10. Dario
DARIO
I don’t even get my shirt off before I collapse into bed, exhausted. As soon as my eyes drift shut I know I’m going to dream about Liana.
She’s all I’ve been thinking about lately; no wonder she seeps into my subconscious.
But the dreams are more like memories.
Giovanni and Rocco, another friend of mine, showed up around the one-month mark.
Rocco wrinkled his nose when he walked into my office. “When’s the last time you showered? Jesus, Dario.”
“Dunno,” I mumbled, already on my fourth drink of the day even though it was barely noon.
“Don, you have to leave this house,” Giovanni said, lifting me up by one arm while Rocco snatched the drink from my hand.
I almost swung at him, but gritted my teeth instead, letting Giovanni haul me up into a standing position.
“This is all my fault,” Giovanni muttered. “I should have never told him that I saw her.”
“You’re right. You shouldn’t have,” Rocco snapped. They glared at each other. But I couldn’t bring myself to care.
I walked over to the bar and Rocco let out a long sigh as I lifted the half-empty scotch bottle.
“Look, if you’re going to get wasted every day, we might as well all go out and day drink,” he suggested.
“That’s a terrible idea,” Giovanni hissed, but I raised an eyebrow.
“Is it?”
Two hours later, I was a lot more drunk but less miserable with a woman hanging off my arm. I was pretty sure I’d called her “Li” while we were making out in the hallway, but she didn’t seem to mind.
I wake up with a start, a heavy feeling in my chest. I hate that being around Liana brings me back there, back to that time when I was weak and pathetic. Back when all I could think about was someone else touching her, kissing her, impregnating her.
It drove me crazy. And if I’m totally honest with myself, it still does. That’s why I flipped out when she went out with someone else.
It’s going to be a change, cutting off all women, but I can do a few months of celibacy so that Liana doesn’t look elsewhere.
I’ve always loved women, and they love me back, but when I was with Liana... I didn’t want anyone else. I didn’t crave anyone’s touch but hers.
Is it the same now?
I swallow hard, rubbing a hand across my face. My head hurts since I’m slightly hungover, but I’m more concerned with the three missed calls I have from Giovanni.
I sleep like the dead. The alcohol didn’t help matters. I’m lucky Beth’s place is only a couple miles from my place or I might have wrapped myself around a tree last night. Or worse.
Beth was right to call me an idiot.
I call him back right away and he answers on the first ring.
“Boss, where have you been? It’s nearly noon.”
I blink, looking down at my watch. Shit, he’s right. I hadn’t realized I’d slept in, but it was nearing daylight when I finally crashed.
“Rough night,” I mutter, and Giovanni lets out a breath.
“I knew Liana moving in was a bad idea.”
“Save it,” I snap. Giovanni goes silent only for a moment before speaking again.
“We’ve got bigger problems to worry about, anyway. I don’t know how to say this so I’ll just say it—we've got a rat.”
“What?” I hiss. “How do you know?”
“The shipment from Vasquez?”
“Yeah?”
“It’s gone.”
I pause, processing.
“Don?”
“What do you mean, it’s gone?”
“All of it. Taken overnight.”
“We’ve only stored it there for a couple of weeks—”
“I know. But it’s gone. Every last kilo.”
“Fuck.”
Giovanni doesn’t state the obvious—it has to be a rat. No one else but me and my men knew that shipment existed.
“There’s more.”
“Jesus fucking Christ,” I groan, standing up and taking off my wrinkled shirt. “Go on.”
“I think it’s someone in the family. You kept that Vasquez shipment off the books just in case the meet went sideways. The only people that knew were me, Rocco, and your cousins.”
I have about twenty cousins, but only ten that are directly in my life. The rest live out of state. My father had three brothers, and they weren’t big on being loyal to their wives.
“It can’t be,” I say instantly, wanting to trust my family members. The only cousin I’ve ever had any beef with is Beth, and that’s just because I used to terrorize her as the youngest girl in our family.
We all did. I’ve apologized a million times, but she still hates my guts. Couple that with Liana and I splitting up, and I guess I’ll never have a real relationship with her.
“There’s no other alternative, boss. I hate it just as much as you do.”
“Come over. We should talk about this in person,” I say quickly. Even though I used an untraceable burner phone, you never know who could be listening.
Giovanni arrives with Rocco in the passenger seat, and I can’t help but smile, happy to see my other friend.
He and Giovanni put me back together after I found out Liana was pregnant, and I’m grateful to both of them for it.
I haven’t seen Rocco in a while. I’ve barely been in touch since I got better.
His face is blank when he gets out of the car, and I wince, wondering if Giovanni has told him that Liana moved in here.
“Come into my office,” I say as I meet them at the door. Giovanni gives me a half-hug while Rocco just glares.
He definitely knows.
As soon as the doors shut Rocco huffs out a breath.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing with Liana Rossi again?”
“We’re not back together,” I say simply.
Rocco crosses his arms over his chest. “No, you’re just married. What the fuck, Dario?”
Rocco works for me sometimes, but he’s never worked under me, so he doesn’t refer to me as boss or don like Giovanni.
“That’s not what we’re here to discuss,” Giovanni says firmly.
Rocco sighs and drops his arms to his sides. “Fine. We’ve got bigger fish to fry.”
“Who don’t we trust in the family?” Giovanni asks.
“We trust everybody,” I say flatly. “It could be one of the new guys, some of the muscle we hired—”
“The muscle didn’t know about the Vasquez shipment,” Giovanni points out.
“And look, Dario, I know you love your family but some of your cousins are...”
