“So…since it’s just us girls tonight, do ya’ll want to watch a chick flick in the movie room?” I ask Sophie and Cass after the three of us have dinner together. I’m trying not to think about all the women and booze my son and Dante are probably neck deep into at the moment.
Cass frowns at me from across the dining table. “You’re joking, right?”
“I’m serious. You two spend way too much time alone. Don’t you get lonely?”
“I do,” Sophie admits, causing Cass to groan and roll her eyes. “A movie sounds fun.”
“Right? Come on, Cass. Don’t be such a stick in the mud. We can pop some popcorn. I’m sure you all have some in your gigantic pantry the size of my living room.”
“If there’s going to be popcorn…” she starts just as the door shuts downstairs.
“Who is that?” I ask them.
“Probably the guards,” Sophie says, but I’m already on my feet, heading to the stairs. Cole and Eli are both standing at the bottom of the staircase, covered in…soot?
“What happened?” I ask as I hurry down the stairs to them.
“We’re all fine, Mom,” Cole says as I grab his face in both hands. When I swipe my thumb over his cheek, it comes away black.
“What the fuck happened?” I demand again.
“There was an explosion at the casino. It was…really bad.”
“An explosion?” I whisper as I throw my arms around his neck and squeeze tight, not caring about the soot, just that Cole is okay. He is okay, right?
Letting him go, I pat up and down his chest over his dirty button down. “Are you sure you don’t have any injuries? You could have internal ones and not know…”
“I’m fine, Mom. Seriously. We were in the hallway when a bomb or something went off inside the event room. Dante’s guards jumped on us to make sure nothing fell and hit us.”
“Dante…where…” I ask, looking between Cole and a solemn-looking Eli.
“Is my dad okay?” Cass asks as she now rushes down the stairs with Sophie following.
“Dante is fine, just a little more banged up,” Eli assures us.
“Thank goodness. Where is he?”
“He stayed behind with Lochlan who was pretty fucked up,” Eli explains. “One of the guards died saving both of them.”
“Oh, no,” I gasp. When I slap my hand over my mouth, it smells like smoke.
“There are probably going to be more fatalities,” Eli says. “Everyone in that room…it was fucking demolished. The ceiling and walls caved in on them.”
“Oh my god. What…why would someone do this?” I ask as I wrap Cole in my arms again, unable to believe he was so close to something so horrific tonight. “Was someone trying to get Lochlan?” I ask, before a thought occurs to me. “Please tell me this attack wasn’t meant for Dante.”
“There’s no way to know yet,” Eli remarks while rubbing his forehead like it aches. “But I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if it was that fucking Kozlov.”
“Kozlov?” I repeat, unable to get enough air in my lungs all of a sudden. “What? Why? Why would Kozlov come after Dante? I thought they were fine. Dante paid off Mitch’s debt, and that was that, right? So, it must have been meant for Lochlan…”
Eli’s eyes lower before he turns toward the door. “I need to make sure they’re tightening security…”
Before he can make it two steps, I release Cole to lunge for him, grabbing his arm to stop him. “Eli, what else do you know?”
“Nothing.” He shrugs, still refusing to meet my gaze in the least convincing response ever.
“Ha!” Cass says from behind me. “Welcome to our world, Vanessa, where us females aren’t allowed to know anything about what’s going on while we’re locked up in our tower.”
Oh hell no. Dante better not be keeping shit from me. If he has…if he has then I am so done with him.
“Eli, tell me. Please,” I beg, still gripping his arm. “I have a right to know if there’s trouble, especially when my son could’ve been hurt because of it tonight.”
“Fine. If there was a bomb, it may have been to get back at Dante. Kozlov’s been searching for his two missing enforcers, pointing fingers without proof…”
“Missing enforcers…”
Oh god.
Somehow, I inhale so hard I choke on the air while shaking my head. “No. He didn’t.”
Eli shakes my hand off of his arm. “Of course, Dante took out the two men who hurt you.”
“Took out?” Cole asks, as if asking if the phrasing means what he thinks it does.
“Oh shit,” Cass mutters in understanding, the understatement of the year.
“Dante’s going to be pissed I told you all. Just remember, Vanessa, that you weren’t the only woman they beat on. They deserved to die.”
“Dante shouldn’t have been the one to kill them!”
