The men’s deep laughter rides down the bare skin on my back.
“Francesca.” Draco looks down at her and she perks up, looking him straight in the eye.
“Si, Jefe?”
“Trade seats with Gianna.”
She freezes, her entire face going blank. She looks at him as if he’s lost his mind. When he cocks a stern brow, she swallows hard and slides back in her chair. It makes a loud screeching noise across the floor.
I stare up at her as she watches her feet, waiting for me to rise as well.
“Gianna, up.” Draco’s deep voice fills the dining room.
I stand hesitantly, side-eyeing Francesca. She’s completely avoiding my eyes now. I hope she doesn’t think I asked for this, because I didn’t. My only wish is to be as far away from that venomous monster as humanly possible.
I sit down in her seat, fidgeting when it’s pushed forward by one of the butlers. The butler starts to push in Francesca’s chair but she swats him away, bringing the chair in herself.
“How does that feel?” Draco coos to me.
“Fine.”
“That’s a good niñita.” He takes his seat, and then cues the butlers. As soon as they get the order, three men with rolling carts walk out of the kitchen and start to place plates in front of us.
They aren’t covered this time. I get an eyeful of the grilled asparagus, rice, baked salmon, and on the side are warm tortillas. The men at the end of the table rub their hands together, ready to devour their meals. Some of them already have their forks in hand.
A butler places a bowl of salad in between Draco, his mother, and me. Another at the end where the men are. I’m sure they won’t even eat it.
Once the red wine is poured, we are encouraged to eat by the boss himself. As I eat, I can feel him watching me. His gaze is hot and heavy.
He’s eating slowly. I avoid him at all costs.
I hate him for what he did earlier.
If I’d had the option to not show up for this dinner I wouldn’t have.
“Do you know why I let my men eat dinner with me?” Draco asks quietly, leaning closer to me.
I stare down at my fish. “No, I don’t know.” And I don’t care.
“Because they deserve it.”
“How? By killing husbands?”
I finally meet his eyes and they are amused. “That’s a great benefit,” he says. “But not the only reason why. These men here—” he points at them with his fork “—they will do whatever I ask of them. They respect me, they handle my dirty work when need be, they keep the money rolling in, and in return they are rewarded. I don’t mind taking care of anyone as long as they are doing their best to take care of me. Now, if one of them gets stupid and does what Pico did…well, you saw what happened. Idiots like him rot in cages until they can prove their worth again.”
I swallow the hunk of tortilla I just bit off. “Is that where he is now? In that dungeon?”
“Yes.”
I shouldn’t be asking after what that son-of-a-bitch did to me… but… “When will he be out?”
Draco sits back in his chair, picking up a tortilla and grabbing a handful of rice with it. “I don’t know. Whenever I see fit, I presume.”
I look away, taking a bite of the fish.
“Francesca,” Draco calls, and she brings her head up to look at him. “How is your dinner tonight?”
“It’s great, Jefe.” Her voice is deflated—lifeless, emotionless.
I side-eye her again.
“That’s good.”
Draco sips his wine and then stands up rapidly, clanking his glass with the edge of his fork. The men at the end of the table stop chatting to look at him.
I didn’t even notice before that Patanza is down there with them. For some reason she blends in tonight with her hair tied behind her back, the cap on her head, and her baggy black T-shirt on.
Bain is sitting at the end of the table now. His eyes are on me, intense and desperate.
I pull my gaze away, doing my best not to flip him off. Pig.
“That’s better.” Draco motions for Bain to come up and he stands, walking past my chair and meeting up to the boss. Draco murmurs something to him in Spanish that I can’t quite hear, and when Bain takes off, he begins to speak. “As you all can see, my new arrival is quite beautiful.”
They all drop their gazes to me, and those savage guises arrive again. God, they are pigs. All of them.
“She’s so beautiful you want a taste, right?”
“Fuck yeah!” one of them shouts with a mouth full of food.
Draco’s smile evaporates immediately. “Well, you can get that thought out of your fucking minds right now. From this moment on, she will not be talked to and she will definitely not be touched. If I find out that any of you touched her in anyway, I will be sure to break your fucking hands off and stuff every single one of your grubby fingers down your fucking throats.” The men are dead silent as they stare at him. “Is that fucking clear?” Draco barks.