“It was a simple mistake,” I explained. “Jesus, you act like the fate of the free world depends on this shit.”
“Don’t give me your fucking excuses. Just get it right this time. Now, go over it again. Who are Gianfranco’s sons—in order of age?”
I took a deep breath, shut my eyes, and buried my head in my hands. “Saul… Ignazio… Abramo… Danio…”
“No!” Dante roared. “The fourth son is Igor. Danio is Guiliano’s son too. When are you gonna get it straight?”
I folded my arms on the table and buried my face in my arms. “I can’t take anymore. My head is exploding.”
“You better get it right. We only have two more days to get you ready for the masquerade ball.”
I didn’t raise my head. “I can’t.”
“You don’t want to,” he grumbled. “You aren’t even trying.”
I felt myself starting to break down. After three days of non-stop drilling on the relationships and connections between thousands of such similar Italian names, I couldn’t keep all the Guilianos and Gianfrancos straight.
A door slammed, and I looked up when footsteps approached the living room table. “Go change your clothes,” Luca told me. “We’re going out tonight.”
“Going out where?” I asked.
“Club Veil.” Luca scowled down at me. “You can’t wear that.”
He strode to the door leading into the entrance hall and yelled up the stairs. “Dominic! Get down here!”
Dominic trotted down the stairs holding his phone. “What’s up?”
“Take Ari up to her room and get her dressed to go to Club Veil. We need to test drive this whole relationship thing.”
“Relationshipthing?” I repeated. “How do you test drive a relationshipthing?”
“Don’t smart off,” Dante cut in. “You’re dating him, so you better start acting like he’s your Padrino. Show some respect, and act like you understand the consequences if you don’t.”
I made a face at him. I was sick and tired of hearing all this shit. “I’m not dating him. I’mpretendingto date him.”
“All the more reason you should act accordingly.”
“I’m pretending to date him outin public. He said I could hate him all I want behind closed doors.”
“None of that matters,” Luca cut in. “Take her upstairs, Dominic, and make sure she does a good job of getting ready.”
Dominic’s eyes snapped to me, but he kept his countenance stony. He’d acted like a robot toward me ever since our encounter at the store. He only spoke to me when his job absolutely demanded it.
I resisted the urge to rub it in his face or manipulate him again. Dante’s warning held me back. I enjoyed myself in that dressing room. I loved making him hard and talking dirty to him to make him lose control with me.
I enjoyed making out with him even more, but if Dante was right about Dominic, maybe my ploy turned out to be more cruel than funny.
So, Dominic stood up to Luca to defend me. Dante and Dominic weren’t as whipped as they made out. Their close relationship with Luca put them in a unique position to stand up to him in ways no one else in the family ever would dare to.
The longer I spent around these three men, the harder I found it to remember that they were hard-hearted killers who belonged to a mafia family. I kept seeing the boys I used to know.
Dante said they all changed when my father betrayed the family. Getting your father sent to prison and having your parents gunned down in cold blood would likely do that to the nicest person.
I didn’t see the guys as changed at all—except maybe in size. To me, they were still the same boys… the same boys I loved.
I couldn’t let myself start thinking that way, but as the days ticked by, I found it harder and harder to block it out. God, I loved them back then… and they loved me. Did that die too when my dad took me away?
I couldn’t believe that, not even when Dominic kept his eyes cold and impassive. He looked at me like I was a stranger, but that couldn’t be right. He had a heart. I knew he did. He just kept it hidden from me.