Page 65 of Now and Forever

Dante flashed a grin.

Contessa entered with more serving dishes: mashed potatoes, green beans, salad, and dinner rolls. “Mrs. Luciano, would you like wine with dinner?”

I looked at Dario’s glass of bourbon. “What do you have?”

Dario shook his head. “Contessa, Catalina is a wine connoisseur. Surprise her with one of our dry whites.” He looked at me. “The wine cellar is off the kitchen. Since we’re over forty stories in the air, it’s not a true cellar, but the walls are insulated, and the room is temperature controlled.”

“It takes a chunk of my square footage away,” Dante said. “And I don’t even have a door from my level.”

“Anyway,” Dario said, “you should check it out.”

“I will.” I nodded to Contessa. “Surprise me.”

With a smile, she went back through the swinging door to the kitchen.

Dario was still standing near the decanter. He looked at Dante. “Drink?”

“Nope,” he replied. “I have a few meetings after dinner. Dad wants me to check and see what’s happening with Tony’s shit. We need the trucks especially with the additional product Roríguez promised.”

“The man who was murdered yesterday?” I asked.

Dante stopped mid-motion as he was dishing pieces of pork tenderloin onto his plate. “How did you know about that?”

Biting my lip, I looked at my husband, worried I wasn’t supposed to say anything.

“It wasn’t on the news,” Dario said. “I told her. And don’t bitch; you’re discussing business here without a filter.”

Dante smiled my direction. “I was just making sure we can still talk.”

Remembering what Dario said earlier in the day, I repeated it. “I come with a background of understanding.”

“Yeah,” Dante said, “Rocco said you were at the Emerald Club today. What did you think? It’s better than that hellhole Wanderlust.”

It was my turn to stare.

“No offense,” Dante said. “Maybe with this alliance, we can raise Roríguez’s standards.”

As we ate, I wanted to be offended by Dante’s off-handed comments about the cartel. The truth was that I was impressed by the Emerald Club and the way they conducted some of their business. I just wasn’t sure how I could bring it up in conversation to Uncle Nicolas or Nick. I probably couldn’t. Em was a possibility.

‘Hey, have you thought of treating your whores better?’

The wine Contessa chose was delicious. I had two glasses with dinner and opted to take a third glass with me to the library. Dario and Dante disappeared into Dario’s downstairs office. I’d been exposed to enough of their world during our meal. I was more than happy to retire to the peaceful calm of the library and my laptop.

As I settled on one of the lounge chairs, my phone rang.

ChapterEighteen

Catalina

My sister’s name appeared on the screen. “Camila,” I said, answering her call.

“I miss you,” she said.

Hearing her voice brought tears to my eyes. “I miss you too. Maybe you could come visit me before classes start.”

“I’d love that. I’m bored here without you.”

“You won’t be once you get going with classes at SDSU. How many credit hours are you taking?”

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