I asked one thing of him during my captivity, that he wouldn’t seek revenge for me. And the asshole lied to my face about it.
“When?” I ask Eli. “When did Dante…do that?”
“A few days after you agreed to stay.”
“That son of a bitch!”
Dante kept what he did to the two Russians from me intentionally. He’s been pretty open with me about nearly every aspect of his business, but this…he did something so drastic knowing the consequences. Knowing that he would be starting a war with the Russians if or when they found out.
And it’s all my fault.
“I need go to talk to security,” Eli says before he makes a hasty retreat. That’s exactly what I want to do too.
“Cole, go…go get cleaned up and grab your things. I’ll meet you in the lobby,” I tell my son, knowing I need to head down the hall to do the same.
“Vanessa,” Eli starts. “Dante went through hell today. Please don’t do anything rash right now.”
“Rash?” I scoff. “Rash as in killing two mobsters!” When I notice Cole standing stock still, maybe even in shock after the hell he’s been through tonight, I ask him again, “Please, please go get your things, honey.”
“Why, Mom? I’m fine. My friends are fine…”
“You all were lucky this time. It’s too dangerous to stay here any longer. Your friends can come back to the apartment if they want, but I just can’t stay…”
“Fine.” He huffs before his feet finally shuffle toward the door.
“You’re leaving?” Cassandra asks, sounding surprised, and maybe even a little disappointed. I probably imagined it.
“I have to, Cass,” I tell her honestly. With a final scowl that reminds me of her father’s, she jogs up the stairs.
My hands are shaking when I head down the hallway to get my things, but there’s too much. Dante had his guys bring nearly everything in my apartment just to keep me from asking to go pick up shit.
And all the clothes in his closet, the ones he bought for me, they never really felt like mine so I’m leaving them. He can do what he wants with them. So, all I really need are a few toiletries from the bathroom that I dump in a tote bag, along with my purse. I would love to get my gun out of the safe, but I don’t know the code. The only thing left for me to grab is my phone. I’ll definitely need my phone, but I can’t remember where the hell I left it.
I rush to the kitchen, check around the pool, then finally find it sitting on the cleared dining table where I up and left it. My heart is pounding in my chest I’m so anxious to get downstairs and out of here, hoping to be gone before Dante comes back.
And if his guards won’t let me leave, then I’ll…I don’t know what I’ll do. All I know is that I don’t want to confront him right now. Not when I’m so fucking angry at him.
With my hand on the penthouse doorknob, I feel like I’m in the clear…only to pull it open and find Dante striding out of the elevator with Eli close behind.
Fuck.
His suit has several tears and is covered in more soot than Cole’s clothes. The grit on his handsome, stern face makes him look more menacing than usual. But his eyes…well his eyes soften when they see me, filled with an emotion I don’t want to label because it will hurt too much. It’s quickly replaced by his brow furrowing in confusion when he sees the tote on my shoulder.
“Going somewhere, butterfly?” he asks when he comes to a stop in front of me. He reaches out a hand toward me, and I recoil, taking a step backward out of his reach. There’s a flash of hurt in his eyes, but Dante drops his hand. “I’m a fucking mess, I know. I need a shower. Was hoping you would join me. Wouldn’t mind staying in bed for the next few days either.”
“Don’t. Don’t even try being all sweet and-and vulnerable with me right now,” I tell him. My heart clenches at the sight of him, even if I wish it wouldn’t.
“Why not?”
“It won’t work on me. I’m so goddamn angry at you I can’t even see straight!”
Dante blinks at me in confusion. Great, I thought for sure Eli would have already told him I knew about the Russians and that I was pissed. I guess he preferred for it to be a surprise instead. Asshole. Now this argument will have to be out in the hall with guards bearing witness to it.
“You’re angry at me?” Dante points his index finger to his own chest, as if it’s so difficult for him to fathom.
“Yes, I’m angry at you!”
His shoulders slump even more. In fact, the mafia king looks more deflated than I’ve ever seen him. I guess a brush with death will do that to a man. While it’s harder to be angry at him in his unusual filthy, disheveled condition, my son’s safety overrides that.
“I’m sorry if the shit with the explosion scared you…”
“Scared me?” I interrupt. “Scared doesn’t begin to describe how I feel! What were you thinking? Why did you retaliate against the Russians after I begged you not to do that?”
