I didn’t even notice Dante slip into bed that night, but his side was rumpled, so he must have slept in it. I spent a few more minutes in bed, feeling somehow lighter now that I’d ripped down one barrier between Dante and me, but I wasn’t kidding myself into believing that sex would change our relationship fundamentally. I didn’t think Dante would suddenly act like the loving and caring husband I’d wanted when I was younger. It was strange. While Antonio had never been able to give me what I physically needed, he’d been my friend and confidante. We’d spent time together when he wasn’t busy and I’d never felt overly lonely in our marriage. I had a feeling the same wouldn’t be true in my second marriage. Even if Dante now satisfied my sexual needs, it would take some time before we’d become partners.
After I’d showered and dressed in my favorite plum pencil skirt and a white blouse, I headed into one of the guestrooms that now harbored a few of my moving boxes that I hadn’t unpacked yet. It took me a few minutes of rummaging before I found what I was looking for, a wooden case where I kept a few things from Antonio. Inside were our wedding bands, which I’d never much cared about. The most important thing in the case was a thin photo album that held mostly pictures of the time before Antonio and I had married. Back then we’d only been friends without the added weight of having to pretend to be more. Antonio looked nothing like Dante. He had dark hair and dark eyes, and wasn’t very tall. He’d never wanted me to wear heels so I wasn’t taller than him. But appearances weren’t the biggest difference between my first and my second husband; that was their aura. Where Antonio had been open and friendly, someone people perceived as a likeable albeit ordinary buddy type, Dante oozed power and cold. Nobody would mistake him for a follower. If Dante hadn’t been born into our world, he’d probably be a governor or senator. He would have done well in that world. But as with all of us¸ our birth determined our fate. We were all bound to the mob. I glanced down at a photo of Antonio and me on a horse. It had been the first time for me. We both looked young and happy, hopeful. Antonio hadn’t been inducted into the mafia back then, had still thought he could find a way out of his duty.
I put the wooden case back down before I could dive deeper into sad memories. I straightened, took a deep breath and left the guest bedroom. There was no going back, but it wasn’t always easy to move forward, especially if you didn’t know which way to go. But I needed something that gave my life meaning and structure, something I could put my energy into, as long Dante didn’t let me into his life.
I missed having a purpose, a daily task. I wasn’t someone who could sit at home all day, or spent our going over the newest piece of juicy gossip. I wanted a job, but even during my time with Antonio, people had found it strange that he’d allowed his wife to work. I worried that it would be a scandal Dante wasn’t willing to risk.
My steps slowed as I headed toward the door he hid behind almost all the time. I wasn’t only nervous because I wanted to ask Dante for a job. What if things would be awkward and strained between us now that we’d slept together? Though I really wasn’t sure how our relationship could take a further nosedive down. We were already barely being civil to each other. Apart from throwing dishes at each other’s heads and bickering constantly there really was no way our interactions could change for the worse. And to be honest, I wasn’t even sure if I wouldn’t prefer heated fights to the cold ignorance I was getting now.
Gathering my courage, I knocked at his door.
“Come in,” Dante called after a moment.
I entered his office. My eyes immediately darted to the spot on the desk where the photo of his first wife had been, but he’d removed it. I didn’t think he’d thrown it out. It was probably hidden away in one of the drawers in his desk, and I didn’t expect him to forget her, to throw away every piece that reminded him of her, to banish her memory from his heart; I only wished he’d leave a little room in his heart for me.
Dante looked up from a pile of papers. “What do you need?” He didn’t say it in an unfriendly way, but it was obvious that he was busy. His demeanor toward me hadn’t changed at all, despite what we’d done yesterday. As my eyes took in his dark gray vest, my body remembered the way it had rubbed against my nipples yesterday and I almost crossed the room and threw myself at Dante again. But I didn’t want to appear too needy. Our next sex would have to be initiated by Dante. Of course, maybe he’d go back to not touching me again. I pushed that worrisome thought aside as I closed the door after me and walked closer to the desk. “I have something I’d like to discuss with you.”
Dante scanned my face. “Go on.”
“I want to work. When I was married to Antonio I helped him run his family restaurants too.” They’d always only been a way to launder money, but I’d enjoyed the task. I’d greeted guests and organized arrangements when someone booked a wedding in our restaurants. After his death, his younger brother had taken over. A woman alone couldn’t possibly handle the task. That’s what our men thought anyway.
Dante leaned back in his desk chair with a frown. “Work? What did you have in mind?”
I was glad he was open to the idea and didn’t shoot it down immediately. Emboldened by this, I walked around the desk and settled on its edge. Dante’s eyes flitted to my legs but too quickly they returned to my face. “I’m good at organizing and event planning. I’m also very good with people.” I was also good at leading people but I kept that to myself. Made Men didn’t like women who enjoyed being in charge. Somehow most of them couldn’t get it in their heads that a strong woman at their side didn’t make them less of a man.
Dante nodded. “I need someone for one of our casinos.”
I tried to curb my excitement. I didn’t even know what Dante had in mind for me yet. “Riverboat or underground?” The casinos on land weren’t official of course. It was still illegal to run a casino in Chicago that wasn’t situated on a riverboat, but the mob and Dante in particular were working to change that. He could be very convincing, and it certainly didn’t hurt that a few senators were regular customers in the Outfit’s casinos and brothels. Not that legalization would mean that the Outfit would make their secret casinos public. They’d lose too much money if they did.
