When he reached me, he leaned in to give me his customary kiss on the cheek, but when he pulled back, he had a strange look on his face. Frowning, he leaned close again and sniffed.
“Do you like it?” I asked him. “I think it suits me a lot better than the other perfume you gave me.”
My answer came when he lifted his arm and backhanded me across the face.
I cried out as I felt his ring slice into my cheekbone near the corner of my eye. The force of his blow spun me around, and I wobbled on my heels, dropping my things to catch myself against the wall. I blinked the tears from my eyes, too shocked to move for a few seconds. And when I could, I raised a shaky hand and touched the spot where his ring had cut my cheek, staring in disbelief at the blood on my fingers. Gino had thrown me around once or twice, but he’d never straight-up hit me like this. “What the fuck, Gino?” I yelled. My eye socket throbbed as adrenaline flooded my system. I began to tremble uncontrollably, and the tears I’d tried to blink away rolled down my cheeks, ruining my makeup.
Grabbing me by the hair on the back of my head, he pulled until my back was arched and my toes were barely touching the ground. “No, Luna. I don’t FUCKING like it!” Spit sprayed my face, and I closed my eyes.
“Then why did you buy it for me?” I shouted back.
His upper lip curled in a sneer. “I didn’t buy you that crap. And I don’t know where the hell you got it from, but get rid of it. I don’t ever want you to wear it again. You’ll wear the perfume I got you and nothing else. Do you understand?”
“But…I…”
“DO YOU FUCKING UNDERSTAND?” He gave my hair another yank.
I winced. “Yes.”
He glared at me for another few seconds and then released my hair so fast I would’ve fallen on my ass if I hadn’t grabbed his other arm to steady myself. He shook me off. “Go clean up your face and meet me in the car. You have five minutes. Do NOT make me come after you. Five minutes, Luna. You’ll have to shower that shit off later. We’re already running late.”
I got the hell out of there as fast as I could and rushed past the guard and back down the hall toward my room, releasing a sob of relief when I heard Gino telling the guard to let me go. I needed a moment alone.
It wasn’t until I was staring at myself in the bathroom mirror that I allowed the fear that was stuck in my throat to come out on a keening cry that lasted all of three seconds. Gritting my teeth and taking deep breaths, I swallowed down the rest. I didn’t have time to process all of this. Not now. Right now, I needed to do as he told me and get my ass out to that car. Later…later, I could fall apart. Not now.
Grabbing my brush, I forced my mind to go blank and fixed my hair. There was a cut near my eye from Gino’s ring, and I was pretty sure I’d have a nice bruise tomorrow. Quickly, I pressed a tissue to the cut to stop the bleeding, then, with shaking hands, I covered the redness as best I could with some foundation and cleaned up the mascara smudged beneath my eyes. Taking one last look, I pulled my hair over my face a little more to hide what I could and rushed out of my room and down the hall to the front door, stopping to grab my clutch bag and fur from the floor of Gino’s office where I’d dropped them.
Gino didn’t say a word to me as I slid into the backseat beside him. He wouldn’t even look at me as he pulled out a handkerchief and held it over his face. As soon as my door was closed, the car pulled away from the house. My heart was still pounding from his reaction as I fumbled with the seatbelt, then laid the fur across my lap to give myself something to hang onto as we drove across town.
I didn’t let myself think about what had just happened. Wouldn’t let him see how shaken I was. Because fuck that. If this was the way Gino was going to treat me, then maybe I didn’t need him, or his money, as much as I thought I did. Andnowherein our deal did I agree to be his punching bag. As far as I was concerned, his hitting me made our agreement null and void. And as soon as we got to where we were going, I was walking away.
These types of thoughts helped me keep it together until we arrived at the restaurant—a little family-owned place that looked like a cottage straight out of a village in Ireland. The small parking lot was full of cars, so Gino’s driver pulled up in front of the entrance to let us out. I pulled my fur around me against the damp chill and climbed out of the car myself as Gino got out the other side and was escorted around by his new guard.
Once he got to where I was, I fell into step behind him and followed him into the restaurant. The inside was exactly what I would have expected. A small foyer filled with knickknacks and photos opened up into three small rooms with tables covered with white lace tablecloths. The wallpaper was old-fashioned white with little green flowers, and the entire place was lit by candles and wall sconces. Very cozy and very charming.
I took all of this in as a lady with a hushed voice and a heavy Irish accent in a flowery dress and pink lipstick greeted us at the entry and took my wrap. We then made our way inside. Gino’s attitude swiftly changed from moody to charming as he greeted the other capos and their families.
I followed along behind him, smiling and greeting people on autopilot. The adrenaline rush I’d experienced before was crashing, leaving me feeling shaky and dizzy, all the emotions I’d managed to shove down on the car ride over rising to the surface until it was all I could do not to break down right there in front of everyone.
We made our way around the room until we found the couple celebrating their anniversary—a man and his wife of fifty years whose names I forgot immediately after being introduced. Still, I smiled and made small talk until Gino took over the conversation, then excused myself to go to the restroom while they had him engaged. Weaving my way through the crowd, I found the bathroom down a short hallway and tried to open the door, but I couldn’t seem to make my hand work. I started to shake as panic overtook me. “Please. Please,” I whispered. I just had to get out of eyesight before I lost it. Why the hell wouldn’t my hand work?
A man’s hand closed over mine, turned the knob, and opened the door. It was gone as fast as it had appeared, and I was inside the restroom, almost falling over an old-fashioned clawfoot tub in my rush to get away from the curious eyes in the restaurant. I stared at it in surprise until I heard the door close and the click of a lock a second before I heard his voice.
“What the fuck happened to your face?”
Tristan.
My heart sped up for an entirely new reason. Of course, Luca would be here to pay his respects. And where Luca went, so did his guards.
He’d followed me into the ladies’ room. I looked up and found my reflection in the mirror. I didn’t want him to see me like this. The area around the cut was beginning to swell. Not overly noticeable with all the makeup I had on unless someone looked close enough, but I could see it. And, apparently, so had Tristan. My lower lip began to tremble, and my image blurred behind tears.
“Luna.”
With nowhere else to go, I turned toward him. Tristan stood with his back against the door and his dark eyes full of storms.
“What the fuck happened to your face?”
I blinked, willing away the tears that were swiftly building. “Um. Gino. He didn’t like my perfume…” I trailed off as my voice caught on a sob. “But he gave it to me,” I swore. “Hegaveit to me! Why the hell would he give me perfume to wear that he didn’t like?” Where else would it have come from? Was Gino just fucking with me? Why would he do that?
