I closed the entrance door, meeting her gaze. “I’m not here for him.” I turned to the maid. “Leave us alone.”
She quickly hurried off. Cosima crossed her arms in front of her chest, but worry shone in her dark eyes. “You can’t be alone with me. It’s not proper.”
I gave her a cold smile and advanced on her. “I know you sent my wife to my fuck date with Grace.”
Cosima’s expression slipped for a moment, then she quickly masked it with feigned shock. “I didn’t do anything. How can you accuse me of something like that?”
“Do not lie to me,” I growled, and she backed away but bumped into the wall.
“I’ll call Giovanni,” she said, reaching for her phone in the pocket of her robe before she raised it.
I grabbed her arm. “This is between you and me.”
With her free hand, she clutched her robe closed, lowering her eyes. “Giovanni and my father won’t be happy if you dishonor me.”
I released her as if I’d been burnt. “Fuck, Cosima, I’m not going to touch you like that.”
“Everyone knows the stories of your father. Don’t pretend you’re not like him. Even he didn’t crush a family member’s throat.”
I leaned down, scowling. “I can promise you I’ll crush your throat before ever fucking you.”
I nodded toward her phone. “Call Giovanni. Then I can have a word with him as well. He should keep a closer eye on you.”
She didn’t call him. Instead, she looked up at me with badly played guilt. “It wasn’t my idea. Grace came up with the plan. She wanted to win you back and destroy your marriage.”
I laughed darkly. “My wife is my possession, Cosima. You know that as well as I do. This marriage will last until the bitter end.” Nobody would ever find out how desperate I’d been when Aria had run off. “The only thing your insane plan did was make me furious, and trust me when I tell you that it’s never a good thing to be on my bad side, dear cousin. So the next time Grace asks you for a favor, you’ll say no, or your husband won’t become Captain.”
She paled. Cosima was ambitious. She’d dreamed of marrying an Underboss, but she hadn’t been graced with the beauty required to lure a man in that position. If Giovanni remained a mere soldier, that would be a humiliation she wouldn’t survive.
I left her standing there. She’d think twice before going against me again.CHAPTER 14Matteo leaned against the hood of my car, taking a fucking sunbath from the look of it. “And?” he asked, face still tilted up to the sky.
“Get into the car,” I said.
The moment he was in the passenger seat, he cocked an eyebrow. “I hope you didn’t make a mess.”
“She’s our cousin.”
“That didn’t stop you with Junior.”
“She’s a woman.”
“That didn’t stop you with the Bratva whores.”
I sent him a scowl. “She didn’t try to kill me, happy?”
“Maybe next time Grace will try to poison your wife,” Matteo joked, but I almost steered us into oncoming traffic because I jerked.
“I was joking,” Matteo said, surprised.
I swallowed, trying to mask the turmoil his words had cause. “Let’s head to the Sphere now. We still have to meet our bookkeeper.”
Several hours later, I was on my way back home while Matteo headed out to party with Romero.
My phone rang, and Father’s name flashed on my dashboard.
I took the call and Father’s voice boomed in the car. “How did it go? Did you convince Ferris of the perks of working with us?”
“Matteo and I made our point very clear to him, yes,” I said.
I wasn’t in the mood to talk to my father now. I just wanted to return home to my beautiful wife and discover her body with my hands and lips. It was what had kept me going throughout the day.
“Very well,” he drawled. “I think we should attack a few more of the Bratva establishments in retaliation. What’s their most popular club?”
“The Pergola. Most of the high ranking Bratva members frequent it. Unfortunately the half of New York society that doesn’t come to the Sphere is there as well. An attack might draw lots of unnecessary media attention to us.” Attacks on labs or whorehouses were the safer option, since both were out of the public eye.
“Figure something out. I want them to bleed,” Father clipped. I wondered if he’d talked to Fiore…or why did he suddenly give a fuck about the Bratva?
“They will,” I promised as I steered my car into the underground garage. “Is there anything else you want?”
“On your way to your wife, or why are you eager to shake me off?”
Because I hate your goddamn guts. “It’s been a long, fucked up day.”
“I want you, Matteo and Aria to come over to dinner as soon as possible. Talk to Nina to arrange a date and time.”