Bound By The Past (Born in Blood Mafia Chronicles Book 7) Page 19

  Fabiano Scuderi with raised arms, celebrating a victory over a bleeding opponent.

  I glanced at Rocco who looked close to an outburst. “Where was this taken?”

  A suspicion was trickling through slowly. One territory was famous for their death fights.

  “Las Vegas.” Rocco jabbed his finger at another photo. I picked it up and took a closer look. Fabiano had the tattoo of an eye and the knife on his forearm. The tattoo of the Camorra.

  “He defected to the fucking Camorra! And that bastard Falcone took him in. First Luca with Orazio, and now Falcone with Fabiano! This must stop.”

  Giovanni didn’t say anything. If my own body hadn’t gone into a sort of fury-fueled state of shock, I would have asked if he was okay. He looked pale.

  “What’s he doing in the Camorra?” I asked, satisfied to hear my voice cold and smooth. No sign of my inner turmoil.

  “What does it matter?” Rocco roared. “My own flesh and blood has become a dirty traitor. I want him dead!”

  Pure hatred shone in Rocco’s dark eyes. But it wasn’t the only emotion I detected. In their depth, I found animal fear. What was Rocco so afraid of? His reputation? That I would remove him from his position as Consigliere because of this development? Or something else? “We have to attack the Camorra, Dante. Right away. We can’t show weakness. Luca and Remo are making fools of us. We must react. We must kill Fabiano and Orazio.”

  I agreed. Both Fabiano and Orazio needed to die, but not before I had talked to them. I needed to know what had happened, and I needed to know everything they knew about the Famiglia and the Camorra.

  “We have to gather more information before we act, Rocco. This isn’t something we can risk without a foolproof plan. And right now, neither you nor Giovanni are in a state of mind to discuss plans.”

  Rocco shook his head. “We can’t wait!”

  “Careful with that tone,” I growled. “We will wait and you’ll gather more info before we discuss tactics. Understood?”

  Rocco moved even closer. “You owe me this. Remember, Jacopo.”

  I grabbed his throat and shoved him against the desk. “One more word, Rocco, and you’ll die before Fabiano. I won’t tolerate your disrespect. And remember that you owe me more than I do.”

  Giovanni hovered a few steps from us, a hand on his gun. He needn’t have worried. I didn’t need his help against Rocco. I made sure I stayed fit, Rocco on the other hand only tried to stay in shape by taking a young girl in his bed.

  “Understood?” I hissed.

  “Yes,” Rocco got out. I released him and he massaged his throat. “Sorry, Capo. This has been a shock.”

  “Find out more information and once you’ve calmed down, we’ll figure out what we can do.”

  Rocco nodded and left. I followed after him, wary of his emotional state.

  “Maria! Get the boys. We’re leaving!” he barked.

  Maria hurried into the lobby, the two boys in front of her. Rocco Jr. and Riccardo were four and five, and looked like twins. Riccardo ducked his head but Rocco frowned. “But we were playing with Leonas.”

  Rocco slapped his older son. “Do I look like I care?”

  Val gave me a horrified look as she appeared in the doorway behind Maria.

  “It’s not a sign of strength to hurt the people you need to protect,” Leonas muttered the words I’d told him several times.

  Rocco glared at my son but then quickly smoothed his face and gave me a tight smile. “See you soon.”

  Without another word, he walked out. Maria quickly pushed the boys out as well and hurried after him.

  Val shook her head and stroked Leonas’ head. He came over to me. “Why can’t you order him to treat his family nicely?”

  I sighed. “A Capo can’t get involved in family matters.”

  “That’s stupid!” Leonas muttered, stomping his foot.

  “Do not take that tone with me,” I said sharply.

  Leonas snapped his mouth shut, eying me warily. I wasn’t in a state of mind for a discussion with him today.

  “I have to work,” I clipped and returned to my office. Giovanni sat in his usual chair again, looking out of the window.

  I closed the door and released a long breath.

  Giovanni slanted me a look. “Maybe this is God’s way to punish us.”

