Page 71 of Caesar DeLuca
Alfredo Carisi is too egotistical, so big-headed he doesn’t see the woman wants nothing to do with him. Or if he does, he doesn’t give a damn. She’s one more thing for him to win. Another possession to own like the territory he’s determined to control for himself.
I won’t pretend I’m some good guy, some knight in shining armor, because I’m not.
I’m a violent crime lord in a similar manner to Carisi, and I’ve certainly asserted any marriage of mine would be transactional. That the woman I took as my wife would be obedient and I’d give her a lavish life.
But seeing what Carisi has done—the reality of how he’s treated Ariana and devalued her to the point she’s some trophy for him—it brings me to a new realization.
What I’ve always thought was required in a marriage, of a woman, isn’t what I really want.
Nothing seems less appealing to me than squashing out Ariana’s spirit and personality in the way Carisi has. What good is obedience when you’ve erased the person they are?
All of these thoughts and more are on my mind as Carisi urges us to share a drink. Ariana’s silently pleading with me to go along with it. I oblige her, sharing her look, bringing the glass to my lips.
But I have a silent message of my own.
He’s never going to get away with this. I’ll crush his skull first.
The three of us drink. Carisi and his men watch us closely as we do. I reach the bottom first, slamming down the empty glass on the kitchen counter.
Carisi’s grin returns the instant Ariana follows suit. “See, was that so difficult? You obeyed, and now we can move on to the more important part of the evening. Ariana, my gal, you’ve been a terrible girlfriend. You know I wasn’t going to let you off the hook, right? So, to make up for being so bad, you’re going to have to make a choice.”
I ease forward as if about to insert myself between the two of them. The longwinded manner in which he’s speaking puts me even more on edge. He’s about to reveal something fucked up and sinister, much like the night he’d attempted to assassinate me.
There’s a reason he’s focusing on Ariana. He’s used her to bring me out of my territory, knowing it’d give him an upperhand.
He knew I’d show up too.
“You’re my gal,” Carisi says. “But you’ve been disloyal. You’ve been downright treacherous. Two things I can’t accept. You’re going to choose the way this goes. Are you going to be my gal? Or are you going to continue sleeping with my enemy?”
Ariana closes her eyes in a clear attempt to keep from showing too much emotion. I can practically feel the shake of her body as she’s put on the spot by a man she’s spent years avoiding at all costs.
“I’ll be your girl,” she sighs finally. “But only if you leave Caesar alone. He didn’t make me go on the run. I did that all on my own. He had no idea about you and me—I purposely hid it from him.”
“You’re being serious right now?”
“It’s the truth. This was all me. I ran away from you. I made the choice to live here away from everyone. I’ll take my punishment, Freddie, but please don’t hurt Caesar.”
Carisi works his jaw, the rest of his doughy face unreadable. The energy he gives off ruins it for him—it’s rife with displeasure and agitation. I’m aware of what he’ll do next before it even happens.
“Fine,” he says. “It sounds like you’ve made up your mind. You want to continue being an ungrateful, backstabbing traitor. Then you’ll both go down! Fellas, plan C.”
Carisi’s men seize hold of me.
The moment turns on its head. A commotion starts up as I fight back, head butting one of them and decking another in the face.
It’s a worthy effort considering I’m outnumbered. I’m able to fight off three of them before another two subdue me.
“You think you’ll get away with what you’ve got planned?” I growl at Carisi. He’s grabbed hold of Ariana by the elbow as though about to punish her himself. “I’ll take you down just like I’ve done every other time! You tried to kill me once before and you failed, remember?”
“Except this time I have something else planned. Something that’s going to give me my territory and the satisfaction of besting you and your rotten family. Something that’ll close the loop on my gal being a treacherous backstabber. You two want to be together? You’ll die together.”
25
ARIANA
Isuspected from the moment I first went out with Alfredo Carisi I was probably in over my head. He had all the signs of a mafia guy from the flashy car to the gold rings and gelled hair. He spoke in mysterious riddles and threw money at every situation. He used his influence and wealth to wine and dine me, showering me with luxury to trick me into falling for him.
But there were always signs that he was more than what he presented himself to be—small moments where one of his personal security would interrupt a dinner of ours and he’d suddenly have to disappear with no explanation. Once, when he took me to a concert, an unidentified man on a motorcycle had chased us through Atlantic City traffic and opened fire on our vehicle.
