36. Dante
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
DANTE
Igrabbed a warm washcloth from Shaw’s bathroom, wringing it out before returning to the bed. His eyes followed me, tracking my movements.
“Let me,” I said, sitting beside him.
He blushed as I cleaned the lube from his body, his muscles tensing at the unfamiliar sensation. “You don’t have to.”
“I know.” I continued anyway, being extra gentle where he’d be sore. “Your first time bottoming usually isn’t comfortable afterward.”
His blush deepened, but he relaxed under my ministrations. “It feels nice to be taken care of.”
When I finished, I tossed the washcloth aside and stretched out beside him. His head settled against my shoulder, his breathing synchronizing with mine.
“I need you to stay away from Gennaro Corporation for a while,” I said as gently as I could.
He sat up with a betrayed expression. “Is that what this is about?”
“This has nothing to do with that,” I denied. “It never has.”
“Then what was this?” His voice carried an accusation that cut deeper than it should have.
I caressed his cheek, but he flinched away from me.
“Me selfishly wanting you. That’s all.” I should have known he’d assume I’d used sex as a negotiation tactic.
“I want you on my terms, Shaw. Not with Salvatore watching through cameras, not with a clock ticking down, not with the price tag that makes you think I don’t care. ”
Doubt lingered in his eyes. “Then tell me why.”
“Salvatore’s monitoring you too closely.” I suppressed the rage simmering beneath the surface at the memory of my adoptive father tracking Shaw’s every move. “If you stop coming now, it looks like Jace’s behavior disgusted you too much to return.”
“No way,” he argued, crossing his arms. “Salvatore will think he won by intimidating me. I need to prove I’m not afraid of him.”
“You should be,” I said, my tone stopping his protest cold. “I’m not saying forever. Just for right now, while he’s fixated on you.”
His jaw tensed with stubborn resolve. “I refuse to be scared off.”
I suppressed a sigh. His pride would get him killed. “Let him think he won. He’ll lose interest faster.”
“How does that work?”
“If he thinks you broke easily, you become boring to him,” I explained. “Salvatore only enjoys the hunt when there’s resistance. Even if you come back later, he’ll dismiss you as weak and unworthy of his time.”
“That’s horrible.”
“Better horrible than dead.” I didn’t elaborate on the alternative tortures that were worse than a merciful death.
His cheeks flushed. “It’s not like I would actually do that.”
I frowned, sensing I’d missed something crucial. “Do what?”
He shrugged. “He can’t force me to work there.”
The implication sickened me. “What the fuck are you talking about?” I demanded.
“Nothing.”
I maintained absolute control over my reaction. “What aren’t you telling me?”
He shifted and avoided my gaze. “It’ll never happen, so why bother discussing it?”
A sick suspicion formed. “Did Salvatore offer you a job at Gennaro Corporation?” When Shaw tried to look away, I caught his chin. “Tell me.”
His shoulders slumped in defeat. “I told him no.”
The confirmation ignited a furious violence inside my chest. I struggled to keep my expression neutral.
“And you still wonder why I want you to stay away?” Unwilling to relent, I pressed the issue. “Promise me you won’t go back there.”
He sighed, the fight draining from him. “For how long?”
“Three months, maybe. I’ll tell you when it’s safe.”
His scowl deepened. “When will you know?”
“Trust me, I can read him.” Years of survival had taught me to track Salvatore’s moods.
“He’s dangerous when fixated on someone.
He’ll do anything to hurt me, which paints a big target on your back.
You can’t comprehend how ruthless he is.
Killing means nothing to him. It’s how he took control of the family. ”
He paled. “I’ve heard the rumors.”
“Reality makes the stories sound tame.” My voice remained emotionless as I recited the facts. “He married the previous Don’s daughter to become a Gennaro, taking her last name to legitimize himself in the organization.”
His eyebrows furrowed. “How does an outsider become the head of an Italian Mafia?”
“Once he secured his position as second-in-command, he killed his wife after he decided she’d served her purpose.” Her blood had pooled across the marble floors of our foyer. Salvatore hadn’t hidden it from me. He wanted me to witness what happened to people who no longer proved useful.
“But that’s awful.”
I shrugged, maintaining my indifference. “She was as cruel as her father. Her death wasn’t exactly a tragedy.”
He hesitated. “Because she hurt you?”
“Yeah.” That was the understatement of the century. She’d treated me worse than a dog, laughing while watching Salvatore’s training sessions with me.
Salvatore had killed my real parents, too. Not in a car accident like the official story claimed, but execution-style in our living room while I watched at twelve years old. Raphael had been only six and mercifully asleep when the gunshots rang out.
My father had been Salvatore’s personal accountant, privy to all the Gennaro family’s financial secrets.
When he discovered Salvatore was skimming millions from the Don’s accounts, he made the fatal mistake of having a sense of justice.
It cost him and my mother their lives. I could still see their blood and brains spraying across our family photos whenever I closed my eyes.
Salvatore and his wife took us in afterward.
They spun an elaborate lie that we were their biological children born while they lived abroad in Italy.
They claimed they’d kept us at European boarding schools until we were old enough to bring home to New York.
It conveniently covered up the truth behind their infertility problems that threatened the Gennaro dynasty.
