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