“Do you think that’s why he’s taking so many risks? He doesn’t think he has a chance at having a permanent partner? Does he really care so much? He can’t hurt for women. He probably draws them like flies.” Amaranthe was up, peering into the closet.
Geno came up behind her, towering over her. He reached for her favorite sweater and pair of leggings and handed them to her.
“Dario is very popular, and from what I understand, he has a strong sex drive. He doesn’t go without—at leastaccording to Elie, women are all over him. But he’s not happy, and it’s been getting worse, from what I’ve been observing. He covers it, but I can feel it. His behavior has been getting extreme.”
Geno couldn’t help watching Amaranthe dress. She was so beautiful to him. Every movement was graceful and flowing, but it was so much more than that. He knew what she was like on the inside. She didn’t know Dario the way he did. On the surface Dario was the worst kind of criminal. He had a reputation that was deserved, and yet he wasn’t that man. Geno knew that he loved Valentino fiercely and protectively. That love eventually extended to Emmanuelle. Brielle and Elie had been added to the circle he included as family. Stefano and Francesca had slowly, over time, changed him. To begin with, Geno had thought it a good thing. Now, he wasn’t so certain.
He understood Dario on many levels others might not be able to. Geno loved Amaranthe deeply. Fiercely. Protectively. He also didn’t feel worthy of Amaranthe, although he wasn’t about to sabotage their relationship, not intentionally. He wanted her to know he loved her and would put her first. Dario feared making himself vulnerable, not only to the outside world, but to his woman. Geno had no idea what the man had been through to make him the way he was, and he had no idea how to make things different for him. Dario was resistant to help.
Geno pulled on his clothes, texting Stefano as he did so. Stefano assured him he was already up and would be meeting Dario and the others in the great room.
The sound of Emmanuelle speaking in a low, furious tone reached him as Geno and Amaranthe stepped off the stairs. She was rarely angry. Emmanuelle had attitude, and because she was outnumbered by the men around her all the time, she’d learned to give as good as she got in the teasing department, but she wasn’t a woman to lose her temper that often. When she did, most times they all just stepped back and stayed quiet.
“If you two can’t stop Dario when he decides to put himself in danger, then you’re not going to be his primary personal protectors. I get that you’re his friends and you go way back, but that isn’t going to save his life if you can’t stand up to him.”
“Emme,” Dario broke in softly. “Stand down. It isn’t on Marcu or Vicenzu. You know me. When I decide to do something, no one is going to stop me.”
She spun around to face him. She was much shorter than he was, her figure curvy. Her dark blue eyes shot sparks at him. Her dark hair seemed to crackle with fury. “I’d stop you, and you damn well know it.”
That was another thing, Emmanuelle didn’t swear. She was really pissed. Or scared. Geno tucked Amaranthe’s hand into the crook of his arm as they entered the room. Valentino and Elie stood to one side of the fireplace, neither interfering in the drama being played out across the room from them.
The two men she was dressing down towered over her. Both looked stoic, their faces masks, their eyes cold. Neither flinched under her declaration, but it was obvious she meant what she said. Ignoring Dario, she turned back to them.
“You may think Dario is the boss, but he isn’t when it comes to his security.Iam. What I say goes. You can be his friends. You can hang out with him as much as you want at that kink club of his and share women with him. Whatever floats your boat. What youcan’tdo is let him get away from you. You don’t get to neglect his security. Just because he wants to kill himself doesn’t mean he gets to do it. You hear what I’m saying?”
Both men nodded. That surprised Geno. Neither spoke much. They clearly were still uneasy around the Ferraro family. Like Dario, they were used to ordering women around and having the women do whatever they were told. As a rule, Emmanuelle played things low-key. She didn’t throw her weight around as Valentino’s wife, or as head of security.
Dario would never talk about shadow riding to anyone, Geno was absolutely certain, not even to the two men he trusted with his life. Dario was many things, but he was loyal to a fault—and he was loyal to the Ferraro family.
“Babe, you’re head of Valentino’s security, not mine,” Dario said.
“Don’t you ‘babe’ me, Dario,” Emmanuelle hissed, the sound deadly. She pushed past the two towering bodyguards as if they weren’t there and got right into Dario’s personal space.
“Don’t youeverpatronize me like that. Iamhead of your security whether you like it, or they like it. I don’t give a damn whether you want a woman calling the shots. I’m the best at keeping you alive, and you’re getting the best. When it comes to your safety, you are going to follow my orders, and if your men don’t follow my orders, they’re gone. As inpermanently. If you think I’m kidding, you fucking try me.”
She whirled around and stormed out of the room. There was complete silence following Emmanuelle’s threat. The two bodyguards, Marcu and Vicenzu, clearly thought she meant she’d fire them. Geno knew she just told Dario she was willing to assassinate them if that was the only way to get rid of them. A declaration like that from Emmanuelle was unheard-of.
It was obvious to Geno that Emmanuelle knew Dario was pushing closer to the edge, and she was moving to counter him. Emmanuelle loved Dario like a sibling. She wasn’t about to lose him, and she’d just told him so.
Valentino made a move simultaneously with Stefano to go after her.
Dario shook his head. “I’ll go.”
“You know Emme,” Valentino said. “She needs time when she’s really upset.”
“I know Emme,” Dario assured. “She’ll be in good hands, Val.” He walked out without looking back.
There was another silence. It was Marcu who broke it.“We’re going to have to learn the dynamic here, Valentino. Clearly, your wifeishead of security for Dario.”
“Yes, she is,” Valentino said. “Dario should have made that clear to you. She means what she says. Dario’s safety must come first before friendship.”
“She’s risking her life talking to him that way.”
“Don’t ever make the mistake of underestimating her,” Valentino said. His voice was still very low, but it had gone hard. “She’s lethal as hell. And never make the mistake of thinking she’s not protected. Anyone touches her and not only would I retaliate, but Dario would also. And then there’s her family. Emmanuelle on her own is enough to contend with, but she isn’t alone, never forget that.”
Geno walked with Amaranthe across the room to the small bar where the espresso machine was located. “Whatever is in the report Dario brought must be good or he wouldn’t have been so eager for all of us to read it.”
“My wife is thorough,” Elie assured. “She has trouble stopping once she’s onto something. She starts out in one direction with some faint clue, and the next thing I know she’ll be at the keyboard for days without eating or sleeping, following a trail that no one else can see. It’s a thing of beauty.”