  I walked over to the liquor cabinet and poured us generous glasses of Scotch. “I don’t believe in a higher power. That won’t change now. My mother would probably say we’re cursed.” I laughed bitterly and downed a considerable amount of the burning liquid before I handed Giovanni a glass.

  “I’m not a believer either, but sometimes I wonder…”

  “What kind of message would it send to punish us for our sins by favoring other sinners?” Luca and Remo certainly deserved hell as much as I did.

  “It’s good that your father doesn’t realize what’s going on anymore.”

  “Dementia turns out to be his blessing,” I said sarcastically. It spared me his disapproval anyway.

  I perched on the edge of the desk, downing the rest of my drink. “What do you think should I do?”

  Giovanni looked surprised. “Don’t you think I’m too emotionally involved to give you advice?”

  “Who of us isn’t emotionally involved at this point, Giovanni? I’m fucking furious over this development. I want to torture and kill until the fire in my veins abates. Do you think I’m in a state to make strategic decisions?”

  “You are Capo, but you are human too.”

  I chuckled without joy. “I’m not without failure, that much is clear. Two high-ranking sons in enemy famiglias.” I poured myself more scotch. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d had more than a glass.

  “I don’t know what to tell you. I don’t know if killing them will change anything. The damage is done.”

  “Someone needs to bleed for this. I have to make sure my men know I’ll punish them harshly if they break their vow.”

  Giovanni pushed to his feet. “Over the years, I made my peace with the situation. For Livia and for Val, and even for myself.”

  “Then you’ve come farther than I have. Peace is the last thing on my mind.”

  Giovanni smiled sadly. “I know. And I’m at your side no matter what you decide. Just remember that a war on two fronts might rip the Outfit apart. All I want is for our family to be safe.”

  “Trust me, Giovanni, my family’s safety is my top priority.”

  Val, Leonas and Anna were always at the back of my head when I made crucial decisions, decisions that might lead to brutal retaliation.

  “If you excuse me now, I need to figure out a way to break this to Livia.” He sighed. “We need good news.”

  I didn’t say anything, too torn between blinding rage and despair. If it were just me I had to worry about, I’d attack Boston and kill Orazio, then move on to Vegas to finish Fabiano. But I wasn’t alone.

  I downed the rest of my drink.

  Giovanni slipped out and closed the door. I slanted a glance over to the photos. Why had Fabiano chosen the Camorra and not the Famiglia? It made absolutely no sense. Back when he’d run away, the Camorra had been in shambles. He couldn’t hope to find anything in the West except for a painful death. Luca would have taken him in, for Aria, to spite me…

  A new wave of rage boiled up. Luca risked a lot by making Orazio Underboss. Not only was he born into the Outfit but his wife wasn’t Italian. His Famiglia couldn’t be happy about that development.

  Of course, I knew why he did it. To taunt me.

  A knock sounded, tearing me from my thoughts.

  Val stepped in without waiting for me to invite her in. It was a common occurrence but today my patience had run thin. “I didn’t ask you to come in.”

  Val raised her eyebrows then crossed her arms in front of her chest. “I’m not one of your soldiers, Dante, so don’t treat me like one of them.”

  I gritted my teeth. She was right. I shouldn’t unleash my an
ger on her, but right now I felt close to detonating and didn’t want her close.

  She took a step closer, but I shook my head.

  “I need time to think.”

  “What happened? My father and Rocco looked like they’d seen a ghost. Is it about Orazio?”

  “Valentina,” I said sharply. “I don’t feel like talking now. I really need to think.”

  “Very well,” Val said, her expression making it very clear that it wasn’t. “If you’ve calmed down, maybe then we can have a conversation between partners. I’m not in the mood to be treated like one of your subjects.” She turned before I could say more and left the room, throwing the door shut with more force than was necessary.

  I grabbed the edge of the desk, closing my eyes. I hated fighting with Val.

  “What’s gotten into Dad?” Leonas asked curiously when I stepped into the library where I’d sent Anna and him so they could practice their instruments. Leonas’ pressed the piano keys with little enthusiasm and Anna, too, only randomly tugged at the strings of her harp. She had never warmed up to the piano, so we’d switched her to the harp two years ago, with success.

