“Why?” he asked, letting go of Raphael as he started to gasp for breath. “Why the fuck would you do that?”
Raphael didn’t answer straightaway.
He wanted to keep on hurting him but what made him a damn good enforcer for the Giavanni Family was that he didn’t act stupidly. He never made rash or rushed decisions. Everything had a place. It was what he did.
“You can’t keep her a secret for long, Antonio. Your life is full of darkness and you will consume her. You will fuck her over, and you can’t get away with it.”
“Is this because you can’t stand the fact I’ve got my woman and now you’ve got to marry who your father says?”
Raphael stood up. “No. You need to get your head out of your ass. As your capo and your boss, I’m telling you the time for being a pussy ends now. You will no longer hide who you are, and you will bring her into the fold.” He ran his hands across his jacket. “That’s an order.”
Antonio stared at his friend. “Ellie isn’t like us. She’s not like the women of our world, or the sluts we use. She’s neither a servant nor a slave. She’s free.”
“And the moment you decided to keep her, Antonio, you took that freedom from her. You cannot have it your way. I suggest you go, bring her back, and present her to Romeo. He knows of your intentions.”
“You son of a bitch.”
“You have until tomorrow. Not many men would be granted this same courtesy.”
“And if she’s already skipped town?”
“Then I suggest you get to her before one of his soldiers do. Romeo already knew, Antonio.”
He paused as he’d been about to leave.
Turning to Raphael, he saw the sadness in his friend’s face. “I didn’t betray your trust. I know you don’t believe me, but I did what I had to do. My father had a file on her. Asked about her. He knew. He may not have known all of your connection to her, but he knew enough for me to act. I respect our friendship and I hope in time, you’ll come to see that … I did what I thought I had to do.”
Antonio didn’t say anything. He turned on his heel and left. He had a woman to find. She couldn’t have gotten far. He wouldn’t let her get away from him. He’d get her.
After rushing out of the mansion, he took off, climbed into his car, and drove straight to her apartment. He didn’t even bother with knocking.
Once he’d slammed her door open, he walked straight into her bedroom. There she was, packing what meager shit she owned. Seeing her doing it pissed him off.
“I didn’t give you permission to come in here.”
“Too late. I’m here.” He advanced toward her and grabbed the case, zipping it up.
“Hey, you can’t do that.”
“I think you’ll find, baby, that I can do whatever I want.”
“So it’s baby now? You lying piece of … ugh, you lied to me.”
“I never lied.”
She grabbed the card he’d given her. “What do you call this, huh? This exists. How is it this exists when you work for the Giavanni Family?”
He stared at the card, knowing that no matter how he told her this, she was going to be pissed.
“You set this all up, didn’t you?” Her voice was a mere whisper. “Why? Did you want to laugh at my expense? Why would you do something like this?”
“It wasn’t like that.”
“Then what was it all about? You’ve told me before you can have plenty of women. Why drag me into this?”
Tears gathered in her eyes and seeing them cut him to the core. This wasn’t supposed to happen. He shouldn’t care what a woman thought of him, or how she reacted to him. Ellie was different. She would always be different.
“I wanted you for more than one night.”
“What about me? What about what I wanted? You didn’t even give me a clear shot to get out.”
“Once you knew who I was, there wouldn’t have been an out for you. There wouldn’t have been an out for anyone.”
She shook her head. “You don’t know that.”
“I do. I know my job.”
“And what are you not saying right now?”
“I can’t let you leave. My boss wants to see you. There’s no out for you.”
“So if you want to leave me, you’ve got to kill me, is that it?” she asked.
“I won’t kill you.”
“But you said so yourself. I can’t leave anymore. My chance of having a normal life has just evaporated because I saw you in a bar.” She sank down to the bed, leaning forward, elbows on her knees, head in her hands. “All you were was a guy in a bar. I was down in the dumps, and all you were supposed to be was … my … fun.”