Page 42 of Isle of Seduction
“With all due respect, Mr. Capaldi, you’re not a councillor. I’m not even sure what you’re doing here. Same goes to you, Mr. Addams,” councillor Louise McGregor says.
“I’m here because I submitted the project you’re voting on and will be the one building that school.”
“Don’t get ahead of yourself, Capaldi. Not everyone in this town is at your beck and call,” Addams sneers. “And shouldn’t you be at home playing house with your new wife Giulia.”
My voice is stone-cold, steel and a promise of pain all wrapped in one, my focus sharpened to my prey.
“Keep my wife’s name out of your fucking mouth.”
Mike elbows me in the ribs to distract me and snap me out of the murderous rage I’m descending into. With Giulia receiving weird fucking notes about the company she keeps and Addams bringing her name up everywhere he goes, I’m even more determined to uncover who he really is.
“Remember the end goal, Andrea,” Mike whispers.
We keep arguing for another two hours before the councillors agree to put the project to a vote in the coming week where neither Addams nor I will be invited. I’m fuming when I get out of the town hall and straddle my bike, which is back from the repair shop, riding too fast back to the cottage. The thatched roof comes into my line of vision and the tension in my shoulders immediately dissolves. I drive into the garage and walk into the house, finding Giulia on the couch, papers all around her, hunched over something as per usual.
I come behind her and peek over her shoulders. More plans for Rouge come into view. It’s a 3D mock up of the inside of the building. Red and black and gold accents on the walls make it look like a rococo house of pleasure. In a way, it’s what it will be. She zooms in on the corner of the ground floor and I can see smaller stages with poles and a couple of seats for a maximum of four people.
I kiss the top of her head and I’m sure she doesn’t realise the little sigh that she lets out. I want to drown in that sound.
“It’s looking good, sweetheart.”
Now she tenses. I thought we were past that bullshit defensiveness, but I brace as I prepare to go into sparring with my little wife.
“Of course, it is; it’s not my first rodeo,” she retorts.
She needs to fight. Since it’s how she deals with her emotions, I’ll be there for her. Might not be the smartest choice, but I don’t give a shit. I know where I stand with her, I’ll give her the fight she thinks she’s in for and hold her down by the neck when she needs submission. The way she let me do it just a few days before speaks volumes when it comes to what she craves. What I crave though? To give her anything she wants and desires. Five years is becoming too short of a time to have with her.
“Run me through it, guerrieritta. Show me what my money paid for.”
“Your shit town lacks a place of sin. With this club, you can get anything money can buy, consensually, no matter how depraved. I’ve talked to Lana about supplying it with Y, so it would be the only club in the whole of the UK to do so, bringing in people and cash. We can make it exclusive, but open it widely on certain nights to avoid being the source of jealousy and retaliation. Sex workers can provide services based on tech sheets.”
I look at her like it’s the first time I see her. Sex work and entertainment are businesses my father never wanted to set a foot in, saying it was too messy when you deal with sex and people. “You’ve thought about this a lot.”
It’s not a question. The vision is clear. Some of it is illegal as shit but for the most part, it’s legitimate and good for business. Only a mafia princess who’s been deep into it before could come up with a scheme like this. It might not mix well with my political career, but it wouldn’t be the first time I have to buy the silence of powerful men. And if they come to the club, they won’t want to snitch, anyway.
Not with what Giulia will offer them.
“Of course, I’ve built two clubs like this on Kalliste alone in three years. This is just a walk in the park.” She gloats, and I can’t help but grab her face in my hands and kiss her passionately.
It’s like coming home. Merely stepping inside my cottage in the woods isn’t enough anymore.
This.
Her sweet lips and little mewl of protest before she melts on my tongue, that’s what I need.
Our tongues tangle until she manages to push me away by standing up from the couch. “You can’t keep kissing me when you want to shut me up.”
I frown. “Do you think this is what’s happening here, guerrieritta?”
“Why would you do it otherwise?”
I close the inch of distance between us. I know she wants to flee, but her stubbornness refuses to yield and she stays planted with both feet on the ground, like she always does when she fights, looking up at me through her lashes and making me drown in the green of her irises.
“I think you’re fucking brilliant.”
“Yeah, right,” she scoffs and turns her head to the side.
I grab her chin with my fingers and turn her gaze back to mine. “You’re brilliant, Giulia. This club, it’s a great idea. You don’t need me to tell you that, you already know it. I don’t know who told you that you don’t have good ideas or what other bullshit. But I see the potential of your plan. It’s good.”