Antonio
“Antonio.” I could hear Alessandro’s voice before I saw his face as he entered the office. Obviously, he knew something was up.
“I’m here,” I said, standing up from behind the dark mahogany wooden desk and headed over to him. I was glad for the distraction. Every time I thought of Callie’s parting words, I felt more and more pissed off.
“What’s going on?” he said, shaking his head as he looked around the trashed room. I may or may not have thrown a stack of folders against the wall, and there was paperwork everywhere.
“We got a little bit of a problem,” I said, sighing.
“Fuck. What now?” He headed over to the side of the room and then looked out the window. “What’s going on?”
“Dad saw Callie last night.”
“Okay, and?”
“He said her mother’s name.”
“Shit. He recognized her?”
“I guess they look the same.” I shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“But how does he even know what she looked like?”
“I’m sure he’s got a dossier on Paul Rowney and his family as well,” I said, turning toward him. “Anyway, I’ve had to pivot. There’s a new plan.”
“So, what’s the new plan?” Antonio raised an eyebrow and leaned back against the wall.
“I told her part of the truth.”
“Fuck. What did you tell her, Antonio?” Alessandro sat at the corner of the desk, shaking his head. He looked at his phone, and I could feel myself growing angry at his loss of attention.
“Something important?”
“I messaged Gia,” he said. “I was looking to see if she responded to me.”
I nodded slowly. “So you guys are talking again?”
“I guess not,” he said, looking frustrated as he put his phone back in his pocket.
“What went on there, Alessandro?”
“I think we’ve got other things to deal with right now. So what the fuck did you tell her?”
“I told her that her father slept with Mom.”
“Okay.”
“I told her that her father killed Mom.” Alessandro’s face darkened.
“He deserves to die for what he did.” He looked murderous.
“I told her I wanted revenge. I wanted her father to suffer and that by her dating me, he’d suffer.”
“Okay. That’s all you told her?”
“Just some bread crumbs,” I said with a cruel smile. “I wanted her to see that I’m not such a bad man. Sure, I did a bad thing, but it was for a reason. I didn’t want to hurt her. I just wanted to get her father angry.”
Alessandro chuckled. “And she bought it?”
“She left angry. She’s pissed at me. She hates me. Jimmy texted and said that she said she never wants to see me again.”
“Okay, so she bought it.” He smirked. “So, what are you going to do?”
“I’m going to grovel,” I said, chuckling. “I’m going to send flowers, roses, and bouquets of carnations and daisies and sunflowers, and whatever fucking flowers she likes. And I’m going to send chocolates and love letters and poems, and I’m going to win her back.” I smirked. “And I’m going to make her think I’m a changed man, a man that fell for her even though it was all about revenge.” I stood up, walked over to the window, and looked into the gardens. “And then I’m going to break her heart into a million pieces until she feels like she doesn’t want to live again.” I turned and looked at Alessandro. “And then,” I smirked, “and then I’ll have my revenge.”
Alessandro shook his head. “You’re a cold one, Antonio.”
“I wouldn’t say that,” I said, feeling almost as if I didn’t recognize myself.
“I mean, I guess they call you the wolf for a reason.” He chuckled. “So, you’re still going to go through with it all?”
“I’m still going to go through with it.” I nodded. “This was a little setback.” I shrugged. “When she gets back to her dorm and she realizes that I was only acting out of self-interest for my broken heart, then she’ll see. She’ll start to have doubts about if what I did was so bad. She’ll start to think that maybe her father was the one in the wrong. Maybe, just maybe, she’ll understand a teensy bit, and that’s all I need.” I smirked.
“So, you really want to break her?” Alessandro questioned me.
“Into a million pieces.” I slapped my hand down onto the desk even though part of me didn’t quite believe the words that I was saying. Could I break her that easily? Could I watch her crumble? A part of me would delight in it because I knew if Paul Rowney saw that his daughter was crushed, absolutely devastated, broken into a million pieces, he’d understand just one iota of the pain he had put me through.
