Her heartbeat accelerated. “That’s a yes, then.”
“Answer my question, and I will answer yours.”
She broke their eye contact and cleared her throat. “I suspect….” She stopped and started over. “You were married to Carlo’s daughter. So you know him well.”
“I do.”
“Is he….” Her voice failed her. “Is Carlo, is my husband, are they….” She looked up at him, hoping he’d finish her question. He didn’t. Shit. She was going to have to say it. “Are they part of the ’Ndrangheta?” Her voice had fallen to a whisper.
He held her eyes for a second. “Yes.”
She froze, a chill hand sliding its fingers down her spine. Her chest squeezed by bands of iron, she could scarcely draw a breath. Vince was a mobster. What the hell am I going to do?
“Are you all right?”
She looked up at Enrico. She’d forgotten about him for a moment. Jesus. He could be a mobster too! Jumping to her feet, she backed away from her desk. She couldn’t leave the room without walking past him. What if he tried to stop her?
Enrico gave her a puzzled look. “Kate, please sit down. Please calm down. You are looking at me like I am a Mafioso too.”
“Aren’t you?”
Enrico laughed, perhaps a bit too loudly, and shook his head, trying not to betray his alarm. Dio mio, this woman. He sighed, scrubbing a hand over his face. “No, of course not.” When he saw she wasn’t laughing, he motioned for her to sit down, and she slowly took her chair. He drew in a deep breath. He hated lying to her, but what alternative was there?
“I made a bad decision many years ago, and it has haunted me ever since.” He shifted in his seat. “Shortly after I married his daughter, Antonella, Carlo approached me about a business deal. I said yes, even though I knew it was not entirely legal.” He took another breath, noting her rapt attention. “I was young and greedy. I did not think I needed to consult my father.” He let a faint smile cross his face. “I was foolish.”
When he paused and didn’t immediately continue, Kate asked, “What was the deal?”
“I would own a series of legitimate businesses and allow Andretti to funnel some of his money through them.”
“Money laundering, you mean.”
He nodded. “After a time, I realized I was taking a substantial risk for only a small profit. So I tried to back out. Of course, Carlo told me that was impossible.” He smiled again, picturing what Carlo would have actually said in such a case. “So I thought I would force his hand. I started to skim off the top. When he caught me, I said that since he could not trust me, he ought to drop me as a partner.”
Kate looked at him, her mouth open. “Weren’t you afraid he’d have you killed?”
“I was nineteen. And naïve. I thought he would never harm me because I was his son-in-law. He loved Antonella more than anything. And she loved me. He would never devastate her by killing me.”
“So what happened?”
“He obviously did not kill me.”
“But?”
Should he tell her what Carlo had done to his family? No; it was too horrific. “He tried to have my father killed. He was badly wounded; he almost did not survive.”
Kate’s jaw dropped. “My God.”
Enrico nodded, letting his bitterness toward Carlo show. “So I gave up my foolish notions about getting him to leave me alone.” He paused. “As you have probably heard, Antonella died. Since then, I have been trying to extricate myself. Carlo, of course, is not pleased with my efforts.”
She stared at the papers on her desk. “Not pleased,” she murmured, then she looked up at him. “That’s why Vince hates you?”
“Carlo wants my head. To set an example.” He watched her, waiting for her to say more, wondering what he’d just done. Dio. He was in it now. Even if she didn’t take up with him, if she left her husband because of what he’d said…. Madonna. He was screwed either way.
She stared at him, her pale skin even whiter, the bruise on her cheek standing out even more. Her voice rose in panic, and the sound made him want to comfort her. “I’m leaving Vince, but how can I ever keep myself safe from him?”
Enrico leaned forward, the words leaving his mouth before he could stop them. “You could stay with me for a while. I could help you get out of the country.” A thrill ran through him, and his heart sped up. This was it. The declaration of war. This was madness, suicide. But he couldn’t turn his back on Kate, not when he was the only person who could help her.
She held his gaze for a moment, then shook her head. “I can’t do that.” Her eyes left his. “I barely know you.”
“You can trust me. I can keep you safe.”
