Page 52 of Under His Control

I picked up my teacup, dainty as I arched my brows and brought it to my lips. “Oh, I wouldn’t say that…”

We dissolved into laughter, and I realized as my stomach hurt from cracking up that I was enjoying this. This foreign, new sisterhood. It wasn’t intimidating. And it helped that they could add in more bawdy jokes. Wewereladies. We looked like the polished Mafia girlfriends and fiancées we were supposed to be. But at the same time, it felt good to let loose and just have fun with them.

“Is he going to move into your house?” Nina asked. “I can’t imagine it’s easy to have an active sex life with Olivia in his suite.”

“We haven’t thought that far ahead.” It sounded like a copout of a reply, but it wasn’t. “We’re too busy stealing every minute we can. I’ve been busy helping Danicia arranging some of the care for the men wounded from the latest attacks, and he’s been preparing to start working for us…” I shrugged. “But we will need more space.”

For a hot moment, I feared that it would be tricky to designate the lines between employee Liam and boyfriend Liam. He was a Constella soldier now, so that tied him here. But how much of a tie was I? What would matter more—his job or me?

“Oh, my God…” Nina raised her brows as she spotted someone behind me. “Eva. Look.”

I turned, following her line of sight. As soon as I noticed the woman clearing off another table behind us in this restaurant portion of the venue, I just barely refrained from gasping.

“Vanessa?” Nina said it as though she couldn’t believe it. Stefan Giovanni’s daughter wasn’t someone we wanted to run into. She preyed on Dante, obsessive with trying to get him to marry her. Too late, we learned from my uncle that her father had set her up to it. Stefan pressured Vanessa to pursue Dante as another way of securing an alliance with the Constella name. My uncle was stubbornly lacking interest in her, even before he met Nina. Once he had, he was livid that Vanessa wouldn’t give him up.

The tall woman lifted her face, frowning in fear at Nina’s voice.

Oh, shit.A few yards separated us, but I saw the evidence of what she vainly tried to hide. Makeup could only go so far in covering bruises and cuts. Seeing this woman—once a peer of mine and a fellow “Mafia princess”—was sobering.

Someone had beaten her, and badly. She showed fear as she glanced around, as though she worried someone was watching her. Her gait suggested a limp as she approached our table.

“Eva?” she frowned at me, so skittish and nervous.

I wasn’t shocked that she referenced me. She’d known me—or of me—the longest.

“What happened?” I asked. It wasn’t a great greeting, but it made the most sense. I didn’t want to chat with her. She wouldnever be an acquaintance of mine again, not after the way she chased after my uncle.

“I… I…” She looked around again, so scared of the guests and diners in here. Maybe she was looking for the Constella guards who stayed near the back of the room. I couldn’t tell, but she was terrified. She barely spared Nina and Tessa a glance. Instead, she singled me out.

“What happened?”

Her beaten appearance was startling enough. But the fact that she was workinghereas a common low-income employee didn’t add up.

“I ran. I had to.” She licked her lips, so nervous. “I… ran from home.”

“Why?” Nina asked. Even though she had every right to loathe this woman who tried to steal her man, she wasn’t cold.

“I had to. I had to run from my father.” She looked back at me, singling me out again. “He’s hellbent on ruining the Constella organization.” Now, she glanced at Nina, furrowing her brow. “He’s furious that Dante wouldn’t help them.”

I huffed. “Tough shit.”

Vanessa nodded, a nervous motion. “After the alliance with the Domino Family was broken up, Stefan’s been so desperate to secure backing. To recoup his losses.”

I shook my head. “He’s never touching a cent of the Constella wealth. Or any bit of power.”

“But he’s still so desperate.” Vanessa glanced around again. “And you shouldn’t be out here, dining out and having fun. Your guards need to be closer.” She licked her lips, cringing as she touched the split in the lower one. “You need to watch your backs.”

“No, we don’t. Our men will always do that for us.” Tessa tipped her chin up, defiant.

Vanessa sighed. “You'd better hope they can. Stefan’s been siding with those MC assholes, and they’re hard men. Brutal men.”

I assumed she meant that literally, given her broken appearance. Before I could feel sorry for her, I honed in on getting intel.

“Are you saying that with firsthand experience?”

Vanessa sniffed. “I am. Stefan offered to give me to them in lieu of a payment overdue for guns. And they…”

Nina shook her head. “What a sick motherfucker.” She reached into her purse and pulled out cash.

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