Total pages in book: 157
Estimated words: 154525 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 773(@200wpm)___ 618(@250wpm)___ 515(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 154525 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 773(@200wpm)___ 618(@250wpm)___ 515(@300wpm)
“What is it about, then? Between them,” he said, gesturing at a couple that had disappeared deeper into the room.
That relieved Salvatore. Giorgio didn’t make a move to get up and adjust his seating as he had for the last three hours just to keep watching, either.
Giorgio acted like he didn’t hear anything else his consigliere said. Or maybe, he just didn’t care. Both could also be true.
“They want each other, Giorgio. They’re a good match.”
It was true, even if a baby hid between them. That’s how the baby got there, after all.
“And he is a good man,” Sal added about Nico, “even if you can’t see it.”
“I see it.”
“No, you don’t. What you do is challenge and torture him for the smallest mistakes and then offer crumbs of approval and praise after he’s done the very most to make up for whatever you saw as wrong in the first place. Marco, on the other hand—”
“I’ve had about enough of your Marco tirades tonight,” the boss interjected darkly.
Salvatore clasped his hands at his middle and chose to have the last word. Even if it meant he would pay for it later. “I get it, Giorgio. Marco’s your favorite. You look at him and see the life you wanted with the woman you chose, killed for, and then you killed her. And he was all she ever gave you. You look him, and you see yourself. He is the reflection you enjoy. And then there’s Nico. And we both know who you see when you look at him, don’t we? You know because he’s proof, and you tried to love him, you did for a while, but she wouldn’t come back to you, and he took the brunt. But that’s not his fault, Giorgio. You did that to her, too. And you love to make him pay for it.”
“Okay, that’s quite enough.”
That subject did typically bring the end to any conversation with Giorgio. Even if the topic of his abuse of Carina as a girl, and later, woman, was only talked around.
“I agree,” Salvatore said. “This is getting tiring.”
Marco, and his unfortunate date, reappeared at the sitting room bar for another round of drinks. Despite the party winding down and guests beginning to leave, those two appeared to be just getting started.
“She’s not even legal age,” Salvatore pointed out.
“Who cares?”
And then Carmen skipped into the room, Vanna following close behind, to say goodnight to her father. He reached for the tiredly smiling girl as if to pick her up and put her in his lap.
“No thanks, Daddy,” Carmen said, not ashamed or scared to refuse Giorgio, “Mama says I shouldn’t sit in anyone’s lap anymore. Even yours.”
“Did she now?”
Vanna said nothing, just stared. Daring him to...do something. She could cut glass with her gaze.
Giorgio sighed as he put his attention back on Carmen. “All right, a hug, then?”
That, he got.
“Night, Daddy.”
“Night, baby. Did you have fun?”
“Yeah.”
“Good. Don’t forget to say goodnight to your brothers.”
“I will,” she promised, turning back to her mother.
Once the two had gone from the sitting room, Giorgio reverted to his previous position, watching his son. Except now, he watched Marco and the date he brought along.
“Even she’s proof of what I said, she’s a way to hurt his brother; to humiliate him, to remind him of what he’s done to Nico.”
“I know,” Giorgio murmured.
The confession just about knocked Salvatore straight off his feet.
“But he’s going to need that, isn’t he?” Giorgio asked after a moment. “He’s going to need the kind of skin not even someone like Marco could bite through. Hell, he might even thank me for it,” the man added. “Someday.”
Salvatore remained quiet.
“Go dance with your daughter,” the boss said, then.
Finally, the dismissal he’d been waiting for. He certainly fucking earned it.
•••
Salvatore intended to get at least one dance with his daughter, but after hours of standing next to Giorgio acting as the man’s personal sounding board for all his grumblings, he headed for the bar first. He didn’t typically drink at these parties, let alone his own, as alcohol tended to slow him down. He could not afford that tonight, but three good gulps of whiskey wouldn’t hurt him at this point.
Thankfully, Marco and his date had left the bar. Salvatore wasted no time getting that drink from the woman making them behind the counter and then slamming it back. So much for three gulps. It went down in one big swallow that burned.
Feeling like he could now handle—maybe—another hour at this shitshow, Salvatore went in search of his daughter. It didn’t take him long to find her in the connected gallery room that doubled as a space to dance and enjoy music during the gatherings. The space had practically cleared of people but for a handful that weren’t really paying attention to what was going on in the corner.