by Raven Dark
All things considered, I’d almost have preferred my father. Almost.
12
As soon as I saw the kingpin, a bolt of terror slashed through me, the first hint of the chill I felt only around Dominic Gavini. As if I hadn’t thought this night would be enough of a nightmare.
True, his belief that we’d expose him as a rat to the other families theoretically protected us, but I wouldn’t forget the threat he’d leveled at us when we’d blackmailed him two weeks ago. One mistake, and he’d have us. Plus, we hadn’t found any evidence to discount him as the culprit behind the crash that had nearly killed Kane and I. If Gavini figured out the real nature of my relationship with Kane, it would only serve as ammunition he would use against us if he ever gained the upper hand on us again.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I muttered. I spoke softly enough that only Kane could hear, but immediately shifted into the role Gavini was supposed to believe I held. A slave, but I tried not to look so much like one that the crowd around us, those who weren’t supposed to think Kane owned me the way one owns a horse, would get suspicious. The way Kane and Gala had been teaching me, I kept my eyes lowered just enough to look submissive to the kingpin, shoulders slumped to appear smaller, hands folded in front of me. Demure. If I did my job right, the rest of the room would think I was just shy.
Kane’s arm brushed mine. “It’ll be alright. I won’t let him harm you. Just do what I tell you.”
As soon as Gavini was close enough, Kane moved into his path and captured his hand in a handshake. Blocking him from getting anywhere near me. The two men kissed each other’s cheeks, but the mobster looked a little too tense, and Kane radiated menace, hand gripping too tight.
“So you brought your dog,” Gavini murmured, eyes flicking to me with amusement that didn’t fool me.
Were the situation different, I’d have given him some finely tuned retort, but I couldn’t blow my cover. I kept my face deadpan while fury burned a hole through me.
“Come to kiss babies before you resume your murdering ways, Dominic?”
“Nice to see you too, Kane. What’s on the menu for these thousand dollar plates?”
“Kelly ordered roast duck, but for you, we’ll serve rat.”
Gavini’s dark brows rose. Amazing how he managed to make the slight upturn of his mouth look so casual, yet so dangerous. He squeezed Kane’s shoulder like they were besties, but I noticed he did it much too hard. Kane smiled as if he didn’t even feel it. Maybe he didn’t.
At the table, Kane gave me a subtle glance.
Oh, right! I pulled out a chair, and he undid his blazer, lowering himself down onto the seat. Gavini went around the opposite side and pulled out his chair.
My stomach plummeted to my toes. He was sitting with us? Didn’t he have his own table, his own Mafia party to sit with?
“Ah. I’m eager to see how this whole thing works in public.” The mob boss nodded to me, his eyes flitting over the gold pin in my hair that symbolized my slave status, letting me know he knew. “I know in private, she’d sit at your feet, but you can hardly make her do that here.”
As I’d been trained to do, I took the seat next to him, or I was about to. He stopped me before I could pull the chair out. “You don’t get to take it easy. Go make yourself useful and help Kelly set up.”
Relief and gratitude rushed over me. I saw what he was doing, getting me out of the area before Gavini could make things worse. And probably before his parents could show up. With a quick nod and a bend of my knees in the curtsy Gala had taught me, I left Kane with the kingpin and headed across the room, backstage. The trouble was, I also knew, no matter what Kane or I did, I couldn’t avoid Gavini or Kane’s parents all night.
* * * * *
As soon as I got backstage, Kelly found me, and my relief morphed into disgust. She set down the box of glasses she was struggling to lift and flashed one of her big, perfect-toothed smiles at me. One so fake I’d swear if I didn’t know better, I’d think it was plastic. Then she sashayed over to me.
“Oh, good, you’re here. I need that big strong body of yours, Anika. Over here.”
I forced my face to remain blank and made my way over to her. Never had I heard someone do such a good job of making my height or strength seem like a bad thing. She had a way of making my wide shoulders, long arms and big feet, my considerable ass and hips feel oafish as an ox and about as graceful.
