Page 24 of Mafia Betrayal

“We do,” Alessandro said, not caring about how loudly he spoke.

I cracked a cracker between my fingers and waited for them to finish. When they returned, Alessandro rocked back on his heels with his hands stuffed into his pockets and leaned against the bar.

Daddy pressed a kiss on my forehead like he cared. “Stay safe tonight. If anything goes wrong, Alessandro is with you.”

“My knight in shining fucking armor.” My smile dropped as soon as he stepped out of the restaurant. I leaned toward Alessandro and narrowed my eyes. “Did he tell you to fuck with me?”

His eyes glinted with amusement. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“He did, didn’t he?” The cracker broke into crumbs. “Why the fuck would he do that?”

He gazed over at me with hard eyes. “Because this business isn’t for women.”

I rolled my eyes. “Oh, and it is for men with fragile egos, I suppose. Egos that’ll get them killed.” I shook my head. “I swear, if the family was run by women, we wouldn’t have half the problems we have now.”

He blew a breath out of his nose. “Because you’d get nothing done. It’d be gossiping all the damn time.”

“What do you have against women?” I asked.

He shrugged his shoulders. “I have nothing against women. I appreciate them very much, in fact. Especially when they’re on their—”

My fist clenched. “Don’t finish that sentence.”

Those disturbing images of Tommy getting sucked off by that whore replayed through my mind.

He chuckled and shook his head. “Reginetta,I was going to say when they’re on their own and independent, but …” His gaze dropped down my body for a split second. “If you want to gain my appreciation like that, I won’t refuse.”

I glared at him. “I bet you would like that, wouldn’t you?”

There was that billion-dollar smirk again.

He stepped closer. “You would too. It’d be the first time during your whole relationship with Tommy that you actually got fucked and were satisfied, huh?”

“You think that you’d be able to satisfy me?”

He walked behind me, snaking a hand right around my neck. “Oh,reginetta…” Unlike Tommy, his grip was gentle yet held so much power in it. In a single moment, his fingers could dig into my throat so tightly and make me desperate. He leaned down so his lips were against my ear. “I could do more than satisfy you.”

15

chiara

One of theguys who had been flirting with me earlier stood, and I pulled myself away from him, snapping out of whatever that had been. Alessandro looked over at them, daring them to come over and say something to him.

Instead of acting tough, like they thought they were, they walked to the exit and left. Leaving me and Alessandro and a hundred bottles of liquor to ourselves.

Alessandro gazed at me like that had never even happened, then hopped over the counter, making sure not to hit his side. He grabbed a bottle of sambuca off of the shelf, pouring himself a glass.

He looked up at me. “You want one?”

“Drinking before a deal?”

He leaned over the bar, sliding my drink to me. “Between you and me,reginetta, your father is too strict about these deals sometimes and, hell, a bit of an annoying prick too.” He clicked our glasses and swallowed back his drink.

“Why are you acting this way?” I asked, drawing my finger against the rim.

“How am I acting?”

I narrowed my eyes. “Nice? Flirty? First, you’re determined to keep me away, but now …”

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