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I did not run after him. So all it would have taken yesterday would have been a kiss from him and I would have melted like ice in the summer sun. I didn't know whether this realization made me happy or made me regret having refused. I no longer had the slightest bit of control anyway, once Dario let me feel his closeness.
It took a few minutes until my mind had recovered. I didn't even want to start on my body, which was offended to have been turned on by Dario like that in a split second, with nothing more to follow.
Suddenly, it seemed tempting to throw myself into work and spruce up my apartment. So I got out the new smartphone, opened the Spotify app, which was already installed, and went in search of a suitable playlist. A few minutes later, the music was blaring through the room at a pleasant volume and accompanied me on the first steps needed to tidy up the apartment again.
I started in the kitchen and cleaned up all the broken pieces before collecting those in the bathroom as well. Then I set about putting the overturned pieces of furniture back into their proper positions. It took me energy and time, but in the end, everything was back in its original place, which made it look neater.
I would have to replace the mattress, but for now I had no choice but to make do with what I had.
With great effort, I turned the mattress before placing it back on the frame and covering it with a new fitted sheet so I would no longer have to see the misery.
Then I occupied myself with the odds and ends that lay scattered everywhere. Books. Documents. Little things that had accumulated over the years.
I pulled my old laptop out of a pile, which didn't look like anything had hit it. Instead, the Frenchman had thundered his fist into my TV, so that the screen looked like a spider's web. I didn't even bother to check if it still worked before I moved it aside.
Fortunately, the windows and the balcony door were undamaged– that's all I needed.
After everything was back in place and I could recognize the floor again, I set about cleaning. There were dirty boot prints everywhere, either from the de Archard brothers or from the Frenchman. Either way, I didn't want to see them any longer, because they too were just a sign that the last few days had gone south.
When I found myself back in an apartment that was comfortable to live in, I took a last look in the refrigerator. As I had suspected, the contents were so meager that it was not even enough for a simple dish.
Therefore, I pulled out the smartphone again and placed an order with the delivery service. After this day I had well earned the comfort food!
11
Dario
My gaze slid over the still empty dance floor. In a few hours, the premises would fill up. Already, the music resounded throughout the club, vibrating not only the décor, but my bones as well. They sang in anticipation of this night.
I couldn’t wait to stand up here in my office later and let the view glide over my empire. People partying exuberantly and having fun. In the parking lot there were drugs, in here there was everything else your heart desired when you visited a nightclub likethe Tyche.Half-naked women dancing to the music, excellent drinks and a gamble or two if you felt like it.
And not only did I feel like it. No, I also felt the need to completely drown myself in it tonight. For the past few days, I had held back, telling myself that I didn't need to do that to deal with the emotions that had been building up inside of me. But that was a lie.
I needed the alcohol. I needed sex. I needed drugs, and most of all I needed a fight, which I was sure to win because I didn't hit to hurt. I hit to kill.
A sound of anticipation escaped me as I thought about how the night would go. All at once I could hardly wait to have the doors opened so that the club filled up and the party could begin.
To my chagrin, that wouldn't happen for a few more hours. So I did what I had already been doing at great length for the last few days.
I went to my computer, opened the overview of connected devices and then the map, which told me the locations.
My point was outside of Naples because I was inthe Tyche. Emilio and Flavia were at the cottage, which meant he was fucking her brains out. Carlotta and Natale were at the villa, Fiero was visiting his parents, and Vincenzo seemed to take a walk through the vineyards surrounding his home. There remained one last item and it belonged to Gia.
I still had to smile about the fact that she had asked me if I could monitor her location with it. Well, a little sarcasm had been necessary, because otherwise she would never have accepted the gift, but in the end she wasn't wrong with her question at all.
I could track her location, but that's about it. More would have contradicted the last remnant of decency that I still possessed. Besides, it was only for her safety; I kept telling myself as I stared for minutes on end at the dot on the map, which rarely moved.
Her safety made my conscience feel calmer. Even if the Frenchman was dead she still lived in a dangerous area and who knew who was lying in wait for her now?
A knock on the door jolted me out of my thoughts. Before I called out "Yes?", I closed the window with the location display of the linked devices. No one had to know that I kept Gia on my screen instead of forgetting about her.
This turned out to be more difficult than I had expected.
"There's a problem, D," said Silvio, who had stuck his head in through a crack.
I raised an eyebrow. "One of our dealers tried to rip you off. And not on a small scale."
Immediately, the anger I had felt a few days earlier for not getting my hands on the Frenchman flared up again. "What did he do?" I demanded to know, a certain icy coldness already in my voice.