But then I thought about Callie, my little lamb, and how she’d already looked so betrayed and hurt. When she’d told me she’d thought about Josh’s face when I fucked her, I’d wanted to punch a wall. I’d known it hadn’t been true, of course. There was no way. She’d been all mine. The way she’d responded to me, the way she’d said my name, the way her eyes had widened in delight as I’d taken her. She’d known exactly who had been inside of her, taking her virginity, making her come over and over again. But her words had stung, and the mere possibility that she would even give Josh the time of day made me want to rip someone’s hair out.
“Hey, Antonio, you okay?” I felt Alessandro’s hand on my shoulder, squeezing, and I looked at him unblinkingly.
“I’m fine.”
“You don’t have to go through with this if you don’t want to. We can break him in other ways. He’s already in financial ruin.”
“No, this has to be the way. He cares about her more than he cares about himself. We know that. We’ve been following him for years.”
He nodded. “She’s his whole life.” He shook his head. “Idiot.”
“I’ll give her a couple of days,” I said. “And then I’ll start my barrage of take-me-back ploys.”
“You’re wicked, Antonio.” Alessandro laughed. “And that’s why you will make the best don the Marchesi family has ever seen.”
“About that,” I said, shaking my head with a sigh.
“What is it?”
“I think we might have a problem with Tommasso Romano.”
“Oh, fuck. What have you done now, Antonio?”
“Let’s just say I told him I fucked Serena and there was no way I was going to marry her.” I laughed and then shrugged. “I mean, I was honest. I don’t think he liked what I had to say, though.”
“Fuck. Antonio, how could you do that?” Alessandro shook his head. “Dad is going to be pissed.”
“I don’t give a shit,” I said.
“Well, you should. You’re not the don yet.” Alessandro shook his head. “Our world, it’s all about respect. You’ll start a war.”
“I know. I need to watch my mouth.” I nodded my agreement. If I wasn’t careful, I’d have everyone in the Mafia pissed off at me. “Anyway, what’s going on at Melba’s and Lupo’s?”
“Lupo’s is a fucking hot mess. So is Melba’s. And we’re having problems with—”
I cut him off. “Fuck, I need a whiskey before I hear any more business talk.”
“I know, bro. But we got to get this ship in shape.”
“I know,” I said, nodding. “When Jimmy gets back, I’ll have him drive us back to the city.”
“I can drive us. Tell him to stay down there,” Alessandro said. “We can go to Florence’s on Fifth first.”
“You sure?”
“I’m sure,” he said. “Anyway, you look like you need a drink, and I’m sure you want to get out of this house.”
“I do,” I said. “I’m done for the week, maybe for the month.”
“Okay, so let’s get out of here,” he said.
We headed toward the door, and I paused as I saw Luisa dusting a painting about three feet from the open doorway. I wondered if she’d been listening.
“Are you two leaving now, then?” Luisa said, looking at us, her blue eyes watching us keenly.
I nodded. “Yeah, we are.”
“This whole thing,” she said. “It’s going to come crumbling down one day. You know that, right?”
“What’s that, Luisa?”
“The empire.” She shrugged. “All empires come to an end at some point.”
“Not under my watch,” I said, sneering. “I’ll only make it stronger.”
“That’s what every ruler thinks,” she said. “But you forget, you’re not ruler yet.”
“I know, but I’ll be better than my father.”
“Will you, though?” she said. “With what you’re doing to that girl?”
“What about it?”
“It doesn’t make you more of a man to be cruel, Antonio.”
“Are you telling me that I’m cruel?” I laughed then. “You’ve got to be joking. You work for my father, the biggest boss this side of the Atlantic.”
“But I can’t stop myself from thinking that I’ve been complicit in things that…” She sighed. “It doesn’t matter.”
“You’ve been complicit in what, Luisa?”
