Chapter 18
Catalina
My sister’s name appeared on the screen. “Camila,” I said, answering her call.
“I miss you,” she said.
Hearing her voice brought tears to my eyes. “I miss you too. Maybe you could come visit me before classes start.”
“I’d love that. I’m bored here without you.”
“You won’t be once you get going with classes at SDSU. How many credit hours are you taking?”
Her tone lightened. “I’m registered for sixteen.”
We went on talking about her classes. Her enthusiasm emanated through her words. Camila had always been a good student. We both were. Em could have been if he’d been allowed to go to college. Instead, he’s working for Papá.
“Enough about me,” Camila said. “Other than missing me terribly, how are you?”
Leaning back on the chaise, I spun the stem of the wine glass as I spoke. “I’m honestly good.”
“What’s Dario like?”
A smile curled my lips that a week ago I couldn’t even imagine. “He’s caring and protective.”
“That doesn’t sound like you’re describing Kansas City’s future capo.”
I thought about what Contessa had said. “Is it bad that I see him for what he is when he’s with me, not what he does when he’s away?”
“I guess not,” she replied. “We’ve been doing it all of our lives with Papá and Uncle Nicolas and Uncle Gerardo, now even with Em and Nick.”
“I think that makes it easier. Contrary to what Em said, I see a lot of similarities between the famiglia and cartel.” I remembered Mireya. “Have you heard anything about another marriage?”
“Yours just happened. Who’s next?”
“It was a rumor.” I didn’t want to worry my sister if Uncle Nicolas’s negotiations went astray.
“Did Dario say something?” Her volume rose. “Oh God. Patron isn’t sending someone else to the Mafia, is he? Or is this about Uncle Gerardo?”
“Camila,” I said soothingly. “Neither to my knowledge. I shouldn’t have mentioned it. And no, it wasn’t from Dario.”
My sister lowered her voice. “I overheard Papá, Uncle Nick, and Uncle Gerardo on the flight home.”
My smile returned. Camila always had a talent for eavesdropping.
She went on, “They had to do damage control with Patron.”
“What happened?”
“I’ve been wanting to talk to someone about it. I guess Aléjandro got into a fight after the reception.”
“I didn’t hear about that. Was the fight with someone from the famiglia?”
“I don’t know. Patron was already upset that Ana and Elizondro were at the wedding. He wanted to know who invited them.”
Shit.
My smile faded. “I honestly don’t know. They weren’t on the list when I saw it.” Or when Dario’s famiglia approved it.
“Papá said he tried to calm Patron down about the Herreras, saying you and Ana were close in high school.”
“I went to see her today,” I said, though I was feeling guiltier about it by the minute.
“Ana? She’s still in Kansas City?”
“Yeah. She emailed me. I don’t know anyone else here, so I thought visiting her would be a good thing.”
“I bet Patron would be pissed if he found out. I didn’t realize the bad blood there.”
“I don’t think I did either. Ana didn’t mention it.”
We talked for a few more minutes. By the time we disconnected our call, my third glass of wine was gone, and I was feeling tired. I took the glass to the kitchen. The hum of the dishwasher filled the room. The counters were clean and even the range top shone. Setting the glass down in the sink, I remembered Dario mentioning the wine cellar.
The idea of a cellar high in the Kansas City skyline made me smile. I wasn’t in the mood for more wine, but I wouldn’t mind seeing the selection we had. Around a corner near the pantry was a second door. I hadn’t paid much attention to it in the past.
I looked around, wondering if Contessa was in her suite. Going to the door, I turned the handle—or I tried. The door was locked.
Why would Dario need to lock the door? The entire apartment was safe, only accessible from the elevator and then only if someone had the magic card for the sensor.
I felt around the top of the doorframe but didn’t find a key. Shaking my head, I made my way up to our suite.
I met Dario in the hallway. “There you are. I need to check on something. I shouldn’t be too late.”
He’s leaving.
“Do you have a minute?”
Dario nodded and followed me to our suite. Once we were inside, I turned to face him. “I just spoke to Camila. She said she overheard Papá and our uncles talking on the plane back to California.” I had Dario’s attention. “According to what she heard, Patron was also upset about the Herreras’ attendance at the wedding.” I wrung my hands. “I don’t know if that’s significant, but I thought you should know.”
Dario nodded. “Thank you. I didn’t marry you so you would spy for me.”
My chest felt heavy. “I feel like I’m in a tough place. I want us to work and the alliance. I don’t want a war to break out between the cartel and the famiglia with us in the middle.”