  “He’s just a bit stressed. He’s got plenty of work to do.”

  “It’s because Uncle Orazio is a traitor?”

  I frowned, wondering where Anna had picked that up. It was impossible to keep everything from them. At only nine and six, my children knew more than I wanted them to.

  “I don’t know. Don’t worry about it, all right? Everything is going to be fine. Your dad just needs some time to work in peace.”

  “Okay,” Anna mumbled and began to play a beautiful song on her harp.

  Leonas got up from the piano bench and walked toward me. I ran my hand through his hair, which had gotten long again, so he had to blow it out of his eyes constantly. “When I’m Capo, I’ll fire Rocco’s dad. I don’t want him as my Consigliere.”

  I stifled a smile and hugged him to me. “That’s still a long time to go. I’m sure he’ll have retired by then.”

  “If he doesn’t, I’ll just have him killed.”

  I froze. “Leonas, don’t talk like that.”

  He looked up curiously. “Why not? It’s the truth. Dad kills people all the time.”

  Anna tugged harder at the strings of her harp and hummed along to the melody.

  I lowered my voice and gave him a stern look. “Who said that?”

  “Rocco and Riccardo. Their father talks to them about a lot of stuff. And I’ve overheard Enzo and Taft in the kitchen too.”

  “Don’t believe everything you hear.”

  He tilted his head. “But it’s true, right? The mob kills people and Dad tells his soldiers who. Like traitors and people he doesn’t like.”

  I wasn’t sure what to tell him. He was six, a small boy, and yet he knew these things, talked about death as if it was something ordinary. I swallowed. “You know you shouldn’t talk about these things with other people, right?”

  “I know,” Leonas said. “You and Dad always say that we need to keep it a secret. I never tell Outsiders anything.”

  I glanced at my watch. “Go back to your piano practice now. Are you done with your homework?”

  Leonas made a sullen face. “Yeah.” I pushed him gently toward the piano then headed toward Anna who stared at her fingers with forced concentration. I squatted beside her stool. Her long brown hair trailed down her back and I gently smoothed it out. Anna turned toward me, her blue eyes swimming with worry. Whenever she looked at me, my breath stilled for a moment. She was such a beautiful girl, inside and outside.

  “Does Dad kill every traitor? Even family?”

  Anna had loved Orazio and she had been sad when he’d disappeared. I wished she’d have never found out he’d become a traitor. “Dad tries to be a good leader for his men and a good father for you and Leonas, Anna. Don’t worry about these things. They don’t concern our life.”

  It was a lie of course. The mob ruled over every aspect of our life.

  Anna pursed her lips. “It’s why I’m not allowed to go to a normal school.”

  She was right.

  “It’s because you are a girl and can’t protect yourself,” Leonas butted in.

  Anna glowered at him. “You can’t protect yourself either!”

  “Can too. That’s why I can go and you can’t!”

  “Enough, Leonas. Focus on your practice.” I touched Anna’s hand. “Your Dad is a bit more protective about us girls than about Leonas.”

  It had led to an argument between us when Leonas had started private school almost two years ago while Anna kept being home-schooled but Dante hadn’t budged. He wanted Leonas to be surrounded by other kids, so he’d learn to assert himself. Anna, on the other hand, remained in her sheltered cocoon at home.

  “Do you want to attend Leonas’ school?”

  She bit her lip and nodded.

  “We’ll see what we can do. Maybe next year.”

  “Okay,” she said. I stood and left them to their practice.

  I wouldn’t start a discussion about school options with Dante today. He wasn’t in a state of mind to do so. Instead, I headed into my office to make plans for my upcoming visit to our biggest brothel, one frequented by Chicago’s elite, mostly politicians.

  The kids and I had dinner alone, which almost never happened anymore. I refrained from knocking at Dante’s door to ask him to join us. He knew we always ate at the same time.

  Once the kids were in bed, I changed into my nightgown but sleep evaded me, so I headed back to my office to work some more but shortly before midnight I decided to look for Dante once more. He couldn’t hide in his office forever.

