He tilted his head, his strong hawk-like features cast in flickering shadows from the fireplace. "The most truthful answer is your stepfather. Sotza carries a lot of weight in the circles we share; he could make my life extremely difficult if I was involved in the disappearance of his daughter.”
Raina narrowed her eyes at him. Though Giovanni respected Sotza, he also seemed to have a lot of power in his own right. Having gotten to know him a little, she suspected he wouldn’t normally help someone in her position, despite her relation to Sotza. “Is that the only reason you brought me here?”
His sharp gaze roved over her face as he contemplated his answer. "I wish for you to marry my son.”
Luckily, she was too stunned for her face to match her inner thoughts. There was not a snowball’s chance in hell that she was going to marry Giovanni's son. She’d kill him herself first.
Giovanni continued to speak. "You seem cool and collected, but I will know better as I get to know you. Must be reasonably intelligent to carry on your business as a forger. You would be a good wife for my son. You’re beautiful and frankly, it would help forge a relationship with your stepfather. I am getting older, but I need my son settled before I can hand my empire to him. You are just the woman to do it.”
The word “no” wanted to burst forth from Raina so badly that she had to bite down on her soft lower lip to stop it from flying out. Giovanni didn't like being interrupted when he was speaking. She also suspected he didn't like hearing the word no. As far as he was concerned the future bride of his son had walked up to him in his club with a gunshot wound and begged for his help.
Before Raina could say much of anything, Giovanni stood and held his hand out to her. She slid her hand into his and allowed him to help her stand. "I will have someone show you to your room."
Raina had no doubt that there was a lock on that door too. She was definitely rethinking her decision to enlist Signore Savino’s help. Her recklessness could lead to an all out mob war if things didn’t end well.
Mateo would want revenge if anything happened to her. There was something about his attachment to her, their mutual attraction. Raina didn't believe in soulmates, but she didn't know how else to explain Mateo. It was part of the reason why she ran from him; to protect herself. His passion, his obsession, everything about him, it was too much. She couldn't handle that kind of love.
No, she didn’t have any choice but to trust Giovanni. For now.
Chapter Six
Finding Raina was the easy part, figuring out how to get her back was an entirely different matter. Mateo had been on his feet for nearly seventy-two hours. No sleep, little food – a shit ton of aggravation. As much as he wanted to go after Raina without delay, he knew he needed sleep first. He wasn't getting her back if he couldn't use his brain.
Mateo was sitting in a booth in the restaurant located in the lobby of his hotel. It wasn't exactly an upscale hotel. He needed to try and blend while in Italy. He couldn’t toss his money and weight around, raising questions about who he was and where he came from. As a result, the restaurant was low-quality, overpriced, and dingy.
Sitting with him in the booth were two of his people, Thomas and Angela. Angela acted as Mateo’s second when he left Sotza's sphere of influence and went to work on his own. Mateo had Sotza's blessing when it came to working outside of Venezuela, trusting Mateo to make decisions based on Sotza’s best interest. Despite being raised in an underworld filled with men, Angela was as bloodthirsty and skilled as any of them. She was the shadow in the dark that no one saw coming. A cute, innocent looking young woman who could take a man out as easily as smile at him. In fact, Mateo dared any man to tell Angela to smile. It would be the last thing he did.
Thomas was another who Mateo trusted implicitly. He’d been with the Sotza cartel for a decade, living on the compound and working his way up through the ranks. He often chose to work with Mateo so he could travel the world.
"Thomas, I want you and the rest of our men to sit on the house. Make sure you track any and all of Raina's movements if she leaves the grounds. Try not to be seen by Savino's men, but if you are, tell them the truth. I have a hunch that Raina told Savino the truth about who she is and that's why she's being kept at his estate." Mateo downed the rest of the water in his cup and threw a few french fries into his mouth. He turned Angela. "I want you to go and talk to Savino at his club, arrange a meeting."
She snorted. "He won't talk to a woman. Venezuela is bad enough when it comes to getting men to treat me like an equal, but Italy? The Sicilian Cosa Nostra? Not a chance."
"Watch your tongue with me,” Mateo snapped, his voice hard. “You don't get to argue with my orders."
Angela had a chip on her shoulder a mile wide and she wasn't afraid to mouth off her opinion. They were of a similar age and had worked together from their teen years on. Mateo was willing to take more lip from her than he did most people. But not in this instance, not in Italy. He needed a tight crew here.
“A beautiful woman is more likely to get close to Savino, maybe convince him to drop his guard."
Despite his order that she shut up and do as he says, Angela couldn't help but voice one more opinion. "That's easy for you to say. We don't know what Raina said to him to get him to adopt her. What if it was something else about her that drew him, besides her beauty?" Her lip curled in disgust as she said the last word.
"Then I guess we'll find out when he sends your body back to me in pieces. Now get out of here and go deliver my message. I want a meeting with Savino at his earliest convenience. Use Sotza’s name if you have to."
Mateo didn't give her another opportunity to argue. He pulled out his wallet, opened it and tossed a few bills on the table, then shoved his chair back and stood. The room swam for second. Fuck, he needed to get some sleep.
He strode away from the pair and out of the restaurant into the hotel lobby. He bypassed the elevator and took the stairs up three flights. He strode down the hallway to room 407 and used his key card to open it. He didn't care about the shabbiness of the room; he'd slept in worse places. Swamps, jungles, Siberia. He was dead on his feet. At this point he would sleep just about anywhere.
But as he lay down on the bed and closed his eyes, Raina's face emerged. It was pale and pinched. No less lovely than usual, but worried. Terrified even. Though she had been brought into the world of the mafia via her mother and stepfather, she had never experienced the kind of violence she’d seen earlier that day. She'd been shocked into the reality of the lifestyle in a brutal way. Mateo couldn’t blame her for running from the clinic. She probably saw him as another gun-toting mobster, like Antonio Savino and his posse.
Before falling asleep, Mateo vowed to hunt down the fucker that had made her world a little bit darker. He didn't give a shit if the man who had Raina shot was also the son of the most powerful man in Italy. If Mateo had to, he would slaughter them all.
With that thought he allowed sleep to overtake him. He dreamed of Raina. Her soft skin, shining hair, deep blue eyes that a man could get lost in for days and a grin that spelled all kinds of trouble for the man in her life. For Mateo.