I rolled over so I was lying on my stomach, knowing exactly what Dante wanted. Tonight I wasn’t even bothered by the fact that he never wanted to look at my face. I raised my butt when his fingers hooked under the waistband of my panties and slid them down my legs. Sighing into the pillow, I let Dante waken my exhausted body with his touch.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Dante was right. The next few weeks I made sure to be out of the casino by ten at the latest. I enjoyed the time I spent talking to the girls, the bartenders or the croupiers, but listening to most of the customers was strenuous. At least, Raffaele had made sure to stay away from me, which was a huge plus.

When Enzo took me home at night, I always checked the street for a sign of Frank, but the only person I saw regularly on the sidewalk was an elderly woman walking her Yorkshire Terrier. By now, I’d almost convinced myself that I’d imagined seeing him. Maybe my mind was unconsciously missing Antonio, and conjuring up Frank had been a way to cope with it. Dante wasn’t the presence I wanted him to be in my life. He took me every night, mostly in the dark, and always with my back to him, sometimes kneeling, sometimes lying flat on my stomach. Not that I was complaining. He always made sure I came at least once while he was in me, but I was starting to long for something else. This felt too much like mere fucking, almost like I was nothing more to him than a way to relief tension, but whenever Dante’s hand slipped between my legs at night, I promised myself to talk to him next time, too desperate for his touch.

As usual my eyes wandered over the sidewalk when Enzo steered the car through the gates to the house. But tonight I saw him again. Frank was strolling along the sidewalk across the street, trying to look as if he was only trying to catch some fresh air. He wasn’t succeeding. He looked suspicious to me, so I didn’t dare to think how he would appear to Dante’s guards. I would have to find a way to send him away. It was too risky. I headed straight up to the guest bedroom that allowed me to view the street, but like last time, Frank seemed to have disappeared.

My phone rang and for a moment I was sure it was Frank but he knew better than to call me. There was no saying who was tracking my calls after all, and I’d changed my number a few months ago. The screen flashed with Bibiana’s name. I picked up. “Hey Bibi.”

“Val,” Bibi said in a whisper. Her voice was shaking. She sounded terrified. “Can you come over?”

I tensed, turning my back to the window. “What’s wrong?”

“Tommaso, he…” She sniffed. “He was in a foul mood today.”

“What did he do? Is he still there?”

“No, he left because of a meeting with Raffaele, but he’ll be back soon. Can you come over? I’m scared of what he’ll do when he comes back.” My eyes darted to the clock that said it was almost nine.

“I’ll be there in ten minutes, Bibi.”

I rushed out of the guest bedroom and down the stairs. I wasn’t sure where Enzo was. It probably would have been easy to find him, but I wasn’t in the mood to explain myself. Instead I grabbed the keys from the hook in the garage and took the SUV. Before the doors had glided up all the way, I pressed the gas and shot out of the garage, the car roof missing the bottom of the door by inches. I slowed only as I waited for gate to part for me. Dante would be furious.

As I turned around the corner at the end of the street, I spotted a familiar back and hit the breaks. Frank jumped, and threw a panicked look over his shoulder. He had his phone pressed against his ear but ended the call when he saw me. I checked our surroundings before I rolled down the window and gestured for him to come closer. “What are you doing here?”

He crept closer, eyes darting around nervously. I understood his anxiety only too well. He was risking too much by being here. “I need to talk to you in private.”

I frowned. “About what?”

“About Antonio, about the Outfit, about everything.”

I checked the rearview mirror again. “I can’t talk right now. Meet me tomorrow around 5:30.” I explained the way to the street where the storehouse was that hid the casino, but didn’t tell him about it.

“That’s where one of the underground casinos is, right?”

I stared. Antonio had told him? Damn it. Why couldn’t Frank have stayed away? “We’ll talk tomorrow.” I let the window slide back up and pulled away. Nobody seemed to have followed me, or at least I didn’t see anyone. I hoped I could sneak out of the casino tomorrow undetected. I needed to clear things up with Frank. But what if he really wanted to blackmail me somehow? I knew he’d leave me no choice but to tell Dante about it if he did.

Why did today have to turn into such a mess?

It took me less than ten minutes to arrive at Bibi’s house. As always a guard was sitting in a car in front of it. He gave me a curt nod when he saw me getting out of the car. I almost ran toward the door. Bibi opened it before I even got the chance to ring the bell. I had to stifle a gasp when I saw her face. Her lower lip was busted open and dried blood stuck to her lower chin and her shirt. A bruise was already forming on her left cheek and the eye above it was starting to swell shut. She ushered me in, then quickly shut the door. Before I had time to say something, she threw herself into my arms. I embraced her but she winced when I touched her ribs and I loosened my hold on her. I pulled back to look at her face. “Why did he beat you up?”

Bibi shrugged, then winced. I didn’t even want to know what her body looked like under her clothes. Finger marks bloomed bluish-red on her throat and her collarbone. “He’s been in a foul mood all day and when I told him I still wasn’t pregnant he lost it.” Something tickled at the back of my mind but I pushed it aside for now.

“Maybe it’s his fault. Maybe the old fool is infertile,” I muttered. I didn’t like the word ‘hate’ or the sentiment behind it. Hate always only led to more hate, but I definitely hated Tommaso. Dante wasn’t sure I was capable of taking another person’s life, but I did.

“He can’t be. He got a few of the whores in Club Palermo pregnant.”

My eyes widened. Bibi had never told me. “So he’s got children with other women?”

“No, he forced them to get an abortion. Nobody wants to fuck a pregnant whore, that’s what he said.”

“I’m so sorry, Bibi.”

“I feel so bad for calling you away from Dante on Valentine’s Day.”

I’d completely forgotten about that. Not that Dante had given any indication that today was special during our breakfast together.

“Don’t be ridiculous. You know I’m always there for you. What can I do?”

A small sob escaped her and she clapped her hand over her mouth, her eyes huge and full of fear. She lowered her hand. “I don’t know. I just don’t know, but I was so scared and didn’t know who else to call. You are the only one who seems to care.”

“I do care, Bibi. You know that.”

“I’m scared of when he returns. He told me it wasn’t over. And he’s always more brutal after he spent time with Raffaele. They are both disgusting sadists. Oh, Val, the things Tommaso sometimes does to me, the things he forces me to do, I can’t even tell you.”