Chapter 19—Tommy
“Tommy,” Vinny calls out a second before he pulls me into an embrace. It’s quick, more for appearances than for anything real between us.
“Vinny,” I say as I pull away, taking the drink off the bar top that the bartender just set down for me. Red wine. It’s a decent year, but I’d prefer something stronger. Something that will have to wait till I get home and can relax enough to let my shields down.
“I hear you brought a date,” he says before nodding to the bartender to pour him the same as me.
I nod as I look out at the vast number of people here.
We might be with the famiglia, but this is more than a family affair.
Everyone here is tied to the Leone business.
They’ve come to talk business and show face.
Nothing more. We might all have loyalty to the name, but not all are to be trusted in the same way.
Vinny holds these events monthly. It’s his way to connect with the people, but it’s still too formal. We keep the allegiances here, but the real trust happens behind closed doors. What’s brought to my table, my club.
“She went to powder her nose.”
Vinny chuckles. “Mama would be proud.”
I snort. Yeah, she would. She made it a point to tell us that ladies never use the restroom.
Something about that word and a woman in the same sentence set her teeth on edge.
Instead, for as long as I could remember, it was a “powder room” when speaking of a woman.
Mama didn’t give a shit what a man called it for himself, but ladies were to be treated differently.
“Speaking of which, have you talked to her lately?”
Vinny nods around the sip of his wine. “Yes. She wants to start family dinners up again now that you’re all healed.”
I roll my eyes at that. We used to have them, but then what happened with Milly and then me put them on pause.
I was sort of hoping to end them altogether, but I guess I was the only one.
Family dinners just turned into Mama trying to set us up with people.
All the talk about grandkids and weddings.
Now that she has our nephew to dote on, it’s eased the burden a bit, but Mama is a hard woman to dissuade.
She’ll find a way to get what she wants, no matter how long it takes.
Just ask her how she got Dad. He used to say he fell instantly. But for her? She claimed she tracked him for a while, plotting and planning until the moment was right to appear and make him fall.
“Perhaps you can bring this date of yours. Might get Mama off your back for a bit.”
It’s my turn to laugh. “You mean you want her distracted enough to not set you up again.”
He shrugs. “Can’t blame me for trying.”
I shake my head and look away, only for my gaze to stall on the vision coming my way.
Payton.
I took her all over the city today and heard not one word out of her other than her request for more makeup.
Something I completely forgot about until she mentioned it.
I had half a mind to call in someone to come and do it for her, but I think she would have thought it was over the top.
Because I was already being over the top.
Before Payton, every other woman was just that, another woman. There was nothing special about them, nothing that held my attention more than what I needed them for in that moment, that hour, that night. With Payton, she should just be someone. And not just the only one.
In such a short amount of time, she’s captivated me in every way possible.
I knew before the day began that this was going to test my will, and she broke it just by being herself.
The boutiques catered to my every whim, not batting an eye, nor did she.
But I watched. I focused. I listened to the things she wasn’t saying because her voice seemed to have left her once more.
Something I notice happens around others, but not when it’s just her and me.
Then she finds her voice and speaks. Not much, but it’s enough for me to notice.
And I enjoy those moments that much more since they’re so rare.
However, her eyes betrayed what she was truly feeling. They sparkled when she was draped in a color she liked. Their worry eased when a certain soft fabric fluttered over her. Small tells that had me saying yes to far more than what she needed for one night.
I’d already seen what she was going to wear tonight.
She tried it on in the shop, and I also saw her at home in it as she exited her room and before I helped her put her coat on, covering up her perfectness.
And yet she still takes my breath away just by simply walking toward me.
Looking like she’s really mine. As if none of this is just a play on the world that we live in today.
“Careful, brother,” Vinny murmurs in warning beside me, as he no doubt can see where my eyes have traveled. Him and everyone else who might be looking. I’m showing too much of my hand. Something that’s never a good idea.
