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I am about to open the door when my father brings his head to a whispering distance.
“This is an opportunity to fix what you ruined,” he grips my upper arm firmly to make sure I don't take his words lightly, “Your safety, our safety and position here depends on how you do what you are asked to do. Get Benedetto wrapped around your finger, I don't care how you have to do it, just do it.” He lets go of his grip and opens the door for me.
I walk out of the room, and my father shuts the door, leaving me alone in the battlefield.
I don't want to do this. I don't want to dine with the devil. I don't want to give myself to the beast and have him feast on me till there's nothing left of me. I don't want to be the one to attempt to tame the beast that is Benedetto. Whatever he has shown me barely feels like the tip of the iceberg. I think that he is capable of so much more than meets the eye. And I don't want to find out if I am right.
But what choice do I have?
I look at the closed door behind me, longing for it to open and for someone to come out and be my ally. I swallow bitterly as laughter escapes the room, as if the men in there can hear my thoughts and are mocking my wish for an ally.
I suck it, hugging my hands across my chest as if to ward off the cold, and walk up the stairs to my bedroom. Every step feels like walking on hot lava. The closer I get to my room, the closer the walls around my heart stifle me.
Getting to the door of my bedroom, I hear a loud groan that sounds like it's coming from above me. And although I know I don't have to start now, the earlier the better. The quicker I can make this happen, the sooner I get to have my life back, if ever.
A new perspective hits me for the first time. A fresh perspective that I never thought to of when Claudio made his suggestion.
Maybe all I need to do is find a way to get Benedetto to want to move back to New York with me. If I can seduce him as asked and take him with me to New York, that would solve everything.Everyone's problem. Claudio won't have to worry about Benedetto, and I won't have to be here, under his surveillance. My father and brother would not have to keep snarling down my neck.
The plan sounds pretty easy, but how can I make this happen? How can I get him where I need him to be? Is it even possible to get him to bend to my will? The few hours I've spent in his presence recently make him seem like a man with his own mind. How can I infiltrate that mind?
I smack my forehead as if I can that way avoid an insurgent migraine.
I take the stairs up to the last floor and come to face the dark space, with no source of light except a phone in Benedetto’s hands.
The impossibility of my plan sinks along with my heart as I see Benedetto on his bed with his feet planted on the floor, his elbows resting on his knees as he types away on his phone, a joint trapped between his lips. Naked.
He lifts his eyes to meet mine.
He cocks his eyebrow, “Back so soon?”
This can't work.
I do the next best thing that comes to mind.
I spin towards the exit and bolt.
Chapter Ten
BENEDETTO
“Rise and shine, Papa Bear,” Orazio bawls into the receiver and I squint, taking the phone away from my ear at the risk of popping my eardrum.
These are the kind of things that will give a man moti-fucking-vation to kill his best friend and toss his body in a shark pond. Damn, I want to kill him for all the right reasons right now.
I sit up on my bed, resting my back on the headrest and pinching the brink of my nose to ponder why exactly I decided to answer this phone call when I know that he takes every chance he has to get at me.
Papa Bear? What is that even?
“Orazio…” I clear the croak off my throat.
“Yes, honey butter biscuit.”
Jesus Christ! Where does he go to get them?
“Orazio…”
“Yes, sugar snap pea,” he cuts me again and I grind my molars.
