30. Constantine
CHAPTER 30
Constantine
“ Y our hair is wet.” Rico observes out loud in his monotonous tone. His eyes shift to Carina who stands proudly by my side with her hand rightfully in mine. “So is yours.” Her cheeks flush. As naughty and bold as she is with me during sex she’s still so innocent.
I chuckle, used to Rico’s behavior. I reply amused, “Si. It’s called a shower, Rico.”
Pietro, who sits on the edge of my desk toying with a cigarette between his lips, laughs.
“You called for a meeting and you both showered?” This must be the closest thing to bewilderment Rico has experienced.
Pietro playfully hits him on the arm causing Rico to focus those vacant unnerving eyes on him. Pietro nods his head towards Carina and I. “They had sex, Rico. That’s why they showered.”
And like a blushing bride on her wedding night Carina’s complexion reddens further as she presses closer to my side.
I am about to reprimand Pietro with his well-natured teasing regarding my fiancé when Rico responds, “I am very well aware of why they showered.” He flicks his wrist to look at the time on his watch. Nothing luxurious as any Consigliere should be adorning, but rather a fairly cheap, incredibly old fashioned and weathered watch. If I didn’t know the man so closely I would assume it’s sentimental. A keepsake from his past. But Rico knows no sentimental value. “What I am not seeming to understand is why it couldn’t wait until after the meeting.”
Pietro snorts. “The sex part or the shower part?”
“Both. This meeting is important.”
Pietro laughs from deep in his chest, his body shaking with laughter as he even slaps his knee. “Have you ever heard of the heat of the moment?”
“Yes, and it doesn’t make sense. Emotions, even ones of desires, can be controlled.”
Pietro snickers, “Says the man who can’t feel.” Rico doesn’t react nor respond which only causes him to roll his eyes. Then, as if he’s had an epiphany he asks him wide eyed with curiosity, “Have you ever even had sex?”
Carina softly murmurs with her eyes rapt with fascination and amusement between the two of them. “Is it always like this with these two?”
“If you can imagine, much worse. Pietro is like a dog with a bone who can’t let go. And Rico, well Rico can’t quite grasp the fact that he is the bone.” Carina softly giggles and I can’t find myself to look away from her. Such beauty in one human being shouldn’t be possible. And yet here she stands. And she’s mine.
Feeling my eyes on her she gazes up at me from her long dark lashes. Eyes so pure yet also possess such depravity capture mine.
This is how a man who holds as much power as I do dies. Because everything else simply ceases to exist when I am captured by those mesmerizing emeralds.
Her lips pull a shy smile as she says, “You’re staring.”
I run a knuckle along the apple of her cheek and she shivers in delight. I place my knuckle under her chin to keep her head tilted upwards. “You are a work of divine beauty, amore mia. It would be a crime if I did not appreciate you with my eyes.”
“And so the tales are true,” she muses. I raise a brow in question. Her hand presses over the marking we carved together. And it should be impossible considering how we just had ravaged one another three times since I’ve called for this meeting. I simply couldn’t control myself in the shower. I saw the rivets of water cascading down her body and I envied those damn droplets for being able to caress her skin.
So, I had her hard and fast against the shower wall.
She hasn’t complained, but I can only assume how sore she must be. Sex to my beautiful queen is still new.
Which is why before we entered the office I commanded her to take two ibuprofen. She had given me a faux glare but obeyed my command nonetheless.
As much as Carina loves to fight me she loves giving in to me more. There’s power and freedom with submission.
“The Devil is the world's best charmer,” she cheekily says.
Holding eye contact I take her hand and brush my lips reverently over her knuckles. “Are you saying I’m charming, Carina?”
She rolls her eyes. I fight the urge to hike up her dress, take her over my knee and redden that ass. As if she can read my mind she smiles wickedly. My little vixen. “You know you are. I can’t have your head getting too big, Constantine.”
My lips twitch. “Which one?”
