Page 89 of Velvet Cruelty

Chapter Fifteen

Elliot Morelli

“I’m sorry, Mr. Morelli.” Harvey lays the freshly grated parmigiano, warm bread and salted butter on the dining room table in front of me, his face flushed with embarrassment.

I offer a small nod. “It won’t happen again?”

“Of course not.”

“Good. Take everything into the kitchen then go fetch a few bottles of the Montalcino.”

The old man dashes away and I wonder if January knew she was being held next to a few million dollars’ worth of wine. Probably not. She strikes me as a delightfully unobservant girl. Not simple but focused only on the things that interest her. I Inhale the aroma of her cooking. If it tastes half as good as it smells, she’s very talented. A beautiful little virgin who speaks Italian and cooks. Am I really going to give a girl like that to Gio?

Adriano wanders past, his face buried in his phone.

“Coming to dinner?” I call.

“I wasn’t planning on it.”

“It’s not a suggestion. We need to discuss things with the girl.”

“I’ve got nothing to say to her.”

“And what about us? Your brothers?”

A look crosses his face. Weariness. Or maybe just plain old tiredness. “Do you have any idea what you’re doing with this girl?”

“Don’t be melodramatic. She’ll be out of your hair soon enough.”

His eyes narrow.

My temper, held back through endless meetings with paranoid associates of Parker, rises. “If you’ve got something to say, say it.”

“Parker pissed away millions keeping that pussy on hold. You sure you’re not doing the same thing?”

It’s a question I’ve asked myself many times today, as I ignored Gio’s calls confirming January’s place in his house. But I’ll be damned if I’ll tell Adriano that. “We took her for the right reasons.”

He looks pointedly at the glossy carrier bags on the chair beside me. “You sure it’s not something else?”

“Are you questioning my judgment?”

“No,” he says flatly. “But you need to be careful. Doc and Bobby…” He shakes his shaggy head. “Forget it.”

“What?”

“I said ‘forget it.’”

I trust Adriano with my life, but it’s difficult to know where he stands on anything that isn’t breaking someone in half. He’s not entirely Italian. A criminal with no ties to organized crime. He has few needs and he’s never liked women. Never, to my knowledge, had a girlfriend. But his loathing of January is unprecedented. And irritating.

“You’ll be at dinner,” I tell him. “You’ll dress appropriately, and you’ll behave like a human being and not some vicious cafone. Understood?”

He says nothing as he leaves the room, but I know he’ll be there. Whatever else, Adriano’s loyalty is absolute.

Doc and Bobby wander in. Doc’s wearing a shirt. A black one I’ve never seen before. I gesture at him. “What’s all this?”

Doc tugs at his collar. “You said to dress up.”

I want to ask, ‘Since when do you give a shit about what I say?’ but it would be poor leadership to question someone obeying orders. I collect the carrier bags beside me. “Sit down and have a drink. I’m going to give January her gifts.”

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