“With a price on your head? No thanks. I’d be safer on my own.”
“Do you actually think a man like Vincenzo Andretti would let you walk away from him?” He looked at her cheek, then into her eyes. “That bruise is but a hint of his true nature.”
“You could be as much a bully as he is.”
“I would never hit a woman.” He paused, watching her closely. “Please trust me.”
Kate laughed, but it was bitter. “‘Trust me’ is what men always say right before they fuck you over.”
The balls on this woman! He almost laughed.
She sighed and rubbed her forehead. “Please forgive my language. I’m not myself right now.”
“If ever an occasion called for cursing, this is it.” He waited for her to respond, then he said, “Let me help you.”
Despair settled over her features. “I can’t.”
Pushing her wouldn’t work. Perhaps if she had time to reconsider. “As you wish.” He reached inside his jacket, retrieved a business card, and wrote on the back. “This is my private mobile number. Call me if you need help.” He set the card on her desk, then walked out.
Merda! That didn’t go well. That didn’t go well at all. He couldn’t leave her here, but he couldn’t force her to go with him either.
How the hell was he going to fix this?
He walked down the hall. Antonio and Ruggero should have been waiting for him outside her office. Why were they out front? He stopped. Dio mio. Two lapses from Ruggero in one day? Unheard of. Damn it all to hell. Now he had to replace Ruggero as well. Would this day never improve? Having to replace Ruggero was at least an improvement over getting a death threat. A smile crossed his face; the day was looking up after all.
He stalked out front and found his guards standing in a loose group, talking and smoking on the front stairs. He confronted Ruggero. “Why are you still out here?”
Ruggero gave him a bland look, then motioned Enrico a few steps away from the others. “I thought you wanted privacy.”
“Why?”
“The woman. You want her. She said she didn’t want us around. I thought….” He let a shrug speak for him.
It was that obvious. Had her husband seen it too? “You thought wrong.”
“If you say so.” Ruggero shrugged again, his hands clasped behind his back.
Now Ruggero was openly disagreeing with him? “I do say so.”
A slight smile appeared on Ruggero’s lips. “You’re a man without a woman. She’s beautiful. I can’t help but think that like the Lady Macbeth, you protest too much.”
Enrico stared at him open-mouthed. Ruggero read Shakespeare? He was full of surprises today. “When you’re right, you’re right.” He paused. “However, that is no excuse for laxness. When I want privacy, I will let you know.”
Ruggero bowed his head. “I beg your forgiveness, signore.”
Cristo. He’d just taken out his frustration on the wrong person. “I need to think. I’ll be over there.” He pointed to a bench under a large tree.
He took a seat in the shade. How could he convince her to let him help? He ran through and discarded several ideas. Damn it, there was nothing he hadn’t already said. Maybe he just needed to say it again. Rising, he headed for the front stairs.
Walking back to h
is car, Kate’s overnight bag in hand, Vince shook his head, cursing. He’d been feeling bad for nothing. He had been right to hit her. She was cheating on him, just not with his uncle. Fucking Lucchesi. There was no doubt about the way Lucchesi had looked at her, the lust in his eyes. And Katie—God, Katie—she’d responded to him. Vince saw the way she’d touched her hair as she’d walked toward Lucchesi, the extra lightness in her step, the extra sway in her walk.
He’d barely been able to keep it together during the meet and greet on the steps. Now he knew why she’d wanted him out of her office so fast. It wasn’t just the overnight bag she didn’t want him to see. She’d probably been planning on fucking Lucchesi on her desk. God only knew how long that had been going on, right under his nose. He never should’ve encouraged her to take that damn job—
But that was all part of the plan to get close to Lucchesi, to find a way to take him out. If he got rid of Lucchesi, Uncle Carlo would reward him. Very, very well. He’d even hinted that someday Vince might be in charge of the Andretti cosca. There was no love lost between Carlo and Dario, that was for damn sure. Oil and vinegar, those two.
