Chapter 18 Allie
ALLIE
Mass strides down the hallway, his shoes clicking slightly on the marble floor, and throws open the door to a lavish suite. “Welcome to your Turkish home,” he says, casually waving a hand at the room around him.
Light streams in through gauzy curtains. Rosie squeals and crawls toward a low couch set near a coffee table. Satya follows her in, cooing and laughing with my daughter as I stare around in wonder.
It’s incredible. The warm smell of ocean air drifts in from a balcony covered in flowering plants.
More plants fill the interior alongside blue-and-white mosaics set into the walls.
The kitchen is modern and looks barely used.
Mass frowns like the place barely meets his lofty standards, which is probably the case.
But for me, it’s pure luxury.
“We’ll stay here while we’re in the country,” Mass says, peering out at the street below. I join him on the balcony.
“Is this yours?”
“My local fixer tends to stay here, but she found alternate lodgings.”
“You have a lot of women employees.” That tumbles out of my mouth before I can stop it. Instantly, my face turns red and regret boils in my stomach. Why am I so stupid sometimes?
Mass seems amused as he moves closer to me. His body is big and warm. “Is that a little jealousy I hear?”
“I’m just curious.”
“Women are as reliable as men. Sometimes more so. I don’t have to worry about my female employees running around town fucking everything that moves.” He scowls out at the nearby buildings. “Usually, at least. Are you sure you’re not jealous?”
“No, it’s fine, I don’t care at all.” Which is shockingly only partially true, and I’m not happy about it.
“Of course. You sound like you’re completely comfortable with my staffing choices.”
“Good. Glad we had this conversation.” I hurry to get away from him before I say something else equally stupid.
But he catches my arm. His touch is like lightning on my skin.
His stare makes my heart quicken. “There are no other women but you,” he says very softly.
I stare in astonishment. I’ve never seen him so intensely serious and vulnerable before.
I can tell this isn’t some cheesy line. I can tell he means it utterly sincerely and at face value.
I stay for a moment, lost in the beauty of his hard face, overwhelmed by how gorgeous the whole city is spread out below us.
But then Satya laughs at something Rosie does, and I pull away, hurrying inside without replying. I don’t trust myself to speak right now.
I find Rosie giggling in Satya’s arms. The pair of them are rocking on a chair in the corner. The whole room is airy and gorgeous, and I pause to watch them.
Satya’s surprisingly good with Rosie. My daughter’s always been pretty fussy around anyone but me and my mother. Even my dad and brothers have a hard time getting her to calm down and be happy. That’s why we’re so attached at the hip. She’s my everything.
And there she is, difficult, grumpy, fussy Rosie, suddenly having a great time with a woman she barely knows.
I’m not sure how I feel about it. Surprised for sure. But also grateful.
“You should explore the city, Mrs. Cardone.” Satya beams at me. Rosie squirms and starts crawling around her feet. The older woman gets down and plays with the little girl like it’s nothing.
“I can’t. I mean, I should bring Rosie, and I don’t know what Mass wants.”
She makes a dismissive gesture. “I’m sure your husband can provide for your safety, and Rosie is more than happy here with me.”
I cross my arms, hugging myself, trapped by indecision.
It’d be good to have some time to myself. I’ve never been abroad before, and I’d love to at least go for a walk around the nearby area. But the thought of leaving Rosie behind kills me. I don’t trust anyone with her.
Except this woman works for Mass, and Rosie seems to like her. Mass would never let someone less than completely competent anywhere near his daughter. Even I know him well enough to be sure about that.
“Come, I’ll escort you myself.” Mass appears at my elbow. He’s glaring at me like he wants to either strangle me or destroy my face with his lips. Probably a little bit of both, knowing what he’s like in bed.
“Honestly, I can’t—”
“We have to talk anyway.” He takes my hand and tugs me with him. “I’ll get you coffee. You’ll like it.”
I frown over at Rosie, but Satya’s already entertaining my daughter. Reluctantly, I let Mass draw me away from them, out the front door, and down into the early afternoon.
I take a sip of the strong Turkish coffee and smile. Light plays through the trees in a small park. We’re in a coastal town, and many of the buildings are brightly colored. People walk past in pairs, going about their lives, and I could almost forget that we’re not back home anymore.
