CHAPTER 45 - RED
CHAPTER
Red
ICAN’T BELIEVE I’ve actually agreed to this, but what the hell. The man is Arianna’s father, so if she wants to do this, who am I to deny it?
There’s also a part of me that wants to see how she plays it.
It’s not like I’m so stupid not to be tooled up this time. One false move on that cunt’s part or any of his men and I won’t hesitate. He can leave his gun on his desk again all he likes, but I’m quicker than he is. He won’t stand a chance.
Furthermore, there are zero chances if Arianna gets threatened.
Heading to one of the hangouts Galvatore’s men frequent in the morning, Oscar and Liam will permanently remove one, leaving Arianna to do what she needs to do now without additional risk.
I glance over to the passenger seat as we speed towards Knightsbridge. Arianna has said little during the journey and stared out of the window into the dark. I know what she’s doing because I’ve done it enough times myself. She’s getting into the “zone”.
Beforehand, I’d worry that facing her Papà, she’d fold, but that concern no longer applies.
Unwilling to break her concentration, I still must double-check she’s okay. I wouldn’t be doing my job otherwise.
I place my hand on her thigh, which proves to be a mistake because even through the material of her trousers, her toned muscles are enough to distract me. I clear my throat. “Are you all right?”
“Never better.” Arianna softens her clipped response by placing her slender fingers over mine.
Turning onto the road housing the Galvatore headquarters, she faces me, her eyes luminous in the evening’s gloom. “Pull up directly outside.”
“Won’t that be a bit obvious?”
She laughs coldly. “That’s the general idea. What can anyone say? I’m a Galvatore, remember?”
I grin. How could I forget?
????
Arianna catches me off guard as she jumps from the car even before I’ve pulled on the parking brake. I dart after her, pointing my key over my shoulder to lock the motor as an afterthought.
Lengthening my stride to catch up with her, I lope up the steps to the double doors of the building, my hand dropping to the deep inside pocket of my jacket, checking my pistol is in place.
“Miss Galvatore? You...”
Ignoring the reception security, Arianna strides through the large square area, wearing a look no one questions. I suspect I wear a similar expression because the suited gorillas manning the lobby make no attempt to stop either of us.
They know who I am - everyone does, but we pass unmolested through into the corridor beyond.
As we head toward the room I visited the last time I came to see Emiliano Galvatore, I immediately recognize the meticulously decorated walkway.
My adrenalin cranks up but remind myself that I’m here as an observer only.
That I have promised. Provided no stunts are pulled, Arianna has this chance to do what she needs without my intervention. It’s the least she deserves.
Expecting security to have warned Galvatore of our arrival, I’m surprised to see none of his goons waiting outside his office.
Giving me a cursory glance, Arianna wears a mask of stone as good as any I own and without bothering to knock, turns the doorknob and walks inside.
Following behind, my hand hovers near my pistol in case of a welcome party, and I find myself greeted with the same unpleasant scene as Arianna.
“Good evening, Papà.”
Her crisp voice interrupts the guttural grunts of Emiliano Galvatore rutting on a secretary bent over his desk.
The woman shrieks at our intrusion, and against my wishes, my eyes flick to the pale, hairy ass frozen mid-thrust.
Swinging around, Galvatore’s wrinkled face creases further with rage, tinged by embarrassment.
Scrabbling to pull up his pinstriped trousers, he stumbles over his words, deflecting the disadvantage he finds himself in by yanking the young pretty woman off his paperwork.
“What... what is the meaning of this?” he blusters, a bead of sweat trailing down his red face.
“You know the rules about entering my office unannounced, Arianna. They’ve been the same since you were a child. ”
“Yes, and now I realize why!” Arianna’s eyes are ice-cold as she stares at her father, then glances in disdain at the young secretary who, glowing with humiliation, snatches her stilettos off the floor and barges between us to flee the room.
“You have no right to be here,” Galvatore shouts, burning with resentment at his eldest daughter. “You have nothing to do with me or this business any longer.”
I’m transfixed. How can he expect to be taken seriously with a shirt tail stuck in his zip? But he’s pulling rank, and this is where Arianna will fold if she’s going to.
I have perfected the art of looking at someone without making it obvious, and I’m pleased to see there is no hint of faltering on my beautiful wife’s face. She’s got this.
Galvatore suddenly notices that I’m also in the room and turns his disdain on me but gets no chance to say or do anything before Arianna moves towards him.
“I have every right to be here when you threaten me, my sister and my husband.”
Galvatore laughs loudly - that sickening belly laugh he uses to inflict as much detriment as possible. “Dear, oh dear, daughter. Is that all you’ve learned from your ‘husband’?”
Come on, princess, I will silently.
