“If, and I mean a humongous if, he decides to continue another shipment, who do we trust most to store it?” Gino asks.
“Marquise,” I answer. “He should be able to handle the weight of this.”
“He’s only used to running drugs from Queens to Brooklynn. This is asking him to take on more territory,” Constantine interjects.
“He’s our most trusted distributor,” I counter. “We’ve never once had a problem with him or his runners.”
“It’s true,” Pietro agrees. “Marquise runs a tight ship. I mean his shit is so air locked that not even the cops not on our payroll can make headway.”
“It’s settled then,” Constantine says. “Set a meeting with Marquise later this week to see if he’s ready to take on more responsibility. If he proves himself with the new shipment coming in then he’ll earn himself a pay raise. Capisce?”
“Capisce,” I echo.
“In the meantime we need to send a message to Seamus. And it has to involve Imogen.”
Everything within me rejects that idea. My whole body tightens to the point of pain. “I thought we agreed no harm would come to her.”
“And none will,” Carina assures me. “But Seamus needs fear. This is the only way we can provide it. Fear is a tool, Rico. If I remember correctly you told me that.”
I had. Before Carina had accepted the darkness within herself, before she had accepted Constantine I had told her to lead in this world she had to use fear as a tool. No man would listen to her otherwise.
I despise when my own words are used against me. I can’t argue against it.
“I’ll plan it,” I tell them, my tone brooks no argument. Anything regarding Imogen goes through me. Don Constantine and Donna Carina be damned.
Constantine nods his head but the tension still resides within him. Sensing this Carina starts to soothe him by rubbing his chest in a circular motion. Her love and affection for him is always blatantly displayed. I never understood the need for public displays of affection but I think for them it’s just as natural as breathing.
And I can’t help but imagine Imogen soothing me. Her hands roaming my chest. Her pillowy lips pressed against the crown of my head. Her delicate fingers running through my hair.
While I’ve always been opposed to touch I find myself longing for hers.
Dio mio. Perhaps I have lost myself to insanity after all.
“Rico,” Constantine addresses me and I return my attention to him. I incline my head. “A word before you leave.”
I nod my head. Gino disperses quietly while Pietro snickers as if I’m a child who has gotten in trouble.
“I see you and Pietro have put your differences aside,” Constantine comments.
“Si.”
“Bene. We’re a Famiglia. I know Pietro can be a bit much?—”
“Only a bit?”
He chuckles. “But he is an integral part of this Famiglia.” Sobering he continues, “We had originally thought Seamus had loved his daughter enough to surrender. But it seems as if pride and vengeance for his son has taken hold of him. The war has begun and we need our core members of this Famiglia to be on the same page. To remember where our loyalties lie.”
“My loyalty lies with you and the Famiglia,” I assure him.
“And what about the girl?”
I stiffen. “What about her?”
“I’m going to ask the question again. Today you are going to provide me with a clear answer. Before I had asked what is going on with you and the girl and you had responded you don’t know. That answer isn’t acceptable. Not when you’ve brought her to our home. What is happening between you two?”
How can I explain to him what I cannot even explain to myself? The need to protect her. To be near her. The jealousy and rage. The lust and need. To want to experience everything I had never thought possible for myself.
How do I tell my Don that I want everything from her?