“I’m all skin and bones, zero upper body strength. Not meant for hard lifting, like you.” She gestured to the box of glasses, and a second and third one. “I need all three of those in the kitchen.”
Jesus, what was I, a mule?
Funny, I’d always been proud of my physical strength. It was the kind that came from hard labor on my dad’s farm, and now from lifting patients out of beds and out of wheelchairs. Nursing took some serious power sometimes. I wasn’t about to start disparaging it now.
I piled the boxes on each other and then hoisted them onto my shoulder.
Kelly stared. I’d never seen a woman’s eyes grow so large. It surprised me they didn’t fall out of her head.
Unable to resist, I pounded my chest with my free hand. “Anika strong. Anika carry glasses. Where want?”
“On the tables where you…where you came from.”
Well, at least she wasn’t as caustic now. Before she could regain her stride, I turned and walked out.
When I came back into the room, I could hear Kelly in the kitchen in the back. I headed for her, but someone snagged my elbow. I spun, expecting Kane.
“Miss Montrose, a word?”
The familiar deep timber sent an icy chill down my spine. As if in reflex, I nearly jerked my eyes up, but instead, kept them on the red tie that fell down Victor Davros’s chest. Somehow he made the polite request sound like an order.
“Mr. Davros…” I didn’t have to entirely fake the shake in my voice or the way I shrank to look meeker. I was no shrinking violet, but this man made me feel so small, so weak.
Kane’s warning flashed in my mind, never to let his parents get me alone. With waiters, security personnel, and other staff buzzing around backstage, I was hardly alone, but none of them noticed me. Worse, by the way they gave the man a wide birth and avoided eye contact, they knew who he was. I had a sinking feeling none of them would have stepped in if he did anything.
“Mr. Davros, the event is about to start. Kelly needs me in the kitchen.” I kept my eyes down and tried to make my voice sound afraid.
“She can wait.” He turned and pulled me toward the thick scarlet curtain that hid the lighting area for the stage from view. Shit. If I let him get me behind those, I’d have no protection from him. I glanced around for an excuse.
A few feet away, a waiter dropped a glass, and it shattered on the floor. He touched it and then withdrew his hand with a hiss.
“Sir, here, let me help you with that.” I deliberately raised my voice so that no one in the room could miss it, or the way I tugged against Victor’s grip.
Victor released me almost roughly. “Smooth, little girl,” he muttered, “very smooth.”
Ignoring him, I hurried across to the waiter, taking his cut hand. “Here, let’s get that cleaned up in the kitchen.” The waiter nodded and followed me toward the back. I tossed a quick glance back at Victor, who gave a subtle shake of his head. A smile curled his mouth up. No one had ever made a smile like that appear so threatening, especially not a man who managed to look so grandfatherly, like a prize fighter long past his prime.
I’d escaped him this time, but he wouldn’t let it happen twice.
Around ten minutes before the first course started, Anika finally returned to the table. Looking a little worn, she stayed in her role, bending close to me.
“Do you require anything of me, Sir?” Just loud enough for Dominic and my parents, seated beside me, to hear. Her face remained that unsettling blank look.
Dominic watched her too closely. For some reason, Anika stiffe
ned when she’d seen my father. That doll-like expression almost slipped for an instant, fear flickering in her eyes. I could sense it wasn’t because the last time she’d seen him, he’d put a knife through my brother’s hand, or because he’d made my family sound like human traffickers who might chain her in some basement somewhere any day now. As his eyes locked on her, I watched the tension ripple through her, right across her shoulders and down her back.
When he’d shown up, he’d come from backstage, not through the foyer, like other guests. I’d wondered why at the time, but dismissed it. I flashed him a look. Now what had he done? But he only cocked his head in mocking question.
“Sit down and take a break.” I nodded for Anika to take the seat beside me, keeping my voice cold. “No reason you should starve.”
Anika obeyed. Beside my father, my mother made an almost inaudible huffing noise and looked away. Apparently having Anika sit with the guests like an equal only worked in private, when she could make fun of her at leisure.