“Constantine,” she chastises me but the carefree smile on her face says otherwise. And I will do anything to keep those smiles.
Carina has blossomed before me. A beautiful rose with deadly thorns. And she will be the most feared woman alive when she becomes my wife.
The urge is maddening. To whisk her away at this very second to the courthouse and make her mine.
But Carina deserves far more than a haste wedding.
And I selfishly want to see my bewitching enchanting fiancé walk down the aisle in the most luxurious elegant white gown and take my hand before hundreds of people.
The possessive man that I am needs all eyes upon us to witness she is mine in every way. I want them to hear as she vows, I do. I want every sorry fucker on this planet to weep with envy when I seal the kiss claiming her as mine.
Which reminds me, when this meeting is over I have something in a certain small box waiting impatiently in my locked desk drawer.
“While you two are bickering like husband and wife,” we all hear the slight agitation of Gino over the phone, who has been waiting on the line for quite some time now, “I’ve been on hold for nearly two hours.”
Ah, time slipped away from me while I was enjoying my favorite place to be; Carina’s tight and wet cunt.
Pietro’s laughter is boisterous. I can only imagine the daggers in Gino’s eyes. “Why didn’t you hang up?”
“Are you asking why I didn’t disrespect our Don by hanging up on him?” Gino’s tone is incredulous. Fear is a tool. And as much as I admire and respect my men, treat them as my blood, they must fear me. Without fear there is no leader. No order. They all must recognize their King, and gracefully bow before him. And now they will show the same respect to my very soon to be wife.
I raise a brow at Pietro, challenging him and he swallows. “No, no, no. I was only joking, Constantine. I swear.” He holds his hands up in surrender, eyes waiving their white flag.
“At ease, Pietro.” I assure with an easy grin. While I enjoy his fear of what I may do I need him to focus on the intel Gino is about to provide us. Fear tends to override everything. I can’t have that.
Pietro nods his head and sobers up. Flicking the switch from golden retriever to obedient Rottweiler.
“Gino,” I address him in my authoritative tone, “I would like to officially greet you to Carina.”
“Carina,” he says her name with a fondness and I have to force myself not to hunt him down and murder him. I suppose I’ll have to get used to it. Pietro is quite taken with her as well. And I know her former butler Giuseppe has strong affections for her. He stood as a father figure. It goes against my nature but I’ll resist the urge to slit their throats for her. “Forgive me for the deception,” he apologizes when he has no need to.
“I’m sure you will make it up to me by providing us with good enough intel on my dear fratello.” She spits the last word with venom. And by the murderous rage in mia leonessa’s eyes I almost pity the pathetic excuse of a man when she finally sinks her claws in him.
And what a glorious bloodbath it will be.
Gino chuckles, one of astonishment. The pride is clear in his voice when he replies, “I always knew you were destined for great things, Carina. I have a feeling you’ll be more feared than The Devil of the East Coast himself.”
There’s a warm smile on Carina’s face. One she wouldn’t have allowed herself to express just months ago.
And as much as I am jealous of my own men for bringing these emotions out of her I am much more grateful she has finally found a family.
“Si,” I agree, wrapping my arms around my obsession and holding her tenderly to me. The act in itself is possessive but in truth I can’t keep my hands to myself. I’m a moth to a flame. Icarus to the sun. There is never a moment where she is within reach where my hands will not be on her. “The world will have a new face to fear and respect, or they will face her wrath.”
“And my brother and father will be the first to experience it,” she vows with vengeance.
Dio mio.
She is never more beautiful than when she’s bloodthirsty.
My cock stiffens in my pants. To conceal my hard on I press her ass against my groin.
Not my smartest move.
She feels the evidence of my arousal and like the dirty minx she is, she innocently wiggles her hips.
My fingers clamp down hard on her luscious hips to keep still. Leaning down I whisper just for her, “Be a good girl and I’ll reward you with my tongue when the meeting is done.”
I can practically feel the excitement thrumming through her veins. She thrusts her ass against me and my cock, the traitorous sex fiend, has never been more excited to sink inside her. “And what if I want the punishment of being a bad girl?”
