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I stare at him for a long moment, but his face is just as unreadable as ever. There are no cracks in his voice, no pain breaking the facade of his ever-present neutrality. It’s his word against Pavone’s hints, and fuck, I know better than to trust Pavone.
I lower my fist, looking between the two of them.
“This isn’t helping anything,” Saint says after a long moment. “This is about helping Lucia, remember? About stopping Pavone? Not about lashing out at each other.”
“This is about stopping Pavone,” Victor says, eyes still closed. “I understand your feelings toward Lucia, Santino, but if you don’t temper your expectations you’re going to be left with a broken heart.”
“I’m not,” Saint says stubbornly, but he sounds subdued. “No matter what happened in the past, she cares about me.”
I sigh. “Saint…”
“She does!” he insists. “You may not see it, or understand it, but she does. It may not be love, but she gives a damn. And she’ll come back to us when this is all done.” He hesitates, then adds in a mumble, “To me and Angel, anyway.”
For some reason, that makes Victor smile. “She’d be a fool to return to me.” Then he cracks open an eye and makes a vague gesture with his hand. “But enough about that. Angelo, what have you heard about Pavone’s plans? I’ve managed to talk with di Franco, although he’s hedging his bets a bit. He said he wasn’t invited to the wedding, at least, so I assume Pavone isn’t counting much on him as an ally.”
I’m a bit shocked at how easy it is to go back to talking about work. I outline what I’ve managed to pick up from talking with some of Pavone’s people. It’s surprisingly hard to stay in the loop when I’m tasked with bodyguarding Lucia, which might be one of the reasons Pavone gave me that assignment in the first place.
Victor’s plan is pretty ingenious though. I have to admit I’m chuckling—and excited to get my hands on the trigger—when he tells me my role in all this.
“By the way,” Victor says as he and Saint are leaving. “I made a reservation for dinner for all four of us. Make sure to get Lucia there. I think we all need a nice outing.”
“I’ll do what I can,” I say, rolling my eyes. “You really just expect us to jump to your bidding, huh.”
Victor meets my gaze head-on. “Have you been disappointed by any of my ideas?”
I have to admit, I haven’t. Victor definitely delivers a much better time than Pavone ever could, and he looks better to boot.
20
LUCIA
Pavone is gone until the next day, and I’m looking forward to a night alone. Any respite is welcome, even if I’m still churning with anxiety over Vanessa and my mother. I feel guilty about all the times I’ve risked their well-being at this point by fucking around with Angelo, Saint, and even Victor.
I’d tell myself I’m never doing it again, but I’m not that self-deluded.
I pour myself a glass of wine, intending to watch a movie in bed.
Angelo blocks my exit out of the kitchen. “Hey, Princess. You’ve got an appointment with the wedding planner soon. We need to go.”
I take a long drink from my wine glass. “I don’t have any more appointments today, Angelo. Move out of the way so I can go to bed.” Alone, for once, and without having to worry about Pavone crawling into my bed or demanding that I join him in his.
“You definitely have an appointment,” Angelo repeats. He gives me a pointed once over. “You’ll have to get changed on the way there, but I’ve got something suitable for you in the car.”
“I’m not changing in the car for some appointment I don’t want to go to,” I gripe at him, taking another gulp of wine. I can’t help but notice he’s a bit more dressed up than usual, in a pair of dark slacks and a button-down shirt. Normally he’s a jeans-and-t-shirt kind of guy.
He reaches out to take my wine glass from me. “There’ll be plenty of wine where we’re going, Princess.” He drinks the rest of the glass. “Trust me, you’ll enjoy this. The food is going to be amazing, and there’s good company, too.”
“The wedding planner isn’t exactly good company,” I say dryly, but I’ve gotten the hint now. There’s no appointment with Miranda. He’s got something else in mind. I don’t know what, but I’m instantly suspicious of him. “But fine, I’ll bite. Where are we supposed to meet… her?”
“There’s a hotel restaurant that she thinks might be good for catering a few extra hors d’oeuvres. Also, maybe I’m biased, but the wait staff there is fucking hot so it’s worth it just to check them out.” Angelo grabs my waist and pulls me closer to him, grinning widely. “I had a lovely chat with a few of them a few nights ago, and they have so many ideas…”
Ideasare never a good thing, not when it comes to Angelo. I eye him. “You’re not going to let me go to bed early, are you?” I finally sigh, giving in. “All right. But can’t I change here instead of in the car like some heathen?”
“The clothes are way too nice to show to the rest of the house staff,” Angelo whispers. Then he boldly leans in and nips at my ear, making me shudder. “Victor picked them for you.”
Victor.
My heart skips a beat, and I stare at him for a moment. It’s one thing to know he’s up to something, but it’s another entirely to know that it involves Victor. “Oh, no,” I tell him, shaking my head. “The last time I was around him…” He’d made me come so hard, but that isn’t what I remember most vividly about the dressing room.
