Page 70 of Christmas with the Mafia
If anything, a gleam of admiration lights his eyes, and a soft smile replaces the usual enigmatic stare.
“Best of five. If you win–” he pauses and pins me with a dark glare, “I will invest in your business.”
I’m surprised because he made no secret of his belief that a wife shouldn’t have a business outside of marriage.
He continues, “If I win–” His eyes flash with danger, “You sit beside me atdinner.”
I’m a little confused but shrug, “Then it appears I have won already.”
Giovanni laughs out loud and Vito grins, a slight shake of his head telling me I’m probably wrong about that. For some reason, the two men scare me half to death, and I wonder why.
Giovanni hands me the rifle, and I’m surprised when he gives me tips and instructions in a low voice. It’s almost as if he wants me to be successful. He is taking time to explain best practice and I’m grateful for it.
Vito watches with interest, as do the rest of the party. It’s as if I am the entertainment, and I wonder about that.
However, as I position the rifle as Giovanni showed me, my heart beats fast as he roars, “Pull!”
I steel myself and watch carefully for the clay and as it hurtles into the air, I take aim and fire.
I catch a corner of the clay and watch as it comes crashing down, and Giovanni appears to be impressed with that.
Four more clays are fired in succession, and I mange to shoot three of them in total.
As I surrender the rifle to him, my heart is beating furiously and my hands are shaking because that was intense. I never realized how much concentration it took me to fire five shots, and the rifle was heavy and uncomfortable to handle.
“Well done, Regina, you did well.”
I’m flushing with pride as I accept the compliment and then retreat to stand beside Vito while Giovanni takes his turn.
As expected, he shoots all five clays with a precision that impresses me, and as Vito takes his turn, he manages four.
The others step forward to replace us, and as Giovanni guides me back to the rest of the onlookers, he whispers, “I guess we’ll have a lot to talk about at dinner, Regina.”
I swallow my nerves because something is telling me I was set up for a grilling tonight. This man isn’t stupid. I’m almost convinced he doesn’t buy our story, and now I’m going to be interrogated over my relationship with his son, and God help us both if he discovers the true nature of it.
Simeon is the overall winner, and we celebrate with champagne on the veranda overlooking the ocean. There is a chill in the air despite the huge heaters attempting to chase the ice away, and as I sit beside Nico, I love how his arm rests on my shoulder as I snuggle as close to him as possible.
“You did well, baby girl.” He kisses me on the cheek, and I sense Desiree embracing her inner serial killer as she slays me with imaginary daggers.
“Not well enough. I’m to be seated beside your father at dinner tonight.”
Nico’s eyes flash. “I wondered what his reason was for challenging you.”
“I’m a little nervous.” I whisper so nobody can hear us, and Nico squeezes my shoulder.
“It will be good. I have every faith in you.”
Sophia is doing her best to entertain Katrina, who looks bored out of her mind. Vito ignores her, and so doesDesiree, who is chatting to Julius, who has stepped up to entertain her.
Nico whispers, “I’m shocked that Julius is so attentive.”
“Why does that shock you?”
“He isn’t one for polite conversation, especially with a woman like Desiree.”
“Perhaps he likes her.”
“I’m not buying it. Something isn’t adding up.”
