"I have no need to take your proposal anywhere. It won’t leave this table. Raina is engaged to another and no amount of negotiating will change this."
Giovanni looked at Raina in surprise. "She told me nothing of this when we spoke last night." His voice was chiding.
Raina gritted her teeth. Was now a good time to speak, set the record straight? Was a woman actually engaged if she had no intention of marrying the man? Perhaps she should get up excuse herself, go to the washroom and slip out. It had worked in the animal clinic; it could work in the nightclub.
There is a slight lift to Mateo's lips. "The young lady is taking her time in reconciling herself to the idea of marriage."
Raina had no choice but to roll her eyes at that. "Sure, it's the marriage I object to," she said sarcastically.
"And who exactly is the lucky groom?" Giovanni asked thoughtfully.
"Me," Mateo said simply.
"Of course," Giovanni said. He shrugged his shoulders in a negligent manner. "A natural pairing that will tie up an empire nicely."
Giovanni echoed Raina's earlier thoughts. The trapped feeling that she got whenever she thought about being forced to live out her life as a mafia wife.
"I have become attached to this young lady. I will, of course, hand her over unharmed. But I must insist on one more night with her. The idea of a young person in the house again gives me comfort."
"Absolutely not," Mateo said quickly. “I’m not leaving here without her.”
Raina looked from one man to the other. She didn’t really want to stay with Giovanni for one more night in his creepy old mansion, but she also didn't want to deal with Mateo, who would put her on instant lockdown and have her every move watched. She’d have a better chance of slipping away from the high-security mansion then her would-be fiancé.
“You won’t be leaving here at all if you don’t allow this condition,” Giovanni drawled coldly, his eyes chips of ice. “Do you really want your future wife drawn into a gun fight?”
Raina’s heart pounded in her chest as every man and woman in the club tensed, awaiting Mateo’s response.
Mateo stared back at Giovanni as though they were the only two people in the room. Finally, Mateo gave a short jerk of his head. Though he spoke to Giovanni, his intense gaze moved to Raina as if burning her features into his memory. “You will hand her over in the morning. If not, then I will consider us at war.”
"Good, that’s settled then,” Giovanni said jovially pushing his chair back and standing. He reached a hand out to Raina, helping her from her seat. "I will have her delivered to you tomorrow morning in your hotel suite at 10 AM sharp."
Waves of tension flowed from Mateo as she and Giovanni turned away from the table and left the club. Raina shivered and wondered what would happen between them when she no longer had Giovanni as a buffer.
Chapter Eleven
Raina sat stiffly in the back of Giovanni's limo as they headed back to the mansion. She glared out the window ignoring the passing scenery.
"You seem agitated," Giovanni commented.
She turned her glare on him. "I get that way when people threaten to chop me up and send me back to my parents in pieces."
Giovanni chuckled and reached out to pat her hand. "Posturing, my dear. Your suitor back there would have respected me less had I simply given in to his demands. He was posturing as well. He knew damn well I wouldn’t give my son up to him."
Raina thought that there was rather a lot of wiggle room between handing her over to Mateo or mailing her home in pieces. She didn't particularly like either option, but she knew which one she would choose if she had to.
"Would you have me killed if you believed it necessary? If you believed you had the upper hand with my stepfather and Mateo?"
To his credit, and though it chilled her to the bone, Giovanni actually gave thought to her questions. Finally, he shook his head. "No, I don't believe I would. Perhaps it’s my age, perhaps it’s your age and the fact that you are a woman. But the idea of snuffing out your light is untenable to me. I feel invested in your future now, though you have brought this problem to me."
Raina blushed. Everything that had happened to her in the past few days had been a blur. She hadn't really stopped to think about the consequences of her actions. Giovanni was such a force of nature, head of the Italian mafia. How could she hurt him? But he was still human, still capable of emotion. It had to bother him knowing that his son's life was in danger.
"Did you decide to keep me with you tonight as insurance so that Mateo won't go after Antonio?"
"You are a smart one, aren't you?" Giovanni said with a laugh, patting her hand again. "Though I do enjoy your company, your presence will ensure Antonio’s safety for another day until I can get him out of the country and hidden from Mateo. Your young man has quite a bloody reputation, one that rivals even his boss. Gutierrez is an unparalleled hunter and he doesn't quit. Two skills that I would love to have on my payroll but has also put me in a quandary. To be completely honest, if I thought I could get away with it, I would have Gutierrez taken out while he is here in my city. But that would put me at war with your stepfather, not something I'm sure I could win."
Raina was shocked with how candid Giovanni was being with her. She supposed he no longer needed to keep anything from her. They both knew the score now.
"Did you ever intend for me to marry your son, or were you trying to frighten me?" she asked curiously. The idea was clearly off the table now, but she wanted to know how serious Giovanni had been about it.
He shrugged. "It would have been a good merger. But no, I don’t believe a marriage between you and my son is appropriate at this time. One or both of you would end up dead and I’ve become rather fond of you."
Raina let out a laugh. Giovanni had a gift for both overstatement and understatement that she was beginning to appreciate. She liked the Italian Godfather and thought she might miss him when she left. Perhaps he would allow her to come back to Italy for a visit sometime.
"So, for now, we get to enjoy each other's company for one more evening. You will indulge my desire for company, will you not?" he asked, attempting to look rather pathetic. An attempt that didn’t work on Raina given his expensive clothes, jewelry and overall attitude of arrogance.
"Of course," Raina said warmly. Now that she was comfortable in the knowledge that he wouldn't try to have her killed or hand her over to his son in marriage, she was willing to relax and enjoy his company for an evening.
"Tomorrow," he said, giving her a wink, "we will work on extricating you from Italy and continuing your adventure."
Raina grinned at Giovanni. She suspected that she had made a lifelong friend and ally in one of the most powerful men in the world.
Chapter Twelve
Sotza was not pleased that his second-in-command hadn’t managed to retrieve his stepdaughter. Vee was even less pleased.
"There was absolutely no excuse to have left that club without my daughter." Vee’s voice echoed sharply through the room.
Mateo’s phone sat propped up on the nightstand on speakerphone. He was laying stretched out on the bed, his arms behind his head, his eyes closed. He was not relaxed though. He was thinking. He didn't trust Savino, didn't trust the man to hand Raina over. Mateo believed he had another plan.