Born in Blood Collection Volume 1 - Cora Reilly Page 0,167

kill someone if I had to? Maybe I’m capable of the same brutality as you.”

Dante smiled a joyless smile. “Maybe, but I doubt it.” He traced a finger down my throat. “Maybe you would have had the potential to survive in the Outfit, if you’d been brought up the same way boys are raised in our world. My father had me kill my first man on his orders when I was fourteen. A traitor that my father had tortured in front of me before I put a bullet in his head. After that, my father had one of his soldiers torture me to see how long I could stand the pain until I broke down and pleaded for him to stop. I lasted less than thirty minutes. The second time, I lasted almost two hours. The tenth time, my father had to stop the soldier or I would have died. I didn’t beg, not even to save my life. Be glad that you never got the chance to develop your cruelness, Valentina.”

I had to swallow twice before I could speak. “That’s barbaric. How can you not hate your father for what he did to you?”

Dante’s finger lingered on the swell of my breast. The fabric of my blouse might as well not have been there; it felt as if he was touching bare skin. “I hate him. But I respect him too. Fear, hatred and respect are the three most important feelings a Capo must instill in other people.”

“In your wife as well?”

Dante pulled away his hand. “Hatred and fear have no place in a marriage.” He stepped away from me and casually walked over to my desk, which was piled with the folders I intended to read. “I see you’re trying to familiarize yourself with our high rollers.”

I had trouble handling the sudden topic change. My mind was still reeling from the horrible things Dante had told me about his youth. No wonder he was so good at shutting himself off after the cruelty his father had subjected him to. I wondered how many of the scars marring his body were from those torture sessions, and how many the result of an enemy’s attack. “Yes. I want to memorize their faces, names and quirks.”

“I thought I should stay until the high rollers arrive and introduce you to them. That way it’ll appear more official. I had Leo send them invites for an early reception. You’ll have the chance to talk to them without the usual chaos of the casino, and they get the chance to gamble in private for a while.”

I was grateful to Dante for making sure things went smoothly for me. Of course, I realized at least part of it was because he liked things to be under his control. “Thank you.”

He inclined his head, then looked at me for a moment longer before he checked his watch. “Why don’t you prepare yourself some more? The first high rollers should arrive in one hour. I’ll talk to Leo and make sure everything is set up for the reception.”

When he tried to walk past me, I put my hand on his arm to stop him. Then I stood on my tiptoes and kissed his cheek before I strode toward my desk and picked up a folder. After a moment, I heard the door open and close.

Fifteen minutes before the reception was supposed to start, I headed toward the main floor where a few tables with glasses and ice buckets filled with champagne bottles had been set up. There was also a small buffet of canapés. Dante made his way toward me the moment he saw me and his presence set me at ease.

Soon the first high rollers arrived. Most of them were at least in their fifties. Old, rich men with expensive designer suits, tans from too many hours spent on the golf course, and smiles that spoke of overconfidence. These men thought the world was theirs for the taking. And yet I didn’t miss the look of respect that crossed their eyes when they faced Dante. The way they shook his hand, you could tell they were trying to pay him deference. Dante always quickly turned their attention to me, introducing me as the new manager and his wife. The last part led to a wave of respectful compliments of my beauty. While I certainly didn’t mind being praised for my appearance, it wasn’t something that would help me keep the casino staff in check. I steered