Page 31 of Desperate Decisions

Enzo grinned. “If you don’t plan ahead in this place, you never get anything.”

Amara emerged a few minutes later, damp but clean.

“Put on your clothes from yesterday,” Enzo ordered. Once Amara had complied, Enzo dragged her into his arms, making sure to get his scent all over her. “Quit growling at me, Elio.”

I fell silent, not even realizing I had been.

“She has to smell like me or Bianca’s going to know nothing happened. If my scent isn’t fresh, she’s going to know something is up. Don’t touch her until after breakfast.”

With a lump in my throat, I went back to my own room through the closet and exited the door into the hall. Enzo emerged a few moments after me, dragging Amara along with him, his fingers digging into her arm while she squirmed and yelped. It took all of my self-control not to turn around and tell him to fuck off. We needed to keep up the pretense.

Bianca looked absolutely delighted when the three of us came into her suite. Gianna, Marco, and Santo were already seated. Enzo shoved Amara toward one of the chairs and she nearly tripped, catching herself on the back of it, leveling a glare at him that could melt steel.

“Did you have a good night, precious?” Bianca asked.

Amara’s growl was her only answer as she wrenched the chair out and sat down hard.

“Santo, darling, you haven’t met Elio’s new toy, Amara Pesci. Enzo got to play with her last night. How was she?”

Enzo shrugged as he sat between Amara and Bianca. “Bit of a dead fish honestly. Almost immediate shutdown.”

“Disappointing,” said Bianca.

“I’ll skip my turn,” said Marco. “Enzo’s sloppy seconds and her fucking with all the pizzazz of a blowup doll doesn’t really enthuse me.”

The words pissed me off, but the intention of them was a relief.

“Santo, did you want a turn?” Bianca asked.

He chuckled. “They made it sound so appetizing. If Elio wants to play with a corpse, that’s his business. I prefer a firecracker in my bed.”

The rest of breakfast was agony, but at least Amara was no longer the novelty of the day. As soon as he finished eating, Enzo departed with his team to crush the Cafaro uprising. I sent Amara with Gianna to the restaurant and went on my own mission to get Amara’s father on board to run drugs through Rossi territory for us.

“What the fuck do you want?” he asked when he opened his door and saw my face.

“I want you to work for us.”

“Fuck off.”

“If you give half a shit about your daughter, you’ll reconsider that answer.”

“I can’t work for you. I have too many connections over here.”

“And you’ll keep them.” I pushed my way into his apartment and sat down on his couch, waiting for him to begrudgingly join me. “You’ll get a second apartment in Gallo territory, where you will move to, but maintain this residence. You continue running for your current employer, but you’re going to start transitioning our product on the Rossi side of the river.”

“And if I don’t?”

“I don’t think you’re going to like the answer to that. Your daughter is in the heart of enemy territory, as close to the queen as anyone can hope to get. If Bianca finds out you’re refusing to help us, it’s going to come out of Amara’s hide, not yours.” I let out a laugh. “Actually, that’s a lie. Anything Bianca takes out of Amara, I will take out of you twice over. You just need to ask yourself if you’re more scared of your employer or of me, because I have a lot more motivation to make you hurt.”

“You’re a bastard, you know that?”

“I’ve been told. Now tell me where your loyalties lie. I need to know how many bullets to put in you before I leave.”

He growled, but my hand was already on my weapon. “Fucking fine. I can’t afford two apartments, though.”

“We’ll take care of it. Pack up your shit.” I set a business card on his coffee table. “Call me when you’re ready. And just so we’re clear, you belong to me now, and how long you live will be directly proportional to how much your daughter likes you. I might think about sending her some flowers or something if I were you.”

“Fuck you.”

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