“Luigi!” Angeline’s whiny voice set his teeth on edge. “Are you even listening to me? For God’s sake, I just lost my brother. I can’t understand why you’re not paying attention to the boys or me. They’ve lost a beloved uncle.”
The vision of his hands around her throat rose up. He’d been having that a lot lately. He couldn’t get rid of her, not this soon. The only way to keep from strangling her with his bare hands was to put distance between them. He was even dreaming of killing her, not a good thing when he was sleeping in her bed. Still, she provided him with the best of alibis. He’d lavished attention on her from the moment he went to their house until he couldn’t take another moment with her. Even with him putting himself out, the greedy bitch wasn’t satisfied. She wanted every second of his time. Every second.
“Luigi!” Angeline shrieked his name.
Luigi winced at the tone. That was the tone he knew would one day set him off. Just. Not. Now. He couldn’t afford a mistake, not when he was so close to his goal. From the moment he met Angeline Porcelli and conceived his plan, she’d been clingy. She would spend hours whining about how her daddy loved Aldo so much but she was just a woman and he would dismiss her as if she wasn’t worth anything. Luigi poured his attention into her, but she would cry for hours and tell him how Aldo didn’t have time for her anymore, now that he was married, working so hard and had a mistress. When Luigi was home, it was his sons who took his time, once more leaving her alone. Hell, if he strangled her, he’d be doing her a service, putting her out of her misery.
“I heard you, Angeline,” he said quietly, keeping his head down, texting fast as he did. “I did everything you asked. The boys know they shouldn’t have been making such a fuss with so many people around. They’re just upset about Aldo’s death, just like you, but I had a word with them. I spent time with them and reassured them nothing would happen to you or them.”
“It will!” Angeline wailed and threw herself into his arms. Clinging.
Luigi held her, holding his cell behind her back and finishing his order to Tomasso to come and get him. He needed to get the hell out of there fast or he wasn’t going to be responsible for what he did.
“Everyone is already looking to you, Luigi, to take Aldo’s place in the family business. He was so busy. You’re twice as busy. If you take his place, not only will you be gone all the time, but you’ll be in danger. You know you will. And you’ll put all of us in danger. I went out with you all those years ago because your family was small and no one was going to be jealous of your territory and come after you.”
He winced. That was Angeline’s way of belittling him. She was a passive-aggressive fighter, slinging little arrows at him when she wasn’t getting her way. But she knew better than to use his family’s name for her poison. He dropped his arms abruptly and stepped back, eyeing her with anger and a cold mask.
“You seem to forget that my brother, sister-in-law and niece were all killed, slaughtered, by someone. It was your family who stood to gain the most, and if I wasn’t already dating you, I would never have believed your father when he assured me he wasn’t involved in any way. Don’t you ever say something like that again. Now get the fuck out of my sight.” He ground out the last order from between his teeth.
Angeline stepped back, shaking her head, tears welling in her eyes. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean anything. I’m just so scared for you. For all of us.”
“Go, Angeline. I have business to attend to. My family business. One of my men will be picking me up soon. In the meantime, I want you out of my sight so I can forget the things you just said to me.” He kept his voice ice-cold.
Angeline had heard that tone before and she whirled and ran, sobbing. Luigi gave a sigh of relief and went to his study and firmly closed the door. She had clung to him constantly, not leaving him alone for a moment, so he’d taken to hiding in the bathrooms and outside on the grounds where she couldn’t find him. Hiding in his own damned house. He despised her. She was weak. Useless. Angeline still believed he loved her because she wanted to believe it.
She hated sex and she’d made it clear to him that she was sacrificing to have sex with him because it was her duty, and because she loved him. Once he’d known that she didn’t like it – not because she didn’t feel anything when she was with him, but because she thought herself saintly and to her sex was dirty – he took a perverse pleasure in showing her dirty. Making her like it. She spent a great deal of time on her knees praying for her soul after nights with him.