“Did she say anything else?”
A smile came to my lips. “Not spying, right?”
“Just curious.”
“Patron’s son Aléjandro was in a fight after the reception. Did you hear anything about that?”
His eyebrows danced. “I was busy after the reception.”
The glint in his dark eyes made my body react. “I just wondered if it was with someone in the famiglia. Maybe I should talk to my father.”
“I heard about it,” Dario admitted. “It wasn’t a fight. Dante could give you the details.”
My eyes opened wide. “Dante got in a fight with Aléjandro?”
“No,” he scoffed. “If there had been a fight, Aléjandro Roríguez would be dead. Dante reminded him that he was a visitor in our city and when in our city, he’s to abide by our rules.”
I smirked. “Honestly, I’m not upset that someone gave Aléjandro a bit of his own. He’s been a cocky bastard for as long as I can remember.” My assessment earned me a scoff from Dario. “Hopefully, the Herreras will go back to Mexico sooner rather than later.”
“I received confirmation from the famiglia in New York that Elizondro was in the city today. They’re keeping an eye on him.” Dario reached for my hand. “Thank you for telling me about Jorge. I’ll reach out to him and let him know we weren’t expecting the Herreras’ presence.”
“And if he asks you about his son?”
“He won’t.”
“You’re sure?”
“I’m sure some loud-mouthed drug lord wannabe won’t bring down this alliance. Jorge needs us more than we need him.”
He leaned closer, brushing his lips over my cheek. “Don’t wait up.”
“There’s something else I want to talk to you about, but I don’t want to do it when you’re on the way out the door.”
He tilted his head.
“Never mind. When you get home, you can wake me.”
“To talk?”
Warmth filled my cheeks as I shook my head.
After Dario left, I went into our bathroom. At the far end of the room was a large tub, the size of a small hot tub, big enough to fit two. There were even pillows with lumbar support catty-corner at each end, and the interior was lined with air jets. I began to play with the controls. Small waterfalls came to life, filling the depths with cascading water. After adjusting the temperature, I piled my hair on top of my head and stripped out of my clothes, leaving my hosiery, panties, bra, and dress in a pile on the tile floor.
Within the alcove in the wall were small candles and a basket containing bath bombs. A smile came to my lips as I investigated the different fragrances. Surely Dario didn’t spend his nights soaking in a bath. As I added a lavender and hemp bath bomb to the water, I had the feeling I had Contessa to thank for these amenities.
Once the tub was filled, I lit the candles, turned on the tub’s LED lighting, and turned off the bright overhead and vanity lights. My skin quickly pinkened as I stepped into the hot water, the level within rising. I hit the button activating the jets as soothing bubbles massaged my body.
With my back toward the door, I lay facing the windows. The sky beyond the panes was a kaleidoscope of colors. Reds, oranges, and pinks swirled with purples and blues as twilight worked to darken the night and replace the sunset with stars. Darkness prevailed as my fingertips began to wrinkle.
Wearing a mint-green satin nightgown, I settled into bed and resumed the book I’d begun the night before. I hadn’t meant to stay awake until Dario returned. It was that as one more chapter turned into many more chapters, I was so caught up in the story that I lost track of time.
I scanned my husband as he entered the room. He smiled a tired grin. His hair was mussed as if he’d run his fingers through it, and he was wearing the same suit as when he left.
“You’re awake?”
I laid the book on the bedside stand and my gaze met his. “I hadn’t planned to be. I kept telling myself, just one more chapter. Did things work out?”
Dario took off his suit coat and began to remove his multiple holsters. “I suppose you could say that.”
This probably wasn’t the right time, but it seemed like I wouldn’t have many opportunities throughout the day and night to have Dario’s full attention. “Will you tell me about Josie?”
He spun my direction, looking as if I’d just slapped him. “Why would you ask about her?”
I smoothed the blankets over my legs. “Because I’m your wife, and I want to understand you better. I don’t care that you loved someone else. I’m sorry you lost her.”
Dario pressed his lips together, the muscles of his jaw pulling tight.
“Contessa mentioned the theater room wasn’t constructed for you. I’m assuming it was for her.”
“It wasn’t,” he said briskly.
“Did you ever consider marrying her?”
He shook his head. “Catalina, this isn’t a conversation I’m ready to have with you. I’m not sure I’ll ever be ready.”
Sighing, I nodded. “When you’re ready, I’ll listen.”
A few minutes later, he asked, “How did you find out about her? I made sure her things were gone before you arrived.”
