A young woman dressed in a simple mint green dress enters the room and Carina just about turns to stone beside. Out of my peripheral, I watch how she stares at her sister with rapt attention as though she’s seen a ghost. Not that my fiancée is fearful because of the girl’s presence, but more that she’s simultaneously baffled and joyful by her appearance.
“Silvestri, this is my younger daughter, Violetta.” Nardone indicates the empty chair next to him and the young woman gracefully sinks into it. “She is attending the gala for the first time this year to be presented to society.”
Under the table, I reach over and squeeze Carina’s thigh, in both warning and support. She sucks in a quiet breath and clasps my fingers in a death grip. Her lips slightly tremble as they form a smile and I caress her leg in praise. I don’t want Carina to give away anything Nardone can use against her, and Violetta is her weakness.
“Congratulations, signorina,” I say to Violetta. “I’d advise you not to drink the champagne. It gave your sister a bit of trouble when she was there.” I smirk and raise a shoulder in a half-shrug. “I’ve always been partial to someone who knows how to have a good time, but that’s just me.”
Nardone scoffs and Carina’s gaze flickers to me, but her expression doesn’t falter. Violetta tilts her head ever so slightly and it’s the only response I get from her. If not for that, I wouldn’t get the sense she heard me or is mentally present. She watches me in complete silence and the strangeness of her behavior is eerie and very peculiar. The young woman is similar to a porcelain doll: unnaturally still, quiet, with a thin smile and large eyes that see—or have seen—too much.
Something has happened to her.
And based on Carina’s reaction to Violetta, she’s picked up on it as well.
Nardone signals the staff to serve the first course of our meal and then taps his wine glass. “Violetta is nothing like her sister. She is behaved and knows her place.” He zeroes his gaze on me and lifts his brows in a challenging manner. “Unless you’ve been able to get Carina under control?”
Mrs. Nardone lowers her gaze to her salad plate and Carina digs her nails into my hand. I doubt it’s on purpose, but I couldn’t care less as long as she doesn’t act out. Violetta hasn’t moved whatsoever. I’m sure if she’s even blinked.
“My fiancée is spirited,” I say with a wink in Carina’s direction. “A fire isn’t detrimental as long as it isn’t out of control.”
“Spirited.” Nardone grunts. “She’s yours to deal with now, wild or not. When is the wedding?”
“Whenever Carina and I decide. We haven’t set a date quite yet.”
I take note of every single person in the room, from the staff members who clear away our used plates to replace them with bowls of soup, to the armed men in the corners of the room. I didn’t bring a weapon because it would indicate I came with malicious intent and would be an insult to the host; it could also give him the provocation he needs to shoot me. Not that he’d need it, but there’s no need to purposefully rile him if his end goal isn’t to murder me.
However, I did reload Carina’s pistol and put it in her purse since I knew that even if they searched me, they wouldn’t do it to her. I don’t think she cares that the firearm is there, but I do and that’s all that matters. There’s no fucking way I’d go into enemy territory completely defenseless.
“Why is that?” Nardone asks, his tone mildly curious. “Is it because you’ve been fucking my daughter and have no real intent to marry her?”
Carina’s mother gasps and places a hand over her mouth, while Violetta shows no emotional reaction whatsoever. Nardone’s upper lip curls in derision and he glares at Carina. She, on the other hand, shakes with a simmering rage that’s only discernible to me.
I retract my arm from her and take my napkin in hand, slowly and meticulously wiping my mouth and before setting it back down. Then I lean forward on the table with my gaze directly on Nardone’s.
“Marrying Carina will be one of the highlights of my life. And if I had my way, we’d already be married.”
Nardone cocks his head, returning my stare full force. “Hmm. I see you have enjoyed her cunt, then. It’s made you weak, but if that’s what it takes to align our families…”
If it wouldn’t put Carina in danger, I’d shoot her father in the fucking face.
He purses his lips in an apathetic manner. “Speaking of which, what are the chances your older brother will marry Violetta? My business partner’s daughter is married to your other brother, so this could be the beginning of a monopoly in the underworld. With the head of your family on the Wolf Pack’s council, along with myself and Caruso, there’s nothing we couldn’t achieve.”
I laugh to mystify Nardone and then stroke my chin as though in thought, in order to give myself more time to calm down. Carina and her mother both develop flushed cheeks, but one set is due to embarrassment, while the other is because of fury. I want to reassure Carina and to encourage her not to lose her temper since it won’t help. However, I can understand her emotions.
If I act on the rage burning in my gut, I’d kill Nardone without a second thought, sentencing Carina and myself to death. That is the only reason I’m able to keep from losing my fucking mind.
“I can’t ascertain whether or not Tristano is interested in a wife at this time,” I say, keeping my words calm and even. “What I will say is he’s a very strategic individual and only cares for our family’s success, so if marrying Carina’s sister helps that vision to manifest? I can’t see why he wouldn’t at least give the idea some serious consideration.”
Nardone thrums his fingers on the table. “At least Tristano will actually take the time to think about who he selects for a bride, while you?” He cocks his head and his expression turns sinister. “You chose my eldest daughter, who’s been acting like a slut since before she left my roof. Ugo is my first cousin and I would’ve had to kill him for ruining her, if I hadn’t owed him a life debt. Even so, I turned him away, because that dumb bastard knew better. And so should you, Silvestri.”
Carina gives a small cry and her mother gasps so loudly she might choke on the sharp influx of air. Violetta blinks. Several times as a matter of fact. And me? I laugh, the sound boisterous and slightly unhinged.
Right before I snatch the butter knife closest to me and drive the end into Nardone’s hand. Because of the power behind my downward strike, the metal slices through his skin until it thuds against the wooden surface of the table.
Needless to say, he stops drumming his fingers, which was getting on my fucking nerves.
Nardone’s shout of pain echoes in the large room, as do the sounds of firearms being drawn and readied to fire. I wrap my other hand around the one gripping the cutlery and rest my chin on the top of my fisted hands, while his men rush closer with their weapons pointed at me.
“Signore,” I say, my tone smooth and controlled, “you know as well as I do that insulting another made man’s wife is not good for business, which is why it’s listed on the ‘Code of Conduct,’ nevermind the fact it’s quite rude. As a member of the Wolf Pack, you’re held to even higher standards, so you know this better than most. Don’t you agree?”