Understanding must finally dawn on him, but instead of responding to me, he turns and charges at Eli. Gone is the calm, sweet, gentle man. Dante’s fingers wrap around the former fighter’s throat, slamming him back into the wall. Eli doesn’t even attempt to fight back. “You fucking told her? I ought to rip your goddamn tongue out!”
I can’t hear Eli’s muffled response. I’m too busy wishing I could go back in time. If only I had just let Dante kill Mitch, then Dante wouldn’t have gone after Kozlov’s enforcers, and I wouldn’t have gotten myself dragged into his shit. Mitch’s blood would’ve been on my hands, but at least I wouldn’t have put Cole’s life in danger by playing house with a fucking mafia king.
God, I’m so fucking stupid.
“Don’t you dare put this on Eli!” I yell at the bastard. “If it was the Russian’s bomb then you only have yourself to blame for every single person who was hurt or killed tonight.”
Dante goes still, his head bowing a second before he releases Eli’s neck to turn to face me again.
“What happened tonight wasn’t my fault. I didn’t plant that goddamn bomb, so don’t put that shit on me.”
“Yes, it was probably your fault if you lit the match that started this whole fucking fire!”
“Those two enforcers…they got what they deserved.”
I scoff at that.
“Vanessa, I thought you finally understood that sometimes people have to die. This was one of those times. They fucking deserved it, and you know it.”
“Honestly, it’s not the killing that bothers me. It’s the fact that you killed those two men knowing full well it would result in retaliation from the Russians. You didn’t warn me. There wasn’t a heads up. No, you didn’t want me to ever find out. And now your temper may have gotten people killed. How many people are hurt, Dante? How could you put my son at risk by keeping this shit from me?”
“Cole doesn’t even have a single scratch on him!” Dante shouts back as he strides toward me. I keep walking backward as he advances until he finally stops in the middle of the entry way of the penthouse. “But can the same be said for my daughter?” he raises his voice. “No, it can’t! Because I have no fucking idea where she is thanks to you putting idiotic ideas in her head!”
Oh, no. I will not let him try and gaslight me. What happened to Cole and Madison are two completely different situations.
“Madison is probably better off far away from you,” I tell Dante honestly. He flinches at my words that hit him harder than I intended. Still, I’m too pissed to take them back, and they’re the truth. Taking a deep breath, I try to explain myself better. “I just meant that if she is using an alias, then nobody will know she’s your daughter. My son on the other hand, you decided he and his friends belonged at a fucking celebrity poker tournament. They are the same age as Madison. Would you have taken her to a place like that? No, because she’s female and because she’s your daughter!” A horrible thought suddenly occurs to me, making me so queasy my palm goes to my belly as if to try and stave off the nausea. “Did you know something like this could happen? Are you trying to punish me for Madison?”
“No! God no! I never would have taken Cole if I had any inclination that there would be an attack. I should’ve been more cautious, but my security staff can’t guarantee every inch of the earth is safe.”
“That’s the problem, Dante. There’s always a constant threat. That’s part of being a gangster. You won’t know when or where one of your many enemies will decide to attack you. No one around you is ever safe. That’s why I can’t…I don’t want to be a part of your world of endless violence anymore. I am not going to let you drag me or my son into some mafia war that ends with everyone dead.”
“I know tonight terrified you, Vanessa. It scared me too. But I’m handling it, okay? This feud with Kozlov is going to blow over eventually, and then…”
“Eventually isn’t soon enough for me,” I explain to him. “I’m going home, to my home, tonight.”
He shakes his head in refusal. “No. You can’t. We still have twenty-eight days together.”
A puff of laughter filled with indignation escapes me as I try to ignore the fact that he knows exactly how many days are left. “I can leave and I am. Kill Mitch or don’t, Dante. I really don’t give a shit anymore.”
For all I know, since I last spoke to my idiot ex, he’s probably dug himself into a new hole that ended his own life with his stupidity. Or maybe Dante has since killed him and didn’t tell me, like he didn’t tell me about the Russians he murdered because they left a few bruises on me.
“Vanessa, if you leave…”
“Oh, no. You finally decide to use if in the single instance that is one thousand percent when. I am leaving. Right now. And there is nothing you can do or say to change my mind or stop me!”