Mass watches me carefully. I notice he barely looks around. He’s so deeply attuned to me that it’s almost disturbing.
“You know, I’ve never let someone babysit Rosie before. Someone that’s not family, at least.”
“She’ll be safe. I swear on my life.”
“I know. I believe you. I just…”
“It must be very difficult.”
“Harder than you’d think. It’s just been me and her for so long.”
He nods, face darkening. I take another sip to cover my discomfort, but he only shifts closer on the bench. “I should have taken you sooner.”
I stiffen and pull back. “Sorry, what now?”
“You’ve been raising our daughter alone all this time. It wasn’t right of me to wait for so long. Only I wasn’t sure, at least until the DNA tests came back.”
“No, I don’t mean to make you feel guilty or something. I mean, I didn’t want—” I clamp my jaw shut before I say something I shouldn’t.
But Mass takes it in stride. “You didn’t want me in her life. I know that. You’ve made it clear, and it doesn’t bother me.”
“Why not?”
“Because you have a preconceived idea of the man I am. You see a criminal. You see a Dragon. But you don’t know me, not yet at least. You will soon enough.”
I let that settle in my chest. We sit in silence while I finish my coffee. Is he right? Am I judging him without really putting in the effort to know him?
There are certain things I’m sure about.
Mass Cardone is a criminal. He’s the obscenely powerful head of an international organization. His past is littered with broken laws, ruined lives, and rivers of blood. A man like him doesn’t become Dragon without a casual relationship with murder.
Except… I don’t actually know much else about the man I’m married to.
“How about we start with the basics. Where did you grow up?”
He seems to consider me for a moment, like he’s not sure if he wants to answer. “In a very bad suburb north of Milan called Scampia. My mother was a seamstress, and my father was disabled. He lost a limb in a car accident and never managed to fully recover. Mentally, at least.”
“I’m sorry, that must’ve been hard. Did you have siblings?”
“None. Momma didn’t want more children, not after Papa’s accident.”
“Are your parents still alive?”
“Not anymore.”
“How did you end up—”
“Scampia was dominated by a housing project. It was a massive series of residential towers built to foster community in its residents, but it ended up as a hellhole for the poor and the dispossessed. Gangs took over almost immediately. I joined one of those.”
I try to picture it. Young Mass growing up in brutal conditions. “How did you survive?”
“I learned to fight. I made myself useful. When I turned thirteen, I cut the throat of a local crew chief and took control of his little network of thieves and killers. At fifteen, I won a battle with one of the largest drug lords in Naples and took control of his operations. At twenty, I was sitting on top of Italy’s underground power structure. ”
“You were a child.”
He shakes his head. “I’ve been many things. Liar, killer, thief. But I’ve never been a child.”
The thought makes me deeply sad for young Mass.
He must not have ever had a chance at a normal life.
My family is in the underground world, but they did their best to shelter me from the worst of it.
I went to good schools. I made friends, went to movies, dated a few boys, had a normal life.
While Mass was on the streets running criminal operations before I even knew how to drive.
“Is that how you ended up a Dragon? You just kept growing?”
“That’s a longer story, but much less interesting. I’ve always been an ambitious man, and when I found out about the Dragon system, I knew I’d have to become one of the five or else die in the attempt.”
“You’re not ambitious anymore?”
His lips press together. I recognize it as his thinking face. It looks angry, but actually he’s just concentrating. It startles me that I’m beginning to recognize things like that about him.
“My ambitions are very different these days. Age changes a man.”
“You’re getting old, huh?”
He smiles vaguely. “We all do eventually. But I’ve achieved everything I’ve ever dreamed of. Now my dreams are different.” He looks at me and puts a hand on my knee. I feel a shiver run down my spine at the touch, and I lean closer to him instinctively.
“Why are we here in Turkey? I feel like I only know parts of what’s going on with you.”
Mass rubs my legs before abruptly standing. “Let’s walk while I explain. I’ll show you the neighborhood.”
I stay very close to my massive husband. I keep wondering if we’ll have any trouble wandering around out in the open, but nobody bothers us. Mass seems utterly confident and at ease.