Dario rubbed him the wrong way too. At least he always knew where he stood with Carlo. With Dario, it was anybody’s guess. If Carlo had been his pop, he might have done what Dario did—kept his big mouth shut in self-defense. But that wasn’t a major problem for Vince; he and Carlo got each other. They both wanted to be top dog, and he was willing to put in the work to get there. He was learning a lot from Carlo; the old guy was a nasty SOB, but he was smart. And he knew how to inspire cooperation. Nobody dared cross him.
Except of course, for Lucchesi. And now the fucker wanted Katie too.
They weren’t going to get away with it. Not Katie and certainly not Lucchesi.
He parked the red Ferrari a short distance down the road, out of sight behind some trees, and circled back on foot.
Maybe he was wrong about her and Lucchesi. He loved Katie—she was beautiful and smart, and she’d make a great mom for his kids. Yeah, she had some flaws—she asked too many damn questions for one. If Carlo knew she was an outsider, he’d kill them both. Maybe he should have told her, but he wanted her to have a baby first. Once she had a kid, once she was settled in, once she saw the money from his promotion and how they could live, she’d be on board then. He knew it.
But now—God, if she was fucking around on him…. Could his Katie really be a cheating slut? She was pushing thirty when they met, and there had to be a good reason why a beauty like her wasn’t taken. Something he’d missed that other guys hadn’t. But those days were over. He was getting to the bottom of this. Today.
He snuck back to the orphanage and entered through a side door, then crept down the hall to Kate’s office.
Lucchesi was with her, and their voices were low and intense. Vince’s heart dropped to his toes. It stank of secrets in there.
He waited, listening, but he couldn’t make out what they were saying until her voice rose, high and all panicky, and she said, “I’m leaving Vince, but how can I ever keep myself safe from him?”
A scalding hot burn filled his chest. He’d been pissed before, but now he knew what rage felt like. He stalked away to wait for Lucchesi to leave. The bastard was going to pay for this.
And so was his wife. No woman would cheat on him and live to laugh about it.
CHAPTER 5
After Enrico left his card on her desk, Kate laid her head down in the circle of her arms. She wanted to weep. Or scream. Vince was a killer. A cold-blooded killer. And if she didn’t play this right, she could be his next victim.
But losing her head wouldn’t help. She took a deep breath. At least she knew where she stood. She had enough cash to see her through a few weeks. Once she knew where she was staying, her parents could wire her some more.
Enrico’s offer seemed sincere; she was more than a little tempted to take it. But he’d been married to a mobster’s daughter; he’d participated in Carlo’s business. Enrico could be as dirty as the Andrettis, only with a finer veneer on top.
A shoe scuffed the floor, making her start. Kate looked up as Vince stepped into her office. His cheeks reddened and his eyes narrowed as anger crawled over his face. Her pulse skittered like a frightened mouse. “What are you doing here?” she asked.
“I waited until he left.” He paused, breathing fast. “What do you think, I’m fucking stupid?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Lucchesi.” Vince leaned across the desk. “How many times have you opened your legs for him?”
Kate’s skin heated at the accusation. He might be a Mafioso, but she didn’t have to put up with this. “You have a lot of nerve.”
“No. You have a lot of nerve. I saw the two of you. No man like Lucchesi just looks at a woman he wants. And you acted like a perfect little puttana too, playing that game so I’d have to leave. So you could be with him.”
“You’re calling me a whore?” For some reason, the word hurt.
“It fits.” Vince’s fingers opened and closed on her desk, his knuckles turning white when his hands clenched into fists.
Seeing his near loss of control, she rose, her body trembling, a chill racing up her spine. She struggled to keep her voice even. “It’s over, Vince. I don’t have to take this from you.”
He lunged, grabbing her by the hair, and yanked her halfway across the desk, sending her papers and laptop flying. She heard the computer hit the floor and break. He mashed her cheek flat against the wood, then pulled her head up, forcing her to look at him. “You’re my wife, and I’ll call you whatever I want. You’re a whore. A dirty, fucking, whore.” He spat the words at her, his voice low and menacing. For the second time that day, he backhanded her, sending her sprawling into the chair.
