Chapter 31
CHAPTER 31
ALISON
T he shadows of the night hide the wicked from the light.
All monsters crawl out, comfortably concealed by the darkness and exuberance of their status, shining their reality to those ready enough to see it. I saw the forest for the trees, but now I was closely looking at each of their branches and leaves.
I could see mine, hiding under a fragile veil of glamor and a white shimmering Philipp Plein . The same one Vincenzo had gifted me the night he was admitted to the hospital back in New York. My soul and heart were bruised and broken, but I was as radiant as a dying star.
I’d woken up alone, in a cold bed that told me Max had left long ago. I would think it was all a dream if not for the dull ache between my legs from being stretched to accommodate his hard cock for hours.
He hadn’t come back either, so I was left to fight against emotions and intrusive thoughts without the adequate weapons as I got ready for my engagement party.
From the top of my five-inch Manolo’s , I stood tall and glorious even if my insides were shredded. I felt gorgeous despite all of this being a little too much for my own choosing.
The dress was a statement in itself. As white as snow, frosted with precious little stones from top to bottom. The purity contrasting with my raven hair, tied into a classy bun at the nape of my neck. Red lips and a thigh-high slit that gave me a natural blush as a consequence of the almost pornographic amount of flesh it showed.
I stole another look at the reflection that the mirror sold as mine, taking a sharp inhale of courage to face my future.
Alison Massimo. That’s who she is.
I left the penthouse with Jimmy escorting me to the car where the Fabs were already waiting. I tried hard not to notice Max’s absence, but it was just as overwhelming as his presence.
In all honesty, I was hoping he would see me. I was hoping he would feel jealous. My thirst for a reaction from him was selfish. My heart was in agony, and affecting him gave me clarity and a rope of hope. It meant nothing in the long run, but my heart didn’t know logic.
Soon enough, while still lost in my thoughts, the huge estate that would soon become my home was coming into view. The tall granite columns and exotic palm trees were lit from below, casting an aura of glamor and unlimited wealth to anyone who dared to look. At the top of the stairs, Vincenzo was waiting for me, welcoming me with a smile as I took his arm.
“You look exquisite, Nessa .” He greeted me, placing a kiss on my cheek before escorting me inside.
He stopped in his tracks, remembering something. He turned to me, holding a black velvet box. Popping it open, Vincenzo took the extravagant ring with a huge, blood-red ruby on it and placed it on my finger. “A true queen, fit to rule beside me. I hope you like it.”
Some crown that was!
My future husband looked as handsome as ever in a black tuxedo and a crisp white shirt. But somehow, today, I felt his edge darker than before. His own beast struggling to be concealed in its preferred environment.
The night belonged to the wicked, after all.
He had poise and elegance in equal quantities as direness and deadly sins. All that under a bespoke Zegna that flashed his beauty to conceal his truth. Vincenzo was a ruthless Mob boss, even though he’d made it his mission to make me forget.
I was never entirely blind to it, or at least I shouldn’t have been because I’ve been a Mafiosi princess since birth. Death, punishment, and uncensored crime were all around me, even as my family tried to conceal it to preserve my innocence.
I’m not blind or dumb. But sometimes, I would only see what I wanted to see, what fit my needs and allowed me peace to sleep at night. I had done it with Vincenzo, too, wishing he would be my one-way ticket to happiness.
The sparkle of danger that lit up his eyes tonight told me it might not be that simple.
Beyond the forest, beyond the trees.
“Would you like to be announced to the crowd or meet them individually?” Theatricals and spotlights were not my cup of tea, and Matt’s words came flooding my mind like a massive tidal wave.
‘Keep your emotions in check, avoid big crowds, and don’t disclose more than necessary about yourself. Anyone who nurtures a grudge towards us would love to sink their teeth into you or use you as leverage.’
“Individually works just fine. ”
My eyes scanned the room, taking in all the guests at once, studying the grounds as instructed before Vincenzo started introducing me to everyone as we spoke for a few minutes with each new couple that approached.
Dons, Capos, Consiglieres, and associates, their wives in their finery, flashing jewels, and expensive dresses. All of them in the business, none of them in his personal life. I wondered about his family and if there was no one left of the true Massimo lineage, or at least a close friend.
The guests could think the same. After all, my family was far across the country. That had been my choice and forced circumstances. Yes, it was my engagement party, but it could just as well be a contract signing in fancy clothes.
Caviar, champagne, and pretentious little finger foods danced their way through the crowd of unknown faces in an atmosphere that smelled of respect or maybe borderlined on wreaking of fear.
I kept myself on high alert, seeing more than just looking, using all my senses to see beyond the masks of grace and glamor.
“Buenas noches, Don Massimo!” Vincenzo abruptly turned to face the man confidently strutting toward us, followed by two goons who walked closely behind him. I looked around and realized that the room was filling with these dark men with shadowed intentions, strategically positioned with equal distances between each other.