He tells me about Medved, about how the Russian crime lord has been trying to become a Dragon for a very long time, and now he’s after Mass’s spot. He talks about the struggle they’re trapped in and how the Turkish smuggling trade is an important part of Mass’s operations.
“I’m here to clean things up. I’ve been lax in my administration of this place, but that ends now.
” He pauses outside a quiet restaurant. While we’re standing together, an older woman comes out and greets Mass like he’s an old friend.
I watch in astonishment as she talks to him in Turkish, and he replies with surprising fluency.
The woman disappears inside before coming back out with pastries and more coffee, which Mass seems to reluctantly accept.
The old woman hugs and kisses my cheeks, and she’s gone a moment later.
“Who was that?” I ask, trying not to laugh at the look on Mass’s face. It’s like he was just hit by a bus.
“This is my neighborhood. That’s one of the families I help sometimes.”
“Wait, this is your territory?”
He frowns at me. “You think I’d allow you to walk around anywhere else? I have about two dozen soldiers and thugs watching us at all times.”
“I had noticed a lot of scary guys lurking around. I figured that’s just what Turkish men look like.”
“Only the killers.” Mass offers me his arm. I take it, nibbling on a delicious bread called acma, something like a cross between a bagel and a croissant.
“Can I ask you more questions about your business?”
He seems slightly uncomfortable with that. “You’re my wife. But my business isn’t your concern.”
“I liked talking about it with my father. He’d say he indulged me, but I think he found me useful. Maybe I can help with your Medved problem.”
“Do you know where I can acquire a large amount of automatic rifles and men willing to kill and die while using them?”
“Not exactly.”
“Then you probably can’t help.”
I elbow him lightly. “Just let me talk about it, okay?”
“Fine, ask me your questions.”
I grill him for the next half hour as we leisurely stroll around the block. It’s a beautiful area and the sun’s shining. Mass tells me about the boats he uses, the overland routes his people take, and the way Medved has been targeting his people.
“There are different factions, and Medved’s playing them against each other.”
“That’s his goal at least. For now, I’m managing to keep everyone from breaking down into all-out war, but that won’t last long. I’m meeting with a business partner tomorrow to settle these issues for good.”
“Perfect. I’ll come along.”
He stops walking, face serious. “Not possible.”
“Why not? I have experience with this stuff and I’m good at reading people.”
“You don’t understand. These men, they’re patriarchal. Women aren’t allowed at the table.”
My eyebrows rise in mock surprise. “Oh, sorry, I thought you were a Dragon. I didn’t realize you followed rules set by lesser men.”
I struggle hard not to break out in a massive grin when his face instantly goes hard. “I play the game, wife. Same as anyone else.”
“Meaning you let them dictate the rules.”
“I’m a Dragon. The board is mine.”
“What about Lucy? Are you going to let them keep your second-in-command away from your negotiations?”
“Of course not.”
“Then it’s not about my gender.” I grin victoriously at him. “It’s just about me.” I lean in closer. “Who cares what they think? You’re a Dragon. You can allow your wife to tag along.” I put a hand on his chest, smirking right in his face. “Or are you afraid you’ll make them upset?”
I shouldn’t challenge and tease him like this. But I’m feeling confident and good about myself for the first time in a while. I feel like his problems in Turkey make sense. They’re something I can wrap my head around and maybe help solve.
At least, if I can’t actively do anything about it, I can distract myself with his work.
He steps close to me. I stand my ground, trembling as he grips my hips and pulls me against him. His lips bend down and he brushes them across my cheek and toward my ear.
“I know what you’re doing,” he whispers, fingers digging into my skin.
“Is it working?”
“Yes, wife. It’s working.” He shifts his chin slightly and buries my mouth with a kiss.
I gasp as his taste floods me, shocking and intense.
His touch and tongue are heady and incredible.
Even though I should be trying to get away, I let myself sink into him for one beautiful moment, forgetting everything else.
Maybe it’s all the coffee I drank or the way that old Turkish woman treated him like royalty, but I’m seeing him differently.
“Then what time do you need to leave in the morning?” I say when I finally manage to break the kiss.
“Early.”
“Can’t wait.”
He glares moodily before relenting. We head back to the apartment together and I’m smiling to myself.
It feels good to win a little battle.