Chapter 14 #2
I finally reply to Carmine.
No. Just wanna make sure everything goes smoothly.
I narrow my eyes to the bright screen for a moment.
You’re not getting into any trouble?
Carmine replies a lot quicker than I anticipate. It makes my heart race.
I’m trying to fucking sleep.
I take a second to decide if I trust him, and ultimately my decision is that it doesn’t matter.
I need to get some sleep before my flight.
Eivor is keeping me on my toes, and I can’t let him have any suspicions about my motives.
Not yet. Not until I figure out what and how to do what needs to be done.
Six hours later, I’m on a flight to Thessaly, Greece; then in a discreet car to Volos. It’s pouring down rain, so my chance at sight seeing is lost for now. I’ve been here a handful of times in my life; Volos isn’t exactly the hotspot of Greece. I’ve been to Athens more times than I can count.
I wonder what business Carmine has here, but I can guess. Keeping up allyships is important, and the Dresvanni family has more allies than most, even in the states. Us Fiorelli’s, we’ve got enough allies to count on one hand and that’s about it.
Before, I thought it was something to do with everyone else, now I know it’s about my uncle’s desire for power. He doesn’t want allies; he wants to own everything under the great sun and moon.
Unfortunately for him, the Dresvannis are just one of the bricks of the wall in the way of that.
I get out of the car at the hotel around eleven-thirty in the morning.
I’ve not eaten anything, so I’m fucking starving, but I’m also too nervous to eat anything.
That much I’m sure of. I don’t know why I’m so anxious.
I know that Carmine must understand the situation I’m in.
At least, he has to on some level. He might not be admitting it, but I’m pretty sure if he was in my shoes he would be doing the same thing.
He would have made the same choices that I made.
I tell myself this anyway.
After giving the hotel clerk a brief polite nod, I head up to the third floor of the hotel and to the room number that Carmine texted me earlier this morning. He got here hours before me, which makes me wonder how much sleep he really got.
It doesn’t matter. We’re both here, and we both need to talk.
I knock on the door then straighten the collar of my leather jacket while I’m waiting.
A moment later the door opens partially, then fully, and I see Carmine standing there in his usual business suit casual.
Except he’s not wearing a tie, and his eyes look quite tired.
Bags are collecting underneath those cool orbs, and his expression is quite disinterested.
At least until our eyes meet. Then there’s a glimmer of something excited there.
Something that Carmine seems to shove away as quickly as possible as he motions me inside.
“You weren’t followed?” he asks me.
The door closes and double locks behind me.
“No. No bugs, no trailing,” I confirm. “Eivor thinks I’m here to meet a date.”
Carmine scoffs. “He believed that? You’re sure?”
I raise a brow. “Yes. I even played along with his warnings about casual sex, if you must know,” I inform him.
Carmine’s face goes a little bit pink in the glow of yellow light in the room. It’s cold and dreary outside, so the table and corner standing lamps are on and cast shadows around the room with our every movement.
“Good. The last thing we need is an ambush here. I’ve got business to attend to,” he tells me with a sigh.
“What business?” I ask. “You never told me.”
“None of yours,” he snaps.
I step closer to him. “We need to be honest with each other if we’re gonna do this.”
He eyes me. “Do what? Fuck?”
I shove my hands into the pockets of my jeans. “That, and figure this whole problem out.”
“You’re the one with the problem. Your uncle is the problem. Not mine. I’m willing to strike a deal still. Maybe not as good as it was given your family tried to fucking kill me, but it’s better than killing all of them, isn’t it?”
I stiffen. “Is that the other option?” I ask him. “Either we take a lesser deal or we all die?”
“I didn’t say that,” he insists.
I shake my head and turn away from him, folding my arms. “I thought you understood the situation I’m in.
” I look around the room. Ornate art hangs on the walls.
A painting of a woman lying naked surrounded by grapes and citrus fruit.
Another of a man holding a small child on his shoulders while walking through an apple orchard.
I find these things far less interesting than the bed in the middle of the room.
Queen sized and draped in a lavish golden silk duvet with white pillows sitting just on top at the head of the bed.
I wonder how the sheets would feel against my skin. Against Carmine’s.
It’s strange being in a room like this and not immediately crushing my lips against his.
“From my side, your situation is that your family wants to kill mine. How can I possibly understand that?” he asks in return.
I shake my head. “Like your family doesn’t want to kill mine?”
“We don’t,” he insists. “Killing people isn’t our neutral setting, Soren.
Why do you think we even have these allies in Greece?
We don’t need to kill; we make deals, and when we can’t…
well, sometimes it ends in death when we’re put in danger, when we need to teach a lesson, send a message, but believe it or not, it’s not the only thing we do. ”
“And it’s the only thing my family does,” I mumble.
