Page 72 of His Vicious Vow
“If I thought I could fire her and not worry about a lawsuit I would. Keep her away from me. Do not allow her to schedule any more meetings, send her to Paul. And if Paul isn’t available you take notes and you give them to me.” His jaw works.
“Yes sir, consider it done. Speaking of cantankerous women your sister won’t return my calls or text to find her somewhere to live. I want it on the record I sent a last text yesterday to hit me up when she was ready.”
He shakes his head. “She’s icing me out too. It’s fine. It’s not on you. Let me know if she does but let it go for now.”
When Natasha asks him about a meeting with a capo coming in later I become bored as they discuss business. I allow my eyes to roam over his desk as something is off from the last time I was in here.
Tears sting my eyes when I see it: It’s a picture of me on our wedding day. I don’t dare pick it up sure he’ll realize I did if it’s even the slightest bit out of place. This wasn’t a posed picture. I jokingly showed off my heels to the photographer while Sandro spoke to Carlo in hushed tones in the corner of the large room.
A week after our wedding day Natasha sent me the link for a website where all our pictures from the day were uploaded. I could pick out whatever I wanted and they would be printed out and sent to me. I thanked her but hadn’t logged into it, still not sure how I felt about the day.
Out of all the formal poses and candid pictures I saw the photographer taking that night of me and us, this is the one he selected. It comes back to me: he didn’t want me to change but he did need me to play a part in public. The part of a mature, respectable perfect mafia wife. In private I could be who I wanted. That moment in time I was exactly who I wanted to be. The photographer captured it and Sandro wanted it on his desk.
I blink back tears, it’s even better than watching Sandro tell Laure off. Ah crap, the tears fall when I realize he moved the previous picture of his family from the right side of his desk inches away from the computer screen so it’s in his eyesight while staring at his screen.
Something I almost gave up on unfurls in my chest: hope. Hope that maybe…we could become friends as well as parents. Closing my eyes, I have to face the fact I will never be free of Sandro no matter where I go. Tracker inside me or not. When it all comes down to it, I don’t want to leave him. We have the next twenty years at least for him to grow into love from like. I might not be the most patient person, but for him I will be.
CHAPTER 27
Carina
Two weeks after I watch Sandro tell Lauren I was the only woman he wants, I would never know it if I hadn’t saw him say it. He’s rarely home, again. We communicate through Natasha who sends me texts of anything I need to know, from Bianca’s room will be cleaned out for me to make into a nursery. To the appointment Natasha makes with the interior designer to decorate the nursery.
I’m in the living room looking through baby books with Kiki in my lap when Sandro comes home. He’s going to do the thing where he nods and keeps walking. Desperation pushes words out of me. “Hi, is everything okay?”
He stops, wary blue runs over me. “I’m home to change. My VP who normally does the walk is out for some personal issue. The walk is the thing I like doing the least. Our employees are intimidated by me and don’t talk to me making it a waste of time.”
Considering he’s in all black, I understand them being intimidated. “What’s a walk?”
“It’s something Luca did twice a day in the afternoon and the evening of walking the property from the casino to the restaurants, clubs, and into our house theater. Walking the property allows employees to bring issues directly to us in case they can’t go to their immediate supervisor. It keeps small problems from becoming big ones. There’s also always something that goes wrong during a shift and being on the floor to handle it immediately is good for employees and guests.”
Curiosity and having his attention has me asking, since I haven’t seen anything of the place than the front desk area, the ballrooms, and the restaurant we were in the night before our wedding. “You walk the whole place? How big is it?”
“Minus our rooms, there is over a hundred thousand square feet. The spa Natasha keeps urging you to use is over six thousand of it and I don’t walk that. The casino is over thirty thousand square feet. It’s a big property, one of the largest on the strip. Which adds up to a time suck for me. If it were Luca he’d get stopped a dozen times. When I do it, I’ll get two or three people.” He sighs as he runs a hand through his hair.
My chest clenches tight at how obviously tired he is. “Can I go with you? I’d really like to see the place and maybe if I’m with you people will stop talk to you.”
He goes still. “I would like that very much. No heels though, your feet are going to be sore by the time we’re done.”
It’s a warning but I don’t care. If I get to spend time with Sandro I’d walk over hot coals. “I’ll be right back.” I set Kiki down and head for my room.
I’m standing in my closet wondering what in the hell to wear. The place is not only one of the largest on the strip it’s also one of the nicest, I learned from Natasha. None of the rooms run less than three hundred a night, they only wanted guests with big pockets to stay at the hotel.
Okay, so nicer than normal but we’ll be talking to employees who might be intimidated or think I’m a rich bitch for wearing anything glaringly expensive. Also factor in flats. This is hard. I sigh and wonder if I should ask Sandro what I should wear when I see the perfect dress. It’s a crushed velvet long sleeve wrap dress that falls to my ankle. The base of the dress is black with a trail of large flowers in varying shades of pink and purple from my shoulder down to the hem of the skirt. I loved it the minute I tried it on.
I team it with black velvet ballet flats. My hair is a mess. I pile it in a carefully constructed messy bun with face framing tendrils. For my makeup I keep it clean but use a matte deep red on my lips and the smallest amount of natural looking brown eyeshadow on my eyelids.
Done, I wince to see I took almost thirty minutes. I find Sandro in the living room with Kiki in his arms. He turns, and blue roams over me. “Beautiful,” is an exhalation of air.
“You don’t look so bad yourself.” The cut to fit silk three-piece suit he’s wearing is dove gray with the vest in slightly darker gray. His shirt is baby blue and his tie is a deep sapphire blue with a pocket square that matches his tie. Stunning, no wonder employees were intimidated by him.
When he puts Kiki in her kennel she whines pitifully.
“I won’t be gone long.” I tell her.
He chuckles. “Are you telling her that for her or you?”
I roll my eyes as I follow him into the elevator. “She is a very smart dog, Sandro. She understands what I’m saying. You too so don’t say anything rude to her.”