“Underground. I don’t want you in the public eye.”
That made sense. People knew I was Dante’s wife. It would attract too much attention if I worked in one of the Riverboat casinos. “I know a little about gambling, and I’m sure I can learn everything else I need to know very quickly.” Actually, the only knowledge about gambling I had were the rules of Texas hold’em that Antonio had taught me, but Dante didn’t need to know that.
There was a knowing glint in Dante’s eyes. “The only thing you need to know about gambling is that the bank always wins.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Really. What kind of job do you have in mind that requires next to no knowledge about the workings of a casino?” I assumed Dante wouldn’t let his wife be one of the girls behind the bar that encouraged men to drink more.
“I want you to manage one of the smaller casinos of the Outfit. The man who’s been in charge for the last three years was laid off yesterday.”
Was that what Dante had done after he’d slept with me? For a few moments, Dante and I stared at each other as if we’d been thinking the same thing, but now wasn’t the moment to bring up sex. “Laid off?” I echoed his words, which I was fairly sure were an euphemism for something else, since it was hard to be fired from a position in the mob. If you messed up in one mob business, it was unlikely that you’d get a position somewhere else, unless you were someone’s son, nephew etc. And if you weren’t…
Dante watched me closely when he said his next words. “I found out that he filled his pockets with Outfit money.”
“So you killed him,” I finished for him. I knew how things worked in our world. Maybe I’d never been allowed in the midst of it, but I heard the stories.
Dante nodded. “I did. And if you want you can have his job.”
“I never managed a casino before. Why are you giving such an important position to me?”
“The assistant manager can do the main work in the background. I need someone to make the high rollers feel welcome.”
I stiffened. Dante of course picked up on it. “I think you misunderstand me.” He stood and stepped in front of me. He rested his hands lightly on my thighs, making my skin tingle even through my tights. “You are mine, Valentina.”
I had to bite back a smile at the possessiveness in his voice. “So what exactly am I supposed to do?”
He removed his hands and strode over to the window, hands in his pockets. “I want you to welcome the high rollers. Show them to their table. Introduce them to our complimentary girls.”
“Complimentary girls, really?”
Dante turned. “Gambling and prostitution are our main businesses, and both can easily be combined.”
“Okay. I can do that.” Even if the word complimentary girls made me want to tear my hair out. “That doesn’t sound like a lot though.”
“Also you organize special events. We have event nights once a month, and I think a female touch might make them more appealing. You also make sure that everything goes smoothly. I want you to be my eyes. I have a feeling I haven’t weeded out all the rotten fruit yet.”
“You want me to spy on your employees.”
“Yes. I want you to keep your eyes open.”
“Is it because you think they’ll be less cautious around me or because you don’t have anyone else you trust with the task?”
“I have enough men I trust. But you are right, I think many men will underestimate you and be less vigilant around you.” He leaned against the window sill. “I don’t trust anyone unconditionally.”
“Not even me?” It was said in a teasing voice, but Dante’s eyes became cool. “You haven’t given me reason to. You lied to me about your marriage to Antonio and you refuse to give me the name of an outsider who might be privy to compromising information about the Outfit.”
The way he worded it made me sound like a notorious liar. “I didn’t lie to you about the marriage. I told you that I’ve never been with Antonio.”
“Yes, you did, but it was a truth I suspect you gave up only because you feared I’d uncover it eventually.”
Of course he hit the nail on the head. I couldn’t deny it. He would have known I lied and that wouldn’t really have helped my situation. “Does it matter why I decided to tell you the truth?”
“It matters greatly, Valentina. Because I don’t know if you’ll be as forthcoming with future truths if you don’t feel cornered. If I counted every coerced truth as redeeming, I would have to spare every traitor who gives away his knowledge under duress.”
Under duress, what a mild word for what the Outfit did to traitors. “I know what you do to traitors, and that’s exactly why I won’t give you the name of Antonio’s lover.”
“You realize that by aiding Antonio in his deceit you became his accomplice and thus a traitor to the Outfit, and that you keep betraying the Outfit and me by withholding information.”
I pushed off the desk, unable to sit still any longer. “I know. But no matter what you think of me, I am loyal to those I care about. I was loyal to Antonio. If he were still alive, I would have taken his secret to the grave with me to protect him.”
Dante shook his head. “That’s something you can’t say for sure. You’ve never suffered through excruciating pain. Torture is a powerful motivator.”
“I guess we’ll never know, unless you intend to test the theory on me and try to coerce the name of Antonio’s lover out of me,” I said insolently.
Dante fixed me with a hard look. “Because you are my wife and because you are a woman, you are safe. You know that very well.”
Because I was his wife, not because he liked me or even cared for me. “I know,” I said, then because I couldn’t bear the tension between us I added. “If you had a secret you needed to hide, I would keep it for you. I would try to brave torture, pain and death to hide it for you.”
Dante didn’t say anything, didn’t even bridge the distance between us, only gazed at me with his unreadable eyes. I decided to take my exit before I said something sentimental, or before Dante could send me out. Dante didn’t stop me, but I could feel his eyes on my back.
