“Does Frank know about all this?” I had to ask, had to know. I fought the tears that wanted to rise into my eyes.
“Yes. It was actually his suggestion. He thinks it’s safer than risking a gunfight. Dante is a damn good shot, and the bastard never lowers his guard, except when he’s home.” Antonio smiled brightly at me. I was a means to an end for him—again. Once before he’d used my feelings for him to lure me into a fake marriage, and now he wanted to manipulate me into killing my husband. Maybe I should have tried to talk him out of it, but the moment I’d tried, he would have gotten suspicious, gone into hiding again and attacked Dante another time. It was too much of risk.
“I’d really feel more comfortable if I knew the names of your friends. I trust you, but what about them?”
“I trust them.”
I gave him a pleading look.
Antonio brushed a strand of hair from my face. The gesture was so tender and loving that it made me choke up with emotion. Antonio must have seen it because he nodded. “I can give you one name, but the others will stay a secret until things have settled down.”
“Okay.”
“Raffaele, you know him from the casino, right?”
Oh, I knew Raffaele. And he was the last person in the Outfit who’d ever accept Antonio’s homosexuality. “Yes, I do.”
I was close to bursting into tears. To hide it from Antonio, I pretended to look at my watch. When I was sure I was in control of my emotions, I raised my face.
“So will you do it tonight?” Antonio asked almost eagerly. “For me, for us?”
I patted my bag where the vial was hidden, then I reached up and cupped Antonio’s cheek. “I’ve loved you since I was fourteen. I was so happy when we married.”
Antonio smiled, eyes brimming with satisfaction. “I know, Val. I should have been a better husband to you.”
Yes, you should have been.
“But soon things will change. And this time everything will be better.”
I nodded. No, it won’t.
I drew back. “I need to return to the car before Enzo gets suspicious.”
“Here’s my number. Call me once it’s done, okay?” He slipped a piece of paper into my pocket.
I nodded again.
“Say goodbye to Dante from me,” Antonio said with a wink. He was still so very confident in the power he’d once held over me, but I wasn’t the doting, naïve girl I used to be.
I turned around and slowly walked out of the pharmacy and back to the car.
Goodbye.
CHAPTER TWENTY
I twisted the vial in my hands over and over again. The tears had dried by now, and my face felt hot and sticky from crying, but my decision was made. There was only one thing I could do. Dante’s step rang in the corridor, and I quickly pocketed the poison. The door opened and Dante stepped in, then stopped with a surprised look on his face when he saw me standing in front of the window.
“Valentina, what are you doing here?” His gaze swept over my teary face. “Did something happen? Are you all right?”
“We need to talk.”
Dante closed the door slowly, every motion deliberate and calculated. He knew something was up. I didn’t have to see my face to know it gave everything away, not only because of my swollen eyes. I had never been so shaken in my life as I was today. He approached me carefully, then stopped out of reach. I searched his face for something, some kind of gentleness, but he was only alert. This was the man who’d accused me of having cheated on him, who’d rejected our unborn child because he thought it wasn’t his. A man who never let me get close. Would he ever love me? Would I ever find in this marriage what I so desperately wanted?
Dante’s cold scrutiny was such a stark change from Antonio’s tenderness and easygoing smiles. Antonio had promised me to give me what I wanted, to be a husband I deserved. Three years ago I’d have done everything to hear those words from him, even slipped poison into the glass of someone who wanted Antonio dead. But somehow in the last months of my marriage to Dante, something had changed. My heart had moved on from one unattainable man to the next. Despite everything Dante had said and done, he was my husband and I had come to love him, no matter how stupid that made me. He was the father of my child, even if he didn’t want to believe it.
“Valentina?” A hint of impatience crept into Dante’s voice.
“I saw Antonio today.”
Dante frowned. “You went to his grave?”
“No,” I said with a hysteric note. “I saw him in person. He isn’t dead.”
Dante became still. I could tell that he wasn’t sure if he should believe me. He probably thought I was losing it. “What do you mean?”
Tears spilled out. “What I said. He isn’t dead.”
Dante’s face hardened but he remained silent.
“That’s why Frank contacted me. Antonio was there that night at the warehouse. He shot at us to save Frank. It wasn’t the Russians.”
“Why did you meet him without telling me after he tried to kill you once already?”
“I didn’t! He followed me into the pharmacy today.”
Suspicion was edged into Dante’s face. “Why didn’t you call Enzo? Where was he?” He didn’t sound like a husband; he sounded like he was my Boss and I was one of his soldiers.
“I don’t know. I was shocked. I thought Antonio was dead and then suddenly I’m staring at his face. I wanted to hear him out. He told me he faked his death to escape the Outfit and live with Frank.”
“And now he’s back. Does he want my forgiveness? I don’t have any to give. I hope he doesn’t expect me to give him a warm welcome. The only thing he can have is a quick death.”
I wrapped my arms around my middle. “He doesn’t want to ask for your forgiveness.”
Dante searched my face.
“He wants you dead. He and a few others want you and your father gone so they can take over power.”
Dante’s jaw flexed. “Do they now? And how do they intend to do that?”
“Antonio asked me to poison you.”
Dante’s eyes bored into mine. “Why would he think you’d agree?”
“Because he’s certain I still love him. Because he trusts me. Because it’s probably obvious to everyone how unhappy I am.” My hand unconsciously moved to my still mostly flat stomach. There was only the slightest bump visible when I was naked. Dante’s eyes followed the movement, and some of the hardness around his eyes lessened. “And what did you tell him?”
I made an exasperated sound. “Would I be telling you about all this if I wanted to kill you? It was bad enough that you accused me of cheating and didn’t believe me when I told you I was pregnant with your child, although you are the only man I’ve ever been with. But this? Thinking I’d agree to kill you, this is too much, even for me.”
Dante walked up to me and touched my upper arms lightly. “I didn’t ask what you decided. I didn’t think you’d kill me. I asked what you told Antonio. There’s a difference.”
“I pretended to agree with his plan. I worried he’d find another way to kill you.”