“It’s not easy to organize a secret venue and a priest without your brother finding out about it.”
“Let me know when it’s done. I’m going to my study. You joining us for dinner?”
“Not tonight. I’ve got some asshole’s wedding to plan.”
“You better get going then.”
I take the rest of my sandwich and a beer through to my study. I sit down behind the desk and get to work. It’s taking time to plan everything. I need to move fast once she’s pregnant. I’ll have to get to the commission before Giovanni finds out.
I don’t want him to have a chance to whack her before I become Don. Once I’m made the boss, his chance of getting me vanishes. I’ll be untouchable.
I sort through the planning of everything but my mind keeps going back to her. She looks different to last time I saw her. She’s lost some weight, maybe a little too much. She’s dyed her hair and it looked dumb under that baseball cap. Did she really think I wouldn’t see through her crappy disguise?
I guess she didn’t think it mattered. She was going to shoot me in the back of the head before I even saw her. Hiding behind the curtain like I wouldn’t spot her. Sunlight making a perfect shadow. Gun out and everything. She’s not exactly a master assassin.
At least I know why she wants to kill me. She thinks I murdered her dogs. I’ll leave her thinking that for now. Gives me more a challenge trying to get her into bed tonight.
The thought of that makes my cock twitch. My mind goes back to the last time I had her naked in front of me. I swear I can still taste her sweetness on my tongue.
I spent so long trying to find her. I never managed it. Then she simply walked into The Red Room and asked for a job. They called me at once. I got a vacancy created at the laundry and waited. It wasn’t long before she started work there.
I thought about snatching her but I wanted to see what she was planning. I found out when Reggie called me. She’d been to see him about a gun.
He saw through her disguise at once. She wanted a pistol small enough to sneak into work. A one shot that would wipe someone out if she got close enough. He made her the perfect weapon with only one flaw. It wouldn’t fire. He thought she might suspect when she shot it but I knew she wouldn’t test it. She’d want to come straight to me.
From there it was child’s play. I got her here. Now, I have her safely locked up and I didn’t need to lift a finger to fetch her. She walked right into my bedroom as easy as you like. Brought my suit too.
I spend a couple of hours behind the desk. I’m not just planning for what’s going to happen. I’m having to keep on top of Giovanni’s fuck ups. There have been a lot so far.
What keeps me going through the bullshit of paperwork is the knowledge that she’s here. Tonight we’ll sleep in the same bed and she will give herself to me. Willingly or not.
Twenty-Two
Aurora
* * *
I’m sitting on the end of the bed when it happens. I’ve no idea how much time has passed but I’ve gone beyond anger and into boredom. I’ve given up trying to get out. The door is locked. The window won’t open or break. No one responds to my shouts.
So I’m sitting here when there’s a barely audible click and then a slight whirring sound. I look up and the wall to my right is opening. It’s like something out of a Bond movie.
Two doors that I didn’t even know were there have swung open to reveal an enormous walk in wardrobe. It’s filled with things in my size. I look at some of the labels. Gucci. Dior. Prada. There must be a million dollars worth of clothes in here. All organized by color. From white on the far left through to black on the right with an entire rainbow in between.
I run my hands along the racks. Dresses suitable for the Oscars, skirts so short they look like belts. Hats on shelves. Jewelry in drawers. At my feet are shoes neatly lined up to match each dress. It’s like a stylist laid everything out so I’d have the perfect outfit every day for a year. Some of the dresses are slit to the thigh. No chance in hell I’d wear half of the stuff in here. I’d be almost naked. Most of it is gorgeous and I can’t believe it’s all for me.
There are drawers to my right, stuffed with lingerie. Bras that are my exact size. How did he even know that? I don’t know whether to be impressed or creeped out.
At the end of the white section, I notice something that chills my blood. I didn’t spot it at first but now I can’t take my eyes off it. A wedding dress. It’s ivory. It’s couture. It’s beautiful beyond words.
The sight of it sickens me.
I will not marry him. I will kill him the first chance I get. That’s what I’m supposed to be thinking about, not fawning over a walk in wardrobe.
I can’t believe he’s locked me in here like I’m his prisoner. Is this his way of getting me onside? Buying me things? It won’t work.
It sickens me to think that he knew I was coming. All the planning I did was for nothing.
I could kick myself. Why didn’t I check the gun worked?