Quiet Wealth, page 12
“What?” I almost yelled into the phone as I kept my eyes on her, not wanting to look away.
“We found another rat.”
I rubbed my forehead, beyond frustrated.
“Get him ready. I’ll be there in ten.”
“Sure thing, boss.”
I tucked my phone away, and when I looked back over at her, she was watching me. Lord, she was gorgeous. Her perfect lips that were meant for me had turned into a scowl.
“You better go.”
“This isn’t over.” I waited a beat then kissed her cheek and peeled myself away, rounding the corner where Vinni and Niccola were waiting for me. “I don’t care who, but one of you needs to watch her at all times. She is not to be alone here. Ever.”
“Sure thing, boss,” Vinni answered for both of them.
“Good.” I whisked past them and out the door and into my car. I spun out of the driveaway and floored it down the hill on my way to the dockyard. Her scent was all over me, and I tried to focus on what I needed to do, but I was hard and tightly wound. I hadn’t felt this out of sorts since the day we got the call to leave the island.
My patience was gone as I skidded to a stop and slammed the car door. I slipped my gloves on as I walked up to the man who waited for me.
“He won’t say anything, boss.” Donatello folded his arms, clearly as annoyed as I was. I pulled back my fist and started to pound on his face then his body. I lost count how many times I punched him, but when he couldn’t hold himself up anymore, I pushed him to the ground.
“Are you sure you don’t want to talk?” I held up a container of gasoline and a box of matches, but when he rolled his head to look away, I doused him, threw a lit match, and watched as his body burned.
“Why are you taking out your own men?” Donatello stood next to me as I lit a cigar. “It just seems kind of backward to me.”
“Or brilliant,” I hissed and blew out, letting the smoke rise to mingle with the smoke and screams from the man who lay writhing at our feet.
He nodded, but I could see he wasn’t sure where I was going with that. Nothing like forcing me to do the dirty work to remove my own men. I felt like I was plucking them off one by one, leaving an open trail for whoever was behind this.
“I want you there tonight, I’m tired of this shit.”
“Yeah, boss.” He snapped his fingers, and two men came closer, waiting to dispose of the body.
“Hey!” I ran my tongue along the inside of my teeth. “Take a photo and let it circulate as a warning to the others.”
“Will do.”
Slowly, I made my way back to my car where I finished my cigar then tossed it in the trash and headed for my parents’ place. The entire way, my mind flipped from the one woman I’d ever loved suddenly being here, to the faces of the men I’d once known and trusted, who I considered an extension of my family. It drove me mad. There were too many unanswered questions. The worst part was when I turned on the cooling system, Sienna’s smell swirled around the car like the smoke from my fine cigar. As I pulled into the roundabout driveway, my mother greeted me in the entryway.
“Did you see her?”
“Yes.” I kept walking to the kitchen.
“And?”
“And what?”
“Elio Capri.” I stopped with a sigh and turned around to find my mother with her hands on her hips. “That girl was like my daughter for years. Your father saw her, and now you have, twice. I want to know how she is…now!”
I slipped out of my gasoline-smelling suit jacket and draped it over the maid’s arm. She whisked it away without comment. I rolled up my dress shirt while I thought about the right words to use.
“Elio,” she snapped impatiently.
“She’s Sienna, still gorgeous and has a new bite to her personality. She’s pissed and hurting, but…” I paused, remembering how good it felt to have her in my arms again.
“What?”
“She’s still wearing the necklace I gave her with the two pendants.”
Her hands went to her mouth as she let out a breath. “That’s something, isn’t it?”
“We’ll see.” I wasn’t getting too excited yet. We had a long way to go first.
“Do you…” She came closer. “Do you still feel the same way?”
“Yes.” There was no denying it. I was still captivated by her.
“Little steps, my son. You’ll get there.”
“What about Mariano?”
