Page 89 of Where Wild Hearts Dance
“That was a long call,” Cristiano says, the second I return. “How many houses are you building?”
I ignore Cristiano’s remark and instead flash Federico’s note in front of his face. I have his attention immediately.
“What is this?”
“It seems your future sister-in-law is aligning herself with an associate of the Marchesi’s.”
He takes the note in his fingers. They’re not inked like mine, but they’ve been in a few eye sockets since he took over as don, so they’re just as lethal.
“Federico Falconi. Why does that name sound familiar?”
“His father cheated your father. The guy earned us a lot of money once upon time, but then he turned crooked. I sent his family away before Gianni could execute them all.”
Cristiano looks sideways at me with an arched brow and it’s in this very moment I wonder if he really has become as ruthless as his father was. For what I’m about to tell him, I hope he has.
“Seems Federico has a chip on his shoulder,” Cristiano says.
I stroke my chin. “Yes it does. And like it or not, Contessa is involved.”
Cristiano sits back and assesses me. Probably to see how insane I really am. Funny, usually in our line of work it’s seen as a strength.
“Where is she?” He takes a long slug of whiskey then regards me.
I cut to the chase. “Tied to a chair in the basement.”
And just like that, my suit is covered in whiskey.
I let Cristiano compose himself while making a mental note to send him the dry cleaning bill.
“How long has she been down there?” His eyes are rimmed red from the burn of single malt flying out of his nose.
“Just a few hours. I’m questioning her.”
“That’s where you’ve been? You were down there a while…”
He leans in toward me, takes a sniff then chews away a smile. “You’re fucking crazy.”
Irritation scratches at my patience. “She’s sleeping with theenemy.”
He swallows a mouthful of whiskey then glances at me with a smirk. “That she is.”
“Cristiano, look at the damned note. She received this months ago and she’s kept it from me.”
He shakes his head. “I don’t know, Benny. I saw the way she was looking at you over lunch. I don’t think she’s playing you. And all the sisters are downrightallergicto what we do. I really don’t see her voluntarily getting involved with something like this. When did she get the letter?”
I chew on my lip. I don’t like to be proven wrong. “I don’t know exactly. She says Bambi gave it to her at the lunch, but that doesn’t explain the date. The date says she got thismonthsago.”
“Cristiano whips out his cell and dials a number. “Hi Allegra… Yeah, all good… Is Bambi there? Okay great, thanks…”
He looks at me out of the corner of his eye. He’s just a smirk waiting to happen. “Hey Bambi, you gave Tess a note at lunch the other day, right?” There’s a long pause. “No, it’s okay, she’s not in any trouble, but… do you know when the note arrived?” After another long pause, Cristiano signs off, hangs up and looks at me.
“The letter only arrived at the house Saturday, she said. It was sent to the wrong house originally, unopened and sent back to the mail depot. The first Tess saw it was at the lunch.”
My jaw drops and a swarm of emotions collide inside my lungs. I struggle to breathe. I didn’t believe her. All it took was one misunderstanding and I jumped to the conclusion she was lying. I assumed she was playing me. I was born paranoid and it hasn’t left me. Not even becoming consigliere to the most notorious mafia family on the east coast protects me from it.
When I gasp for air, an enormous sense of relief drapes over me. Tess hadn’t lied to me after all. Maybe she really isn’t like the others. In this world, findingpeople you can trust—men and women—is like finding your way out of a maze in the darkness, blindfolded.
Maybe my instinct was right all along—maybe Tess is different. Maybe the one thing I fear more than anything—finding that one person who matches me wild for wild, crazy for crazy, heartbeat for heartbeat—has been standing right in front of me all along. I hadn’t dared imagine anyone out there could possibly be perfect for a dark soul like me, but not only has that impossibility become possible, but I might have lost it before I even knew it was found.
