Page 21 of Where Wild Hearts Dance
“What are you doing?”
“Leaving,” I snap, clutching my jacket and purse to my chest.
“What? Why?”
“You swore he wouldn’t be here.”
“Who, Benny?”
I hate the way she says his name, like he’s a favorite close cousin or something. “Yes,Benny,” I reply in a patronizing tone.
“He only just got here,” she says, throwing out her arms like it’s no big deal. “And he won’t be staying…” Her voice tapers off.
“So, he only came back here to wash off the blood?”
Her face pales.
“Then he’s going to go back home to his wife, girlfriend, whatever, and they’re none the wiser he’s just murdered someone with hisbare hands?”
“We don’t know what happened.” Her voice carries a warning note.
I laugh, darkly. “Oh, we know exactly what happened. He just brutally murdered someone. No one gets that much blood on their hands unless there’s death involved.”
She puts a hand on my shoulder to stop me walking away. “C’mon, Tess. Please don’t make this harder for me than it already is.”
I twist toward her with a slight frown. “What are you talking about?”
She glances around at the property. “This. This is what I’m talking about. Being part of the Di Santofamily.” She rests a weary gaze on me. “A crime family.”
When I don’t respond she sits on one of the pool chairs with a thud. “This was never in my plans, you know.” She looks up at me, guiltily.
I fold my arms because it’s going to take more than a confession to compensate for the fact I’m having to share fresh air with that specificmurderer.
“I hated being told this was my destiny—that I had to marry a don.”
I pout. “You don’t seem to hate it all that much now.”
Her eyelids drop and she shakes her head. “There are two reasons why I don’thateit,” she says quietly. “One of them is obvious. Another… less so.” She glances up at me.
The way she and Cristiano seem to absolutely adore one another is the first. “What’s the other reason?”
“If I tell you this, you have to keep it to yourself, okay? I don’t want Papa, or anyone else for that matter, to feel worried or even responsible.”
“Responsible for what?”
She stares at me.
“Okay, I promise.”
“Cristiano didn’t have to become don. He could’ve returned to Vegas.”
I sit down in the chair beside her and tuck one of my ankles beneath my thigh. “So, why didn’t he?”
“Because Papa is an easy target,” she says, sadly. “When Savero worked his way into the business to use it for his own selfish purposes, he proved it was possible. Cristiano is worried that other organized groups or opportunists might try to do the same. The only way Papa’s business will remain absolutely safe is if Cristiano himself, as don, protects it—everyone else just sees dollar signs.”
I blow out a long breath. “Oh.”
“Yeah,oh.” She shrugs. “Cristiano didn’t want to become the don of this family, you know. Not in the beginning anyway.”
