Page 30 of The Red Queen

“Desi will make a good wife,” Giovanni assured his consigliere. “She’s tough. Motivated to prove herself.” Or she would be once Giovanni finished with her. “She’ll bear strong Savino sons.”

“Ah, this is good.” Tomas was of the same opinion as Giovanni, that the current Savino heir was a fuckup.

Giovanni changed the subject. “I talked to Dino yesterday. He said things in my territory went smoothly during my absence.”

Dino was Giovanni’s underboss, a gruff man, good with a gun and little patience for bullshit. He made Giovanni’s job easy.

“Si,” Tomas agreed. He cleared his throat and paused before adding, “Though his job has been more difficult since you’ve stepped back from the day-to-day.”

Giovanni knew what Tomas was about to say and took a healthy drink of his brandy before the topic of his son was introduced. Tomas was correct. A few months earlier, Giovanni had eased back from the grit of the streets. It was where he’d made his name, but he was in his 50s now and wanted to enjoy his fortune, not risk losing everything because some cocky kid took a potshot at him and struck lucky.

“Antonio has been making noise about Dino,” Tomas informed him. “I believe he wants Dino’s job and is trying to undermine him in the eyes of your capos.”

Giovanni wasn’t surprised. Antonio was power hungry, but he was too lazy to climb the ladder the old-fashioned way. Instead, he caused problems in his father’s organization with the hopes of getting his hands on the position he wanted. Giovanni would have been better off putting the kid in the ground after his mother died, but he hadn’t been able to bring himself to put a bullet in his only child.

Tomas likened Antonio to a Pitbull. He was excitable, powerful in his own right, but he didn’t have the smarts to think things through. He was the dog who kept going at the porcupine over and over again, never learning his lesson. He relied on his father to bail him out, even though their relationship was contentious at best, and downright vicious at worst.

“Is he succeeding?” Giovanni asked.

“No, boss,” Tomas said. Giovanni had spent years unsuccessfully trying to get Tomas to call him by his given name. “The capos aren’t stupid enough to listen to Antonio.”

“And how are my capos?” Giovanni had seven capos, one worked in Venice, two in Milan, two in Genoa, one in Turin and another who maintained connections in the smaller cities within the northern regions. Dino oversaw the capos and Giovanni’s international interests.

“The capos have been doing well. Alain’s younger brother is eighteen now and looking for more clout in the family. I believe he’ll make a good capo someday.”

“Alain’s family has been good to us. Have Dino bring the kid to the club, find a job for him. I want to see his work ethic before I put him on the streets with his brother.”

Tomas nodded. “Having their familial loyalty will be good for us.”

The two men continued to talk business for another hour, refreshing their drinks. As they wrapped up, Giovanni escorted Tomas to the door and the two men shook hands.

“You will come for a meal with us next week? Meet Desi.”

Tomas smiled a genuine smile. “It would be my pleasure. After your stunt at the club, I have heard rumors about this woman. I must admit I’m eager to meet her.”

They made arrangements and Tomas left, climbing slowly down the steps to his car, where his man was holding the door open for him.

Giovanni closed the door and took several steps toward his study, then stopped. Glancing at his watch, he decided to call it a night. His decision had everything to do with Desi and little to do with the actual time, which was 11:30 PM. Though he no longer handled street level business, he was still something of a workaholic. It wasn’t strenuous to work long hours when he enjoyed his job. Holding the reins of control over an entire region made for a satisfying career.

He climbed the stairs and made his way to Desi’s room, contemplating his place in the world, what he wanted, where he was going. He wasn’t a young man, nor was he an old man. He had plenty of life left in him and, he had to admit, the past week had given him more exhilaration and excitement than he’d experienced in a long time, and he was eager for more.

He nodded to the guard in the hallway and let himself into Desi’s room. He’d left a man stationed outside of Desi’s room to report on her movements, not to keep her contained. If she tried to escape the mansion, she could easily take out the single guard.

The sound of Desi’s even, soft breaths drew him to the bed. She was asleep, and soundly so, if the twist of her body and the messed up covers were any sign.

Sitting on the edge of the bed, he reached out and eased the hair back from her face, exposing lush lips and long sooty eyelashes fanning across the delicate skin beneath her eyes. Her dark, winged eyebrows were bold slashes, made gentle while she rested. The curve of her jaw was soft in sleep. She was stunning, one of the loveliest women he’d ever seen. He felt like a child in a candy store with this woman, had never imagined having someone like her at his disposal.

Giovanni had come upstairs intending to take from Desi what she had freely offered; her body in exchange for her life, a position as his wife, and a peripheral seat to the power he wielded.

Yet, as he looked at her, he couldn’t bring himself to do more than touch her the shiny black hair, streaming over her shoulder and neck. He didn’t want to disturb her. She looked peaceful, more peaceful than he’d yet seen her.

Her hand caught his eye, the white bandage stark against her tanned skin. The doctor had visited her the day before. He’d informed Giovanni that Desi’s finger was healing well and wouldn’t need a bandage for much longer. Her bullet wounds were also healing quickly and no longer causing her much discomfort.

She didn’t seem to miss the finger, though Giovanni was sure she did. Perhaps it was the abuse she’d received at the hands of her Mexican cartel boss, Nicolas Garza. She’d learned to accept the crippling beatings, the broken bones and debilitating bruises and keep moving toward the future.

Though Giovanni was pleased to have such a tough woman under his command, a part of him felt pity for her. She’d never had the opportunity to be soft, to relax, to mourn the losses life kept throwing at her.

He didn’t know why he cared, but he did. And now that he was in a position to make life better for this vicious, twisted up woman, he would. Or he would try. As much as she would allow, because he suspected she would fight tooth and nail against anyone who tried to soften her.

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