chiara
Daddy gazed at me from the middle of the room, brows furrowed. “What’re you doing here this late, mio tesoro?” He sat next to me on one of the barstools and gently shook the glass in his hand.
There were only a few stragglers in his restaurant this late at night. Thankfully, none of them were any of the whores. Some of the men smiled at me behind Daddy’s back, and I had no shame in giving them the eyes and flirting back with them.
After presenting me with the most beautiful platter of cheese and crackers and filling up Daddy’s glass, the bartender was dismissed.
“Waiting for Alessandro.”
It was 9:58 p.m., and that damn man still hadn’t shown his face. If this was another trick, I was going to do far worse than draw a fucking gun on him.
“Alessandro, huh?” He shook his head and sipped his drink. “You won’t find him here. He’s on business tonight.”
“Actually, I’m going—”
He nudged me. “Why don’t you spend the night with Tommy?”
Sure, Daddy. I’ll spend the night with Tommy and his whore. Sounds great.
I stopped myself from rolling my eyes. Another way he was trying to steer me away from this business. But I couldn’t see the problem with me taking on more of a leadership role. We were family by blood from the womb, not blood from a fucking gun. He should trust me more than some of the other family members.
The door opened, and Alessandro walked in.
Daddy smiled, like Alessandro was the best thing to ever happen to him, and slapped a hand on his shoulder, squeezing a little too tightly. “What are you doing here?”
“I’m going on business with him,” I said.
Alessandro nodded. Daddy sucked in a breath.
“Mio tesoro. Oh, I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
Here we go again.
“Tonight is a big deal. It’s not like the last time, which you missed.”
I glared at Alessandro. Missed.
When I turned my attention back to Daddy, I forced my best smile. “Well, Alessandro kindly offered to take me. I won’t disappoint you this time.”
Daddy looked back at Alessandro, his jaw clenched slightly but enough for me to catch it. “Alessandro,” he said, “a word.”
They walked to the opposite side of the restaurant. Alessandro gazed over at me, a smirk teasing the right corner of his lip. Daddy looked over, and I turned around, not wanting to eavesdrop.
“Abbiamo un accordo,” Daddy said quietly. He could never speak quietly. I used to hate that when I was a kid and he was scolding me in front of everyone, but now, it was very beneficial.
Accordo. I might not be fluent in Italian, but I knew that word meant deal.
“We do,” Alessandro said, not caring about how loudly he spoke.
I cracked a cracker between my fingers and waited for them to finish. When they returned, Alessandro rocked back on his heels with his hands stuffed into his pockets and leaned against the bar.
Daddy pressed a kiss on my forehead like he cared. “Stay safe tonight. If anything goes wrong, Alessandro is with you.”
“My knight in shining fucking armor.” My smile dropped as soon as he stepped out of the restaurant. I leaned toward Alessandro and narrowed my eyes. “Did he tell you to fuck with me?”
His eyes glinted with amusement. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“He did, didn’t he?” The cracker broke into crumbs. “Why the fuck would he do that?”
He gazed over at me with hard eyes. “Because this business isn’t for women.”
I rolled my eyes. “Oh, and it is for men with fragile egos, I suppose. Egos that’ll get them killed.” I shook my head. “I swear, if the family was run by women, we wouldn’t have half the problems we have now.”
He blew a breath out of his nose. “Because you’d get nothing done. It’d be gossiping all the damn time.”
“What do you have against women?” I asked.
He shrugged his shoulders. “I have nothing against women. I appreciate them very much, in fact. Especially when they’re on their—”
My fist clenched. “Don’t finish that sentence.”
Those disturbing images of Tommy getting sucked off by that whore replayed through my mind.
He chuckled and shook his head. “Reginetta, I was going to say when they’re on their own and independent, but …” His gaze dropped down my body for a split second. “If you want to gain my appreciation like that, I won’t refuse.”
I glared at him. “I bet you would like that, wouldn’t you?”
There was that billion-dollar smirk again.
He stepped closer. “You would too. It’d be the first time during your whole relationship with Tommy that you actually got fucked and were satisfied, huh?”
“You think that you’d be able to satisfy me?”
He walked behind me, snaking a hand right around my neck. “Oh, reginetta …” Unlike Tommy, his grip was gentle yet held so much power in it. In a single moment, his fingers could dig into my throat so tightly and make me desperate. He leaned down so his lips were against my ear. “I could do more than satisfy you.”