There. I could see her through an interior partition of dirty glass. Francesca sat in a chair, facing a man I didn’t know. Not at first. He turned his head and laughed cruelly, and then I knew.
Philip Salerno. Her ex-husband. And one of the least honorable men I’d ever met.
Things started to click into place for me.
“We are doing everything we can,” Francesca was saying calmly. But she flinched and turned her face away when he stood up and leaned over her. I could tell he had hit her before. Rage unlike anything I had ever known welled up inside me.
“Not good enough, sweetheart. I want the Margarelli empire destroyed. Especially him.”
It was obvious he meant me. I’d whooped his ass once when we were teens. It had almost started a war. I’d steered clear of him ever since.
I had made sure I was not in town to attend the wedding. Even then, I’d known it would be hellish to watch such a magnificent woman tie herself to such a weak and vindictive man.
I wanted to run in there and kick the living shit out of him. But there were too many men. It would be suicide.
I pecked out a text asking her to meet, hoping to take the heat off her, praying I wasn’t about to make it worse. She glanced at her phone. The pinched look on her face shifted for a moment to something sweet and intangible. Then she looked worried.
“Who is it? I told you, nobody texts you. Your ass is mine, among all the other things that are mine.” His fingertips brushed her face. “Nobody leaves me. Nobody else ever touches you. You got that?”
She lifted her eyes and looked at the piece of shit steadily.
“It’s him.”
“Show me.”
She handed him her phone, and he sneered, handing it back to her.
“What does he want?”
“I don’t know.”
He slapped her, and I was nearly through the door. Her face was turned from the force of the hit, her hair covering her beautiful face.
“What does he want?” he asked again.
She lifted her chin and stared at him defiantly.
“Me.”
Salerno laughed cruelly. He was only recently made the head of his family, and only because everyone else was dead or too old to do it. Things had gone downhill in the city since he took over. I still wasn’t sure why Francesca’s family had thought it was a good match. I knew it had been arranged.
“Of course he wants you. He only sees all this.” He grabbed her face and squeezed it as he insulted her. “He doesn’t know what a bitch you can be,” he said, finally stepping away from her. “Not yet. Call him. Set up a meeting. Let’s end this.”
“Please. Don’t make me go through with this,” she said quietly. I knew what it had cost her to ask him. I just didn’t know exactly what she was asking for.
Clearly, though, it had to do with me. She didn’t want to do whatever it was he wanted. That was . . . interesting. Was it possible that she felt some of the same longing I felt?
“He gets to touch you. Just a little. But as soon as he tries to fuck you, I walk in and Pop.” he made an inelegant gesture with his hand.
Jesus fucking Christ.
I was getting played. He was using her like his own private whore. I wondered what else he was doing to her. What else he had on her.
I didn’t have to wait long.
“This is not the way. You know it’s not.”
“Do you want to see her alive again?”
Her head dropped, and she nodded submissively. Seeing her like that . . . it absolutely shredded me.
Rage and fury unlike anything I had ever known filled me.
“Call him.”
She got up and walked away. Right toward me.
“Don’t go too far,” Philip sneered.
“There is an echo in here. He will ask what that is.”
“Fine.”
I watched as she pulled out her phone, heading toward the room I was in. I backed away slowly, not wanting to spook her. Thankfully, my phone was on silent. I declined the call and texted her.
Don’t scream. I’m here.
She faltered. I watched as she stepped into the room and looked up. She clamped her mouth shut, biting back the scream that nearly escaped.
“What are you doing here?” she hissed under her breath.
“I followed you.”
“You . . .” She looked at a loss for words. But only for a moment. “He’ll kill us both.”
“Who does he have? What does he have on you?”
“My–our daughter.”
“Jesus. Let’s go.”
“What?”
“I have men outside. Cars are waiting nearby.”
“This is insane. You’ll start a war!”
“Get moving, Francesca. Now.”
“I can’t disappear. He’ll know something is wrong.”
“I am not leaving you here,” I snarled.
“You have to.” She gripped my hand, her eyes searching mine. “He will kill her.”
“His own daughter?” I asked incredulously.