Fuck.
I’m as hard as a fucking steel pipe. I feel fucking precum leaking at the tip.
All the delicious ways in which I could punish her has me almost climaxing inside my pants like a teenager.
“You want to be punished, mia leonessa? You want to be my bad girl?”
“Yes. Very much so.” Her voice holds a desperate hunger. And when I pinch her chin between my fingers to angle her head towards me I see the craving in her eyes.
Because those lips are so tempting, bruised and swollen from our earlier ravagings, I kiss her lips gently. And because I’m not a gentleman I lightly nip her bottom lip with my teeth before I release her.
Those pupils of hers swallow her eyes whole. “I’ll punish you later. For now let’s conduct business.”
She smiles up at me, giving me another peck on the lips before giving her undivided attention to the meeting.
Dio mio. I am completely and irrevocably in love with this woman.
I then catch eyes with Rico whose eyes are intent on the both of us.
And it is a time like this where I do feel a sense of sympathy for the man. He’ll never understand the importance of what Carina means to me. He will never feel the all consuming encompassing love I have for this woman. The sense of pride to be called her man. The way my heart alights when she gifts me a smile. How I will kill everyone and anyone for her.
He’ll never feel what it is to be in love. How much stronger it makes you. How it completes you.
And while I believe no man will love in the way I love Carina I pity Rico because he will never feel an ounce of that way at all.
For as much as his strategic analytic practical brilliant mind will try to understand Carina and I, he never will.
And I think that disturbs him more than anything.
“If I may say,” Gino speaks and I already know whatever is about to come out of his mouth is for my fiancé, “Giuseppe has been overcome with worry. I fear the old man may cause an ulcer or give himself a heart attack.”
Concern draws on Carina’s face. Free from the shackles of her mind and morals and how she believed herself to be dead, she now expresses what she has always felt. Carina cares for Giuseppe. And for the care he had given her, tending to her physical wounds and showing her the only affection she had known I far more than respect the old man.
“Can you tell him I’m doing far better than alright? That the home Constantine has given me is the home I’ve always belonged to be.”
Gino laughs but it lacks warmth. “He won’t believe a word I say, Carina. The poor man won’t believe you are truly cared for unless he sees it for himself.”
He is indeed a good man.
Carina looks up at me with a question in her eyes I already have the answer to. “I’ll set up a call with him, amore. He’s welcome to visit anytime.” And I truly mean it. This is a man who cared for her when no one else did. A man who held her hand. A man who bestowed upon her love when she didn’t even feel it for herself.
He serves Savio but his true allegiance lies with Carina.
Giuseppe is a butler, yes, but for all intents and purposes Giuseppe is Carina’s father.
So, no, even as cruel and ruthless as I am I will not keep the two of them apart.
Uncaring of the eyes upon us she cups my face tenderly in her hands. I would’ve never guessed myself a man for public displays of affection, but with Carina it is a necessity more than air.
“Thank you,” she says softly. Nuzzling her hand I then kiss her palm before I intertwine her hand with mine.
Pietro sheepishly looks away. And Rico, out of respect for his Don, averts his eyes.
“Proceed with what you were telling me earlier, Gino.”
And at that both men have their eyes trained on the phone as if Gino is here in the flesh. “Him and Niall are definitely working together. Truth be told I am not positive if even Seamus is aware of the fact that his eldest son is holding meetings with Luca. And the way Luca is scheming around his father I don’t think Savio knows of his plans either.” I hear the swish of a blade, no doubt Gino weaving his knife through his fingers. It’s second nature to him. Sometimes I wonder if the man even notices when he does it. His knives are a fifth limb to him.
Rico’s brows furrow with thought as I stare at him perplexed.
Why would both the eldest sons of their respective families go against their father’s?
