Chapter 30 – Nico
This…this right here.
This was why she was here. Rae was the light in my dark world. She might be draped in inky satin, her hazel eyes flashing with a deep intensity and her darker hair curling around her ink stained shoulders. But she wasn’t part of the darkness. She was my salvation.
I plundered her mouth. The kiss drew on for an unseemly long time, rising to the point of desperation.
She was just as hungry as me. After the initial shock, Rae wrapped her arms around my shoulders and tugged me close.
She tasted of smoke and fire. Of sin, and every other good thing.
I crushed her to me, drinking in her soft moan of pleasure.
Rae was my declaration of rebellion. The only warning the don would have that his reign was coming to an end. I wouldn’t be told who I could love, who I could have.
I chose Rae.
And now, the famiglia and all of Boston knew it.
Drawing back, I grinned down at her. “Let’s dance.”
Hazel eyes snapped open, and Rae looked around uneasily.
I threaded my fingers through hers, tugging her along and ignoring her protests.
No one else was on the dance floor. I nodded to the band. The lead musician returned the signal, and the song shifted seamlessly from a soft background drone to a vibrant two-step beat.
In complete shock, Rae stood firmly planted in place.
“Come on, Southern Girl, show me what you got,” I dared her. I lifted my arm and forced her into a reluctant twirl.
She would never, ever know that I’d been practicing this at night in my bedroom for the last week.
I dipped her graceful figure over my knee, then led us along the length of the dance floor.
“There’s no going back from this,” Rae hissed as I spun her around.
“Did you ever stop and think that was intentional?” I grinned.
Rae rolled her eyes. “You could have given me a heads up.”
I laughed. It was real. Freeing. “What would have been the fun in that?”
She was into the song now, shimmying her body and gliding in time to the beat. “They’ll fire me. You can kiss your spy plan goodbye.”
What she didn’t realize was that her tattoos and heavily pierced ears would throw them off the scent. The difference between this sinful gown and her uniform was night and day. No one was looking that closely. Only me, because I saw her.
“I’d rather kiss you.” I dipped her again and pressed a swift peck on her lips. “And they don’t know it’s you. Keep the mask on.”
Rae looked skeptical. “My tattoos give it away.”
“They’re usually covered by that monstrosity my grandmother makes you wear,” I pointed out.
“You just have an answer for everything, don’t you.”
We did something called a do-si-do that made me feel like I was on an alien planet. But from the smile Rae couldn’t keep off her face, I wanted to do it again and again.
“You’re just figuring that out?” I teased.
Rae just laughed lightly and shook her head. We moved like two people who’d been dancing together for years, and I was struck with how right it felt to have this woman in my arms.
But the song ended all too quickly.
Which meant it was time to get to work.
“Stay close to Luigi and wait for me,” I whispered, leading her off the dance floor.
Rae’s spine snapped straight. I felt her questions but shook my head slowly.
Untangling my fingers, I forced myself to walk away.
I was already behind schedule thanks to Elliot Marvin’s stunt. Hurrying to the men’s room, I pushed inside, relief washing over me that I wasn’t too late. Luigi exited a stall, gave me a short nod, and left the bathroom to stand guard at the door.
Pulling a quarter from my pocket, I opened the only closed door.
Alfonso looked up from his phone. His face contorted in rage and disgust at the interruption.
“What do you think you’re doing?” he shouted.
Because I was holding my breath to keep from smelling the result of the spiked cocktail that loosened his bowels, I didn’t answer. I slid the syringe from my breast pocket at the same time I grabbed the front of his dress shirt.
The capo batted at me, swinging wildly.
My thumb flicked the cap. I stabbed the needle in his neck and plunged the depressor. The chemical compound from Brando Zorzallo worked instantly. Alfonso shuddered. His bellow cut short. Air failed to fill his petrifying lungs.
Exiting the stall, I pocketed the needle and flipped the quarter. It smacked against the back of my hand. Tails. How fitting. I strolled out of the bathroom.
Luigi gave me a sideways look. “Elliot’s in the trunk.”
That fucker was going to pay for talking to my girl at the bar. For spiking her drink? I would delay his death for days.
“Good.” We went down the hall to the main event. “Don’t have too much fun with him before I get there.”
Luigi scoffed. “Now would I do something like that?”
“Oh, never.” I grinned, but the good feelings disappeared a moment later. “Merda.”
The don barreled straight toward us.
“A word,” my grandfather snapped.
Mannaggia! “Si, signore.”
Luigi shot me a smirk before I followed the don toward the exit. Standing in the atrium, the noise of the party as a backdrop, I waited.
“How dare you rub your mistress in your fiancée’s face?” the don chastised.
Clasping my hands behind my back, I rocked on my heels. “I’m not engaged.”
“Semantics.” He waved his hand. “You will never bring her in public again. Have you learned nothing? A mistress stays in the shadows. You take her to a poker match, fuck her in the hotels, but you never, I repeat never, bring her to a family event.”
“The woman I was kissing?” My voice dropped to a scary volume. I let it slither out, strangle around the old man’s throat the way my hands would if it was allowed. “She is not my mistress.”
“Plaything, flavor of the day, whatever you young people call it,” the don seethed. “I don’t give a fuck. She stays private. You keep your affairs discreet!”
It took every drop of strength to hold myself back. I’d prepared for this encounter, lectured myself at length to keep from doing something foolish.
Yet every insult he stacked against Rae was a bitter cut on my heart.
“Why?” I smirked, with a wicked smile dripping with venom. “I’m a free man. A bachelor.”
“You should be dancing with Arabella!” the don roared.
There. I had him. “She’s underage. I won’t touch her.”
It was delightful to see him riled up. To know his heart was beating a million times per minute.
This was why I brought Rae. Yes, I’d told her to spy since she was so resourceful.
I couldn’t wait to hear what she’d learned.
But this, right here, was the true reason.
She was my rebellion. The act of defiance that showed the don that his perfect plans were twisted. That they would never happen.
“She turns eighteen soon,” the don countered.
“Mark my words, signore,” I spat. “I have never, nor will I ever, touch a hair on Arabella’s head. There is nothing between us except the affection of friendship.”
Those frail shoulders puffed up. “You are my heir. Arabella is my ward—”
“No.” The word cut deep. I squeezed my hands tightly together to keep from striking my boss. “I choose to write my future differently.”
The don cut his hand through the air. “We’ll speak of this at home.”
I grimaced. But he was already storming away.
Maledizione, his heart didn’t stop. Not yet…but soon.