Chapter 20: Chapter Twenty

Gloria allowed the Italian Donna to lead her away from the door. They heard a thud and while Gloria glanced over her shoulder in curiosity, the woman holding her arm merely sighed.

“Leo,” Mrs. Accardi called, her voice sounding as though she didn’t like the situation she’d just left.

“On it,” Accardi’s personal guard, Leo, assured her as he walked past them toward the office.

Gloria noticed the guard shift his shoulder as he passed, as if to keep himself from brushing against her. His dark brown eyes glanced down. His gaze quickly perused her face, his expression filled with annoyance and the hint of blooming curiosity.

“Don’t worry, Leo will keep them from killing each other at least,” Mrs. Accardi assured her. She looked down and Gloria was struck by the bright blue of her eyes that crinkled around the edges as she sent her that reassuring smile. “My name is Genevieve. You can call me Gen.”

“Oh, I’m Gl-Lilah.”

Gen smiled as they approached the bar. “I know your name is Gloria. No need to hide that from me.” She took a stool and encouraged Gloria to take the one beside hers. “I’ll call you Lilah around here though if you’d like.”

Gloria nodded. “That would be great. Until things… settle down.”

Gen nodded in understanding. “You’ve had a few rough days, huh?”

Gloria snorted, earning her a wider smile from the attractive Donna. “Days?” Gloria repeated with a laugh that Gen returned.

“Trust me, I get it,” she assured her as she held her hand up to wave down a bartender. “I bet you could use a drink.” Her brow crinkled and her fingers constricted in uncertainty. “You’re old enough to drink, right?”

“Uh…”

“Lilah? Is that you?”

Gloria resisted the urge to groan as she heard Polly coming toward them. She turned and gave a half-hearted smile as the woman approached. Polly readjusted her apron as she stopped in front of her and Gen.

“Polly, what are you doing up here?” Gloria asked.

Polly shrugged. “Ruby’s on break, is all.” Her eyes turned to Gen. “Mrs. Accardi, good to see you. Tequila?” Polly asked, reaching for a bottle on the back wall.

“Actually,” Gen interrupted, extending her hand again. “I’ll take… cranberry juice. Yeah, that sounds good,” she said with a decisive nod and cautious glance toward the office as if she could feel her husband watching her.

Gloria followed her gaze toward the office where Leo remained by the door with his eyes on them but his ear piqued to what was going on within. Her eyes tracked to Gen who was trying and failing to pop her back. A glass of cranberry juice settled in front of her and Polly waited expectantly for Gloria’s drink order.

“Whiskey,” Gloria finally said.

“What kind?” Polly asked, ready to turn and fetch it.

“Uh, I don’t know. I’m not picky.”

Gen watched her with shrewd eyes. “I think I know something you’ll like.” She motioned for Polly to step forward. She cupped her hand beside Polly’s ear as she whispered something into it. Polly’s brows scrunched together in confusion, her eyes shifted over Gloria’s face.

“We’re not supposed to touch that stuff,” Polly protested.

Gen waved her hand and giggled slightly. “He won’t mind. Trust me. Donna’s orders,” Gen said with a decisive point of her finger.

Polly shook her head while casting a nervous glance toward the office. Gen picked up the cranberry juice and took a tentative sip. Her lips puckered and she popped her mouth at the taste.

Gloria chuckled. “Seems I’m not the only one trying to keep secrets around here.”

Gen smiled mischievously and glanced around before shrugging her shoulders. “I’m not good at lying, I’m afraid. We’re just trying to keep it quiet for now. I’m sure we’ll be seeing plenty of each other so I’m guessing it doesn’t hurt that you figured it out.”

“We’ll be seeing each other?”

Gen took another sip and shrugged again. “Frankie is never far from my husband…” Gen gave her a look of pride and barely disguised lust. “Neither am I. It’s safe to assume you’ll be the same, soon enough.”

A glass of whiskey appeared in front of Gloria and she took the opportunity to try to digest what Gen had just said by taking a tentative sip. It was good. Smooth, sweet, tangy with a sharp bitter after taste. She let the liquid roll around her mouth and over her tongue before she swallowed.

“That’s really good,” Gloria said with a nod of approval to Gen who smiled at her as though she’d just won a bet she’d made with the devil.

“I thought so,” Gen said, her mouth pulling to the side to fight a smile as she sipped her drink.

“So, Lilah, where yah been?” Polly asked, spreading her arms out across the wood.

“I, uh…”

“She’s been doing some work for Accardi Industries,” Gen said, saving her.

Polly’s brows drew down. “Really? As a nurse?”

“It’s an intern program,” Gloria added smoothly, the art of delivering an impromptu lie ingrained into her since birth. “Helps me with my resume.”

