She whirled around, the blood-red sheets wrapped around her body, her blond hair a wild mane slithering down her shoulders. Her skin glowed so innocently white against the red of the covers. I wanted to run my tongue over it to see if it would taste as pure as she looked.
Not cowering in the bed as I’d expected but trying to escape. This little birdy seemed desperate to escape my cage, only to flutter right into Danilo’s. Her eyes and face held remnants of her earlier panic, but she tilted her chin upward and narrowed her eyes at me. Determined to play with the big boys.
I strolled into the room. Her shoulders pulled back, an act of defiance, but her hand flew up to press the sheet against her body, her fingers splayed out against the red, visibly shaking. My eyes never leaving her, I set the clothes down on the bed, catching the hint of her sweet scent. I’d caught it earlier, as if she’d been massaged with vanilla oil in preparation for her wedding night. My nostrils flared. “Trying to escape my cage, little bird?”
She tossed me a haughty look. “You’re awfully fond of creatures with wings.”
“I enjoy breaking them.”
Her lip curled, and still she managed to be perfectly beautiful. I could guess the images that ran through her mind, of me torturing tiny animals. That was for cowards, for men not capable of facing a worthy opponent. “I’m not that kind of psychopath.”
“What kind are you, then?”
I smiled. “You won’t be able to open the window. Don’t waste your energy trying to escape.”
“Did you have the locks installed specifically for me, or do you make a habit of locking women in your bedroom so you can rape and torture them for your personal entertainment?”
I stalked toward her, backed her against the windowsill then braced myself against the glass, glaring down at her. “No,” I said. “My father had them installed for my mother.”
Disgust flashed across Serafina’s face. “You Falcones are all monsters.”
I leaned down, breathing in her scent. “My father was a monster. I’m worse.”
Her pulse thudded in her veins. I could see her fear throbbing against the unblemished skin of her throat. I stepped back then nodded toward the clothes. “For you. Tomorrow morning you will wear the silver nightgown.”
Serafina walked toward the bed sideways to keep an eye on me then scowled at the heap on her bed.
I raised the phone to my ear and pressed the call button. After the second ring, Dante’s cold voice sounded. “Cavallaro.”
“Dante, good to hear your voice.”
Serafina’s head jerked toward me, and she sank down on the bed, her prideful mask cracking as her fingers curled into a fist, gripping the sheet.
Silence rang on the other end, and I smiled. I wished I could see Cavallaro’s expression as he was being faced with the consequences of his actions, and the realization that his niece would pay for his sins.
“Remo.”
I heard male voices in the background and a hysteric female one. Serafina’s mother. “I would like a word with you, Capo to Capo. From one man who had his territory breached to another. Two men of honor.”
“I’m a man of honor, Remo. I don’t know what you are, but honorable isn’t it.”
“Let’s agree to disagree on that.”
“Is Serafina alive?” he asked quietly.
I trailed my eyes over the glaring woman, clutching the red blankets around her naked body.
I heard a furious voice in the background. “I will break every fucking bone in your body!”
“Is that her twin?”
Pain flashed across her face, and she swallowed.
“Is she alive?” Dante repeated, his voice shaking with anger.
“What do you think?”
“She is, because alive she is worth more than dead.”
“Indeed. I don’t have to tell you that I will kill her in the most painful way I can think of if a single Outfit soldier breaches my territory to save her, and I can be very creative when it comes to inflicting pain.”
Even from a distance I could see her blood pounding furiously in her veins as she stared down at her fist.
“I want to speak to her.”
“Not yet.”
“Remo, you crossed a line, and you will pay for it.”
“Oh, I’m sure you think so.”
“What do you want?”
“It’s not time for that kind of conversation yet, Dante. I don’t think you are quite ready for it. Tomorrow morning we will have another date. Set up a camera. I want you, her brother, father, and fiancé in a room in front of that camera. Nino will give you instructions how to set everything up. I will set up a camera myself so we can see and hear each other.”
Serafina’s eyes met mine.