The organization accepted the story without question, since having children with the previous Don’s daughter cemented the continuing legacy of the family. Those who discovered the truth conveniently disappeared over the years, their bodies never found.
I refocused on Shaw. “When the former boss tried avenging his daughter, Salvatore killed him and everyone loyal to him.” I didn’t mention how I’d been forced to watch those executions.
“Murder is an easy solution to unwanted problems for him. That’s why you need to stay away.
If hurting you will punish me, he’ll do it without hesitation. ”
Shaw bit his lip. “Do you think he’d hurt me?”
“I know he would.” I thought of the others who had disappeared over the years because Salvatore deemed me too attached to them.
My first friend at school. The piano teacher who’d shown me kindness.
The housekeeper who’d slipped me extra food during punishments.
“But if you stay away, he’ll decide you aren’t worth his effort.
The challenge excites him. Without it, he’ll move on. ”
He frowned. “I hate this.”
“Promise me you’ll keep your distance.” When he hesitated, I softened my voice. “Please. I couldn’t live with myself if he hurt you because of me. My world is too dangerous for you, Shaw.”
He rested his head on my shoulder with a heavy sigh. “I hate him.”
I wrapped my arms around him, disturbed by his trembling. “Join the club.”
“Don’t make me wait too long, okay?”
Relief washed through me. “Thank you.” I hated punishing us both by asking him to keep his distance, but his safety demanded it.
Shaw looked up with a shy smile. “I still want to see you, though.”
I ran the back of my fingers along his flushed cheek. “I never said we couldn’t see each other.”
“But how? You’re always at Gennaro Corporation.”
I kissed him with a tenderness I had never expressed before. “I’ll figure something out.”
“How?”
“Don’t worry, I have my ways,” I teased, rising to collect my clothes.
He watched me dress. “Do you work every day?”
“I’m there every day, but I only work when someone requests me.” I didn’t bother mentioning how Salvatore sometimes forced me to entertain his associates outside of my normal responsibilities.
“Oh.”
When I finished dressing, I sat beside him again. “This isn’t permanent.”
“Which part? You working there or me staying away?”
“Both.” I was stuck for now, but I was gathering the leverage I’d need to free myself from Salvatore’s control. Every client’s secret, every blackmail opportunity, every financial transaction I overheard became ammunition. “I have no intention of being his toy forever.”
Shaw’s gaze pleaded for reassurance I couldn’t give. The less he knew about my plans to kill Salvatore, the better protected he’d be. “I wouldn’t risk everything if I didn’t think you were worth it.”
His eyes widened. “Really?”
“You’re worth it.” I kissed him goodbye, lingering longer than I’d ever dared.
“Dante,” he whispered, his voice thick with unexpressed emotions.
No matter how many times he said my name, I never tired of hearing it. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
I savored one more stolen kiss. Walking away proved harder than it should have been, but I’d learned long ago that protecting what mattered required sacrifice. And keeping Shaw safe from Salvatore was worth any price.
After my amazing afternoon with Shaw, returning to Gennaro Corporation felt like putting on chains I’d briefly escaped.
Knowing his visits would stop made the gilded cage of my penthouse suite even more suffocating.
But choice wasn’t a luxury afforded to men like me while Salvatore held Raphael’s safety in his hands.
A knock interrupted my thoughts. Ishi entered my private suite with a formal bow. “Mr. Barlinger has requested your presence in the Viewing Room.”
Any other day, that news would have lifted my spirits.
Barlinger was a voyeur who paid premium rates to watch from behind mirrored glass while Renato and I performed for him.
But after what happened in the limo, the professional boundary between us had crumbled, leaving something far more dangerous in its place.
After getting ready, I went down to the Viewing Room and made myself comfortable on the bed.
The door opened, and Renato sauntered in.
Black pants hugged his muscular thighs, and his red silk shirt hung partially unbuttoned, revealing the tan skin beneath.
His golden eyes sparked with hunger as they traveled over me, lingering on the erection tenting my silver robe.
“Someone’s excited to see me,” he drawled, his Italian accent thickening with desire.
There was no point in denying the truth my body had already betrayed. Despite my eagerness, anxiety prickled under my skin. After the honest confessions and intimacy we’d shared in the limo, I worried he’d forget where we were.
All it took was one slip, one careless touch captured on Salvatore’s cameras, and we’d both pay the price. If he crooned, “Tesoro,” Salvatore would make me suffer for it by making my brother pay for my indiscretion. Renato would disappear.
The threat of a world without Renato in it leveled me. His absence would carve a void no amount of rage or vengeance could fill.
When Renato brushed his knuckles against my cheek, I leaned into his touch without my usual resistance.
Perhaps it was the lingering contentment from Shaw, or maybe I was tired of fighting what we both knew was inevitable.
Either way, being with Renato and Shaw on the same day was the best pleasure life could offer me.
Renato tilted my chin up, studying my unusual compliance. “Are you that eager to be with me?”
Knowing Barlinger expected my submission made it easier for me to surrender, though I tensed when Renato’s thumb traced a pattern on my jaw that felt too intimate.
“I am,” I answered, pitching my tone to satisfy our audience.
It was time for the show to begin.