“Luca has never once gone behind Savio’s back,” Carina shares with confusion. We all notice how she doesn’t refer to Savio as papa. The man is already dead in her eyes. Rest assured I will drain him of all the blood he has before I send him to damnation. “Elio was always the one who rebelled. A free thinker. One who wanted to rule himself. But Luca has always wanted to please Savio. Anything to make him the most important piece on his chessboard.”
“And while I agree with you,” Gino begins, “I believe Luca is feeling undervalued and overlooked. He knows as long as this marriage is set to happen that you are the most important piece to Savio. Savio wants this union. He wants shares of The Donati Empire. And he knows this will only happen because of you.”
“Jealousy,” Rico says as if it explains it all.
And it does.
Luca has never once had to compete to be Savio’s most important piece. He always delivered for Savio. When he ordered to jump, Luca would ask how high. Any order Savio gave Luca did without hesitation. Every move Luca made was for the benefit and approval of his father. He gave and bled for him to prove he is the most important piece on the board for his father. That without him Savio and The Fiore Famiglia would be in ruin.
Except for this first time Luca has to grapple with the fact that he is the pawn.
And it is a bitter pill he refuses to swallow.
Distress blankets her. Causing her muscles to stiffen and her face to tense with unease. I can practically hear all the gears turning in her head. “Luca has always been in control. And Savio has groomed him to be the Don of The Fiore Famiglia when he passes. And he’s allowing jealousy to be the ruin of his promised future?”
We all pick up on her doubts but Rico is the first to question it. “If not jealousy, what would drive him to go against his Don? He worships him like his very own God, does he not?”
Carina’s lips purse as her brows furrow with heavy thought. “It pains me to even admit it but Luca is not a dense man,” she says with a soured expression. “He may not be able to conceal his emotions but he does not let them control him. Especially not when the prize is the throne.”
“The Fiore Famiglia throne isn’t much of a throne.” Pietro makes a valid point. The Fiore Famiglia of the Sicilian Outfit are a dying breed. Their archaic and old fashioned rules with how they run their Famiglias has been their silent killer over the years.
To survive in this dark world you must be able to adapt. When you learn how to adapt you can manipulate the players on the board. Make them bend at your will. Force them to see as you do. And if they don’t, fear will have them fall in line.
Savio and the Sicilian Outfit are arrogant and filled with pride. They will never conform to today's society. And it has hurt them more than they will ever admit.
“No,” she easily agrees. Her eyes then hold mine. “But yours is everything.”
“Which is why your father forced upon you an arranged marriage. He knows without you he will never hold power. What exactly are you getting at, amore mia?”
“Savio and Luca used me as a pawn in hopes to gain power, this is true, but they both despise the fact that they had to use a woman to get it,” she informs all of us. Neglecting the others she keeps her focus on me. “You heard it from their lips yourself, Constantine. You forcing them to thank me for this union was more strenuous than pulling teeth. They’re a part of The Sicilian Outfit. How do you think it will look to their elders that a woman was the one to make The Donati Famiglia fall?”
We all fall silent. One can hear a pin drop.
If what Carina is saying is true then she has dropped more than just a bombshell on all of us; she’s dropped an atomic bomb.
Rico tries to rationalize with facts. “Arranged marriages have been used to gain power in The Sicilian Outfit plenty of times. And a woman was used in order to gain such power.”
Carina turns to face him and she does so with proud shoulders and a strong spine. She would have never been as assertive as she is now. “Yes, but take a closer look at who those women married.” Rico tilts his head to the side as his eyes go frightening blank. If what Carina is insinuating is true then for the first time Rico will be wrong.
He’ll take this as an insult to his intelligence. And he’ll scour his brain for hours, pick each neuron apart until he finds out how he missed this fine detail.
For him, this will be an inexcusable failure.
Not deterred by his alarming position she carries on strong. “Senators. Police Chiefs. Mayors. Commissioners and judges. And don’t forget the highly profitable business men to launder their money. All were used to gain immunity from being behind bars, never was a woman used to overthrow a throne.”
If Carina wasn’t my woman I would be afraid for her life.