“We don’t know exactly what, if anything, they have between them. Besides, Mariano doesn’t share a past with her. Elio, you and she have deep roots in your relationship. She loved you once, and she’ll find her way back to you again. Just give her a little time and help her remember what you had.”
“Agreed.” I rubbed my head, thinking it was possibly the worst time for her to show up.
“Besides, Mariano is a selfish man-whore who doesn’t think about anyone but himself. She’s smart and will see that quickly.”
I grinned at her choice of words, but she was right. He was self-involved, and over the years he had gotten worse.
“Now, go get cleaned up.” She turned away. “You have twenty minutes to get that smell off of you.”
I headed upstairs to my old room where I had the convenience of a second wardrobe.
“Son.” My father stopped me at the bottom of the stairs. “Another one?”
“Yeah.
“Has it been dealt with?”
“Yes.”
“By you?” I nodded. “Why don’t you let someone else handle it?”
“Fear is a weapon, Father. You taught me that, remember? It can’t be seen, you can feel it, you know it’s there, but it’s faceless until…” I held my arms open as if to say until they see me.
“Very well, then.”
“Oh!” I turned back around. “How was she when you spoke to her?”
His face slipped, and I could see it hadn’t gone as well as he had wished. “She’s hurt and angry, son. We just need to figure out what Mariano is up to. Give it some time.”
“Clearly, I’m not a patient man…but a few more weeks won’t kill me, I suppose, though I can’t promise Mariano’s fate.”
“You and me both.” He nodded and left as I rushed to get ready for dinner.
A black dress shirt with my sleeves rolled up with a pair of dress pants was normally as casual as I got when we were hosting a dinner. Especially when it was a dinner with Mariano’s family.
“Hey.” Mariano tugged on my arm as I was about to climb the steps to the Hill House. “I just wanted to make sure you were okay with what happened in the library today.”
“I’ll live.” I shrugged, annoyed. Why was he bringing it up now and not earlier when we were getting ready at his place? It took three hours for me to get my head back on straight and the shakes to stop. I was a strong person, but not as strong as I wished I was. “I would prefer not to have another gun pointed at my head.”
“Me too.” He stepped closer. “That really frightened me.”
“Did it?”
“Of course it did.” He pulled back, confused.
“You just seemed unfazed.”
“Look, babe…”
I cringed. “Babe?” I shook my head. “When did we start to use nicknames?”
“It’s cute, and it suits you.” I started to laugh, but he held up a hand. “I know those guys well. I knew that if I flipped out, you’d have a bullet in your head right now. They’re ruthless.”
I didn’t comment that earlier he had said they wouldn’t have hurt me. “Elio did,” jumped from my mouth, and I wished I could rewind the moment I saw his face flicker with anger. “I mean, he got them to leave.”
He rubbed his nose and cleared his throat. I apparently hit a nerve.
“Elio is a different breed, Sienna.” He shifted his weight from side to side and his eyes widened, and I knew he was holding back something. “He doesn’t care like I do. He’s a shoot first and ask questions later guy. That man has killed more people in the worst ways. He would make your worst nightmare look pretty.”
I flinched at the comparison, but it really didn’t sound like the Elio I knew.
“It’s no secret that we carry guns and deal with lowlife scum in our business. We are in an industry that runs side by side with organized crime. I was playing it cool so they would leave. So,” he brushed my wavy hair off my shoulder and left his clammy hand on my skin as if I wanted it there, “you need to be careful, Sienna. Elio dresses as dark as his soul, and he’s always watching.”
“And on that note…” I muttered as he left me and ran up the stairs and opened the door.
“Good evening, sir and miss,” a woman at the door greeted us and waved us in. “Everyone is in the living room.”
“Thanks.” Mariano forged onward while I fought to catch up in my heels. We passed a games room before he finally slowed, and his shoulders went back as he entered the room.
“My, my, Anna, don’t you look pretty tonight.” He greeted a woman with a kiss on the cheek and stepped back to study her little dress, while I stood awkwardly in the entrance.
