But just because I don’t want to live in turmoil doesn’t mean I won’t. I’ll have the fight every night for the rest of my days, if necessary. But if she makes my life hell, her life is going to be hell too.
“You think it’ll make her feel better if I go to the house tonight? Maybe I’ll grab a nice bottle of wine from the cellar and pick up a big bouquet of flowers on my way home. What kind of flowers do you think she likes? Roses? Camellias?” I turn toward Lucas. “What do you think?” The sarcasm is more scathing than the situation warrants. But I can’t stop myself—or at least I don’t want to stop.
“If I go tonight, it’ll make things worse.”Although it’s hard to believe that’s even possible.
“Daniela’s jet-lagged, and she needs a good night’s sleep and a few days to come to grips with her new life.”And if we’re under the same roof, neither of us is sleeping.She has a hot little body, and she knows how to push my buttons. I don’t trust myself when it comes to her.
“I don’t know, Antonio. I spent an hour with her, and I don’t think coming to grips with her new life is in the cards. Not without—”
I swivel to face him. “Not without what?”
“Effort. It’s going to require some effort if you don’t want your life to be one drama after another. She’s different than the women you’re used to. Some of those women would do anything to marry you. She’s not like that. And she’s been away a long time, living in a place where the customs are dramatically different from ours. Daniela’s tough.”
“Not tougher than I am.”
“No. But if that’s how you play it, it’s going to be hard on the staff. Holding Manuel and Maria Rosa’s daughter against her wishes will be brutal on them. She’s already won Victor over.”
Christ.“How?”
“Just by being herself.”
“I won’t tolerate disloyalty from anyone. I don’t give a shit who it is. Trust me, with the right incentive, she’ll fall into line.”And I’m just the man to provide that incentive.“Once she’s had a taste of my wrath, she’s not going to want to incur it again.”
There’s a gleam in Cristiano’s eyes as he places a cup at the base of the espresso machine. He doesn’t believe a goddamn word of it.
13
Antonio
The evening at the docks proved useful. Not only did it take my mind off Daniela, but we got some answers.
Two assholes who work for me sold the missing cargo to a Russian oligarch with ties to the Bratva.
Most of the people who work for us are loyal. They keep their mouths shut and their hands out of the coffers. But the Huntsman organization is large, and while we make every effort to ferret out the bad seed, every now and then someone slips through the rigorous vetting. It can’t be helped.
Those two thieves were publicly punished. When I finished interrogating them, we stuffed their dicks in their mouths and strung them up on lampposts outside the warehouse. It was gruesome, even by my standards, but it had to be done. There won’t likely be another diversion for a long time.
After that, you think I would have slept the minute my head hit the pillow, but I was up half the night thinking about theprincesatucked away in the valley. Neither my mind nor my body gave me a moment’s peace—not even after I jacked off, twice, imagining Daniela naked and on her knees, milking my cock with her sassy mouth. It’s become my favorite fantasy.
I glance at the time and curse softly before calling Victor.
He answers on the second ring. “Good morning, Antonio.”
“Good morning. How’s our guest?”The one who already has you wrapped around her little finger.
“I haven’t seen her since she arrived. I sent up a tray for lunch, but she didn’t eat a morsel. And for dinner I sent her a wide variety of food, hoping something might appeal to her. But she didn’t touch it. Paula finally persuaded her to have a biscuit and a cup of tea. She hasn’t left her room.”
“She had a long trip. I’m sure she’s tired.”And stubborn.
He’s uncharacteristically quiet before clearing his throat. “Last night, when the tray came back to the kitchen untouched, I sent Paula back upstairs to see ifSenhoraDaniela would prefer something lighter. When she returned, she told me Daniela appeared to have been crying.”
I’m not surprised to hear it. I expect there to be lots of tears shed before we reach an understanding. Maybe after, too. I’m not entirely immune to Daniela’s suffering, but I’ve found the best way to get people in line quickly is to instill a little fear in them—or a lot. It almost always works.
“I don’t want to speak out of turn,” Victor continues. “But I have the company of those who work on the estate. We share meals together, and we talk and laugh. I can come and go as I please. But if it were not for that, it would be lonely here without you and Rafael, now that he’s in London. I don’t know the circumstances of her visit, nor do I need to know. But if she’s a friend, and not an enemy, perhaps you might allow her some company. It would be good for her.”
Like Cristiano and Lucas, Victor and I go back a long way, and he rarely feels the need to keep his opinions to himself.
Victor was my parents’ butler. Growing up, he saved me from more than one of Hugo Huntsman’s beatings. It was Victor who contacted me when my father was spinning out of control. He was afraid my mother would wind up dead. She almost did. His phone call saved her life. For that reason alone, he gets the privilege of sharing his opinions with me—up to a point.