He had a point. I met the woman’s gaze and motioned her toward me. I’d fucked her before. “C.J.,” I said, and her eyes widened. They were always surprised that I remembered their names, but I never forgot a name or anything else.
“Yes, Mr. Falcone?” She licked her lips because she thought it was what turned me on. I found it more distracting than anything else. If I didn’t already intend on fucking her, I wouldn’t have called her over. There was no sense in trying to turn me on further. Remo had already headed backstage. I grabbed her wrist, led her to the restrooms, and fucked her up against the stall. She moaned, but I knew it was fake. She was wet around my cock, but she definitely hadn’t come. Her body didn’t exhibit the telltale signs of orgasm. As a whore, she was used to faking it to make her customers happy, but I fucking hated it. I gripped her harder, narrowing my eyes, and fucked her faster. “You know what happens to people who lie to me?”
Fear flashed across her face. I reached between us, flicked her clit, and eventually she had to surrender to me—as they always did—and she came. I followed a few moments later, pulled out of her, threw the condom into the toilet, and left her standing there.
Luca and I decided to meet in Nashville. It was neutral ground, which was the best option for a second meeting considering we’d both be alone. Luca sized me up as I walked over to him in the deserted parking lot of an abandoned cinema complex.
I held out my hand for him to shake. He took it and to my surprise he didn’t try to squeeze my hand into dust like some people did when they wanted to intimidate. Maybe he knew it didn’t have that effect on me.
“We meet again,” he said with narrowed eyes. “Last time we didn’t get to talk in private. You were the one who threatened my wife.”
“I didn’t threaten her,” I objected. “I found a weakness in your safety measures, and Remo pointed it out to you to stop you from killing him.”
Luca’s gaze hardened. “You won’t threaten my wife ever again.”
Maybe the average person was afraid of him, but I regarded him coolly, my pulse as calm as always. “Scare tactics don’t work with me. I don’t have the disposition for them to have an effect on me. I have no intention of threatening your wife in the future. I think a truce between the Famiglia and the Camorra is the logical solution to our problem with the Outfit, and for truce to work, we will have to agree not to threaten or kill each other for the time being.”
Luca regarded me for several seconds, a sneer on his face. “Are any of you Falcone brothers sane?”
“What is your definition of sanity?” I asked. “Society regards neither you nor I as sane. We are psychopaths because we enjoy killing. Or are you trying to tell me you feel guilty when you torture and kill?”
Luca shrugged. “Maybe we are psychopaths, but you and Remo make most psychopaths look sane.”
I knew Remo and I were the result of the same catalyst. Animals adapted to their environment if they wanted to survive. It was an evolution process that sometimes happened on a small scale within a single being. Remo had turned toward his emotions, had let them loose, and as a result had barely any control over his rage.
My body had survived by getting rid of emotions altogether. I preferred my adaption to his. It made life more predictable.
Adamo hadn’t been born when Remo and I became the men we were today, and Savio had been only three years old, too young to understand or remember. They didn’t share Remo’s and my dispositions. “I’m perfectly capable to act accordingly based on society’s standards if I want.”
“And you want to marry for truce?”
“It is the only reason why I would consider marrying,” I said honestly. “Marriage really serves no other purpose. I don’t need companionship. I have that in my brothers and Fabiano. And I don’t need marriage to fulfill my sexual drive. There are enough women in Las Vegas for that.”
Luca let out a dark laugh. “I believe you.”
“I got the impression that you were in favor of a marriage between our families.”
“I’m not in favor, but as you said, it is the logical choice. I have to think of the Famiglia and my own family. I don’t want you crazy Falcone fuckers on my back. I prefer you making Cavallaro’s life hell. I have my hands full with the Bratva. I don’t want to deal with him. That you’re going to kill Scuderi in the most brutal way anyone could come up with is an added bonus.”