Page 16 of Veil of Vengeance

His brow furrows and his eyes narrow into thin slits before he barks out, “Romiro’s whereabouts are none of your business, and you will not ask questions.”

My face scrunches up in a scowl.

“Go fuck yourself, you brute,” I shout back. He grinds his jaw, trying to control whatever he wants to say.

With that, Emiliano turns to the side and heads toward the stairs. He’s leaving already? Did he come down here just to piss me off, or what? Men are actually so dramatic. Or maybe it’s a Made man thing.

The lights go out five minutes later. For fuck’s sake. My breathing picks up. I’ve always been scared to sleep in the dark. At least in our house, I could use a bedside lamp. Here, it’s complete and utter darkness.

A scream leaves my lips when I think something has grabbed my arm, but it’s just my imagination playing tricks on me. I lay my head on my knees and close my eyes.1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6… I open one eye to see if the lights are back on, only to be met with the darkness again.

CHAPTER 5

EMILIANO

Isit behind the security cameras in the office as I watch Valentina cradle her head between her knees. I cut the power in the basement around two minutes ago to scare her straight; the only reason I can see her is because the cameras down there use infrared technology. Matteo’s such a little genius for suggesting and programming them himself so we can always watch whoever we’re keeping down there.

“Did you seriously cut the lights down there?” Romiro says from behind me. I ignore him as I continue to watch the brat squirm and jump away from the corner as if she’s felt something grab her. It could be a rat.

“Do we have rats down there?” I ask Romiro, turning to look at him when he doesn’t answer me.

He shrugs. “I don’t fucking know, man, but I sure as fuck hope not. We’re not here to torture the poor girl; she’s just leverage so we could get that little shit Giuseppe.” I narrow my eyes at him. He seems to care way too much for someone who’s meant to be the enemy. Romiro holds his hands up, as a show of surrendering with a small smile playing on his lips. I know what he’ll say before he even says it.

“If you feel so strongly about her, why didn’t you say so? Your face is green with jealousy, and let me tell you, Eli, green isn’t your color.”

I flip him the bird and turn back around to look at the screen. Valentina is curled up into a tight ball that I almost miss her.

I think that’s enough psychological damage for the day. I flick the button, which floods the room with light. She doesn’t seem to notice for about a minute. Then when she peeks her head out of the small cocoon she’d made with her body and notices the lights are on, it looks like she releases a sigh.

“Come on. We need to go to the OX, but before that, we need to head to my place. I need a change of clothes and a shower.” I tap Romiro’s arm as I pass him. He follows behind me as we head toward the elevator doors.

As soon as the elevator doors slide open, my phone rings in my pocket. I slide it out to see that it’s my Mom calling me.

“Hey, Ma.”

“Don’t ‘hey Ma’ me, Emiliano Folonari, where on earth are you? You’ve been gone for two weeks and haven’t even bothered to call to check on your poor Mom,” she scolds. Romiro can tell my Mom, bless her heart, has gone on a rant because he’s grinning from ear to ear like the fucking Cheshire Cat, and knows that she won’t be stopping till she’s talked my ear off.

“Listen, Emiliano, once you get to New Hampshire, there’s a sweet young lady I’d like to-”

“No, Ma, I already have enough on my plate as is. I don’t want to date anyone now.”

“First, don’t cut me off again, or else you’ll have something flying toward your head. Second, I didn’t say you should date her.” I wait for her to drop the other shoe because she always tries to pull this kind of shit. I’m glad she’s doing better since Dad’s death three months ago, but she’s hyper-fixating on getting me with someone. Which irritates the fuck out of me, but she’s my Mom and she’s grieving. “I meant, you should marry her, figlio.” Oh, for the love of everything holy. Why does she keep trying to marry me off every chance she gets?

“Listen, Ma, I have to go. I have a meeting.”

By the time I’m able to hang up the phone, my Mom managed to convince me to go to New Hampshire in a couple of days. We get into my car, and Romiro can’t keep his big mouth shut for a second.

“So, any thoughts on what we should do with Valentina?” he asks. I speed out of the parking garage and onto the busy streets of New York City. My jaw clenches as I remember the searing feeling that had settled in the pit of my stomach when she had asked for Romiro.

“Weare not going to be doing anything. I will be the one to handle that Moretti brat from now on. You’re being too lenient with her.”

“She likes me better, doesn’t she?” he asks smugly. I’m about to rebuttal his assumption, when he continues. “You know it won’t hurt to be nice to her. Besides, she's easy on the eyes.” I break harder than I normally would, which causes him to be slammed back into his seat. “You’re just being an asshole now,” he whines. I grin at him and nod at the red light we’re stopped at.

“I’m not an asshole, I’m your Capo, and I demand the respect I expect from one of my soldiers.”

After that, the rest of the ride is spent in comfortable silence.

It doesn’t take us long to make it to the Auriga complex building. Parking my car, we both get out.

---