“Perhaps you should learn something from me?” Arianna says. “What Red has told you about Matteo and Luca is the truth. Whether you’re involved or not, you must believe me when I reiterate what my husband told you: you can’t allow Luca and Maria’s wedding to go ahead.”
For the first time, I hear a slight crack in Arianna’s voice and my heart sinks. I move forward and murmur, “Come on, girl, don’t waver.” Only she can hear my words, but Galvatore jumps on the chink he also detects in her armor.
“Point proven, I think,” he sniffs. “You can do nothing without a man. Now learn your place, bambolotta. Stop wasting my time.”
Rage brewing, I go to step forward, but Arianna holds up a hand to stop me.
“Is that so, Papà? Well, if you’re okay with your son taking me against my will and drugging me so that Luca Bristoni can impregnate me for the ‘cause’.
..” Her rising voice shows her grip is loosening.
“And if you’re okay with the same happening to Maria and other women, it shows you must be part of it. ”
Galvatore’s chuckle is enough to throw Arianna further off course. “Oh please! Whatever next?”
“Damn it,” I mutter, thinking I’ll have to take over, but then Arianna chucks everything on its head.
Walking over to her father’s desk, she brushes the mahogany top with her fingers and makes a point of inspecting them for dirt or other unpleasant residue before sitting calmly on the edge. Galvatore’s eyes bulge with his daughter’s audacity, but he’s prevented from raging when she continues.
“Perhaps something you should learn from this woman who is your daughter, is that the majority of people in this world, even the people who work for you and certainly ninety-nine per-cent of your business associates, would not be impressed learning of your support of a ‘breeding’ program. That you encourage trafficking and use of women for twisted and, quite frankly, insane gains, including the sale and use of both of your daughters, will offend them deeply. It is not the accepted way.”
Galvatore shakes his head, a half-smile on his face that I want to rip off. “I see you’ve allowed your husband to brainwash your pretty little head with that nonsense too.” He throws his hands up. “You’re as ridiculous as he is. I, nor Matteo have nothing to do with any such things.”
“Really?” Arianna casually inspects her nails then plucks the invitation delivered to the Scorpio Lounge from her handbag. “What do you suppose this is?”
Her father eyes the invitation, scorn dancing on his face. “How would I know? That isn’t my writing.”
“I’m aware of that.” Arianna smiles slowly. “It’s Matteo’s. He sent it to antagonize us, as no doubt you instructed.”
“Oh, daughter, I cannot control whether Matteo has an argument with you and...” He looks me up and down with contempt. “...the creature you chose to marry.”
“No, you can’t.” She then slaps the handwritten note accompanying the invitation in front of her father and points to the last line, which reads, ‘I should add what is rightly mine will be reclaimed’. “But would you not say that is somewhat incriminating?”
While Galvatore frowns at the note, Arianna produces my mobile and holds the texts I received from Matteo up in front of him. “How about these? These don’t show exactly what Matteo is doing?”
“None of that means a thing!”
“Maybe, maybe not.” Arianna places everything back in her bag and then puts her finger to her lip in mock thought.
“But the thing you have to ask yourself is whether your men, your staff and your business associates would see it the same way if presented with this evidence of Matteo’s and therefore your involvement. ”
My heart skips with admiration at Arianna’s success in producing the slight flash of doubt flitting across Galvatore’s weathered face.
“Or how about Carnforth House in East Moseley?”
And there it is: a full flinch.
“If my memory serves me well, you and Eduardo Bristoni invested in the purchase of that estate, and although it now officially belongs to Luca, you are still named a trustee and interested party, therefore any intended use must pass through you.”
Arianna rises from the desk and walks slowly and confidently towards me, only turning back to her father once she’s at my side.
“So you see, Papà, whether you’re involved or not is irrelevant, and whether you’ve been made aware of the intended use of Carnforth House or not is also neither here nor there.
You can deny involvement to me, Red and anyone as much as you like. ”
Arianna pauses, and I watch enthralled as she flicks a tress of raven hair over her shoulder, eyeing her father with confident eyes.
“Mud sticks, and rumors reproduce and grow rapidly. People’s opinions matter.
.. That’s what you always drilled into me and therefore everything I’ve just told you; everything I’ve just shown you, and your personal links with the estate where Matteo and Luca’s pureblood ‘order’ will run from will be made known to your empire, your workforce, as well as the general public, unless you call off Luca and Maria’s wedding and ensure no more of Red’s men get hurt or killed. ”
Galvatore’s silence reveals his inner turmoil. Arianna’s got him. Whether he’s genuinely involved in his son’s twisted plans, I doubt, but to have that slur pointed at him will ruin him and he knows it.
Arianna stares at her father a little longer before she takes my hand. “Now I’m setting terms. I’ll give you until morning to issue a press release.”