“Damn these public engagements, Mrs. Davros.” Dominic gave her a winning grin. “Dogs can’t sit on the floor they way they’re supposed to.”
It took all of my effort not to clench my teeth. With the sound of the crowd in the room, chairs pulling out, people talking, he didn’t even have to lower his voice. Anika didn’t look at him, but I could feel the anger rolling off her, even with her head bowed.
Waiters put plates down for each of us, oysters in a creamy white sauce.
“We shouldn’t waste this food on her,” my father muttered. “These plates are five-hundred a pop.”
Anika’s fork clattered to her plate. Before anyone could look at her, she gave a sheepish look like she’d lost hold of it. “Kelly could use help in the back before the speech.” She moved to get up.
“Nonsense. Stay where you are.” Dominic’s voice was just a touch hard. “What fun is it without the entertainment?”
My mother gave a soft chuckle.
Oh, how I wanted to get her out of this wolves’ den, but I couldn’t be seen protecting her. Instead, I grabbed her hand, a silent command to sit back down. With a submission only I could feel was calculated, she slowly lowered herself back down.
“If you ask me, we shouldn’t be eating this food at all.” When everyone looked at me, I shrugged. “We’re spending forty thousand on food that should be going to the county this event is meant to help.”
I thought I saw Anika’s lips turn up at the corner in admiration. My father gave a tired look.
Dominic snorted. “Kane Davros, ever the savior of the world.”
Mock as the kingpin might, charity was the one time my family didn’t peg helping others as being weak. It made my father’s business and our images look good, therefore it was the one time I got to make a difference. Still, too much generosity annoyed my father. He didn’t want the cutthroat empire he’d built on greed and corruption to become some sugary, bleeding heart operation.
“So.” The mob boss sipped his wine. “I heard about your accident up in Big Bear. A close call, that one.”
I froze. Beside me, out of the corner of my eye, I saw Anika pause with an oyster at her lips for a fraction of a second too long. She slid the oyster into her mouth a little too slowly.
“What do you know about it, Dominic? That’s old news.”
“Got to be careful up in those mountains.” As if I hadn’t spoken. “Serious accidents tend to happen when people play with danger. You wouldn’t want to lose such a gorgeous piece as that one.” He nodded to Anika.
Shit. He managed to sound concerned for me, and not only that, but his words suggested the accident was nothing more than the same thing my father believed, a result of my love of fast cars. David and I had managed to keep the incident out of the press, and I’d greased the right palms so that no one even knew the wreck was linked to me. But Dominic’s men were well connected enough that it would have gotten back to him.
My fist clenched around my fork. He might have been using the accident to toy with me, or he might have been telling us he’d been behind it. There was no way to know, and he knew it.
I glanced at Anika. The color had drained out of her face. She picked up and put down the same oyster four times, and her hands shook. Right then, I would have given anything to drag her away from here, to wrap her up in my arms and never let anyone near her again. Except I couldn’t. I couldn’t do anything but sit close to her and hope she could feel my need to protect her.
Fuck, this was going to be a long night.
“Is there room for a tired bride to be here, gentleman?”
I glanced behind me. Gala slid her slender hands over my shoulders, the most affection she could give me in public without my father or hers skinning her alive.
“Gala.” I stood up, making a production of pressing my lips to her cheek. She did the same with me. “You’re dad’s not coming over to say hello?” I hoped my relief didn’t show.
“Oh, you know Daddy. He put up a big show of donating a king’s ransom to this charity, and then he ended up having work to tend to a half hour before we left. Ever the workaholic.
“I know how that is.” I gave my father a playful smile. If scowls could kill, his would have sent me up in flames.
Gala turned her eyes to Anika, and her relaxed expression instantly grew arctic. She made one of those humming noises she made when she didn’t like something.
“Kane bear, your pet is in my seat.”
Dominic grinned huge, looking thrilled. My father’s eyes danced, and my mother’s thin mouth curled up as she eyed Anika, who was just getting to her feet.
