Page 69 of Now and Forever

“I did. I could have killed him, and it wouldn’t affect the way I sleep tonight. It’s a dark world out there.” He covered one of my hands with his, his warmth radiating from his touch. “I wanted you to see Emerald Club to have an understanding of day-to-day business.”

“Did Josie understand it?”

He nodded. “Before she moved in here, Josie was a bookkeeper and a dancer at a club called Minx. That club stood where Emerald Club is, well, part of it. I bought Minx and nearby businesses to build Emerald Club.”

“She was a dancer?”

A dancer.

Thoughts came to me. Arianna said she was happy Dario finally had a woman of worth. Armando said Josie wasn’t even close to a good Catholic Italian girl.

“Yeah,” he said with a grin. “You can imagine how the famiglia felt about that.”

“I’m guessing it’s part of the reason they would support your marriage to an outsider like me.”

“Josie and I could never marry. The famiglia wouldn’t have allowed it. I’d never become capo.” His nostrils flared. “I considered walking away, but this is the life I was raised to have. It’s not easy to walk away from the only life you’ve ever known.”

“I know that.”

His gaze met mine with understanding. “You do. The answer to your question was yes, Josie understood the world I built and live because even though she wasn’t born into the famiglia, she was born into the world that respectable people pretend doesn’t exist.”

Turning my hand so we were palm to palm, I intertwined our fingers. “It sounds like she was a strong woman. Thank you for telling me about her.”

“Mia was wrong.”

“About?”

“Women before and after. Josie was a part of my life for almost nine years.”

My chest grew tight. “That’s a long time.”

“I don’t care about anyone before her. After her, until you, doesn’t count.”

“How did she die?” It was the question I was the most afraid to ask.

“Russians”

My eyes opened wide. “She was killed?”

His features morphed as if he were seeing the past. “It was the beginning of this recent upheaval. I still don’t know why she would go to South Blue Valley alone. It’s not a good neighborhood. One day she didn’t come home. Some of our soldiers found her in an abandoned house. She’d been shot. Still had her phone, purse, credit cards, and cash.” He slowly blinked. “It was a message. There may be times I sound unreasonable about bodyguards. I’m not unreasonable. I know too well that there are monsters out there masquerading as people.”

“I don’t mind bodyguards. I’ve had them all of my life.”

“I’m going to take a quick shower,” Dario said, standing.

“Oh, I almost forgot. I tried to check the wine cellar. The door is locked.”

Dario inhaled. “Habit, I’d guess. I’ll remind Contessa it no longer needs the lock.”

I wanted to ask why it needed a lock in the first place, but I had the feeling I’d already surpassed my quota of questions for the night. As I heard the sound of running water coming from the bathroom, I turned off the light on my bedside stand and slid farther under the blankets, thankful that I’d broached the Josie subject. Bringing her information out into the open would keep her ghost out of our marriage.

I hoped it would anyway.

ChapterNineteen

Catalina

Over the next few weeks, we settled into a routine. Dario and I would eat breakfast together before he left for his day. Our quality together-time was at night. Sometimes he’d need to go out. Other evenings, after dinner, he’d work in his downstairs office. Either way, alone in our bedroom suite was the place for us to talk and connect. While I didn’t ask any more questions about Josie, we were never at a loss for conversation.

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