I turned my attention back to the man as the crowd opened a free runway for the demi-God to come through. He was almost like Moses parting the Red Sea.
I turned my gaze to Jimmy, giving him a warning glare, wondering yet again where Max had run off to, quickly scanning the room to find him but couldn’t. He was nowhere to be found .
I couldn’t help but notice the way this stranger held himself, as if he owned this place and everyone in it. He was tall and broad. His muscled physique was not lost under the layers of his slick and slender black suit, a second skin that fit him like male lingerie.
He was obscenely handsome, with lips as plump as fluffed feather pillows. His dark beard was trimmed to perfection, shading his complexion in darker shades of murk.
He studied me over with a look that both disarmed me and set off all the red flags, alarms, and smoke signals in my brain, warning me of lurking danger and the stench of blood. It was clear as day he was a man who took what he wanted if it wasn’t handed to him on a silver platter. I just hope I wasn’t the one on the menu.
I knew very little about the Mafia’s inner circle – or outer, for that matter – but I could somehow sense this man was different. He wasn’t one of us. Not a made man, not a man of honor. He was different.
Deadlier.
“What the hell are you doing here, Diego?” My always calm, soon-to-be husband hissed once the man was close enough to hear, showing me a huge crack in his steel armor as the chilled man casually grabbed a champagne flute. This was the same man who had interrupted our dinner the other night. His visit was something Vincenzo didn’t see coming – that was most certainly a first.
“Apparently my invitation got lost in the mail. How cliché. I refuse to believe you wouldn’t invite your partner to your engagement party. I came to celebrate your union and wish you a happy married life. Care to do the honors of introducing your fiancée?” Those smoke signals just got darker, no white smoke of agreement here.
“I have a mouth, I can introduce myself.” I stood taller and extended my hand for a handshake. “Alison Dornier, and you are?”
He took my hand and brought it to his lips, placing a kiss on my skin, fake grace masking his true self.
“Delighted to meet you.” He replied, dismissing my question.
I saw the way Vincenzo looked at me when I used my real last name, hiding my Battaglia card. And apparently, we were both playing the same game because this Diego guy didn’t grace me with an answer.
“What beautiful leverage, Vincenzo. I can’t tell you how much I love finding ways to keep your snobby feet on the ground.” He smiled at me, almost blinding me with his straight white teeth and heavenly smirk, all of it fabricated in the darkest pits of purgatory.
His eyes gave away the hell flaring under the cold skin and collected manner, and I could see his soul had been long sold to the devil, and he had absolutely no apologies for it.
The threat was laid, no sugar coats or double meanings.
Max’s words came rushing through my mind, his piercing blue eyes pleading for me to listen, just this once.
Beyond the forest, beyond the trees.
“I’m sure you don’t mind if I take her away for a dance, right Vincenzo?” I sensed his dare in the shape of a question as he extended his hand, waiting for me to take it, a cold shiver running down my spine.
“Are you okay with that, Nessa ?” I just nodded and placed my hand in Diego’s, following him to the dance floor.
He pulled me to him with a force that made me stumble into his hard chest. A tight grip on my hand, with a tighter one around my body.
“So, Alison Dornier… Pretty. Too pretty. Sugar Daddy?”
“Love at first sight!” I wittily replied as he pulled me further into him, sliding his hand to the small of my back, slowly swaying me to the sound of the band in contrast. His deep chuckle resounded in my ears, both menacing and alluring.
“Touché! Cute nickname he gave you, Nessa … short for lioness, I believe. You do know the hunt isn’t yours, right? You’re the prey, despite whatever illusion he might have given you.”
“And you’ll be the one to enlighten me?”
“Only time will tell. Do you know what your future husband does for a living?”
“Of course I do. He owns hotels and casinos.” I played dumb. Telling him I knew about his role in the Mafia was exposing my neck for him to snap. I’d only know if I was as deeply buried in the life as Vincenzo was, and I wasn’t Alison Massimo yet. If I weren’t a mafia princess myself, I’d be oblivious, so I faked ignorance.
“Oh, yes. My laundromats.” I looked at him questionably, not letting the expression fade as I realized what he was saying.
“You mentioned being his partner. What do you do for a living?” My phone started buzzing in my clutch, interrupting us. I took my hand away from his while still dancing to reach over his neck and glance at the caller ID.
Max!
Great fucking timing, as always. I rejected it, and not even a second later, it was ringing again. I turned it off and placed my hand back in Diego’s.
“Any problems?”
“No, just my mother. Where were we? Oh, your current employment situation.” I smiled, melting my anger into curiosity forcefully.
“Import, export. ”
“Right. What kind of goods?”
“Consumables. Sometimes hardware. What about you?” Drugs and guns. He made it seem like he was talking about office supplies, but I knew better than to be fooled by his choice of words. A smooth reply for a smoother criminal.