  I knocked and again barged in without waiting for a reply. It annoyed Dante, but sometimes it was the best way to get a quick reaction from him and not give him time to compose himself. I hated it when he tried to put up a mask in front of me, even if he only did it to protect me.

  Annoyance flashed across Dante’s face. He was bent over the desk which was covered in a wild array of papers. His jacket hung over his chair and his vest lay on the floor beside his feet. Usually he never let his clothes drop to the ground. That he didn’t care showed how occupied his mind was. “Val, I told you I need to work.”

  A half empty whiskey tumbler sat precariously close to the edge of the desk where Dante seemed to have put it down without much care. His narrowed eyes took me in and something in them sent a little shiver down my back. Slowly, he dragged his gaze over my body. Barefoot and in my nightgown, he had a lot to take in. “It’s midnight. Come to bed.”

  He straightened with a look somewhere between anger and a familiar hunger. The top two buttons of his shirt were open and he’d rolled his sleeves up, revealing muscular forearms. I walked closer and his eyes followed the shift of my hips then drifted higher to my breasts. My nipples hardened under his scrutiny. “When will you learn to do what I say?”

  I stopped on the other side of the desk. “When you start taking better care of yourself. It’s late. You need to rest.”

  “I don’t want to rest,” he said in a voice I felt right between my legs. Whatever had happened today, and I’d find out what it was—later—had shaken up Dante more than anything had in a while. He was tense and angry. He needed to let off steam and seeing him like that turned me on.

  Dante surprised me by leaning across the desk, grabbing my neck and pulling me in for a harsh kiss. When he pulled back, both hunger and anger had intensified in his eyes. “Fuck it, Val. You are too damn stubborn.”

  I could tell that Dante had every intention of punishing me today. It had become our own little role play, sometimes more serious than other times. It was a chance for both of us to relieve tension, and Dante needed that today.

  Dante released me and took a sip from his scotch before he ordered. “Get changed. I expect you to be ready when I arrive.”

  Biting my lip, I hurried upstairs and put on a flimsy Negligee that barely covered my butt, panties w
ith a slit in the crotch for easy access and suspenders. We’d given up heels a while ago. They just made things too uncomfortable.

  Just waiting for Dante in our bedroom, I got already wet. When he finally stepped inside with an expression of dark hunger and dominance, I had to stop myself from throwing myself at him. “Grab onto the bedpost. Your back to me.”

  I obeyed at once and clamped my hands around the wooden post as Dante’s shoes clicked on the floorboards. Dante’s heat pressed into me and he bound my hands to the post with a satin band. He tugged at my arms, then gave a satisfied sound when I couldn’t free myself. With my arms over my head, I waited for Dante’s next move. He wrapped a shawl around my eyes, taking my sight. I shivered at the loss of this sense.

  I loved our little role plays. They kept things interesting even after years of marriage and two kids.

  Then Dante stepped back, depriving me of his warmth.

  “Bend your back and spread your legs wider.”

  I did as he demanded and waited. I was already so eager for his touch, for his cock, it was driving me insane.

  The rustling of clothes and soft click of his Budapesters told me he was close, but I couldn’t feel him yet. A finger dipped between my folds and I bit back a moan. “I love it when you give me easy access to your pussy.” He dragged his finger over my opening, drawing out my wetness. My teeth dug into my lower lip to keep me from making a sound.

  “You’re always dripping for me, Val, aren’t you?” he rasped, pulled back and I heard him lick his finger clean. I shuddered, jutting my ass out even more, a silent beg.

  “You tried my patience today, Val. I won’t make this easy for you.” His palm slid up my inner thigh then his mouth followed, hot and wet. I whimpered. “Please.”

  “No sound,” he growled, and I became even more aroused. My body hummed with need, my toes curling as my insides tightened in anticipation for Dante’s touch. He released a hot breath and trailed his tongue along the edge of my suspender. I bit my lip, desperate and eager, and close to losing it. If my hands weren’t tied, I would have plunged my own fingers into me but as it was, I had to submit to Dante’s torture. He bit my skin lightly, making me moan against the post. And then finally, he touched two fingers to my opening and pushed in slowly, gently. But I needed more. I jerked my hips.