“Mariano, you didn’t call.” She batted her eyes at him, and when he smiled, she continued flirting. I stepped back out of the room and decided to look around.
I wandered into the kitchen and watched the staff fuss over the appetizers. One of them looked over at me and smiled.
“You must be Sienna.” He wiped his hands free of flour and offered one to me.
“I am.” I shook his hand. “And you are?”
“Donte.”
“This all looks amazing.” I let the delicious odor take over my senses and felt my stomach grumble.
“Nothing but the best for the boss.” He winked.
“Do you like working here?”
“Best job I’ve had yet.”
I eased onto a stool at the massive island and watched Donte roll out the pasta dough.
“That’s nice. Can I help with anything?”
“Well, if you like.” His smile grew as he handed me a roller and some dough. “But one moment.” He came behind me and draped an apron over my outfit. “It’s not often that we have guests wanting to help.”
“We all eat the food,” I tied the apron around my midsection, “shouldn’t we all help make it?”
“I like your mindset, but we really don’t mind working here. These are good people and treat us well.”
“You don’t hear that often.” I laughed and wondered what it would be like to actually like my boss and want to spend more time with him. “So, who lives here, anyway?” I was interested to know.
He glanced over my shoulder at someone. “He does.”
I twisted around and saw Elio leaning against the wall, hands tucked in his pockets, dressed in a jet-black dress shirt, staring at me.
The fact he was wearing black wasn’t lost on me.
Jesus, my body went into hyperaware mode. My nipples strained against my bra, and I had to shift my stance to relieve some of the ache below. Flashes of the other night burst their way through.
“Evening, boss.” Donte grinned as he sprinkled more flour on the counter. “I think I may have found you a new cook.” He winked at me again and laughed.
“Mm.” He kept his dark gaze on me, and I nearly licked my lips as it dropped down my white blouse, to the black leather skirt that peeked out behind the apron. My black leather heels wobbled as I stood.
“I didn’t know you lived here.” My voice was all breathy.
Seriously, Sienna, snap out of it.
“Yes, ma’am, and he owns the winery too. You should try a glass.” Donte reached behind him for a bottle of red wine.
“Wait.” I twisted the familiar bottle around to read the label. “You own Sunflower Field wine?”
Elio nodded as he pushed off the wall and joined me at the island.
“You’ve heard of it?” Donte beamed proudly.
“Heard of it?” I chuckled. “It’s my favorite wine.”
“You hear that, boss?” Donte hit the counter, excited. “Your guest is a fan. Now, for marketing reasons, I need to know why you tried this wine.” Some of the other staff laughed at his excitement, which was quite contagious.
“Because of the label. It looks exactly—”
“Like the postcard Cara gave you years ago.” Elio finished my sentence for me, and I couldn’t help but be stunned that he remembered. “You always wanted to lay in a bed of sunflowers and watch the clouds float by.”
“Yes,” I whispered as he looked down at me, and I felt my body heat up. “Did you really name your wine after that?”
“I did.”
“Why?”
“Why do you still wear your necklace?”
I shook my head, thrown by his question, and when I didn’t answer, he just smiled and poured me a glass then did the same for himself.
I dusted the flour from my hands and swirled the wine around the glass, allowing it to breathe.
“Cheers.” He gently tapped my glass and watched me take a sip.
I closed my eyes for a moment and savored the smooth, full-bodied wine. I swirled my tongue around, making sure each taste bud had its turn sending the divine taste to my brain. When I opened my eyes, Elio’s jaw was locked and ticked as he stared at me intently.
His thumb came up and brushed my bottom lip, catching a drop, and my stomach flipped.
“I missed you so much,” he whispered, and I wanted to give in, but…
“There you are.” Mariano came into the kitchen with the Anna girl right on his heels. “Hey,” he snapped his fingers at Donte, who was wrist deep in pastry, “two glasses.”
“Donte,” I said before anyone could make a move, “where are they, and I’ll grab them.”
“Thanks, but you don’t have to do that.”
