Page 8 of Dangerous Deception

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RAFFAELE

“Iwant to be clear. There is no landlord anymore. I own the damn building?—”

“Lift your arm,” mutters Vito to my left.

I obey. “So I’m the one you deal with. I don’t care if you gettenletters from the landlord. That doesn’t change the fact that it’sme. So?—”

“Other arm.”

“Just rip those up, burn them, I don’t care, okay? In fact, beyond that, I own the fucking land it stands on?—”

“Chin up.”

“So if anyone has any problem with that, then they need to come to me directly. Beyond that, I can look into where those threats are coming from, but the bottom line is I’m in charge now and you?—”

Before I can finish, Vito snatches the phone out of my hand and hangs up.

“Vito—”

“Enough,” he scolds, sliding the phone into my pants pocket. “You’re getting married today. In an hour, in fact. No more business.”

“You’re playing a dangerous game.”

“Am I?” He lifts one brow as he adjusts my tie and smooths down the suit jacket he wrangled me into while I was busy. “How do you feel?”

“Fine,” I say curtly. “Did you dig anything up on Pascal?”

“Nothing,” Vito replies, moving around me and smoothing things out. “He seems pretty regular, and I couldn’t find a good reason he would give up his daughter. The deal between him and the Giordanas seems to have been beneficial to both businesses, so I think he’s scrambling to keep himself afloat. He’s got a lot of debt.”

“Gambler?”

“No. Loans to pay for the shit he sells. Construction has been slow in the city as well. Everyone’s poor, so no one’s renovating.”

“There must be something else.” I turn to face the mirror and admire the black suit Vito picked out for me. The tie and silk handkerchief tucked into my pocket are the same burnt amber as Adelina’s hair, my choice to make us match. “Why else would he give up his daughter?”

“Why does anyone?” Vito brushes along my shoulders. “Money. Power. Business. You’re saving his, so that could be it.”

“Maybe.” I adjust my cufflinks and wiggle my head back and forth, fighting the constriction of the collar around my throat. “My gut tells me there’s something more.”

“Maybe she’s a problem woman, and he’s just going to be insanely grateful to you for taking her off his hands.”

“You think there’s something wrong with her?”

“Maybe.” Vito snorts. “A beautiful woman like that, being single and only being wed out to other families?”

“You know our traditions,” I point out. “Her father is old.”

“My point is that if he cared about those traditions, he would have married her off the moment she turned eighteen.”

“So why did he wait until now?” I ask, finally catching on to what Vito is saying. “See, there’s something else going on.”

“Maybe she’s going to assassinate you in your sleep.”

“Kinky.” I snort. “That would be the most exciting thing that’s happened to me all year.”

“Right, come on. Enough stalling.”

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