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“Buongiorno,Deo,”Greta Agossi called down the stairs, fluttering her fingers at me as her gaze swiveled to Heidi.
Shit.
Heidi’s gaze kept flickering between my father and Greta, and every few seconds, it ended up on me. It made her look skittish, but thanks to Raven’s intel, I knew better. What she was really doing was watching lips, trying to keep up with whatever was being said. And Christ, it looked exhausting.
“Buongiorno,Greta,” I said, though I would rather have just pretended she wasn’t here at the moment. “I’m going to get Heidi settled; then we’ll catch up,si?”
If Greta was going to chew me out, it was probably better Heidi wasn’t around to witness that. It might shake her confidence in my scary-ass monster persona.
“Looking forward to it,amico,” Greta replied with a “you so better have a good explanation for this”look in her eyes as she descended the stairs. She might have gotten her start working for the Lucianos, but she’d earned every bit of the respect we gave her, and she knew it.
As I motioned Heidi toward the staircase, my father raised an eyebrow at me. He said nothing, but the gesture spoke volumes.We have a nice, cozy ‘interrogation’ room in the basement foryour… guest,it said.
I shrugged and continued toward the stairs. Clearly, I’d be making an appointment to get my head examined tomorrow. But the thought of Heidi in my bed, her hair spread out around her like a dark halo? Yeah, I was a totally sick fuck.
She didn’t say a word on the climb up the stairs or down the hallway. When I opened the door to my suite, her shoulders stiffened, and I waited for her to try to bolt.
No bolting.
She walked into the room, then spun around to face me. “Why am I here?” she asked with as much haughtiness as she could muster. It wasn’t much.
“You’d rather be down there with them?” I asked, curious how she’d respond.
“I’d rather be at home with a book and a glass of red wine,” she said without missing a beat.
I laughed. The girl was a chore, but Christ, she was entertaining.
“Books,” I said, nodding to the nightstand beside my four-poster, king-size bed where a stack of sci-fi books and a few business journals had been sitting for the past few months. “The wine will have to wait, but I’ll see what I can do.”
Her brow furrowed. “I don’t think you’ve read many kidnapping guides, have you?”
“Is there one you’d recommend?”
That seemed to catch her off guard, but not for long. “No, but I believe the ‘United States Criminal Code’might be a worthwhile read for you.”
“Nah.” I shook my head. “I’ve heard a few spoilers; completely ruined it for me.”
She pressed her lips together. If I didn’t know better, I would have sworn she was fighting a smile. She shook her head after a moment and all traces of humor fell away.
“I don’t understand,” she said. Fear had climbed back into her voice, even if she was doing her damnedest not to show it. “If I’m such a threat, shouldn’t you be pulling out fingernails or breaking my kneecaps?”
“I’ve taken and confined many people against their will,perla.”And every one of them has met a very unpleasant end.I decided to leave that part out. “If I’m telling you to rest and read a book, don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.”
She crossed her arms over her chest, though the way her fingers curled around her ribs made it look less haughty and more like a self-comforting gesture.
She dropped her hands all of a sudden like she realized she’d been caught in the act.
“No handcuffs this time?” she asked, trying to cover up her error.
A bolt of heat shocked through my body. “Do you want me to handcuff you?” The words slipped out before I could stop them. Or maybe I didn’t want to stop them. Maybe the ‘Ice Queen’ needed to learn what happened when she played with fire.
She lifted her chin and turned away without a retort, so unless I wanted to shout, it seemed the conversation was over.
I left the room and locked the door with the app on my phone—the Lucianos were very fond of high-tech shit, particularly high-tech security shit. In the brief moments I’d been gone, Vito had returned; I could hear him conversing with my father as I descended the stairs.
Vito nodded to me as I reached the foyer. “The doc says your doctor did one hell of a job,” he filled me in. “Aurelio’s going to be fine.”
A small knot of tension in my gut eased. Aurelio had been with the Lucianos since I was a child; he was like family.
