Chapter 10

Finally, I made it home. I told Lourdes what time I would arrive, and she told me dinner was ready and waiting for me in the dining room as Juan parked the car. As he came to a stop in the driveway, I remembered I had company. The whole flight the only thing on my mind was Vedova. Why was she playing on my mind when I had Adrianna waiting for me? I hated the way Vedova had treated me, like a little boy on the playground who needed direction from her to know how to play. No, I didn't need direction from anyone, especially the likes of her.

"Jefe, you want me to stick around?"

"No, go home. Get some rest."

He smiled. “Sure thing."

That kind of surprised me, Juan seemed a little disappointed when I told him we were leaving, yet he was quite happy once we did arrive back. As I opened the car door he asked, "Jefe, como estas?"

I didn't answer him as I sat up and stepped out of the car. I needed to have a shot of something and go to bed; no more did I feel the need to eat. We didn’t use the limo where I could have had a few shots in the back, and there was nothing in the Range Rover. I was dying for a drink.

"Bien!" I deliberated as I slammed the door shut and thought about which one to tackle first, a Remy Martin or Armagnac?

I waved, then walked up to the front door. As soon as I opened the front door, I was in fucking shock. There were candles on the floor, and it didn't take a fucking genius to figure out they were leading to the dining room. I shut the door, and then the candles went out near the door. I followed them, every stride I took with haste as it made me even madder. It could have been the lack of sleep or even Vedova. Either way, when I reached the dining room and Adrianna faced me in an off-the-shoulder red ball gown dress, her hair tied up loosely, her breasts on full display, it awoke a lion inside of me and one she wasn't prepared to meet.

"Mierda!" I blurted as I reached closer to her. She was shaking, the same way she had been when I got the ax out of the car.

I needed her to be afraid of me, and not to think of me as some romantic gesture; otherwise, nothing would work nor go according to plan.

"What did I do?" she cried, her glass dropping to the floor as she stood.

"What is all this? Lourdes told me dinner was ready, but what are you—all dressed up as dessert?"

It was cruel. I wanted her to be comfortable, but not to think of us as some romantic notion. I wanted to play with her, when I felt the need, but nothing more. Diego was the one I was really pissed off with, but he wasn’t here, and unfortunately, my fury was taken out on her as a result of it.

"You told me to make myself at home."

I choked. “It seems as if you've done a lot more than that. I said make yourself comfortable, this is fucking different. We've hardly met and here you are dressing yourself up for the night's events. We're not married. We're not even going out; what the fuck were you thinking?"

I grabbed her hand, and barked, "Come with me!" I was taking her to the room, the one where I took anyone who crossed me, but I didn't want them to die a quick death. No, rather a long and painful one.

"What did I do wrong? You're hurting me?" She was crying and trying to keep up the pace but struggling with her heels.

I stopped and yanked them off, throwing them to the side.

"Now you can walk properly. I told you that you were the price for hitting my car."

She didn't say a word; maybe the shock of it all had made her go into silent mode, which was good for me. I knew I was being cruel, but she had to learn her fucking place.

I was chanting while I was walking, but she was struggling to keep up. Maybe Lourdes had been overfeeding her; it wouldn't surprise me. She did get bored cooking for me alone, and when the gang came over, she would always cook for a whole army. She was a natural in the kitchen.

"If I wanted someone to fuck, then I would have done it in Sicily. I wouldn't have gone to the expense of getting you a new closet. If I wanted a girlfriend, then I wouldn't have told you to stay here for thirty days in exchange for a place by my side. I would have come to get you every day, not flown to Italy and made sure you waited here for me. Some people have known me for years; they know where my house is, but I would never let them step inside it," I stopped, making sure she was paying attention. She was whimpering and her once green eyes were now brown. She wore contacts. Her eyes were fake. I flashed my eyes over her body, wondering what else about her was fake.

I continued as we headed to the dungeons. "If I wanted a wife, then I would have gone back home to my Mexican village. I would make sure she didn't speak English and knew nothing about American life. Hell, no. I would want her to cook, clean, and be a dutiful wife. I told you to come here for none of the three. So, any romantic gesture or notion in your head, you better fucking get them out."

I told Diego and he knew, I wanted her settled in the house so she wouldn't be bored, there was nothing worse than an idle woman. But somewhere in the midst of things, he'd given her the idea this was a Pretty Woman scenario. I was pissed with him, but he wasn't around, and the only one I could take my anger on was her. I’d taken Adrianna from the streets and turned her into some kind of princess. No, life wasn't like the movies, especially in my world. Any woman I did take from the streets and make them into a princess would have to be Mexican and would have to be properly vetted. Not just her, but her whole damn family, including the family pet.