“Excuse me, Miss Rossi. I didn’t mean to get in your way.” Anika’s humiliated mumble, her bowed head, her curtsy, it was all perfectly trained. Gala eyed her the way one might the scum on her slipper.
I almost stared. You’d never know they’d been meeting several times a week to train Anika to act like this, or that they’d become close.
Gala made a shooing gesture with her dainty hand. Anika moved out of her way, and Gala lowered herself into the seat. Primping her skirts. If you didn’t know Gala the way I did, you wouldn’t know she wasn’t a primper, and or that she preferred shit-kickers to the pink frills and the shimmering dress she wore now.
“Would you like anything, Miss Rossi?” Anika bent to her.
“Kane, why is she talking to me?”
It took a lot not to clear my throat, stunned, especially when, before I could glare at Anika, she gave a perfect bow and backed up, fading as though into nothing.
When the fuck had this happened? When had the two most important women in my life become this well-oiled machine?
It rocked through me suddenly, like a hit to the head. For the first time, I saw this arrangement working, saw how things could be. Anika, playing the role of slave in public, but something so much more in private, without anyone—my parents, Dominic—ever discovering the truth. When I’d asked her to stay with me, I’d told myself it could work, we’d find a way, only now, I could actually envision it. She could handle the double life we’d have to lead, remaining safe at my side. As long as she did what she was doing now, she wouldn’t have to be afraid. Elation took root in me before I could stop it and I forced my face to remain stony.
Not surprisingly, Dominic and my parents watched the interplay with a mix of surprise and calculation. Did I imagine the disappointment in my father’s gaze? I just bet his was already thinking up new ways to ignite the fireworks he’d been hoping for between them.
After the main course, Dominic wiped his hands and stood. “That’s enough for me. Best get home to the wife waiting for me. Kane, a word?”
I wanted to tell him to go fuck himself, but I set my fork down and leaned into Gala.
“Watch over Anika.”
She took my hand under the table, letting me know she understood. Anika watched me get up, and I wished I could reassure her, leaving her and Gala alone with my parents like this.
; I followed Dominic out to the lot, to the limo the hall’s valet had already brought around.
“Get in.” He took the keys, and when his driver opened the back door, he nodded to the dark inside of the limousine.
The urge to refuse tugged at me hard, but his blocky driver and another man who seemed to come from nowhere were suddenly behind me. Blocking me.
“Nice. You wouldn’t be planning on making me disappear, would you, Dominic?”
“No.”
Why I believed him, I don’t know, but I did. Something about the urgent look on his face. I climbed in, he followed, and his driver shut us in.
I half expected the car to take off, but it didn’t. Instead, Dominic sat back almost casually in his seat. When he spoke, his voice was grave.
“It wasn’t me who cut the breaks on your car.”
“And I believe you because you’re just brimming with honesty.”
He shook his head. “It wasn’t me. Kane, there are things happening. Upheaval in the highest ranks of the family. You know Ferrara is sick?”
“I know, he has cancer or something. What does that have to do with me?”
“Everything. The king of kings is dying, and the underlings smell death. Sharks in the water smell chum, what do they do?”
It sank in what he was saying. Adrenaline spiked in me, and I leaned forward. “But I’m not part of the family. Not officially.”
“No. But you will be when you marry Gala. And even if you didn’t, you have to know. You can’t trust anyone, Kane. Be careful who you tell anything to. Someone’s eliminating the weak links. Six of the highest ranking men have been killed, including Ferrara’s underboss. Men are waiting for Ferrara to die, and not everyone will show the same patience. Anyone in the family sees you looking weak, or distracted, and they’ll boot you off the island. You understand me?”
My head spun. I was only an associate, but if Gavini was right, someone in the family was cleaning house, and they weren’t stopping with made men.
“You and your father are one of the most powerful sources of money for us. Those who can will try to control you. Those who can’t will be happy to see you die so that my family loses one of its most critical resources. You want to know who tried to kill you? Look at who’s trying to take over the Ferrara empire.”