His cold blue eyes narrow, his jaw clenches. “You’re not leaving. Not until you help me find Madison. You owe me that much.”
Ugh, everything is a negotiation with this man. An attempted manipulation. And I have had enough.
“Fuck you,” I snarl at him, my built-up fear for Cole, for even the jackass himself, has my anger seething, wanting an escape. “I am done being your hostage. Give me my gun back now so I can go.”
“No.”
No? I can’t believe this man’s fucking audacity.
“So, you’ll let me leave here unable to protect myself because you’re being stubborn? Because you blame me for caging your own daughter in for so long that she couldn’t take it a second longer? It’s your fault she left, Dante. Yours and yours alone. Not mine. And you know what? I fucking applaud her for refusing to be a pawn in your game for another second. I suddenly feel the exact same way.”
“So that’s it? You’re going to blame me for everything, then just walk out, telling yourself that I’m the villain, and that you never gave a shit about me? That I held you down and made you scream my name over and over again?”
I hate him throwing our intimacy in my face so damn much. And while I can’t deny my feelings for him, I refuse to admit them. I never wanted or expected to fall for him of all people.
“You manipulated me into staying with you, remember? I didn’t want anything to do with you, but you couldn’t take no for an answer!”
His blue eyes harden even more. In fact, I’ve never seen him look so angry, not even when he found out Madison had left. His lips pull back into a murderous snarl when he growls, “Then go. Get the fuck out of my house!”
His booming voice, his callous words ordering me to leave, even if they’re what I was planning to do anyway, make me want to cower. But I don’t let the distress show on my face.
“I’ll go, just as soon as you give me back my gun.” My unregistered, untraceable gun has been my safety blanket for years now. I can’t imagine being alone in my apartment with Cole without it. I guess I always felt guilty that my son didn’t grow up with an intimidating father figure to protect him. With my small build, I have to be armed to try and do a decent job of it.
Dante glares at me for a long moment before he storms off down the hall to the bedroom. Every few seconds there’s a loud bang or a smashing sound of something breaking that makes me jump.
I look to Eli who finally dares to enter the penthouse from the hall where the door still stands wide open. He doesn’t seem the least bit rattled, just disappointed.
The fighter’s voice is still hoarse from being choked when he says, “If you leave him, Van, nobody will be able to talk him down from scorching the earth, and he’ll probably get himself killed.”
“I have to go,” I tell him simply. “I won’t feel guilty for doing what’s necessary.”
“Come on, Vanessa. You could at least stay with him while we keep looking for Madison, help us look for her, even if it’s not your fault she left.”
I shake my head. “No, I won’t do that, because she doesn’t want to be found.”
There are more sounds of glass breaking down the hall, but neither Eli nor I say anything else.
I hear Dante’s heavy footsteps before he appears. This version of the mafia king looks so cool and calm, unfazed as if he wasn’t just having an argument with me or breaking shit around his house.
He holds out my gun for me to take grip first, his knuckles now scraped and bleeding. When I reach for it, he says, “I loaded it for you. Will six bullets in the clip be enough protection from the entire fucking world?”
Even though he’s being a cold, sarcastic ass, I tell him, “I’ll make do with six bullets for now. Can you have someone bring me my things tomorrow or should I try to carry it all out with me now?” There are so many boxes I would need to rent a damn U-Haul.
“Eli will have it packed up and dropped off in the morning on his way out of town.”
“Fine,” I agree.
“Out of town?” Eli asks, as if those words mean more than just running an errand. If I had to bet, it sounds to me like he’s being exiled for telling me Dante’s secret. I hate that for Eli, but there’s nothing I can do to change Dante’s mind.
There’s a heavy silence suffocating me as I step around Dante to walk toward the open front door. Before I walk out into the hallway, though, I glance over my shoulder at the mafia king one last time. His blue eyes are completely unfamiliar to the ones I’m used to in bed. They’re cruel, sadistic, with no fucks to give. It’s all a mask to hide the irrational, worried father about to embark on a war with the entire Russian mafia out of revenge. Gone is the man I think may have even loved me if Madison hadn’t run away.
That’s why I tell him before I leave, “I know you’re always going to worry about her, but I really do think Madison will be fine. Cass and Sophie, too. They’re Salvatos. Mafia princesses. I bet they can be just as ruthless as you when they need to be.”
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