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I debate whether to tell her about my conversation with Rossi. “Rossi thinks you and I are friends,” I finally tell her.
That gets a laugh out of her, startled and cynical as it sounds. “Are we friends, Angelo?”
I’m not sure I know what friendship really is. I would have counted Victor and Saint as friends, yet everything between us is strained now. But if the question is whether I enjoy Lucia’s company…
“There are two people who I actually enjoy spending time with, Princess. And Victor isn’t one of them,” I say. “So… yeah, we’re friends, or something. Even if you spend half the time trying to manipulate me, which, I’ll point out, I don’t tolerate from Victor.”
“I don’t try to manipulate you,” she protests.
I snort.
“All right, maybe a little. But you don’t really let me do it, so it doesn’t count.” I hear her moving on the bed, and she comes to sit right next to me. She rests her head against my arm.
I’m reminded of waking up with Lucia in my arms, her warmth pressed up against me, and I feel a sharp pang of loss. I kiss the top of her head, and breathe in. She’s not using the same shampoo she was at Victor’s mansion, which strikes me as yet another way that Pavone is wronging us.
“Princess, you’re right that Pavone would come after my family. But if I didn’t like you, I would still have found a way to leave you to your fate. I fucking made up with Saint and Victor for your sake. So, yeah, I’m letting you lead me around for some fucking reason that’s probably more emotional than rational.”
“You? Emotional? Nooo,” she drawls, and I elbow her in the ribs. She lets out a quiet laugh. “Maybe not like this, though.”
“And if anyone finds out, I will happily strangle you,” I tell her.
“You’d still let me live,” she says, and the certainty in her voice surprises me.
“If I didn’t kill you when I thought you were fucking Al Ricci, yeah, probably.” I pull her closer to me and kiss the side of her neck. “It’d be fucking hot though. And I know you don’t like it, but I would love to see my handprints bruising your neck. Marking you up for everybody to see. I’d make sure you had the best orgasm of your life, too.”
“How romantic,” she says dryly. She doesn’t pull away from me though. “Tell you what. You get me through this and out of the wedding, help me get my mom and sister away from these douchebags, and maybe something could be arranged.”
“Who says I want to wait that long?” I ask her, and I’m not entirely joking.
Lucia shivers. “I thought you didn’t want to play with fire?”
She’s right about that, but Rossi’s little tip has me tempted. We have until midnight. I reach up to push my thumb against her throat.
“You can’t… you can’t mark me, Angelo,” she says a bit breathlessly. “Afterwards. When this is all done.” She closes her eyes. “And promise me… there won’t be any guns involved.”
I let go of her neck, suppressing a flinch. I don’t regret what I did to her. I wouldn’t be in the mafia if I respected human life or dignity. I could have taken Nico’s death as an opportunity to clean up my act. Maybe I could have spent more time with my nephew. But the violence is part of me.
“No guns. But I’ll still want to scare you,” I answer truthfully. “Once we’re gone. But is it just us? Is Saint in the picture? Is Victor? I can’t make any promises for them. I won’t harm your family, and I’ll kill anybody else who dares touch you. Anything else… no idea.”
She’s quiet for a moment, but she doesn’t pull away from me. I stroke her hair, letting her think. She’s already agreed to this, and there’s no turning back, but I wonder how much she’s going to protest and try to manipulate me from here. “I understand,” she finally says. “I don’t expect you to change, Angelo.” She lets out a little laugh, humorless as it is. “I don’t want you to change, not really.”
That sounds like a damn lie, but I don’t call her out on it. “Yeah. Nobody else but me would offer you Pavone’s head on a platter,” I joke. “How do you want to do it, by the way? I’m thinking, a slow gutting. We could saw off his hand and use it to jerk his cock.”
She shakes her head. “I’d rather you just saw his cock off instead. Maybe shove it in his mouth to keep him from spewing more nonsense. Then again…” She sighs. “It’d be nice to hear him scream.” Lucia muffles a laugh in my shoulder. “I’m going to tell him I’ve been fucking three men on the side the entire time. Just so he knows how little control he had over me.”
“Sounds good. He’ll be humiliated. And after that… he’ll definitely scream,” I promise. “And twenty grand says I can get him to cry, too. He’s going to be a blubbering mess. Oh, wait. Let’s make it thirty grand, and I’ll have him apologize to you while he’s choking on his own cock.”
She scoffs. “Now that, I can’t see happening. Deal. Thirty grand says you can’t make him cryandapologize to me before he dies.”
It’s not much money to either of us, but it’s the principle of the thing. I know I’m going to win. I’ve broken men tougher than Pavone before.
17
SAINT
I’m early, but I don’t want to wait outside the bakery for Lucia and Angel to show up. We’re already playing a dangerous game with these meetings, and the last thing I need is for someone to see us together.
Not that I think Pavone even knows who I am, let alone what I look like, but every time another man is near Lucia, she’s put at even greater risk.