Kate’s eyes flooded from the pain in her lip and jaw. Her face throbbed and stung from the slap, her scalp burned as if he’d pulled out a fistful of hair. She tried to gulp down air, but her throat felt too tight. Get up, run, damn it! Her muscles shook, her heart thrashed in her chest, but she couldn’t move, couldn’t speak. Couldn’t run.
Vince stalked around the desk. Finally she regained control of her body and launched herself out of the chair, but he slammed her back into it, trapping her. “I’ll see you dead before I see you with a Lucchesi.”
Enrico had nearly reached Kate’s office when the sound of her husband’s raised voice turned his blood to ice. He threw the door open, heard the click of Andretti opening a switchblade. The man bent over Kate, the knife gleaming.
As Andretti’s head turned toward him, Enrico sprang for his knife hand. Capturing the man’s wrist, he crushed the bones, grinding them together. Andretti grunted with pain and lost his grip on the blade, the stiletto clattering to the tiles between them. Throwing his body into Enrico’s, Andretti sent them sprawling to the floor.
Andretti landed on top. The impact jarred through Enrico and he struggled for air. Andretti’s meaty fist hurtled toward his face. He eluded the blow and grabbed Andretti’s left forearm, digging his fingers into hard cords of muscle. They were well-matched, but Enrico had the advantage when it came to weight and height. Straining hard, he finally flipped Andretti onto his back and held him flat, both of them panting with exertion. His voice came out rough when he spoke to Kate. “Get the knife.”
“Don’t you fucking help him!”
Kate picked up the shining blade, then clicked it shut and closed her fist around the knife’s pearl handle, her body shaking. She looked at Enrico with wide eyes.
“Now call my guard, Ruggero.”
“Fucking cunt!”
Kate stepped into the hall. While she was calling Ruggero’s name, Enrico looked down at Andretti. “You will never speak to her or touch her again.”
“You make me fucking sick. Sniffing around another guy’s wife.”
Enrico’s cheeks burned. It was true. But it didn’t excuse Andretti’s behavior. “Take your anger out on me, not her.”
>
“With pleasure, buddy.” Andretti bucked against Enrico and tried to wrench his arms free. “Let me the fuck up.”
Enrico stared at Andretti until the man looked away. Then he slowly let him go and stood, watching him. Andretti rose from the floor smoothly, appearing little affected by their struggle. He straightened his jacket and dusted off his trousers. Then he stepped close, his face darkening. “I ain’t forgetting this, Lucchesi.” He spat at Enrico’s face. Enrico dodged, but some of the spittle found its mark and ran down his cheek. He wiped it off with the back of his hand.
Antonio and Ruggero burst in and trained their guns on Andretti. Ruggero’s face grew stern as he sighted along the barrel. Enrico’s heart seized. Ruggero was about to pull the trigger. Killing Andretti in front of Kate would ruin everything. “No!” Enrico held up his hand for emphasis and stepped into Ruggero’s line of sight. “No,” he repeated. Ruggero looked at him questioningly. “This is a misunderstanding.”
Andretti snorted. “I didn’t misunderstand you wanting to fuck my wife.” He took a step in Kate’s direction, and she jumped away from him, her back hitting the wall.
“Stay away from her.” Enrico made his voice a low commanding rumble, the tone he’d use with a snarling dog.
Andretti whipped back to look at him. “Fine. She’s your fucking puttana now. I don’t want her no more.” Then he turned to Kate again, his eyes blazing. “This ain’t over, bitch,” he said, then left the room.
“Make sure he’s gone this time,” Enrico said to Ruggero, putting his anger into it.
Ruggero followed Andretti, and Antonio stepped out into the hall, taking a position to the left of the doorway.
Enrico turned to Kate. She was shivering and hugging herself. When he moved toward her, she flinched. “Kate,” he said, his voice as soft as he could make it. “Are you injured?”
She took a breath that sounded more like a sob. He eased toward her, even though she shook her head, backing up along the wall away from him until she reached the file cabinet in the left corner. Stopping there, she sank to the floor, her arms still crossed over her torso. He stopped a foot or so away and crouched down. He refrained from touching her, trying to use his voice to calm her. “He is gone. Ruggero will make sure.”
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