Yes, but there’s more of them. If you try to protect Seth, it might all turn on you, and I don’t want anything to happen to you.”
Santo sighed and stroked the back of my head. “This time, I can’t promise you not to die.”
I clenched my teeth, stopping to breathe, but my eyes welled up, and I didn’t even bother to stop the tears from flowing. “It wouldn’t be worth it if you died.”
“It would be if it meant you were safe,” his voice turned into a whisper, and I was hit by how honest his words sounded. Here I was, thinking that Santo was fine with sharing me with Seth, maybe having another woman of his own in the future, and now he was saying he would die for me?
I wiped my eyes with my sleeve, but the tears wouldn’t stop falling. My heart weighed a ton and yet stung as if it were about to crack open. “Seth wouldn’t protect me like you do. I need you here.”
But Santo didn’t answer, just watched the road in front of us, and I pressed my lips shut when I noticed two black vehicles parked ahead.
As we approached, I recognized Vincenzo as one of the men standing in the grass right off the asphalt, and Santo pulled over to join them.
He left the car, rushing to Vincenzo, but my eyes instantly followed Paco, another bald favorite of Vincenzo’s, treading through the bushes. My heart trembled when I realized they might have already gotten rid of Seth and Acerbi, and it was their bodies that now needed to be retrieved. I quickly wiped my eyes again but stayed in the car as Santo joined the other men at the side of the empty road.
I watched him, taller than the rest of them, but the weight of Santo’s conviction that he needed to risk his own life to save me wouldn’t leave my mind. I wanted to crawl under the dashboard so that no one would see me cry.
Even with the doors and windows closed, I could hear Vincenzo’s yelling.
“Fucking Acerbi! I can’t believe this shit! We’ve come all this way for nothing!” Vincenzo shook something at Santo before throwing it back in the bushes. It had to be the tracker that they’d so religiously followed, but if it was here, then Seth has gotten away again. “Do Federico’s people even know what they’re doing?”
Santo’s face expressed nothing but minor regret, a stoic mask of someone who wanted to aid Vincenzo, not compete with him. He wore it to please his new boss, and I hated seeing it every time. Santo was so much better than that worm of a man. If it had been up to me, I wouldn’t even let Vincenzo polish Santo’s shoes.
“I’m sure he—”
But Vincenzo shoved at Santo’s chest. A stocky mongrel barking at a Doberman. “They’re fuckups! We’ve been here for over a month! This is bullshit!”
Santo took the slight, calm as ever. “I’m sure my father has good reason to want Acerbi alive. He’s your consigliere, and he’s been in that position for a long time now. You should trust his judgment.”
Vincenzo was heaving, and he kicked his own car. “And I’m the new Don! Fuck this bullshit. If there is no progress next week, we are going back home, and I am claiming my prize.” He looked straight into my eyes, and it caught me like a deer in the headlights.
I clenched my hands on the seatbelt and couldn’t bring myself to smile at him. There was something of my father in him, but meaner, less cultured, and--as all dumb people--he was convinced of his own superiority. My temples pulsed with alarm, and I looked down, hoping he’d forget about me and get back into his car.
His prize. That was what this was all about? He wanted to claim all that had been denied him in favor of Seth?
My heart thudded in my chest when he approached our car and slammed his hand against the hood. “That’s right, you eavesdropping bitch! I’m sick of your fucking cockteasing.”
Santo took a few steps closer, and a million scenarios in which he attacked Vincenzo and got shot for it by the goons, rolled in front of my eyes.
I pressed my lips shut, looking into at Vincenzo as calmly as I could, even though my neck and face were on fire. I wanted him gone. Why couldn’t he just die?
If there was one person I ever truly wished dead, it was Vincenzo Villani.
Santo nudged at Vincenzo’s elbow, only to be shoved back with a huff. It made me boil to see him treated that way when I knew he could take on Vincenzo if he wanted. I could only imagine the molten lava rising inside of Santo.
“Let’s find a new hotel and cool off. Then we can talk to my father,” Santo said patiently.
