Dark Ties (Made Men 9)

Her winged eyeliner was also back in action, along with her full face of makeup to prove to Dante that she was anything but ugly.

“Holy f—”

Amo’s words came to a harsh halt when he was kicked under the table. “Wow, you look nice,” he said in an unlike himself, gentlemanly manner.

“You look very nice,” Leo corrected before turning to his father and giving him a piece of his own medicine by kicking him under the table. “Doesn’t she?”

“Ow!” Dante cleared his throat but was careful not to let his eyes linger. “Yes, you do.”

Nadia might’ve felt a bit deflated on the inside, but she didn’t dare let it be known on the outside. “Thanks,” she said, only looking at Leo and Amo when she said it. “I figured, since it was our last night here, I should look nice for our final dinner.”

“Good thinking.” Amo got up quickly to pull her chair out. “Let me get that for you.”

She gave the soldier the sweetest smile as she took her seat and he pushed her up to the table. This time, she looked at Dante, who was throwing ice picks with his icy eyes at his soldier, when she said, “Thank you.”

At least the kids have fucking manners …

“You’re welcome,” Amo cooed, taking back his seat but making his chair now sit a bit farther away from Dante. He had done so just in time for dinner to be served.

Lila brought out salads, but this time, they were dressed in a homemade buttermilk ranch, and the bread was delicious, like always. When Max came out, he brought Dante his usual whiskey in a crystal glass, and when he asked Nadia if she would like anything, she simply held up her hand and told him, “Too soon.”

They were brought perfectly cooked filet mignons shortly after, with a healthy-sized, fully loaded baked potato and asparagus to match. The sight and smell made all their mouths water, and none of them waited to dig in.

“So, what do you do, Nadia?” Amo asked before taking a bite of his food.

* * *

Dante’s steak-filled fork froze on the way to his mouth. Excuse me?

Amo was one of his soldiers who didn’t give a single fuck about anyone but himself. He was young and selfish, with an emphasis on selfish. That was why he and Amo got along lately—because he only cared about moving up in the family hierarchy and did his job well without worrying about a girl at home, like all his other men were at the moment.

Even Nadia was stunned by the sudden interest.

“I run a charity for at-risk teens.”

“That’s very generous of you.’’

He stabbed his steak with his fork. I’ll show you fucking generous.

“You should come by Moonbeam”—Nadia sliced into her steak with a smile—“and volunteer sometime.”

“Oh, that’s okay.” Amo shrugged. “I’m not the volunteer type.”

That was certainly true about his soldier, at least.

Nadia laughed. “Volunteering is good for the soul.”

“So is working for money,” Amo told her unapologetically.

See? Selfish.

“Just stop by sometime to say hi, okay? I think you just might find a reason to come back.”

Dante studied Nadia then. He could see by the sly look in her eyes that she had settled on a plan she had been searching for last night. He just didn’t know what.

If Amo was smart, he wouldn’t step a single foot inside her facility, because he knew that look … but he certainly wasn’t going to give his soldier a heads-up. He was going to take that as payback from having to watch his soldier hitting on Nadia all day.

If Amo didn’t realize she saw him as a child, and a child only, he had a rude awakening coming. That was the only reason Dante could even stand watching his soldier make a fool of himself, because if one thing was proven last night, it was that Nadia preferred men … older men.

“You should come, too.” Nadia directed her attention to Leo now. “Stop by every now and then to say hi.”

Leo merely nodded his head. “Sure.”

Nadia sullenly went back to cutting another piece of her steak, and even Dante couldn’t believe his son. Come to think of it, he noticed Leo hadn’t been surprised one bit by the fact that Nadia ran a charity. Clearly, that was one of their topics of conversation when his son and Nadia had their little chat.

“Do you have any children?”

* * *

Nadia coughed. The abrupt question had sent a piece of food down the wrong way. “No,” she managed to get out, clearing her throat.

“Really?” Amo asked, surprised. “Thought someone would have tried to tie you down by now.”

Nadia had to talk over how loudly Dante was stabbing his steak with his fork. “No, it’s not that. I just don’t want children.”

She had said it so nonchalantly, thinking nothing of it, because that was how she had always felt since the day she had been old enough to grasp how a child was born. It was nothing new to her, but she looked up, feeling conscious of the three of them strangely staring at her.