Page 67 of Her Dark Salvation

She laughed. “You. Were on a date. Kinda.”

I shrugged a shoulder.

“You haven’t been on a date since?—”

“I’m aware the last time I dated, Gina.”

“She must be pretty special if she was able to break the forty-year drought.”

I glowered at her.

“Hey. Scusa.” The depth of pity in her voice made me uncomfortable. I didn’t want to talk about the past. “Losing Lucia was tough on everyone, but she chose not to drink from Tony. Even knowing the risk it posed to herself and to Luca.”

Tony’d done everything he could to convince Lucia to bond and drink his blood. But the shock of learning blood demons existed and that her unborn child’s father was one of them had been too much for her fragile human mind to accept. It had been a miracle Luca survived.

“She didn’t choose. She couldn’t. Finding out broke her. And losing her broke Tony.”

“There’s always the chance a human might react like that, but what happened to Lucia is not the norm. She’s the only one I know of, and I’ve been alive for eighty-three years.” She leveled me with a knowing stare. “And it’s not like you’ve dated any blood demons either.”

I sighed. Loudly.

“Your problem is you worry too much. You think if you take time for yourself or, Heaven forbid, go on a date, the world will collapse without you to hold it up.”

My irritated glower returned with a vengeance.

“Am I wrong?”

“I don’t need you to tell me what my problems are,” I grumbled.

“I think you do.”

I snorted and shook my head. “Aren’t you supposed to be thelittlesister?”

“Someone’s gotta tell the big bad Mafia Don how it is. Adesso.” She got up, walked into the kitchen, came back with a wine bottle, and emptied its remains into her glass. “I want to hear about the woman who put a dent in the wall around my big brother’s heart.”

* * *

It wasa ten-minute walk to Vesuvio from my family home. I entered my club through the back door shortly after eleven. Vinnie was already there, sitting at the bar with a glass of scotch. His driver leaned against the far wall next to Matteo, two soldiers standing guard. A couple of poker games were underway. One waitress served the two card tables. Another was giving a lap dance to one of the regular track betters in the corner booth. Slow night.

I pulled out a stool next to Vinnie and lifted my chin at Enzo. Before Vinnie or I said a word, he returned with a glass of whiskey, neat, and set it on the bar in front of me.

“You reconsider my offer?” Vinnie asked and continued to stare into this drink.

“I have questions.”

I spun my glass on the bar. I’d smoked my last cigar to calm my nerves after dropping off Anna and needed an outlet for all my pent-up stress. And sexual frustration.

Vinnie eyed my glass. “You’re gonna irritate the shit outta me with that. You need a smoke?”

“Yeah.”

He reached into his suit jacket, pulled out a cigar case, and opened it with a flick of his wrist. “Honduran. I like the kick.”

I took one from the case and ran it under my nose. Dark and earthy. I pulled out my cutter and got to work. “Luca says the Irish are expanding. More than I thought. He’s worried about the cops. I don’t know if he has information I don’t, or if it’s just the chip on his shoulder talking.”

“I thought you didn’t want to get involved.”

“I don’t.”

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