Very few times have any of us Leone brothers brought a date to any function.
We’ve never paid for a person to be on our arm, and we’ve made sure not to bring someone who could be used in any way against us.
I shouldn’t have brought Payton here tonight, but I was unable to think of a night without her.
I’ve seen her every day since I first met her, and the thought of not seeing her in a certain time frame doesn’t do well for me.
She had days off, but she never took them.
And now I know why. The money was the only focus for her.
But I’ve taken that away, and now, hopefully, the only pull for her is me. Just like the only pull for me is her.
She steps beside me but says nothing, taking in my drink and my brother all in one glance before settling her eyes back on me. Something my inner core relishes as it burns with approval.
I know Vinny is assessing her, just like every man here.
Even more so since he’s my brother. He might see what she has on the outside: perfect show of elegance in her hair, a ponytail with a curl on the end, simple yet sophisticated.
Her makeup is flawless, covering every bruise so easily that it looks as though she had never been touched.
The soft pink satin of her dress rolls off one shoulder as it cinches at the waist, then falls to the floor.
A high slit on one side that only reveals her toned legs when she moves.
Legs covered in vines that rope up each calf from the gold flats on her feet.
Which led to a fight with the store owner.
Payton is on her feet every night, and while tonight will be no different, I wanted her to feel some level of comfort.
Women might say they don’t care about foot pain, but my mama taught me well.
And another thing she taught me, other than the powder room, was that no woman would pick heels over flats unless they didn’t go with the dress.
And these have just enough rose gold in them to complement the pink of her gown.
She’s simple. Elegant. Showing just a hint of skin, but nothing to entice more than she already does. A hint that she is, for all that they know, mine.
“Payton, this is my brother Vinny. The head of the famiglia.”
Payton turns with a small smile for him, one that my brother returns with a bowed head of his own. He might have opened his mouth to invite her to the family dinner to save his own ass, but Bobby interrupts before he can do more than part his lips.
“Fucking hell, I’m going to kill the Delany brothers.” He pushes into our group, parting me and Payton from Vinny as he rests his arms on the bar top. “Shot of whiskey and fucking red wine,” he says through gritted teeth.
I find my lips twitching as I sip from my glass. Usually I’m the one breaking protocol first. It’s refreshing to not be the one who draws Vinny’s eye roll for a change.
“Bobby.” No growl, no shout. It’s barely a whisper on the wind, but enough for Bobby to bow his head at Vinny and nod. But not enough for him not to accept the shot, tossing it back before grabbing his other drink and turning to face us.
“One won’t kill me,” he mutters as he leans both elbows back on the bar, sipping his drink and looking out at the crowd before his eyes fall on Payton. Then me. Then back to her.
“The performer?”
Any twitch of my lip disappears as I stand straighter. Not closer, no need to show aggression. Not here. But I’ve already tipped my hand to my family, earning an eyebrow raise from Vinny as he watches the both of us.
“Do I need to get Danny?” There’s mirth in Vinny’s voice to go with the calm smile on his face. But the threat is clear.
If we show anything but the happy family with zero problems, then heads will roll. Courtesy of my third older brother, who hates being in places like this and would enjoy an outlet since Vinny refuses to let him show up in anything less than a three-piece suit. Like all of us.
Something I also hate, as it pulls at the scar on my neck when I move my head to look left.
I shake my head but don’t lose eye contact with Bobby. “Nope.”
To Payton’s credit—which my brothers also notice—she doesn’t even flinch at the way Bobby is speaking of her.
She might not hold eye contact with him, but there’s no shame radiating off her.
Nothing that shows she’s embarrassed of what she is.
What she does for a living. I wonder if she can tell that he knows about the debt or if she just suspects that they all know.
We are family, after all. Everyone should know about it.
But unless Bobby said something, no one does.
Just the two of us and the Kings. Something I know they’ll keep close to their chests.
