Page 6 of Capo Dei Capi's Daughter

Venecia walks by my side in silence the rest of the way to the car. As we approach, I press the key fob in my pocket to unlock the doors. Reaching the SUV, I step in front of her to open the rear door. The gentlemanly notion of offering my hand to help her in is quickly shoved from my mind, as I do not trust myself to touch her again.

“Seatbelt,” I command as I slide myself into the driver’s seat and fasten my own.Looking into the rearview, I watch as she presses a gentle huff over her pouty lips before reaching for the belt.

Not a word is spoken on the way back to the Botticelli estate. On occasion, I would look into the rearview mirror to find her piercing blue eyes staring inquisitively at me. Something was on her mind and words were sitting at the tip of her tongue, but whenever my eyes met hers in the mirror her gaze would divert to the floor or out the window.

Pulling through the gate and heading up the long drive, I am hoping that tonight’s events can be successfully passed off to Sal as trying to keep her protection discreet. If not, I am so fucked.

From here on out, be a professional Dante. As if your life depends upon it…because it fucking does.

Reaching the stairs to the estate, I put the SUV in park and quickly exit to open Venecia’s door. This time I offer her my hand to aid in her exit. She averts her gaze from me and pushes past my hand as she slides out of the SUV.

Turning her head back to me, a sinister smile spreads across her face, “You do know what Papa does to guys that put their hands on me, right?”

I am so fucked…

Chapter Six

DANTE

As quickly as she snarked out those words, she turns and walks up the stairs into the house. Meanwhile, I am left standing by the SUV, wondering how much longer I have to live. Climbing back into the SUV, I drive it over to the garage before heading inside to meet my fate.

Walking up the front steps and into the house, my eyes are drawn to the far end of the front hall. Venecia is hugging Sal at the bottom of the steps.

“Good night, Papa,” she says, giving him a kiss on the cheek. Shooting a wicked smirk at me, she turns and heads upstairs.

“Dante,” Sal’s deep voice billows through the hallway when he sees me standing at the front door, “I need to see you in my office.”

Fuuuuuck…

Each step down this long hallway feels like I am slowly walking towards my own execution. My last meal having been a club soda and lime.

Yet another shitty life decision.

By the time I traverse the hallway and turn into Sal’s office, he is already seated behind his desk. His position in this office makes it quite clear that he is the one who holds all of the power in this situation.

“Shut the door,” he waves his hand towards me as soon as my foot crosses the threshold.

Immediately doing as I am told; I turn and gently close the door behind me. Quietly, I let out a deep breath before turning and walking towards Sal.

“Sit,” he demands when I approach the desk.

Settling into one of the upholstered chairs opposite of Sal, I unsuccessfully attempt to discern the current look on his face. I feel my heart rate increase as he stares at me and begins to drum his fingers on the desk.

If he is trying to torture me with silence, he is actually being quite successful.

“So,” he takes a long drawn out pause to take a sip of his drink, “V informed me that there was an issue this evening.”

His extended silence is my cue that he is awaiting my response.

“Yes,” I gulp, “I apologize, sir. Things got out of hand this evening.”

He continues to stare me down as though Venecia didn’t already tell him everything that happened this evening. As though he doesn’t already know that I had my lips on hers, my hands all over her and that he is just waiting for me to confess it to him.

“There were two guys who were getting a little too close to Venecia. It was obvious that she was uncomfortable in their presence,” I pause to carefully choose my next words, “I was trying to resolve the situation without drawing attention.”

Just as I am about to continue with my confession, Sal stands from behind his desk.

“I appreciate your discretion, Dante,” his words shock me as he walks around the desk, “and so does V.”

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