“Stuck as a secretary in an architectural firm.” Half lie, half truth. “Here I am, sharing things with a man who didn’t even tell me his name.” I saw a sharp movement behind Diego, his men on higher alert than before. “Who are these dangerous-looking men around the hall? I didn’t see them earlier.” I faked astonishment and a hint of fear, tightening my fingers around his hand and stepping further into his hold. “Are they… bodyguards?”
“ Sicarios, Querida. Men who ensure my safety and impose my rules.” Fuck! He was a cartel leader. That I got, but still no name.
Before I could push for more, Vincenzo cut in, sharply glaring at my dance partner while Diego displayed nothing but a cunning smirk of victory.
“Alcaráz. Diego Alcaráz.” He said before leaving, his gaze lingering on Vincenzo as a silent warning. “I get that our deal is on, Massimo?”
“I’ll send the details tomorrow, as agreed.” There was masked anger under Vincenzo’s tone. He was being cornered, and he clearly didn’t care for the sentiment. Was I being used as leverage, as Diego implied? Vincenzo wouldn’t care for my safety that much. At least, not enough to have him as unnerved as he was at the moment.
“Miss Dornier,” Diego placed a kiss on the back of my hand before turning around and leaving the hall. All his men silently following suit.
There was a breath of relief trapped in my lungs, but I knew better than to let go of it just yet. Danger still lingered in the air, and it was clear that I was somehow under the range of fire.
“Well, he was delightful,” I blurted, my words drenched in irony.
Good for the eyes, bad for the soul, that was Diego Alcaráz.
I had the what, the who, and the where. It was like I was playing a real-life game of Clue, but the fault wasn’t to fall on Colonel Mustard this time.
The what; laundered drug money, the where; at Vincenzo’s hotel and casinos, the who; freaking drug Cartel, and I’m guessing Diego Alcaráz is their equivalent of a Don. I just couldn’t figure out the why. Why would Vincenzo do this? He seemed trapped and cornered somehow.
Focus, Alison! Beyond the forest, beyond the trees.
“Long story there.”
“The night is young. I still have time before my carriage turns into a pumpkin.” I smiled, hoping he would concede.
His eyes softened a little, a small smile replacing the previous thin line that revealed his discomfort with the situation and, obviously, my question.
“Our families have had pretty bad blood between us for a while now,” He said, showing me a scar running down his neck. I couldn’t stop my fingers from tracing it. From his jaw to the tip of his collarbone, there was a white line of healed flesh.
“How did this happen?”
“Diego’s father tried to kill me. He almost succeeded, too. But my brother managed to pull him off of me and stabbed him to death. It’s not something a son can take lightly.”
“I can only imagine. So your brother–”
“He’s not here anymore.” He cut me off, a hint of anger in his otherwise calm voice. I let his words sink in, giving him a look of compassion and understanding, leaving it at that. But I couldn’t help but wonder what he meant by ‘not here anymore.’ Did he die?
Other than Diego, the night had gone by smoothly. No problems or euphoria, falling a little short of what a real celebration should be. I felt like a prize being displayed to the crowd, but that was exactly what I was. His winnings in a war of give and take.
As I walked back into the hotel, I found myself gravitating towards the casino. I could see the shimmering luxury and glamor fade as the stench of dirty money filled my nose. All the glint and opulence melting into puddles of sticky blood and shady honor.
Drug money.
For me, one of the worst. The Mafia’s business was always dirty, but never as decadent. Even we had standards.
Now I saw the forest, the trees, and the leaves. I needed to look deeper and reach those branches.
I played a hand at the roulettes, not minding if I won or lost. Nothing but a curiosity I was hoping wouldn’t kill the cat.
“Alison!” I heard Max’s voice calling out from behind me, but I didn’t even care to turn around. “Are you okay?”
Max pulled me away from the table into a corner of the dimly lit room. He practically tapped me down once we were safely tucked into the shadows. Twisting and turning my body, looking for injuries before setting his hands on my arms to make me face him once he found none.
“Are you done?” I said, my tone flat and unaffected while Max was red with fury.
“Why didn’t you answer your fucking phone?”
“It would have been rude.”
“Rude? Rude?” He repeated in disbelief. “Do you have any idea who that man is? Do you have any idea what he could have done to you if–”
I tossed him the chip I still had in my hand, cutting him off. I didn’t need a damn lecture from someone who didn’t care to show up as he was supposed to. So much for being worried about my safety.
“I can’t guarantee it’s clean or an easy win.” A cold and low hiss, matching his words to me in that hospital hall. Thankfully it was enough for him to shut up. “Now, for once, do as you’re told and stay the hell away from me.”
The shadows of this night brought the wicked into my light.
Vincenzo, Max… There was a chip on their shoulders, and I needed to find out why.