“Interesting, yeah, I see you, Nicky! I’ll be right there, baby!” Polly gave them a smile that said she wished she could stay. “Gotta go. Don’t leave before saying goodbye!”

Gloria watched her walk away while fighting the urge to glare at her back. Images assailed her mind of jumping across the bar and slamming her head into the glass tumbler she was pouring vodka into.

“Before she comes back and interrupts,” Gen began, her eyes sweeping along the bar to make sure no one was listening. “I want to let you know that I’ve familiarized myself with your case.”

“My case?” Gloria asked.

Gen nodded. “I just learned a few weeks ago about the Royale and what all went on when my husband took over. I’m going to become an advocate for women such as yourself to make sure nothing like what’s happening to you will ever happen again. What they did to you…” She shook her head and Gloria would have sworn she saw her eyes mist over. “I met your fiance, Sergei at the Royale. We are still fighting this for you, Gloria. We will find a resolution whether it be settled in ink or blood.” Gen’s hand settled on Gloria’s thigh. “We have your back.”

“Thanks, I…”

Polly’s shrill laughter made her spine tingle. Her eyes tracked to where the blonde was flirting with a regular. Her arm reached out and her finger traced the inside of his wrist. She stared at the nails skimming along the man’s skin. She recalled those same nails digging into Frankie’s thigh. She hated that Polly had felt the muscles of his thighs bunch and coil. She hated that she’d tasted him on her tongue. In reality, Polly wasn’t the only one. Gloria was sure half the women here had fucked Frankie Donati. The problem was, she’d seen Polly. And the image had stuck.

“Gloria?”

“Hm?”

Gen’s gaze went from Gloria’s narrowed eyes to her hands fisted in her lap to Polly who was still laughing. Gen squinted her right eye as she tried to evaluate the situation. “Do we like her?” she asked with a nod of her head toward Polly as if they were already best friends sitting at the cool girl’s table at lunch.

Gloria sighed and took another gulp of whiskey. “She’s fine. She didn’t do anything wrong. I’m just…” She shook her head.

“I see,” Gen said with a nod of understanding. She played with the straw in her cranberry juice. “How are things going between you and Frankie?”

Gloria fought the urge to show her surprise at the direct question. “There is nothing to tell.”

“Right, right, I suppose a girl raised in this world is used to men tearing apart kingdoms for them for no reason at all,” Gen said, still staring down at her drink but her voice edged with sarcasm. “Well, if something ever does happen and there is something to tell, I feel as though I should let you know what I think.”

“What you think?”

Gen’s eyes flashed up and sparked silver flame. She was no longer a woman trying to reassure a young girl whose life had been upturned. Now she was Donna to one of the largest crime syndicates in New York.

“I think Frankie is like a brother to my husband. I think he’s saved my life on more than one occasion and would do so again without hesitation. I think Frankie is a complicated individual being weighed down by an ocean of grief with no buoy in sight.” Gen’s eyes connected with Gloria’s, surprising her with their intensity. “I think if you’re using my friend or mean him harm. If Sergei hurts him or I find any reason that you are unfit to stand by his side… I don’t give a damn what he thinks about it. I’ll make sure you never hurt him again.”

Gloria stared at the pregnant woman before her. She’d heard of her fearlessness, the way she fit into this world as though it was made for her to thrive rather than to wither under her husband’s thumb like the rest of those sharing a bed with a mafia boss. She didn’t know how lucky she was. That she had a choice. That she wasn’t raised under a contract, a deal signed in blood, a deal for her very soul.

Gloria took another swig of whiskey while Gen waited for her to respond to her threat. She set the glass down with a clink and winced as the liquor burned its way down her throat. Then she met the Donna’s eyes with a fire of her own.

“Like I said. There’s nothing to tell. You heard your husband in there. I’m a commodity to be bought and sold from one man to another. You will pay for my freedom. Frankie will take it. That’s all this is, Mrs. Accardi. That’s all I am. I’m a prize being passed from one villain to another.”

Heat crawled up her neck. She brushed her hand along her arm to stifle the sudden spell of goosebumps along her skin. Her stomach tightened and she realized what that meant. She was prey, caught in the sights of a predator and he was close enough to pounce and end her life with one bite to the jugular. Gen’s eyes slipped left and Gloria’s slowly followed her gaze.

Frankie stood only a few feet away. His hands were fisted at his sides. His dark eyes were narrowed and possessed that matte effect taking in all light and giving nothing back. His jaw was clenched tight, and every muscle in his body strained against his clothes. Gloria gulped as his eyes cut from his Donna to her. He’d heard everything she’d just said… and she knew exactly how he felt about it.