Tales of Darkness & Sin - Pepper Winters Page 0,46
that took place two hours ago in the ceremonial chamber.”
“I’m not sure what I could tell you that you don’t already know. You all were there with me.”
They’d probably enjoyed it, too. I’d heard a few groans and grunts past the canopy. No matter how serious they made the deflowering ceremony seem, rumor still had it that escorts were rushed in and out of the ceremony before the bloodied sheets were offered.
I didn’t even have it in me to blush at the thought of these men getting off with me.
The don of the Amato family cleared his throat. “Our vision was blurred by the veil.”
Piero Bruno sneered at me. “We couldn’t tell it wasn’t my son you were fucking.”
I wanted to shutter my eyes shut, to fade away into the wall and reappear when it was safe. Instead, I swallowed my reaction long enough for Uncle Vanni to speak.
“Enough, Piero.”
He slammed both palms on the table before him. “My only son is dead!”
My jaw nearly unhinged itself. I let it, playing on that shock to convince them of my innocence. I mean, I was innocent. And shocked. But I had no doubt in my mind who would kill Tommaso. Hint: He possessed the filthiest mouth, wielded an eight-inch dick, and had a name that rhymed with Spanky.
I shook my head. “My husband is dead?”
Piero scoffed. “Don’t play coy.”
“I was just with him in the chamber…”
“You were with Frankie Amato.”
How could they possibly know that? They’d left the room before we did. Someone had to have told them, and I doubted it was Frankie.
I feigned shock. “I… I didn’t know. It was dark. I thought it was Tommaso. We’d never had… intercourse before. I couldn’t have known it wasn’t him.”
No one was buying my excuses, least of all Piero. “You dirty whor—”
“Enough.” Uncle Vanni cast a firm look at my father-in-law. “We’re family now, Piero, and we do plenty of lucrative business together. Certainly, you value your relationship with the Vitali, yes?”
He swallowed his retort. “I do.”
“I believe my niece.” Uncle Vanni lifted a brow. “Do you?”
“I do.”
Despite Piero’s begrudging tone, I relaxed. This had gone the opposite of how I thought it would. I was safe, for now… but what about Frankie?
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Frankie
I had a plan.
Lily would leave on her honeymoon today with her new husband, only poor Tom was dead, ashes dissolved in the Tyrrhenian sea. I would take his place. It was easy to bribe the pilot to allow me on the plane early, a stow away until the jet took off for Malta.
Then, we’d disappear.
Lily and me.
To a life across the sea in America, where we could carve out our own future.
I already had an in with an old friend of mine, Dante Salvatore, who’d recently set up shop in the Camorra outfit in New York City.
I was ready to leave the motherland and their old customs for the slick shine and more lenient moral bent of the New World.
Hopefully, Lily was, too.
My bag was packed, a small leather backpack with photos of Manuel and a cold million in cash I’d stolen from our cache in the family crypt.
I was seconds from leaving when a knock sounded at my apartment door. Frowning, I checked my 9mm handgun before tucking it back in my waistband and answering the door.
It was the last person I’d expected.
“Angelo?”
A grim smile split his face. “Can I come in?”
I hesitated, opened the door, and stepped out of the way to allow him entry. “What the hell are you doing here?”
Lily’s plane was due to leave in three hours. I couldn’t miss the window to climb onboard.
Angelo fidgeted with his cuffs, then adjusted the angle of a family photo I kept on the fireplace mantle.
“Angelo?” I prompted, even as my belly clenched with foreboding.
We were not friends.
Not really.
It was impossible to have true camaraderie in a family where you were encouraged to step on the heads of your brothers in the quest for more power. Sometimes, I wondered if that wasn’t the problem with the Amatos. If we might’ve accrued more power like the Vitalis by encouraging our relations instead of pitting them against each other like gladiators.
He heaved out a dramatic sigh and wiped his sweating hands on his trousers, leaving behind slimy trails like a snail. “You need to prepare.”
“For?”
But fuck, I already knew.
Something had gone wrong. Something that meant all my well-laid plans would crumble to ash and dust just like Tommaso’s body in the flames.