Page 8 of Game of Love
“Okay…” I answered, blinking out of my thoughts.
He moved back. “We will discuss alternatives at a more convenient time. I have a meeting I have to attend. Don’t stay on the floor too late.”
He moved away from me before I could answer. It was fine since I didn’t have an answer for him. There was no alternative to Europe for me.
With his departure came Armand.
He knew not to bother me when Pa was talking to me.
At least, he knew not to talk to my breasts tonight.
“Still trying to get him to agree?” he asked, running a hand through his jet black hair.
“Yes. If you must know.”
His gaze took me in with that usual admiration, scanning me from head to toe.
“And the floor? Is that your way of finding some poor sap to flirt with to make me jealous?”
I just stared at him, looking at him long and hard as I tried to figure him out.
We’d been together for a year. To me he was the distraction Pa probably wanted and encouraged when he saw us together.
A distraction however that blinded and blindsided me, because Armand couldn’t keep his pants on when it came to other women.
“Get over yourself.”
“Wish I could get over myself as quickly as you got over me.”
I made a move to go but he caught my arm. Any other man would never be so bold as to touch me, and not like that, with his hand clamping down on mine in such a threatening way.
He knew Pa had control over me and he knew he could get away with more than most. All that brown-nosing to be Pa’s right hand man did the trick.
Pa wasn’t like most other mafia bosses. He didn’t follow the general traditions ofLa Cosa Nostra. He didn’t need to.
Pa was the Vegas king. He owned half the hotels and casinos here including the one we stood in. The Grand Marchesi was named after our family and their influence all the way back to Italy. We were part of one of the biggest crime families known across the globe. Not people to trifle with, so Armand knew what it meant to grab me like this.
And, he did it to make a show of what it meant for him.
Armand here got lucky, because Pa liked him.
He liked him and that meant he got away with a lot.
I wrenched my arm free of his grasp however. I didn’t need this shit when I was already pissed.
“Don’t touch me,” I warned.
He just smiled. “You used to like being touched by mebellezza.”
“Until you started touching other people.”
“Oh, it was just the one time,” he lied. His green eyes darkened with the deceit he tried to sell me.
“No, it wasn’t.”
“Jia, you should stop this. It won’t do you any good. Just come back to me. I promise you’ll be the only woman in my bed this time.”
“Bastardo.”I raised my hand and slapped him across his cheek. People looked on in shock but I didn’t care.