They thrive on anonymity. If they discuss who their “clients” are, that would cost them business.
Even more so if anyone learns that the Leone family can so easily buy out a contract from them.
Not that it was easy. Many things were put in play with my simple request to take on Payton’s debt. Another thing no one will discuss out loud—unless an issue comes of it. Only then will Bobby pull in Vinny and possibly Danny.
“Have you two met before?” Vinny asks, but Bobby isn’t the one who answers.
“No. I’m Payton. Nice to meet you.” With more bravado than I’ve seen from her in a setting outside of her dancing in the night air, she holds her hand out and looks directly at my brother.
She’s startled him with her boldness. Something he wasn’t expecting.
He was probably hoping she’d do something that would make me pull out of the debt.
Or at the very least back up enough to make this more transactional and not personal.
Something it’s been from the start, since the second I saw her and felt an inner connection to help her keep her innocence.
If that means taking on her debt and having her pay me, someone who I hope she learns to trust, then I can help reduce the risk of all her pureness being wiped out like a candle in the wind of whatever passes by.
He takes her hand, standing tall and bowing a bit in acknowledgment. “Forgive me—”
She cuts him off with a shake of her head before he can say anything else. “It’s fine. I am a performer.”
Vinny looks back at her as she drops her hand out of Bobby’s grasp.
Something I find some relief in, silly as it is.
He is my brother, after all, and isn’t going after her.
Mostly because he and I have completely different tastes in women.
That and he also isn’t the type to get involved with anyone who works for him or, in some capacity, for the family.
Something Payton has unwillingly become part of now that I own her.
“Performer? As in music?” Vinny asks.
“Dance,” I say at the same time as her, drawing Vinny’s eye as he connects the dots.
“Payton is the aerial act I mentioned a while back. Due to the amount of clientele interested in her performances”—I emphasize the word with a direct look at Bobby before looking back at my eldest brother—“we’ve brought in a few more performer acts to draw in some crowds that might not have ventured in if not for her and them. ”
“Interesting take on it. I’m sure we’ll see a profit increase soon.” Vinny gives me a pointed look that means he knows the thief hasn’t been caught yet. Bobby might have held his tongue about the debt I bought, but not that we still have issues at the club that I have yet to figure out.
“Boss.” One of Vinny’s guys taps him on the shoulder, something that both Bobby and I take notice of.
Vinny’s men know not to bother him in these moments.
His main job tonight is to appear that he doesn’t have a job since everything is running smoothly.
If someone is bugging the boss, that means there’s a problem.
“Excuse me for a moment,” Vinny says to Payton, and then his eyes slide to both of us before he’s pulled away.
I take out my phone, just like Bobby, but see nothing from my team.
“You got anything?” I ask, and he shakes his head.
“Nothing from my end,” he says as he pockets his phone.
“Should we alert Danny?”
I might be talking with Bobby, but Payton is just as much a focal point for me as the rest. She’s watching everything between us.
Since she stood up to Bobby, her eyes haven’t dropped.
They move around the room, taking in everything and everyone, trying to understand but not asking questions.
Something so few do when they’re in a conversation with me and my brothers.
“Is that him?”
“Huh?” Bobby and I both look at her in question, and she just points to our right.
“Is that Danny?”
I follow her finger to see my brother, the one who focuses on security, moving quickly toward us. I don’t even question how she knew it was him. There’s enough family resemblance in all of us to make an educated guess.
I’m more surprised that she noticed him before half the damn place did. Danny draws a crowd, not only because of his muscular bulk, but his rare appearance.
Before anyone can do more than catch his eye, he’s next to us.
“We’ve got a problem. The Hounds reached out.”
“Is it Milly?” I ask, and both Bobby and I take a step to go fight whatever war we need to in order to save our sister. Nothing is off the table when it comes to her or her family’s protection.
“No,” Danny says with a shake of his head. “Ruby was taken.”