Black dust is hanging off the cobwebs in the corners of this room, and two legs of the single wooden chair in here, the one Rafaelle is tied to, are black with rot.The room stinks of blood, old and new, because they already went to work on him while I was getting my first taste of Goldie since bringing her here.
There’s also another smell in here.That sweet sort of smell that makes you want to vomit worse than the smell of blood.Infection.The Codellis most likely left Rafaelle behind because his wound got infected.And if I’m right, he probably won’t last the day, getting punched and cut and whatever else Ferro’s guys have planned for him to get him to talk.
This guy has wanted me dead since the night I brought Goldie and her sister home from that club.I don’t feel like I owe him anything, but I’m still fighting the urge to tell the guys to go easy on him.
The door crashes open and Ferro finally walks in.Good.Because I was about to give into the urge.
He’s wearing a dark blue smoking jacket over his suit and a cloud of cigar smoke seems to follow him even though he’s not actually smoking one.
“Did he talk yet?”he asks the man who was just about to punch Rafaelle again.
“Not a word,” the guy says.“Fucker.”
He punctuates the word with the punch he was interrupted from delivering.Rafaelle doesn’t even grunt.It’s because he’s passed out a while ago.And I’m thinking there’s a high chance he might never wake up.
The guy raises his fist for another punch, but Ferro grabs his elbow.“You’ll kill him, and we don’t want that.Wake him up for me.Then I’ll have a conversation with him.”
He turns and stares at me.“My study.Now.”
Then he strides out of the room and all I can hear are the echoes of his heavy footsteps once I finally get my legs to start moving to follow.
My mind is so full of dark thoughts, detailing all the different ways my quest and probably my life will be over at the end of this walk.Once I reach the ground floor and am staring at the open door of Ferro’s study, I have to consciously decide to stop thinking altogether.The only thought remaining in my mind as I enter the study and close the door behind me is,I should’ve run that first night Nico brought me here, like I wanted to.
But it’s too late for all that now.
“I’m not one for torture and that guy’s practically dead already.Your stab wound did the trick, just not right away,” Ferro says, lighting his cigar.“We’ll have to handle this a different way.”
I’m so relieved that he hasn’t brought me here to kill me that I’m sure it’s showing on my face.And if I’m not very much mistaken, he no longer suspects I betrayed him.If he ever did.
“That’s how it sometimes goes with gut wounds,” I say, vividly remembering my cousin who took three days to die from a gunshot wound he suffered in Dante Moretti’s war.It’s not a mental picture I wanted right now.“What different way do you have in mind?”
“Get the women to talk,” Ferro says.“My new bride won’t say so much as boo to me, but it’s different with yours.She might know where they’re headed.It’s gotta be somewhere only the family knows about, because we’ve checked everywhere else.”
“Gianna only tells me how much she hates me,” I say.“But maybe… if we let her see her sister… she might soften up.”
I just got his trust back and now I’m burning it all again and for what?To give Goldie what she wants and make her love me again?
Ferro’s look cuts right through me and I’m pretty sure this was the last straw as far as his patience for me goes.
Then he grins.
“I like you, Rovina, very much,” he says.“Dangle a carrot, spare the stick.It might just work.I doubt anyone else would’ve come up with this.Probably because no one sees the women as actual human beings, just property.”
“So let’s set it up,” I say fighting the urge to ask if Chiara’s in any kind of state to be seen by her sister.Because if she’s hurt in any kind of way, I’m sure Goldie won’t cooperate at all.
“Yes, but I have to take care of some things first,” he says and stubs out his cigar.“You’ll bring her to my room at five and we’ll just leave them there.They’re so young and naive they might start talking about where the family might be hiding on their own.And we’ll be there to listen.”
He’s still smiling widely as he leaves the room.And I’m trying not to smile too.Because a visit with her sister is a gift Goldie will be grateful for.How can she not be?
It probably won’t be enough to make her forgive me, but it’s definitely a step in the right direction.
Chapter16
GIANNA
I was huddledunder the covers while Matteo showered and changed clothes, and he didn’t try to touch me again before he left.Good thing too, because my thoughts were going in a million different directions and I have no idea what I’d do if he tried.I’d probably be moaning and wishing he’d continue while at the same time kicking him away.
Even after I calmed down and my thoughts settled, I still didn’t have any peace.Will I ever have peace again?Or will I always be torn between this desire and hate for him?It’s a question I desperately need an answer to but know I probably never will.
