I felt my stomach drop. “Wait—”
“How many?” Dante asked.
Sergio shrugged. “As many as you can. Show Vlas that trying to hit you has consequences. You can’t let this get out of hand. Kill some of his men, show him you’re not going to be pushed around.”
“Dante—”
“All right,” he said, standing up straight. He winced slightly then nodded again. “I can do that.”
“Just be careful,” Sergio said.
“What happened to staying out of the war?” I asked, my eyes wide. “What happened to him being a fool?”
Sergio shook his head. “The boy’s a fool, he already knows it, and the war’s on. Might as well try and win the damned thing and come out alive.”
I stared at the men and felt a creeping sense of horror wash over me. Sergio may look like a kind older man, especially covered in flour and wearing an apron, but he was a killer, just like Dante. Together, they had so much blood on their hands, I couldn’t even imagine it.
“I’m getting something to eat,” Dante said. “Aida, you hungry?”
I shook my head and sat back on the stool.
“You can stay back here,” Sergio said as he started separating a new hunk of dough. “Go on, drink your coffee.”
“Yeah,” I said.
Dante smirked at me and brushed his fingers over my leg as he walked past and headed out the door. I watched him go and realized that I was still living under the delusion that Dante was somehow not a monster.
But he’s proven, again and again, that’s exactly what he is.
“I know what you’re thinking,” Sergio said, his voice low.
“What’s that?” I felt numb, like my lips would fall off my face.
“He cares about you. I’ve never seen him care about someone like he cares about you.”
I nodded and stared at the floor. “I believe you,” I said.
“Good. But you’d better be careful. You’ve figured out what kind of man Dante is by now, haven’t you?”
“Yes,” I whispered.
“You seem like a normal girl. Despite your shithead father, you’re probably a nice person, right? Never got in trouble, never hurt nobody, right?”
“Right.”
“Then take it from me. That’s the way to live. There’s no glory or honor in the things that we do here. There’s nothing beautiful about killing and power. If you want any chance at a normal life, walk away and never, ever look back. Because Dante will suck you into his world, and if you let him, you’ll never come back out.”
I stared at Sergio, not sure what to say. He kept working, never looked up, and his face was completely neutral.
But his words shook me down deep. So much so that I had to take a few deep breaths just to keep from breaking down and crying right there on the stool.
Because I knew he was right.
I was a good person. A normal person, at least before all this. Now the idea of killing people, of men getting killed, of violence and drugs and everything else was becoming normal, or at least no so horrible. All because of Dante, because he was seducing me and drawing me deeper into his world.
The worst part was, I wanted it. I wanted to be in his world, wanted to live with him on the edge.
It scared me. I could feel it, exactly what Sergio said, hovering at the edges of my awareness. If I kept going, I’d fall into that life forever, and never be able to look back.
And I didn’t know if it was already too late.
21
Dante
We spent the morning at Sergio’s bakery. I met with some local folks like I used to, listened to their complaints about rough cops and loud neighbors, promised to fix a few broken sidewalks slabs, that sort of shit. My guys were crawling all over the place, both inside and out, just to make sure we were okay. Around noon, I walked Aida back to the car and started the drive back to the suburbs.
“What did you and Sergio talk about?” I asked, trying not to sound too interested.
She frowned out the window. I glanced at her, let my eyes run down her pale blue top over her tight black jeans. Her hair was in a tight bun and a few strands hung in curls, framing her face. “Nothing,” she said.
“Huh.” I tilted my head, looking back at the road. “You seemed distant when you got back out.”
“I did?” She kept staring out the window. “I guess.”
“Aida.”
She looked at me and forced a smile. “Yeah?”
I frowned at the road in front of me. I could force her to tell me what the old shit said, or I could just let it be.
I knew what old habits would have me do. If this were a few years ago, I would’ve demanded she told me what went on in there, but I knew that wouldn’t do a damned thing. It wouldn’t help if I forced her into talking, especially not when she didn’t want to talk.
So I let it drop. “Nothing. Never mind.”
She turned and stared back out the window.
I let out a breath and drove. I could still feel her legs wrapped around my hips, feel her breath in my ear as my cock plunged deep inside of her. I didn’t want to let it bother me so much, but it did anyway. I wanted to know why she seemed like her conversation with Sergio didn’t go all that well.
But I managed to make it back to the house, park out front, and walk her up the steps without saying a word. She stepped in through the door, but I didn’t follow.
“You’re not staying?” she asked, and a glimmer of the Aida from just a few hours resurfaced.
“Got some work to do,” I said.
“Right.” She looked away and seemed to shut down. “I guess I can expect Gino.”
“He should be inside already.”
“Good. Okay.” She let out a breath.
“Aida,” I said and stepped toward her.
She turned and tilted her head. “It’s fine, Dante.
