“Can he come up? Maybe we can just walk outside for a little bit?”
“Not now.”
“Just for as long as you say, I promise—”
“I said not now. We’ll discuss it later. I have an idea.”
“What idea?”
“Later. If you want to see him, now is your opportunity.”
I stand, not wanting to blow it.
His eyes skim over me. “It’s my mother’s dress. Or so Lenore tells me. I don’t remember it.” He says that last part without meeting my eyes.
I look down, straighten the skirt of the dress. “Oh.”
“I thought I’d remember if I saw it on you.”
“I’ll take her down before I go,” Dante says, standing. I’d almost forgotten he was there.
“Where are you going?” Cristiano asks him.
“I need to get some things for tonight.”
“You’d better show up.”
“I will.” Dante turns to me, the easy smile when he was talking to Cristiano disappearing. “Let’s go,” he says, opening the door.
I go because I want to see Noah.
Once the study door closes, Dante takes hold of my arm. He’s not rough but it’s unnecessary. He stops me, makes me turn to him.
“You think you’ve got some hold on him?”
“What?”
“You’re a fuck toy to him. That’s all. Don’t get any fucking ideas.”
I tug my arm, but he doesn’t let go.
“I don’t like you. And I don’t trust you,” he says as if I didn’t already know.
“Feeling’s mutual.”
A flash of irritation darkens his eyes. “I’ve got my eye on you, Scarlett De La Cruz. And I’ll do whatever I need to do to protect my brother, so watch your step.”
Before I can even respond, he starts to walk us toward the hallway that will lead down to the cells. But just before we get there, I hear a familiar voice.
One that makes my skin crawl.
We both stop and turn. It’s my uncle. He’s here, in Cristiano’s house. He turns to look at us, first at Dante, whose hand tightens on my arm like he’s making a fist, then me. He’s talking to a soldier.
He’s obviously caught off guard when he sees me, but he recovers quickly. His eyes skim over me as do the soldier’s, the latter without emotion. My heart is beating so hard against my chest all I hear is rage. Blood pumping through my veins. Pounding against my ears.
“Dante,” my uncle says by way of greeting. He smiles.
I look to Dante whose expression is dark. Murderous even. Well, I guess we have one thing in common.
I take a step toward him, but Dante’s hand tightens.
“Let’s go,” he says.
I touch the metal nail file I found in the bathroom that I strapped around my thigh. A knife would be better, but this is sharp and sturdy. It’ll do the job.
But Dante tugs, hand bruising now.
The man with my uncle clears his throat. “Cristiano doesn’t like to be kept waiting.”
My uncle gives me a one-sided grin then disappears.
I watch him go, feel my eyes narrow.
As Dante leads me to my brother, I hear another voice from behind me. I glance back and recognize the man who had peeked his head into Cristiano’s room that first morning. He doesn’t see me as Dante tugs me along, but I hear my uncle stop to greet him and shake my head.
Cristiano is meeting with my uncle. My fucking uncle. If this doesn’t tell me where I stand in this mess, where I stand with Cristiano, then nothing will. No matter what my stupid brain wants to make of moments like last night.
Cristiano and my uncle are aligned. That puts Cristiano firmly in the opposite corner from me. It’s not that unbelievable, is it? The only unbelievable part of this is that I ever thought he’d be in mine.
15
Cristiano
Moments after Dante has taken Scarlett, my uncle and Jacob walk into the study. I stand, shoving my hands into my pockets.
Cerberus’s low growl comes from his place in the corner. I don’t comment as Jacob glances over at the hound.
“I don’t know why you keep that dog,” my uncle says.
“I like him,” I say. “Jacob.” I nod in greeting.
“Good to see you, Cristiano,” Jacob says.
My uncle takes a seat and crosses his ankle over the opposite knee. He chooses the Chesterfield at the far end, away from Cerberus who lays his head back down but keeps that low growl going, eyes on my uncle.
I smile at Jacob. Well, it’s an attempt at a smile. I don’t like him. I don’t trust him. Not even after he killed his own nephews to prove his loyalty to me. He switches sides too often. One of those mercenaries Scarlett mentioned.
“Sit,” I tell him, gesturing to the chair beside the one Scarlett sat in.
He does. “I see my niece walking freely in your house.”
My uncle makes a sound, but I don’t turn to him. “Scarlett is not your concern.”
“Watch out for that one, son.”
“I’m not your son. Never call me that again.”
“I’m just saying—”
“Never call me that again,” I say slowly, wanting to be sure he understands.
He puts his hands up, palms to me. “All right, all right. No harm intended.” He turns to David and laughs, expecting my uncle to laugh with him I guess, but he doesn’t. Instead, he just looks back at Jacob, eyes flat. Unimpressed.
I wait, silent too as he returns his attention to me. He clears his throat.
“Your son-in-law met with Rinaldi,” I tell him, studying his response.
Jacob sided with me against Rinaldi. He sided with me against the De La Cruz brothers. He pulled the trigger to execute them. This is an important detail. I expect him to be number one on the cartel’s hitlist. He’s a traitor to them.
Or he’s smarter than I give him credit for.
The only thing I know for certain in this life is how cockroaches like Jacob De La Cruz manage to crawl out of their holes unscathed when the rest of the world has been razed to the ground. He’s a survivor. And an opportunist.
“And I have some news from that meeting.”
“Well, isn’t that convenient.”
“My son-in-law and I are aligned. We always have been. I am now the most powerful man in the De La Cruz Cartel and since I only have daughters, he is next in line.”
“Are you now? By killing your brother and his wife along with your nephews and then executing those same nephews?”
He clears his throat.
“Italian families don’t quite work that way,” I say. “Explain it to me.”
“I was never on board with what Rinaldi did to your family and I have never been in support of human trafficking. Rinaldi duped Diego and Angel. They were the muscle, really. Not much in the way of brains.” He points to his head. “Easily manipulated. But when they offered Scarlett up to Rinaldi to seal the cartel and the mafia’s union by marriage, they would have shut me out. You know this. You know what they planned for me. I was no longer useful to them. Only took a cut of the money,” he pauses to study me momentarily. I just look back flatly. “I’ve been in touch with Felix who has kept communication open with the rest of the family. They all agreed that once Diego and Angel were out of the way, the cartel would reassemble under a new leader. Europe is a profitable route for us, after all. And with the connections and protections you and your uncle can guarantee us, well, yours is the side I am on. I’m loyal to you, Cristiano. As is Felix.”