“Nonsense.” I tossed an unimpressed look at Mariano. He barely noticed and caught sight of the wine glasses on the counter behind him. Plucking two from the lineup, I set them in front of Mariano.
“Who are you?” Anna addressed me after a fit of giggles from something funny Mariano said. “And why are you wearing that?”
“This little ace…” Mariano wrapped an arm around me, and I gave a strange look at his nickname for me. I was no ace; luck was never on my side. “…is Sienna. She’s a journalist.”
“Oh.” She scrunched her nose, unimpressed. “What are you doing here?”
“She’s a guest.” Elio spoke up next to me as he knocked Mariano’s arm off my shoulders. “Show a little respect to the lady.”
“Are you here for long?” Anna ignored Elio and gauged my involvement with the men.
“No.” I wanted her claws to retract. I had no interest in being in someone’s firing line.
“I’m hoping to change that.” Mariano boldly kissed my cheek, wrapping his arm around me again with a laugh as he looked directly at Elio. I felt the tension and didn’t like the idea that came to me that I was a pawn in some twisted game of power and sexual tension. That was just another red flag for me. The moment his arm moved, I shifted to the far side of my chair, wanting to create some distance between us.
“Mariano,” Piero came in the kitchen looking just as handsome as his son, “your parents just arrived.”
“Great, where’s the bourbon?” He laughed in a poor attempt to be funny.
“Shall we go greet them?” Anna pushed her wine glass away. “And get something stronger to drink on the way?”
“Excellent idea.” He smirked at me like he thought I would enjoy his silly college banter. “I’ll be back.” He made a show of giving me a wink and a light pat on the bottom.
My face heated.
I watched them leave and tapped my fingers on the island, unsure how I was supposed to act around anyone anymore. Tugging the tie loose from around my back, I slowly removed the apron.
“Hello, my sweet girl.” Piero smiled.
“Good evening, Piero.”
“You look lovely tonight.”
“Yes, she does.” Elio nodded.
“Thank you.” I draped the apron on the back of the bar stool as I looked at Piero.
“I don’t like the way things ended so suddenly at the market.” Piero leaned down to see me better.
“Funny how things end like that around your family.” I hated how much my pain ran out of my mouth.
Piero pulled me into a hug and kissed the top of my head.
“I know, and it pains me.”
Once he let me go, I knew I needed to get out of the kitchen. It had become suffocating. A flash of green caught my attention, and I spotted her in the doorway. My hands flew to my mouth.
My heart squeezed. There was no pain or betrayal when I saw her wonderful face. There was just uncontrollable love.
“Hi, there.” Andrea’s hands were on her cheeks, and tears filled her eyes. “Look at you, all grown up.”
I flew into her arms like a child.
“Oh, Sienna,” she cooed and squeezed me tight. “I missed you so much!”
“I missed you, too.”
We cried and let all the hurtful feelings wash away because we both needed one another. I needed a mother, and she needed a daughter. I knew the hurt would return, but in that very moment at the house on the hill, in the middle of this crazy life, I felt free for half a moment.
We left to let the girls have their moment alone and headed to the living room to wait for them.
“If nothing else, your mother needed that.” My father glanced down the hallway at the DeSimones.
“Mariano is acting strange with her, but I’m not sure why.”
“I don’t trust his motives, Elio. Be sure to keep an eye on Sienna.”
“Trust me, Papa, it’s taking all my will not to hurt him. Who does he think he is, touching what’s mine?” I was nearly vibrating with the need to fix the situation.
“I wouldn’t mind taking a swing or two myself,” my father’s voice rasped.
Sienna stepped into the hallway and looked down the hallway toward Mariano then down to where my father and I stood.
She took a deep breath and brushed her hands down the sexy skirt that accentuated her toned legs. She seemed to hesitate then made the decision to come toward us, and as she did, Mariano came racing down the hallway. It was clear he had been into the bourbon, as his voice was loud and over the top.
