“I thought Otto might cry, but he handled himself.” Santino smirks.
“Do I need to work you over?” I ask.
“If you feel like it.” He approaches, and I hear when his knees hit the floor.
Turning around, I find him with his arms spread, no fear in his eyes as he looks up at me.
“Cut me if you need to. If you doubt me at all.” He lifts his chin and offers his neck.
“Get up, asshole.” I turn back to my cabinet and close the doors. Santino and I grew up together. He was our gardener’s son. Friends since before we could talk, we’ve always walked this world together. If he were to betray me, my empire wouldn’t be worth the dirt it’s built on.
“I thought you might want to get a free hit in or something.” There’s a grin in his voice.
“I can get that whenever I want.”
“You want to go a few rounds?”
“Not tonight.”
“Mm-hmm.” He strides to the door. “I think you do want to go a few rounds, but not with me. With Carter’s little sister.”
“And if I do?” I turn to him.
He shrugs. “Look, I like the easy life. I pay my women, and they always deliver. That little wild thing? She’s just as likely to bleed you as bed you.” He shakes his head. “And of course you gave her a knife.”
“My best knife,” I correct him. “The one I used to do Don Lantino all those years ago.”
He sighs heavily. “I still think about that night almost every day.”
“As do I.” I can still see Carter and Apollonia’s parents, both of their throats slit from ear to ear. I was still so young, just a teenager. I don’t think Apollonia even remembers me, but I’m the one who pulled her from where she’d hid under her bed. She was still so small, those big brown eyes full of terrified tears. I cradled her close, and she clung to me so tightly that I didn’t think she’d ever let go.
It was all a coincidence--I wasn’t supposed to be there. My father had instructed me to remain in our compound because of rising violence between our men and Don Lantino’s. But I broke his rules--a habit of mine--and went with Santino into the nearby town of Cardillo. We stopped by the Simonetti house to drop off some wine. And what we found inside changed me forever.
It changed Santino, too. He became hard, focused, and he wouldn’t leave my side.
When I went to my father about the killings, he remained calm even though I saw the pain in his eyes.
“We can’t strike back. Not now. We must wait,” he’d counseled.
I’d left in a rage that only abated when I saw the girl again. She reached for me. I took her in my arms and held her all night. In the morning, she and her brother were gone, taken to a neighboring family to be raised away from the growing violence.
But I didn’t forget, and I never forgave. When I got the chance, I killed Don Lantino with my own hands, cutting the life out of him piece by piece. By then, I was too wrapped up in taking over my father’s empire to think about the girl I’d found hiding under the bed. When Carter came to me to join my organization, I accepted him, no questions asked. I assumed that little girl had grown and married and lived happily somewhere in the Tuscan countryside. But she hadn’t. She’d run from here. From me.
I won’t let her run again.
“Cato?” Santino asks.
I fear he’s been calling my name for a while now. I clear my throat. “Yes?”
“I remember.” He pulls a pack of cigarettes from his pocket. “It’s why I was happy to take Carter in when he came calling. But she’s another matter. She’s been gone too long. Forgotten our ways. Flavia has been bitching about her Italian accent for the last 24 hours.”
“Do you have a point?”
“Be careful.” He meets my gaze. “You can’t trust her. She’s not the same person she was a lifetime ago.”
That’s why Santino’s my second. He watches out for me better than I watch out for myself. But in this, he’s wrong. Apollonia may have tried to escape this life, but she’s back. And this is her world, no matter what she’s been telling herself over the past few years.
“I’m not the same person I was then, either.” I glance at the bloody mess on the floor.
“Yeah, you’re more of a dick.” He grins.
“Go shower your whores with cash.” I push past him knowing that’s the last thing he’s going to do, but I needle him anyway. He thinks a woman will ruin you if you let them. He makes it a habit to not be ruined. “I’ll call you if I need advice on how to spread the clap.”
A laughing Santino and I walk into the hall as our cleaning crew hurries into my office. Not a trace of gore will remain when they’re done, but my soldiers will remember the price of disloyalty.
“Touchy.” He says it quietly so only I can hear. Santino knows better than to speak to me as an equal in front of anyone else.
I turn toward my bedroom as he heads toward the kitchen. After a shower and a change of clothes, I should go to the dining room. Instead, I find myself walking to the guest wing of the villa. The open portico allows the wind to whisper past carrying the scent of rain and olive blossoms.
I pass through the main foyer, then walk down the guest hallway. Her door is ahead and slightly open.
When I get closer, I quiet my steps and stop. Peering through the crack in the door, I feel my heart begin to race. And the sight that meets my eyes steals the breath from my lungs and has me pushing inside, forcing my way to her.
7
Apollonia
“Do you always just let yourself into women's bedrooms?” I look over my shoulder at Cato as I keep rubbing the lotion into my calf. He’d stormed right in. Not that I hadn’t left the door open for him. I knew he’d be along soon enough. He actually arrived a lot faster than I anticipated.
“It’s my home.” He’s right, of course. But you’d think since he’s holding me against my will that the least he would do would be to afford me some privacy. I should have known better.
I watch as his eyes roam up my legs and finally focus on my ass. I’m sure he has a great view since I’m slightly bent over with only a towel on. I try to keep my bravado, not wanting him to see I have no freaking clue what I’m doing here.
“You own the house, sure. But not everything in it.” I drop my towel. It hits the floor and pools at my feet. I snag the silk robe I’d found in the bathroom off the chaise lounge where I’d placed it earlier. I slip it on and tie it loosely. I make sure it gapes open in the front, allowing him a nice view. If his eyes are other places, maybe he won't notice the shake of my hands or the blush I already feel rising to my cheeks. I turn around. He’s slowly getting closer to me, his gaze never wavering.
He licks his lips. I really hadn't thought about how I’d feel when dressed in so little in front of him, stripping down and giving him some view of me. The reaction I’m currently having sure as hell wasn't what I was expecting. I can feel my body heating under his stare. My eyes stray to his mouth. Now I can’t stop thinking about what it would be like if he licked me with that tongue.