“I didn’t say—” he starts but I cut him off.
I turn around to look at him again. “It wasn’t a question,” I say.
“It’s true. You Dresvannis got on top by making deals and shooting the messenger occasionally.
Us…the Fiorellis, we got on top by killing every single messenger and their entire family and all their friends.
Eivor doesn’t wanna make a deal, Carm. I don’t think he’ll ever make one. ”
Carmine stares at me for a moment. “Is that what you want for the future of your family?” he asks me.
“No,” I admit. “I don’t want to kill you.
Not really. There’s some sick part of me that wants to mow your entire family down, because that’s how I was raised.
I was raised to take down, not settle, not deal—but Eivor didn’t raise me my entire life.
So, there’s some part of me—buried, at least it used to be—that wants to see us thrive on allyship, not blood and death. ”
Carmine steps closer to me and I watch as he licks his lips. It makes my pulse quicken. I want to take that tongue against mine so badly. Dominate his mouth until he is moaning and whimpering against me. Sounds muffled into my mouth, into the kiss that I’ve been desperate for, for days.
Yet I don’t. I know I can’t. Not yet. Or I shouldn’t.
“Maybe you can be the change,” he said, and then cringed. “Ignore how fucking corny that sounded.”
I shake my head. “How do you expect me to do that?” I ask.
He stares at me for a second. “Kill Eivor.”
I stare back at him. “You’re asking me to kill my uncle?” I blink at him.
“It’s the only logical way to end this. You get rid of Eivor, it puts you in charge. You’ll be able to stop all this nonsense and we can make a deal.”
My heart is pounding in my chest for another reason and my eyes burn.
“Look, he’s not the best man, but I can’t just fucking kill him. He’s my family.”
Carmine sighs. “He’s a menace. He’s causing more problems than he’s solving and if we don’t get this figured out soon, more than him could die. No, they will die.”
“Like your father was a fucking saint,” I blurt out in frustration.
He looks at me taken aback. “Leave him out of this. He’s gone.”
“No. If you’re gonna accuse Eivor of being a menace, let’s talk about your father. I know he did something to you. Your family. I know there’s something you’re keeping from me.”
“I’m not keeping anything from you,” he spits out. “Unlike you, who has lied to me this entire fucking time, Soren. Don’t make this about me.”
“I have to!” I wave an arm. “You’re part of this, Carmine. Whether you like it or not, you’re part of this now. Eivor has his eyes and his guns locked and loaded on you and I’m supposed to pull the trigger but I can’t. I just can’t.”
I see the pain in Carmine’s eyes, and something else. Fear.
“I can’t figure this out with you if you’re going to act like your father was completely innocent.
Like he never did anything wrong in this entire situation while he was alive,” I insist. “He offered a deal to Eivor, and when Eivor went off and declined, he was sure quick to leave and not even fight to combine our families. Not even a little bit. Did he even really want to?”
Carmine’s breath gets heavier. “I don’t want to talk about him.”
I eye him. “Your father? Why? What is so special about your father that you can’t even talk about him?”
Carmine walks across the room to the mini bar and yanks the door open. I don’t realize what’s happening until the last second. I watch as he grabs a small bottle of vodka and starts to open it.
“Hey, no!” I rush over to him and try to grab the bottle, but he’s holding it in a death grip.
“Leave me alone,” he growls.
I grab onto his wrist so he can’t bring the bottle to his face.
“I know his death hit you hard, but you can’t do this. You’ve done so good the last week, Carm,” I tell him. My voice lowers to a whisper just for him.
He shakes his head. “I can’t. I can’t think about him. I can’t.”
“Just put the bottle down. Whatever he did, it’s over. He’s gone. You’re in charge now,” I remind him.
He swallows thickly, and his eyes shift from the bottle to me. “I can’t. I need it. I need to forget.”
My brows furrow. “Carmine. What’s going on? What did he do that’s so bad you need to drink at eleven in the morning just to talk about him?”
“No,” he shakes his head. “I can’t.”
I rip the bottle from his hand and he groans and puts his hands on his head.
“Tell me,” I demand. “I need to know what’s going on.”
His eyes glitter with tears that make my stomach ache. I know what I need to say, a way to manipulate him. It comes out of me before I can even stop it.
“It must not’ve been that bad then,” I snap.
He glares at me. “Fine!” He stomps over to me and his breath hitches in his throat. “You really wanna know? He raped me, Soren.”
Everything around me stops. The rain. Gravity. My own heart and breath. I’m just looking at Carmine as he huffs at me red-faced and teary eyed.
“What?” I ask, not even recognizing my own voice.
“He raped me. Okay? Are you happy now?” Carmine’s voice cracks.
The next thing I know, Carmine storms out of the hotel room, and I’m left standing here unable to move.