“And Rico?”
“The more the merrier.”
Outside, in the late-morning sunlight, Mattia and Tommaso disappeared into their cars. Elio caught Stefano’s profile as he turned Mattia’s car around. So the bastard was back from South America. A sharp and sudden swell of loathing rose inside him that was every bit as powerful as the loathing he’d carried for the Espositos all these years.
He watched the bastard who’d assaulted Siena drive away with his heart thumping murderously and an acrid taste in his mouth that was unlike any taste he’d experienced before.
Who knew how long he’d have watched the car disappear into the distance if he hadn’t heard the quick, light steps of his wife approaching.
Swallowing the acridity, he faced her.
Stefano would be dealt with in due course, but for now, Elio needed to keep his eye on the ball he’d been playing for so many years he barely remembered a time before it.
Siena gazed up at him. She’d rammed her hands in the pockets of her black jeans. That faint stain of colour reappeared on her cheeks even as scepticism resounded in her voice. “A dinner party?”
He forced his lips to curve upwards at the corners. “Sure. We’re family now, princess. I think it’s time we acted like it, don’t you?”
“I suppose. But a dinner party?”
“It won’t be anything formal. Just a decent meal served with decent wine.”
Her shoulders loosened a little, her own lips curving. “My mother only does formal.”
“She can dress however she likes.”
“She always does,” she said drily.
How, he wondered, could Siena retain any affection for that bitch?
She held his stare a moment longer before reaching into her handbag and pulling out her shades. “I need to go. Family stuff to do.”
“Anything I should know about?” he asked casually.
Elio knew exactly where she was going and what she would be doing.
She shook her head, sadness in her eyes. “Just tying up the loose ends from all the restructuring.”
The restructuring and loose ends that had come about with her father’s death.
Siena had loved her father. Loved the man who’d slaughtered Elio’s family. The sadness in her eyes should not be inducing any kind of empathy in him for her over this, or guilt that the loose ends she thought she was going to be tidying up were nothing of the sort.
The dinner party he was planning was nothing of the sort either.
Lifting her face to the clear blue sky, she visibly shook off her fleeting melancholy before looking back at him. “Shall we eat out tonight?”
“I thought you were working?” This was her regular night for visiting her Milan casino.
She shrugged and smiled. “I can take a night off.”
“Okay… Want me to book a table somewhere?”
“Let’s go to Carlo’s.”
“You’re sure?” They’d eaten there a few times, but only for lunch.
“I’ve a craving for Rocco’s carbonara.” Then, as if she couldn’t surprise him anymore, she put a hand on his shoulder and lifted herself onto her toes to place a fleeting kiss on his mouth. “I’ll see you later,” she whispered before turning away and striding to her car.
His heart suddenly full to bursting, he watched her leave, touching the mark her lips had imprinted on his.
