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23DanteI filled Aida with wine and pasta. She leaned back in her chair and smiled at me, glowing with contentment. I’d gotten her off already, and I knew I’d do it again soon. The food, the wine, it was just a prelude to what I really wanted, what I really was going to take. Her body, her skin, that was everything I wanted, and every time I saw her, it raged through me like a wildfire.
Sitting there, feeling calm for the first time in days, I realized something. It hit me and I let out a breath, feeling foolish for not realizing it before.
“What’s wrong?” Aida asked.
I tilted my head and smiled. “You can read me really well.”
“You just seemed so content for a second there and now you’re looking all pissed again.”
I laughed. “I was just thinking about you.”
“And that makes you angry?” She pouted. “Rough.”
“No, I mean, I was thinking about you and Vlas. About why I’m so desperate to kill him. I think I might not be so intent on ending that fuck if it weren’t for you.”
She bit her lip. “What do you mean?”
“Vlas has a thing for you right now. He thinks he can use you against me, and he’s going to take any opportunity to hurt you that he can. Even if I cripple him, wipe out his leadership, rip apart his business, he’ll still be out there, he’ll still be thinking of ways to get to you.”
She crossed her arms. “So are you saying you got into a car accident all for me?”
I laughed and shrugged, pushing my fork across the plate. Linguine with white wine sauce and shrimp rolled around, and although it was delicious, I couldn’t eat another bite. “Something like that. I’m just realizing that I won today, that I hit Vlas so hard that it’ll take years for the prick to recover, and I can’t enjoy a second of it.”
“All because of me,” she said.
“All because of him. I let him get into my head. You were just the method he used.”
She frowned, lifted her wine glass, and took a long sip. I looked at her lips, her perfect pouty mouth, and could already taste her pussy.
There was a knock at the door, pulling me from my thoughts. I frowned and stood.
“Are you expecting anyone?” she asked.
“No,” I said.
I walked to the kitchen, opened the cabinet under the sink, and found the gun I had taped behind the garbage disposal. I checked the magazine, the slide, and held it behind my back as I walked to the door.
“Stay,” I said to Aida.
I pressed my eye against the peek hole and looked out. Standing on my stoop were four men, three enforcers wearing black, and Don Leone himself.
The Don at my house twice now in a week. What a lucky fucking guy. I slipped my gun away and unlocked the door.
The Don smiled at me. “Dante,” he said.
“Don.” I bowed my head in respect. “Please, Don Leone. Come inside.”
He nodded and stepped through the door. He wore his usual white shirt with a sweater vest over top of it. He walked on his cane, though part of me thought he didn’t really need it, just pretended to be an old man so people would underestimate him. The three enforcers that followed were part of his inner circle, his closest bodyguards. The first was a man named Dino, a tall thin guy with dark eyes and long, black hair pushed back in a messy wave. The next was Roberto, a shorter man, bald head shining. He grinned and nodded at me as he passed, following the Don.
Tad brought up the rear. He was the oldest of the three, in his mid-fifties with graying hair. He was getting bigger in the middle, and looked like a high school gym coach with reddish skin and beady eyes, but I knew he was a killer, deep down on his heart. He’d been around the Leone family as long as he’d been alive, and he was one of the most trusted men in the whole organization.
I shut the door behind them as they walked into my kitchen. I followed and saw Aida stand and clasp her hands in front of her respectfully at the sight of the Don.
“Ah, no, not you too, Aida,” Don Leone said. “Everyone treats me like I’m something special. I enjoyed our time together, I don’t want you to start acting like I’m some kind of celebrity.”
“Of course not, Don Leone,” she said.
He chuckled and shook his head. “I suppose there’s nothing to do about it now. Can’t put a secret away once it’s out in the world.”
The three enforcers spread out. Dino lingered in the kitchen near the sink, leaning against the cabinet. Roberto walked into the living room, looking around like he was searching for bugs. And Tad stood off to the side, near the Don, his hands behind his back, his face neutral and empty of all emotion. He made me the most uneasy, since I never knew how to read him. The others were simple enough, but Tad was always a mystery to me.