"Here," I said as I unlocked the door to go down the stairs. We started to climb down the stairs and she was not walking willingly anymore. I had to stop, as she refused to go on, and then she screamed, "Where are you taking me?"

She didn't wait for a reply as she started to cry, as I lifted her to my shoulder and I think she bumped her head a bit. The dungeon was colder, a lot colder than I remembered, but she would survive. Maybe one night or two. I continued down the stairs, she felt a lot heavier than I imagined; which meant Lourdes had definitely been overfeeding her. The light flickered against the brick wall as we arrived at the cage. By now, she was kicking her feet against me and screaming. I'd had it built for more than one person. I opened the door, trying to steady myself at the same time, and get away from her screams which were becoming deafening because they were echoing off the walls.

"Let me go! This is kidnapping! You can't leave me here for twenty-five days, I'll die."

Oh, so she'd been counting the days while she'd been in the house.

I opened the cage and tossed her inside, by the time she realized what was happening and ran to the door, it locked. It self-locked, and I left her whimpering and crying because my back was hurting. She was strong, and a fighter, I would give her that. But she was no match for me. By this time tomorrow, she wouldn't have the energy to fight. I might even leave her down there another day, so she knows her place.

I ignored her screams and curses as I remembered seeing black paella on the table before I grabbed her. Lourdes had made my favorite dish and I was starving. Tomorrow I would have to deal with Diego, realistically, I should put him in the dungeon, too. He'd given Adrianna the wrong idea, a mistake unfortunately, she was paying the price for right now.

She helped make up my mind as I reached the top of the stairs, I needed a Remy Martin to go with my meal. Maybe I would just have a shot of Armagnac before I hit the sack.

* * *

Diego walked into the library. I'd called for him to be here at seven this morning. He arrived five minutes earlier to make sure he was in the library on time. I looked up at the antique clock hung on the wall as he walked in.

"Primo, you're back in one piece. Do you feel better, do you—”

I didn't give him the same greeting, as I didn't mess around, and got to business.

"I told you to make sure Adrianna was made comfortable, not Lady of the Manor."

His smile turned to a frown. Like all members of our family, we didn't like to be criticized and prided ourselves on getting everything right. A job well done is something to be proud of; a job not done well, usually meant you would be buried in the backyard earlier than your time.

"You said to make her comfortable. I did. Anything else would have meant making her sleep with the dogs in the kennel," he said in his defense. I didn't offer him a seat, and I could tell by the way he was wound up, he wasn't in the mood to sit with me, either.

"It's called common sense. I told you I needed her to help me find Pa's killer, which didn't mean I want her to be a lady of the night or even day."

"Lo siento. I thought you would want a piece of ass. She has a hot ass, and you really need for things to go back to the way they were before.”

I loosened up, as Diego always had a way of making me laugh.

"She does, especially seeing as Lourdes has been feeding her well."

He shook his head. “Primo, you're too wound up these days. I think she could be exactly what you need, you get me?"

I sighed. “I do, but I don't want her getting the wrong idea, and last night she really had the wrong idea. Time’s running out and I don't know when I'll need her."

"How did Italy go?" He changed the subject as he headed to the bar at the corner of the library. Sometimes, I needed an early morning wake-up call, and judging by the look on his face, he hadn't gotten much sleep between the message I sent him six hours ago and him arriving here now. He had been worried he'd done something wrong and he had, but didn't know what until now. He was probably relieved it wasn't as bad as he thought it would be. I had been in his shoes once or twice, too many times with Pa.

He didn't wait for me to reply as he said, "Wait. Where is she?"

Then he took his shot, probably his relief shot. He glanced at my glass as if to say I didn't need a refill. No, I didn't, I'd drank a little too much before going to bed and eating. Then a little more this morning, I didn't need any more for now, but I still kept it close.

"Downstairs."

I moved my head to the side, waiting for his reaction. There wasn't any, and he didn't even bother asking if I meant the wine cellar or the dungeon because he knew exactly which part she was being held in.

"I see. So, you want me to take care of her?" he asked, standing by my side with his eyebrow raised.

"Exactly."

"For how long?" he asked, probably wondering how he would fit that in with everything else he had going on at the moment.

"Until tomorrow evening, and then we're done."

"Good," he shot back and then he left without saying another word, I didn't have to spell it out to him, he knew she was in the dungeon, all he had to do was make sure she survived. Afterward, Adrianna would be my responsibility once again. His mom was a nurse and he'd learned so much from her. Diego would make sure she was fed, warm, and had anything else she needed while she was down there. I had other things to deal with, like finding who had been taking money out of my account. You give people an inch and they take a whole fucking mile. The war had already begun; the word was out that I still hadn't found Pa's killer, so they were fucking with me. It was working, I had to find out not only who killed Pa, but who was after me, too.