She has just proven Rico wrong.
Corrected him in front of an audience.
For all his calculations and strategies it was this very one detail that managed to slip free.
A miscalculation.
And if Carina hadn't mentioned it, it could’ve proven to be a fatal one.
The room drops several degrees as Rico remains uncharacteristically still.
He blinks once, twice before locking those unreadable eyes upon me. “My deepest apologies, Constantine. I will not fail you again.”
I nod my head. “Forgiven, Rico. Please do not dwell on it.”
“I won’t,” he assures me and I can’t help but laugh. Give it to the man who can’t feel to apologize for making a critical error and then within the same breath act as if it had never happened. But I do know Rico. He’ll now do whatever it takes to make his error right. To prove his loyalty to me. And better, to remind himself who he is. A man who does not overlook details. “But this does prove a hypothetical I had right.”
“I’m always left out,” Pietro whines as a knowing look crosses my face. “What are you talking about, Rico?”
“Before Constantine had agreed to take Carina’s hand I had warned him of the possibility of Carina being a Trojan Horse to gain sensitive information about Constantine and his empire.”
“That could have never been a possibility,” Carina softly tells us.
Gino confirms. “They only ever saw Carina as a pawn. In order for her to be a Trojan Horse and gain intel as you said, Rico, Savio and Luca would have had to acknowledge her intelligence. And where Carina is concerned they’ve never once thought of utilizing her mind. They only saw her as a piece they could move and manipulate.”
I promise the death of Savio Fiore will be a tremendous great deal of pain. He will count each day of torture, begging for his pathetic life, while all that will be left with him by the time I am done is ash and bone.
As for Luca . . .
I can only imagine the suffering he will face at the hands of Carina.
“But they did use you as a Trojan Horse just not the one with the intentions of gaining intel, rather the perfect distraction.”
I’ve never been shy of acknowledging my obsession with Carina to my three most trusted men. To the outside world I’ve only been a shadow in Carina’s life. Out of sight. Out of reach. Always there but never to be seen.
But if what Rico is suggesting is to be true then Savio and Luca must have known of my obsession with Carina.
And Savio acted by offering her hand in marriage.
Not to form an alliance but to kill me and take my throne when I’m vulnerable.
We should’ve seen it. At the least, I should have.
This is the same old Savio Fiore at play. A man who is known for nothing but tricks and illusions.
And I was too concerned with finally making Carina mine to see behind the curtain.
It is a mistake on my part as much as it is my men.
But it is a mistake I will never be sorry for.
How can it be when I finally have the woman of my obsession by my side?
“Savio and his tricks,” Pietro spits. “I do hope you allow me to partake in the fun of ending his life.”
Gino adds darkly, “Only after I’ve had my fun with the scum of a man.”
Flicking her merlot polished nails she tells them, “As long as Luca is mine to kill I don’t care who has their fun with Savio.”
Pietro turns chipper. It really doesn’t take much to please the man. So much like a child. “Grazie, Donna. Acting under your rule is already proving to be promising.”
She simply smiles in return at his antics while the rest of us ignore him.
The man will get over it.
“And when will you be most distracted by her, Constantine?” Rico asks in a knowing tone.
As do I.
When she’s wearing white and walking down an aisle with the longest train behind her that Royals would envy. When I take her hand in mine and vow before her.
The wedding would be the perfect time to strike.
“The wedding,” I answer and Rico nods his head.
“That’s why Savio was so upset and frustrated by the fact that you wanted to hold the wedding off for a few months. You decelerated his plans,” Pietro says.
I nod my head. Draping my arm over Carina’s chest I draw her flush against me. Dipping my head I breathe in the scent of cherries. And while I want nothing more than to drain all the blood of Savio and Luca for even thinking about crossing me the scent of amore mia soothes me.
She rests her head back against my chest. With a tentative voice she asks me, “What are you thinking mio cuore?”
“I’m thinking our wedding was never intended to be a white one, but a red one.”