“Finish that sentence,” I dare him, and Rocco shrugs.
“I’m just saying, man, they’re not all saints. God knows I’m not, either, but I’m loyal. There’s a difference.”
“What about Alessandro?” Giovanni asks.
I shake my head. “He’s out of the country, has been for months. Couldn’t have been him.”
“Frankie?” Rocco suggests.
“I doubt it,” I say hesitantly. “He’s got a new baby and he hasn’t even done a job for me in months.”
Giovanni throws up his hands in defeat. “I’m at a loss.”
“Me too,” I admit, trying to wrack my brain for any perceived disloyalty from my family.
I can’t think of any. Even Beth, who hates me, would never betray me. The Conte family has always been about trust and loyalty.
“You know what we need to do,” Rocco says. “Set up a fake shipment. A meet. If one of our enemies shows up, then we know it’s family.”
I sigh. I hate to do this, but it’s the only way.
“Alright. Set it up for next week. Giovanni, you and Rocco will be there, yeah?”
They both nod in unison, and since there’s not much that Giovanni and Rocco agree on, I’m happy to see it.
I make the calls, send the text messages, tell only our family group chat about the meet. I use code words, but they all know what they mean.
Giovanni and Rocco exit the room, with Rocco hanging back just for a minute.
“I know you don’t want to talk about it, Dario, but... with Liana... be careful, alright?”
I swallow hard. “Yeah. Alright. I’ll be careful.”
It sounds like a lie even to my own ears.
I give Sofia, my cook, the night off and head into the kitchen around dinnertime. Liana and Sonny have been in her room all day. I guess she’s still pissed off.
I can’t really blame her. I shouldn’t be worried about who she’s dating, about who’s touching her... but I am. It drives me crazy even to think about it, so the only way we can have this arrangement to get her back on her feet and to give me a temporary relief from the IRS is to be celibate.
And I can totally do that.
But for now, I need her to quit being mad at me, because I can’t spend the next six months with her a ghost in my home.
Rocco’s words ring in my ear. “Be careful, alright?”
I’m being careful. I was drunk last night and I kissed her, but I didn’t take it further. Well. Not much further.
My dick twitches when I remember how hot her core was under my palm.
No. Nope.
I just want to help Liana and Sonny because she used to mean something to me. I’m not going to have sex with her. I’m not going to fall in love with her again.
I’m just going to help, and in return, I’ll get a tax break. That’s all.
I make her favorite, skirt steak with a marsala glaze and roasted cherry tomatoes. To cover all my bases, I also stick some chicken nuggets into the oven for Sonny, figuring he won’t have her sophisticated palate.
I wait in the dining room until she comes down with Sonny, sniffing the air.
She smiles and then stops in her tracks when she sees me sitting at the head of the table. I’ve already set the table, with her plate next to me and Sonny’s on the other side of me.
“Chicken nuggies!” Sonny cheers and runs to sit down, already popping one into his mouth before his butt hits the chair.
I chuckle. “I just took a guess.”
“They’re my favorite!” Sonny says, looking up at me with his gray eyes, and I have to look away. It makes my heart hurt to see how much he looks like her.
Did the father provide any DNA at all? Maybe he’s tall and lanky, like me, since Sonny is.
I can’t think that way. I can’t think about who he might be or I’ll track him down and kill him.
I look over at Liana and she’s pouting, her arms crossed.
“Come and eat. You must be hungry. I haven’t seen you all day.”
She opens her mouth as if to retort, but then watches Sonny eating happily and comes to her chair, sitting down stiffly.
“Is it still your favorite?” I ask quietly, sitting up straighter, and she nods, her eyes downcast.
Fuck.
She’s still mad. Liana only ices me out like this when she’s really pissed off.
I eat quietly and Sonny starts to babble about a new cartoon he’s been watching.
I smile and nod and ask him questions about it, and he gets more and more animated.
It’s cute. He’s cute, probably because he looks so much like Liana.
But Liana seems to be getting more and more pissed off, barely eating, barely looking at me.
“We could watch it together sometime,” Sonny says shyly, giving me a sheepish little smile. I open my mouth to answer but Liana stands up, walking over to him and scooping him out of his chair.
“Dario has other things to do than watch cartoons,” she mutters.
I frown. “No, I—”
“Besides, you like watching with Mama, right?”
Sonny pouts slightly but Liana doesn’t respond, just stalking up the stairs and into Sonny’s room.
Well. That went well.
I sigh and leave the dishes on the table. My maid, Stella, will come by later and clean up.
I walk up the steps, going to my own room for a nightcap, when Liana bursts out of Sonny’s room, softly closing the door and then whirling around to me, her expression furious.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” she hisses.
I hold up my hands in defense. “I just... I wanted to apologize. With dinner.”
She takes in a sharp breath. “Well, keep my kid out of it, would you?”
I stare at her, baffled. “What are you talking about? I was just talking to him—”
“Well don’t!” she snaps. “You’re confusing him.”
I don’t have the slightest clue what she’s talking about, but I also don’t know fuck all about kids, so I take in a breath and look at her intently.
“I’m sorry.”
She rolls her eyes. “You don’t even know what you’re apologizing for.”
No, I don’t. I bite back the words, terrified she’ll leave again.
When she left before, it felt just like the first time, and I don’t ever want to feel that way again.
“I’m sorry, Li,” I say quietly, stepping closer to her. She glares up me.
I open my mouth to keep going, to tell her that I don’t know how to do this, how to be in the same space with her and not want her, but she cuts me off.
She reaches up to grab the back of my head and pulls me down to kiss me, her tongue sliding against mine.