Vincenzo punched the hood again, making me stiffen further. “Oh, fuck Federico! The old goat is losing his sense of smell if those two worms keep evading his people. How useless must that hired man have been if Seth took him down? This is ridiculous! Are you two conspiring against me?” he growled, grabbing the front of Santo’s shirt.
I barely contained a shriek, and the two goons approached them in silence, but was it to back up their boss or diffuse the situation if needed?
Santo raised his hands, not even trying to defend himself. “I am loyal, and a man of honor. You know that. You also know I couldn’t stomach the thought of Seth leading this Family. I want him dead just as much as you do.”
His lies were so convincing that for a second I actually believed them.
Vincenzo took a moment to think this through and eventually let go of Santo, adjusting the shirt he’d crumpled. “Good. Better don’t forget it. I’ll reward those who are loyal to me,” he said, taking a step toward his henchmen.
Santo nodded at him and rearranged his tie. “Lead the way,” he said, already turning to our car.
Vincenzo smirked with self-satisfaction. “Good man,” he said and pursed his lips in a mock-kiss while looking at me, before walking over to the other vehicle. My body remained tense as hardened leather until they drove off.
Santo sat in the driver’s seat, and I worried the volcano inside of him was about to blow. But he grabbed the steering wheel and started the car without a word.
I watched him in silence, my heart thudding so fast I was getting lightheaded.
“Are you okay?” he asked after a good quarter of an hour, but he didn’t even look my way.
Air went out of me, and I slumped against the backrest in relief that he wouldn’t unload his anger on me. I always expected men to do just that, even though Santo never had. “I think so,” I said, not able to bring myself to tell him an outright lie and say ‘fine’. Vincenzo was becoming more aggressive each day, as if the brakes of his temper were becoming less functional the longer he knew me.
“You don’t look okay. You’re as pale as if you were about to faint. Do you want some water?”
I shook my head and leaned against the door. “He scares me,” I admitted, opening and closing one of my hands to relax its fine muscles.
“He’s a piece of shit. I just need to make sure there’s another woman in his proximity, and he will back off.”
I looked at the road ahead, now only visible in the glow of the headlights, rushing out of the darkness
and taking us somewhere as unsafe as the previous hotel. “I think he’s doing this because he’s jealous of Seth. He wants to take over all that Seth got from their father.”
“He will not have you,” Santo said through clenched teeth.
“He wants to hurt someone, and that someone might be me. Just because I am his brother’s wife,” I said, my feelings somewhat dulled after the earlier confrontation. “He thinks the world should belong to him.”
“He is wrong. And he needs to find himself another target.”
I smiled, but there was no happiness behind it. “Someone more defenseless than me? That’s what he enjoys most, isn’t it? Picking on the weakest.”
Santo took a deep breath. “He’s playing with fire. My patience with him is running thin.”
I looked at him, and the threat behind his words stabbed through my ribs, radiating dull pain all over. “If something happens to you because of me, I’m never going to forgive myself.”
Santo grabbed my hand a little too hard, but I didn’t mind. I wanted to melt into him. “None of this is your fault. You have to remember that. You always did as you were told.”
I shuddered, squeezing his hand back. “That’s not true. I bring bad luck to people whenever I don’t listen. I can’t have you on my conscience too,” I whimpered.
“Lucrezia, who could you have possibly hurt? People make their own choices.” The way he massaged my hand with his thumb couldn’t keep my throat from clenching.
I closed my eyes, but I opened them right back when all I saw behind my eyelids was blood on white sheets. “My mom. I did a bad thing, and she died.”
Santo glanced at me, and he must have hit the brakes, because the car slowed down, and we eventually stopped at the side of the road. “What?”
I unbuckled my seatbelt and opened the door to breathe in the cool air. It was so eerily quiet out here, with just the wind rustling the trees nearby, but the peaceful nature did nothing to soothe my heart, which hurt as if something tore it apart yet again. I swallowed and finally dared to look back at Santo, who waited in silence for me to say something.