Page 75 of Caesar DeLuca
“What were you doing in Atlantic City, Ariana? Dressed like you are…” I allow for a brief second of appreciating how good she looks, even now, mere minutes after escaping a blazing fire. She’s dressed up in a tight cocktail dress that shows off her round hips and thick thighs. Her hair’s been straightened, then curled into waves, and she’s got on makeup.
I find her beautiful done up or dressed down, but there’s another reason that makes her appearance important—she clearly dressed up for me. She got dolled up to drive to Atlantic City and see me.
I’m the son of a mafia don, belonging to one of the most powerful and savage families out there, and yet this makes me feel like a king. Being the man Ariana Rowe tries to impress.
“You look gorgeous,” I say, stroking her hair. “You did all this for me?”
“I wanted to surprise you.”
“You succeeded. Except you were the one who told me we had to go our separate ways.”
She scoffs at my comment. “That’s because you snuck into my home!”
“I was concerned.”
“That’s after you insisted on clearing the roads when you stayed with me.”
“I knew you were upset by that.”
“It didn’t upset me,” she starts indignantly, then when I raise my brows, she folds. She lets out a huffy sigh and comes clean. “I was upset by it. You seemed so eager to leave. I thought…”
“You thought I wanted to move on from our time together.”
“Can you blame me?”
I swallow my stubbornness and put my back against the same large tree she rests against. “It isn’t that I wanted our time to end. It’s that I knew I couldn’t give you what you deserved. I told you I didn’t want to take advantage.”
“Because of your lifestyle.”
“Yes.”
“It comes first.”
I can’t bring myself to answer.
In the past, it’s been a certainty so true, it didn’t warrant an answer. It went without saying. For the first time in my life, I find I can’t answer for a different reason.
I’m not sure what to think.
“There they are,” I say minutes later. My hand finds Ariana’s, and we approach the unmarked black car that’s pulled up.
The back up I instructed Vasco to send. I open the back door for Ariana to slide inside.
“Where to, boss?”
“My safe house.”
A gunfight breaks out when my men attempt to block the roads outside Kittatinny. Carisi’s guys refuse to surrender, and they open fire on us. We’re quick to retaliate. The ordeal results in several casualties. Four on their side. One on ours. Two more of my guys end up in the hospital.
But the car Carisi’s in manages to weasel away. They narrowly escape the whizzing bullets puncturing holes in cars and taking down men on both sides.
We’d barely arrived at my safe house when I’m called and given that update.
“He got away,” says Vasco. “Just barely. We shot up his car real good.”
“I expected there was a good chance he would. Cowards like him usually do.”
“What now, boss?”