I looked over at the book I’d been reading and back to Dario. It didn’t have her name on it, but by process of elimination, I figured it had been hers. “Mia mentioned her at my shower.” I figured it was safer to throw her under the bus than Armando or Contessa.
Dario mumbled under his breath.
“She gave me a rather skimpy nightgown and told me that she had it on good authority that you like confident women. She said wearing that would be confident. When I said I didn’t know you well or what kind of women you liked, she said something about there being women before and after Josie.”
Exhaling, Dario removed his cuff links and pulled his shirt tails from his pants. As he unbuttoned the front, he asked, “Is that why you assumed I was with another woman if I showered?”
“Part of it,” I answered honestly. “To hear some people talk, that’s what I should expect. I know we didn’t marry for love. Maybe I’d feel better if I knew you’d shared that with someone. Even if it isn’t me.”
Shrugging the shirt from his shoulders, Dario closed his eyes. When they opened, darkness swirled within the brown. With his chest now bare, he sat on the edge of the bed, near my legs. The spicy scent of his cologne lingered on his skin. Having him this close with the lights on, I resisted the urge to reach out and run my fingers over the scars on his chest.
Dario looked down as if he too was noticing the scars. His eyes came back to mine. “Our marriage is what it is. I don’t think a man like me is capable of love. It isn’t about you. It’s not possible to live the life I do and allow emotion to enter in. Tonight, a customer at the club broke our rules. He hit one of our workers, beat her up pretty badly.”
I listened in horror. “What did you do?”
“I gave him a taste of his own medicine.” He flexed the fingers on his right hand. His knuckles were abraded. “Told him to get out and not come back.”
“You hit him?”
“I did. I could have killed him, and it wouldn’t affect the way I sleep tonight. It’s a dark world out there.” He covered one of my hands with his, his warmth radiating from his touch. “I wanted you to see Emerald Club to have an understanding of day-to-day business.”
“Did Josie understand it?”
He nodded. “Before she moved in here, Josie was a bookkeeper and a dancer at a club called Minx. That club stood where Emerald Club is, well, part of it. I bought Minx and nearby businesses to build Emerald Club.”
“She was a dancer?”
A dancer.
Thoughts came to me. Arianna said she was happy Dario finally had a woman of worth. Armando said Josie wasn’t even close to a good Catholic Italian girl.
“Yeah,” he said with a grin. “You can imagine how the famiglia felt about that.”
“I’m guessing it’s part of the reason they would support your marriage to an outsider like me.”
“Josie and I could never marry. The famiglia wouldn’t have allowed it. I’d never become capo.” His nostrils flared. “I considered walking away, but this is the life I was raised to have. It’s not easy to walk away from the only life you’ve ever known.”
“I know that.”
His gaze met mine with understanding. “You do. The answer to your question was yes, Josie understood the world I built and live because even though she wasn’t born into the famiglia, she was born into the world that respectable people pretend doesn’t exist.”
Turning my hand so we were palm to palm, I intertwined our fingers. “It sounds like she was a strong woman. Thank you for telling me about her.”
“Mia was wrong.”
“About?”
“Women before and after. Josie was a part of my life for almost nine years.”
My chest grew tight. “That’s a long time.”
“I don’t care about anyone before her. After her, until you, doesn’t count.”
“How did she die?” It was the question I was the most afraid to ask.
“Russians”
My eyes opened wide. “She was killed?”
His features morphed as if he were seeing the past. “It was the beginning of this recent upheaval. I still don’t know why she would go to South Blue Valley alone. It’s not a good neighborhood. One day she didn’t come home. Some of our soldiers found her in an abandoned house. She’d been shot. Still had her phone, purse, credit cards, and cash.” He slowly blinked. “It was a message. There may be times I sound unreasonable about bodyguards. I’m not unreasonable. I know too well that there are monsters out there masquerading as people.”
“I don’t mind bodyguards. I’ve had them all of my life.”
“I’m going to take a quick shower,” Dario said, standing.
“Oh, I almost forgot. I tried to check the wine cellar. The door is locked.”
Dario inhaled. “Habit, I’d guess. I’ll remind Contessa it no longer needs the lock.”
I wanted to ask why it needed a lock in the first place, but I had the feeling I’d already surpassed my quota of questions for the night. As I heard the sound of running water coming from the bathroom, I turned off the light on my bedside stand and slid farther under the blankets, thankful that I’d broached the Josie subject. Bringing her information out into the open would keep her ghost out of our marriage.
I hoped it would anyway.