Page 9 of Red Retaliation
Women - especially beautiful women - usually have this effect on me, and I frequently satiate my urge. It’s not like I can’t take my pick. But I’m not about to fuck this one! My body might have forgotten this creature taking me off guard for a second is a Galvatore, but my brain hasn’t. And it makes me resent her further.
My jaw sets and I ignore the nerve twitching in my temple, acutely aware that my cock still hasn’t got the drift that this is an enemy: a traitor and a devious whore. My arousal is getting uncomfortable, and I’m grateful for the coverage of my suit jacket. Thankfully, the annoyance surrounding my reaction is enough to reignite my anger. “Speak and tell me what you’ve been sent to do, otherwise you’ll be returning to your family in a fucking body bag!”
“No one knows I’m here, but they will soon,” she says, slightly exposing her teeth as they dig into her bottom lip.
“Is that a threat? It sounds like a threat to me!” It makes me think I should expect the Eyeties to descend on me any moment. Is that what she’stelling me, this brazen witch?
“It’s not a threat,” she says cooly. “I meant they’ll discover I’m missing, if they haven’t already.”
I detect nervousness in her voice, but it’s not from my presence. As much as I want to cause her terror, I’m not achieving it. This alone annoys me as I expect that reaction from people as a bare minimum. Plus, she’s being vague, and I don’t do vague. “Don’t fuck around.” I then nod to Liam, who, without me voicing it, does exactly what I expect.
Arianna calmly watches Liam tip the contents of her handbag onto the desk, revealing nothing more than a small red leather purse, a lipstick and a bunch of keys. “If you’re looking for a phone, you won’t find one. I got rid of it before I got on the tube otherwise I’d be tracked.”
I laugh coldly. If she’s telling the truth, then she’s got sense, but it’s likely she isn’t. “You expect me to believe that? You’re Arianna Bristoni - sent here by your husband. You’re also a Galvatore by birth, therefore you have inbuilt lying genes.”
For a second I wonder what the man is thinking by sending this exquisite woman into a wolf’s lair, but then Roberto Bristoni has fuck all morals. Not that I give a shit about his reasoning. Or hers. But aside from her lying genes, she still possesses the most beautiful face I’ve ever seen.
And that really pisses me off!
From her lack of response coupled with my anger at my traitorous thoughts, I slam Arianna back against the wall, immediately wishing I hadn’t as my body connects with hers, her breasts crushing against my torso. “You’re not answering me. Everyone answers me!”
“Maybe everyone else has something to lose.” She looks up at me, then quickly looks away. “You’re right that IamArianna, but wrong about my husband sending me. He didn’t. The truth is... I... I need your help.”
Oscar bursts out laughing behind me. “I’ve heard it all now! You’ve come tousfor help? You’re a Galvatore! Are you fucking tapped or...”
Keeping Arianna against the wall, I raise my other hand up for silence. I want to hear this. “Why would you come to me for help? I presume you know your family and the bastard you married are our enemies?” Even though women are kept out of most business dealings, she must know the history. Or has she been so cosseted in her ivory tower that she doesn’t?
Conscious I might be making a grave mistake by contemplating what she’s saying as having any validity, my eyes narrow. “I’m waiting...”
“I came herebecauseyou hate us and... and I had nowhere else to go. If the rumors you speak of are about Roberto, then it’s true he’s dead.”
My eyes sparkle with renewed malice. “Have a day off! Your lot may be desperate to set me up, but I ain’t stupid!”
“Youmustbe!” Her eyes hold mine as she shakes her head. “What I’m saying is true. It’s notthemwho are desperate; it’sme. You think I’d be here asking you for help if I wasn’t?”
As the words hiss between her teeth, a tiny fleck of spittle flicks onto her chin. I want to lick it off, but instead I force myself to listen.
“Roberto is dead becauseIkilled him. If it’s discovered it was me, the Bristonis will kill both me and my family, so I’ve made it look like I’ve gone missing.”
“Isn’t that convenient...” I smirk, my eyes turning to ice. Then I frown, spotting a visible patch of her scalp. My free hand pulls her hair to one side. “Who did that to you?” My blood ignites imagining Roberto’s hand wrapped in her silky hair. “Yourhusband?”
“No, it was me. I pulled it out myself, an...”
“I bet they all say that!” I hiss, my veins pounding.
“Theymight do,” she snaps, her eyes cold, “but as I just said, I did it. I pulled out a clump and scattered it around the dressing table in the room where I left his body.”
My lips form a thin line. “To make it look like you’d been kidnapped by force.” She’d thought this through, all right. My ice-cold glare cools further, unable to comprehend how this brazen whore has the audacity to come here and put me in such a position.
“This is an extremely well-orchestrated plan to make it look likeweare behind your ‘missing’ status. You disappear from your home, and oh... yes, that’s it... you come straight tous.” I put my finger to my mouth in mock thought. “Yeah, I get what you were thinking. You’ve made it look like we’ve set the whole thing up. Congratulations!”
Arianna’s eyes mirror the sarcasm in my own. “Contrary to popular belief, when I killed my husband and had to get out of there, I wasn’t thinking of how I could set up a bunch of people I’ve never met!”
My jaw clenches again as I finally release my hold of her. This woman is too mouthy to be an abused doormat. The Galvatores are born liars, but something in this woman’s face and the fire in her eyes tells me she speaks the truth.
CHAPTER
6
