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I stand up abruptly, knocking the chair over and putting distance between us. “Oh, god, Vanessa, I’m so glad you’re here!” I gush, going over to her as I let tears start to well up in my eyes.
“I didn’t—”
“What the fuck is going on here?” Pavone shouts, slamming his hand against the nearest wall. Behind him, I can see Rossi and Angelo. They’re standing at the other entrance to the dining room, drawn by my shouts.
Vanessa points at the guy still sitting at the dining room table. “This sleaze was—he was—”
I pinch her side, and that makes her stop talking, looking at me in confusion. I don’t want her to say anything that could be construed as a lie.
Especially not with Angelo in the room. I’m fairly certain I can fool Pavone, but Angelo knows me too well at this point.
“I’m sorry!” I say quickly, in a warbling voice. “Emilio, please, I swear, I didn’t want it! He started to… he started to…”
Pavone’s anger doesn’t dissipate. His deep-set scowl mars his features, and any hint of handsomeness is gone. “Stevie, what the fuck happened? And it better be the truth or…” He pauses to look over his shoulder at Angelo. “It better be the truth, or I let Angelo here show off his skills on your body.”
My stomach drops. I was expecting a quick gunshot. Optimistically, a severed finger, although ‘Stevie’ is already missing one. If Angelo’s meant to show off the skills—the skills people are already talking about—it’s going to be bloody.
The worst part is, even though I don’t want toseeit, I actually don’t care if Stevie has to live through it. I’ll be happy if Pavone has one less disgusting prick on his payroll. Just as long as Stevie is the only person Angelo attacks.
“Nothing happened!” Stevie protests. “We were sitting there, and she starts flirting with me—”
“I didn’t!” I interrupt. “I told him not to touch me!”
“No, you were totally begging for it,” Stevie says, and I’m glad I’m not the only one exaggerating. Unlike me, he’s apparently not an accomplished liar, and the words ring false.
“Oh? And how was shebeggingfor it?” Pavone asks, his eyes narrowing as he looks between us. He’s picked up on the lie, but he’s following it right where I want him to: to Stevie, and not me.
“She was touching my hand and pressing in close to me and showing off her tits! She told me to touch them because they were so much perkier than her mom’s—”
The guy’s lies are ridiculous. If he wasn’t talking about my mother’s breasts, I might’ve found it hard not to laugh. But as it is, I glare at him.
“I didn’t. That’s mymother,” I say, not even trying to hide my disgust.
Vanessa nods. “That’s disgusting. And your hands were down Lucia’s shirt when I walked in.”
Pavone turns to look at Angelo and Rossi. “Can you believe this? Either one of my men islying to me, or I’ve got a slut of a fiancée. Which is more likely?”
Rossi coughs. “I don’t know, Boss. But we have an appointment in half an hour.”
“Yeah, yeah. Angelo, what do you think? Who’s lying? The two bitches, or one of my men?”
I meet Angelo’s gaze and mentally pray he’ll play along. I can still hear his accusations of me being a slut, of how loose my cunt is. I’m sure Angelo would gladly put a knife to my throat, especially after my disappearing act.
“She’s the lying cunt! The spoiled princesswantedit,” Stevie interjects. “Boss, please.”
I see Angelo’s eyes narrow. “I dunno, boss. I’m really not an expert on women,” Angelo says, slow and deliberate. “But you said she wasn’t all that good in bed. Doesn’t sound like a slut to me.”
My stomach flutters. Angelo sided with me. Despite everything, Angelo’s on my side.
“That doesn’t mean anything!” Stevie says quickly. “She could be pretending!”
“The question, Stevie,” Pavone says, “is why she’d wantyou.”
Stevie pales a little, obviously realizing this is going against him now. “Boss, she wanted it!” he insists.
“You have that little self-control?” Angelo asks, and I recognize the spark of rage behind his voice even though his face is expressionless. “Even if she was dancing naked, you should know better than to disrespect the boss like that.”
Pavone hums. “We don’t have time for this. I don’t care anymore. Angelo, kill him.”