“Remo—” Dante’s voice held a warning, but I lowered the phone from my ear and ended the call.
Serafina stared at me, wide eyed. I moved closer, and she stiffened but otherwise didn’t show her fear, despite the exhaustion on her face. “Tomorrow we will start playing, Angel.”
I left, wanting her to ponder my words. Nino waited in the corridor as I closed the door. I raised my eyebrows in passing. “Pizza’s arrived?”
Nino followed close behind me then grabbed my shoulder. “What kind of video do you have in mind for tomorrow?”
I regarded him, trying to gauge his mood, but even now it was still difficult. “I’ll give her a choice.”
Nino shook his head once, almost disapproving. “This woman is innocent. She’s not a debtor. Not a whore who steals money. She hasn’t done anything.”
“Kiara changed you.”
“Not in this regard. We’ve never preyed on the innocent, Remo. We’ve never laid a hand on someone who didn’t deserve it, and this woman, this girl ... she did nothing to deserve that choice.”
I held his gaze. “You know me better than anyone else,” I murmured. “And yet here we stand.”
Nino tilted his head, gray eyes narrowing. “You’re playing a dangerous game. You don’t know your opponent well enough to be sure of her choice.”
“She will choose what they all do, Nino. She’s a woman. She’s been coddled all her life. She will take the easy way. I want to hear her say it in front of that fucking camera, want Dante hear his niece offer her fucking body to me, want them all to hear it, and she will.”
Downstairs, I grabbed one of the pizza boxes before I returned to the guest bedroom in my wing. This time, Serafina sat on the bed and didn’t look up when I entered. She held the silver nightgown in her hands. “What if I refuse to wear it?”
“You can wear your nightgown for the show or be naked. Your blood will look just as enticing against your white skin as it would against the nightgown.”
A small shiver rippled through her body, and she let the piece of clothing flutter to the ground at her bare feet.
I walked closer. “Here. You haven’t eaten in more than a day.” I set the pizza box down on the nightstand.
She eyed it suspiciously. I waited for her to shove it away, to try punishing me by starving herself, like my mother had always tried with our father. It hadn’t worked with him, and it wouldn’t work with me.
“I hope it’s poisoned,” she muttered then reached for a slice and took a big bite. She chewed then raised her eyes to mine. She swallowed almost defiantly. “Are you going to watch me eat?”
Maybe breaking her wings wouldn’t be as easy as I’d thought.
Early the next morning Fabiano came over. I was doing kicks against the punching bag in our game room, needing to release my pent up energy.
He leaned against the doorframe, assessing me for a couple of heartbeats.
“Say what you’ve got to say,” I growled and landed a hard kick.
“Jerry called me into the Sugar Trap a couple of hours ago so I could deal with the mess you created. I found Simeone with his cock stuffed into his mouth. I’m not sure I want to know what happened.”
I narrowed my eyes. “If you didn’t want to know, you wouldn’t be here.”
He pushed away from the doorframe and moved toward me. “Did he touch her?”
I stopped my kicks. “He didn’t. He thought he could watch Serafina showering.”
Fabiano evaluated my face. “Where is she?”
“In bed.”
His eyebrows rose. “In your bed?”
I didn’t say anything, but I met his eyes straight on.
He sighed. “So, you ...” He searched for the right word then gave up. “I thought you wanted to use her virginity as leverage against Cavallaro and her fiancé?”
I tried to gauge Fabiano’s feelings, but he was too good at masking them. If he put that kind of effort into hiding his feelings, he would only disapprove of me taking Serafina with force.
I stalked toward him. “Do you harbor feelings for her?”
He grimaced. “Really? I have Leona. I’m not interested in Fina.”
“But you don’t like the idea of me hurting her?”
“You are Capo. You do with her whatever you want, but no, I don’t like the idea of you punishing her for something the Outfit did.”
I respected Fabiano for his honesty. Most men were too cowardly to tell me the truth to my face. “Then you should leave now because I have a call set up with Dante and her family in two hours, and Serafina will play the leading role.”