Her phone started ringing, and she held her hand up. “It’s Elisabetta. I have to take it. Hello?” she said, her voice softening slightly. “Wait, where are you? Why?” She sighed. “I’m in the manor.” She looked up at me. “Hold on,” she spoke into the phone. “Are you two going back to the city?” she asked me and Alessandro.
I nodded. “What is it?”
“It’s Elisabetta,” she said. “She’s at Grand Central Station. There’s been some issue with school.” She sighed. “But you’re going back to the city. Could you pick her up? Let her stay with you this evening? I’ll get her tomorrow.”
I frowned then. “I don’t know, Luisa. Alessandro and I have—”
“It’s fine,” he said with a laugh. “We’ll take care of her.” I stared over at him, and he shrugged. “What? She’s like our sister.”
“No, she’s not.” I shook my head. “We barely know her.”
“We grew up with her,” he said, staring at me.
“We barely know her,” I said again, annoyed. “Taking care of a teenage brat is not what I want to do this evening. She’s barely ever been in the house. She hasn’t been exposed to—”
“If you don’t want to do it, you don’t have to,” Luisa said, holding up the phone. I’d forgotten that Elisabetta was still on the line, maybe hearing everything I said.
“Fine. Tell her we’ll be down there in a couple of hours. Tell her to text me where she is and we’ll pick her up.”
Luisa nodded. “Thank you, Antonio. I appreciate it.”
“Thank Alessandro,” I said, turning to my brother. “You are taking care of her.”
“Fine,” he said. “It’s fine.”
“Come on, let’s go,” I said. “You have a good evening, Luisa.”
“Thank you,” she said, nodding. “I should finish this cleaning and then see what your father wants for dinner.”
“He’s lucky to have you, you know?”
She shrugged. “I’m just doing my job.”
“Yeah, but you treat him better than any of his wives have,” I said softly. “And he doesn’t really treat you very well.”
“I’m his confidante,” she said. “And that’s enough.” She shrugged. “I guess if he goes to hell, I’ll be going there with him, too.” She looked bleak for a moment, her fingers rubbing the crucifix hanging around her neck.
“You’re not a bad woman, Luisa,” I said. “Just because you’re his housekeeper.”
“Ah, but the people you keep company with,” she said softly. “Those are the people that determine your fate.” She nodded. “Anyway, have a good evening.”
I nodded at her and then looked over at Alessandro. “Let’s go. We got to pick up Elisabetta, take her home, and then we’ll head over to Florence’s on Fifth.”
“Okay,” he said. “Shall we tell Dad?”
“Tell him what?” I said, shaking my head. I grabbed my phone and looked down at the screen, checking to see if I had any messages. I frowned as I saw that I’d had a missed text message from Callie from last night or maybe early this morning. I opened it, and there was a picture of her smiling in my bed. My heart melted for a couple of seconds, and then I hardened it. I read her note quickly.
“Miss you already. Come back to bed,” the message said. “I’m glad you’re not a mole anymore. I’m glad you let me in.”
I pressed my lips together. I wished I hadn’t told her about the fact that I considered myself a mole. I’d opened myself up to her in a way I’d never done to anyone else, and I wasn’t sure why. It hadn’t been part of my plan to draw her closer to me. I felt like we had a moment, and I’d wanted to share that with her, but now in the light of day, looking at this message, I realized that I made myself vulnerable as well, and that was the last thing I could be. I couldn’t break her heart and break her if I had feelings, though I wasn’t the sort of man that was made for feelings. I wasn’t the sort of man that was made for caring. The only person I gave a shit about was Alessandro and then, possibly Jimmy.
At the end of the day, no woman would ever have a place in my heart. Not even one like Callie Rowney. She was beautiful, sweet, and innocent, and she trusted me, and I’d destroyed that. I had my reasons, and I would continue with my plan. I would destroy her. And that would destroy her father. It was the reason I’d been living for the last several years. All I’d been waiting for was this revenge. And just because there’d been a slight glitch in the plan, it wasn’t done.