“It’s true? The Giavannis are mafia?” she asked, looking at Louise.
“Don’t fucking say anything,” Louise said. “Don’t be fucking crazy. Keep your voice down. This is life or death and I’ve got a kid to get home to.”
She had a … what? Who was Antonio?
With the meal in her hands, she carried it out to the dining room, following her fellow servers’ lead, and she got through the first course. The second. The third. By dessert, she wanted to run far away.
It was clear that this was Antonio’s business, especially when the big man at the table asked him when he would be tying the knot.
“You’re not getting any younger, and I think it’s time you found a woman to call your own. You need to start having a family.”
“I’m sure Antonio knows how to find women, don’t you? I bet there’s a line of women waiting to see what our good old enforcer likes to do.”
“Raphael, that’s enough,” Romeo said.
She’d heard enough. The doors opened and she made her escape. What was she going to do? Where would she go?
Her first stop would be her apartment. Then it a bus ticket out of the city. She had a small supply of cash. With cash, they wouldn’t be able to trace her. She knew how to run without being detected, but this wasn’t running from the care system. This was a mafia man, an enforcer.
She had to run from Antonio and it scared her even more than she thought it could. He’d lied to her. He hadn’t been honest.
Just as she was about to make a run for it, Antonio had her around the waist.
“Let go of me,” she said through gritted teeth.
He wouldn’t let her go. He marched her down to a room, opened the door, and pushed her inside.
She growled as she fell to the floor. Getting to her feet, she rounded on him. “So this is the business you had? Kind of surprising, don’t you think?”
“Don’t, Ellie. What the fuck are you doing here?”
“I had to work. My date canceled on me and rather than stay in all alone, I thought I would help out.”
“There’s no way your boss would have called you to come in.”
“Why?”
“Because I told him not to. None of this was supposed to reach you.”
“So it is all true. You’re not some security expert?”
“No, I’m not,” he said after a long pause.
“And them out there, what are they?” she asked.
“You’ve clearly been brought up to speed with everything.”
“Well, I want to hear it from your lips. You know, my lying fucking boyfriend. That’s what you are, right? Lying. That’s all you’ve ever been doing. Did you get a good laugh about it? Did you find it funny?”
“None of this is funny,” he said.
“No. I don’t think it’s funny. You played me for a fool.”
“No, I didn’t.”
“Why didn’t you tell me the truth? Why lie to me? Why not tell me what it was you did?”
“You really wanted to know who I was? What I did? Would you have stuck around?”
“Is that what this is all about? You don’t think I’m strong enough to deal with you?” She sniffled. “I … I … I need to leave.”
“You’re not leaving.”
“I’m not sticking around here.”
He went to touch her and she pulled away. “No! I don’t want you to touch me. I don’t want to have anything to do with you. Stay away from me.”
“Ellie,” he said.
There was a knock at the door.
“Antonio, Romeo is asking for you.”
“We’re done,” she said. She went to go past him but Antonio grabbed her. He sank his fingers into her hair, pulled her head back, and took possession of her mouth. His touch was brutal, punishing, and damn it, she ached between her thighs for more. This wasn’t supposed to happen. She shouldn’t feel anything for him, and yet, her body betrayed her.
“We’re not done. We’re far from done. You will not get far, Ellie. I will find you. Always.”
He let her go and she opened the door to find Raphael smirking as she passed. If he’d been an ordinary man, she’d have kicked him. Violence wasn’t the answer. She hated causing pain or suffering. Walking away from Antonio was hard, but she only had a small window to go and she was going to take it.
****
Antonio didn’t care about protocol and how he wasn’t supposed to hurt Romeo’s son. He was angry, enraged. All through dinner, he had to deal with his woman serving him, feeling her confusion, knowing she was hurting. He couldn’t do a single thing about it, and all that time, Raphael had watched him.
Slamming his fist against Raphael, he wrapped his fingers around the man’s neck, cutting off his circulation.
Raphael started to choke but what was more, he didn’t put up a fight.
Antonio knew at that moment that Raphael had planned this on purpose.