“I’ll keep my distance.”
I left her with another kiss—this one reminding her that I was her man, and she didn’t have to worry about anything coming between us—least of all another woman. Mamma touched my arm as I walked out, and she walked in. Stella liked having her around. Probably because she was so warm. She was safe. Motherly.
I rubbed the same spot over my chest that my old man always did as I walked outside and my men hauled ass to keep up with me. I could tell by the way they kept flicking glances at each other that none of them wanted to tell me what the fuckhappened. I knew right away when I walked into the small stone villa.
The stench of a bitter death couldn’t be hidden, not even if it happened a few seconds ago.
I looked at my men, and they all stood tall, but none of them were taking a step forward to take responsibility for the two dead women in front of me. Their necks had been broken, heads dangling at an awkward angle. The one who tried to give me the innocent eyes, her eyes were still open.
Lev stepped forward. “She did it as a favor.”
My eyes automatically went to the brunette with the cutting eyes. She wiggled her eyebrows at me and waved.
Saverio, who had probably arrived with papà, lifted his brows at me. We’d been friends, more like family, since we were kids. I knew what he was saying with the lift of those thick brows. I knew my father’s eyes were saying the same thing, along with the “huh” he expressed.
She’s wiggling her eyebrows and waving like she knitted a blanket instead of killing two women.
I knew what was in her ice blue eyes, though. Expectation. Or she wouldn’t be wiggling anything at me or waving like that.
“What’s the fucking catch?” I said.
Lev smiled. “She wants a man as payment.”
“Let me sum up the situation,” I said. “She’s been dubbed the black widow.”
Lev shrugged, as if to say,it doesn’t take a man with the best gut feeling to figure that one out.“She prefers to be called Varvara.”
“Barbara?” Placido asked for clarification.
“Varvara,” Lev repeated, not looking at him, but at me.
“No one asked her to take care of those two,” Saverio said. “That wasn’t the decision that was made.”
Armando had filled Saverio in. Saverio was my second in command, and Armando was my third.
Lev shrugged again, as if to say,not my issue.
Varvara hissed at Saverio, then started stalking toward him.
I lifted a hand, and looking around, focused on Oscar. Nah, she might kill him. And besides, my wife mentioned something about him being interested in Noemi. They were dancing at our wedding. I didn’t want to ruin his fucking chances. Especially after what my wife was going to do to me after what I did to his eye. I had a temporary reprieve, but call it a gut feeling, later, she was going to take it up with me and make it an issue.
I had a mamma. A sister. A grandmother. All three women were opinionated. I knew how this fucking worked.
Placido stood taller when my eyes locked on his. Like a solider taking one for the team, he turned the features of his face into steel and nodded.
I looked at Lev. “Placido,” I said. “He’ll walk the, ah, lady to wherever she’s staying.”
“No!” she screeched. She pointed at me.
Lev looked at me, and he knew. She’d have to kill me before she put her hands on me. He told her in Russian that any Fausti man who wore a wedding ring or was attached was not available. End of discussion. We lived by the truth in our word.
She made a sad sound, pouting her lip, and then grabbed Placido by the shirt and started hauling him toward the door. He gave us a backward glance that was almost comical. Before we even made it outside, the men were laughing amongst themselves, taking bets on if he would make it through the night or not.
“Lev,” I called before he melted into the inky darkness.
He stood, facing me, hands in his pockets.
“My man better come back alive.”
