Bark For The Don Who’s Been Hunting Me For Ten Years Chapter 03
The guards shove me through the front doors.
The whole place is dripping money. Antique porcelain in glass cases. Chandeliers the size of cars. Crushed diamonds set into the banisters like they’re nothing.
My father and Camilla start breathing fast. Eyes wide. Pure greed. Not even trying to hide it.
“Guess I’m about to be a mob wife after all. Long as this bitch doesn’t fuck it up tonight.”
“Everything in this house is worth more than we make in a year, Aldo. Look at it.”
My father grabs my arm. Voice dropped low.
“You listen. When he shows up, you make him happy. Real happy. Get him to sign that East Side property over to us.”
I look at them. Their ugly, hungry faces. I don’t say a word.
Then my eyes catch on the painting hanging dead center on the main wall.
A girl in a white dress. Looks like an angel.
It’s me.
Something dark twists in my chest. Cassian De Luca. This man is sick.
Enzo’s watching me. Watching my face too closely. He doesn’t like that I’m not shaking. Doesn’t like that I’m not on my knees.
He barks at me.
“Watch your fucking manners. On your knees. By the couch. Nobody said you could look around.”
I glance at him. Cold. Don’t move.
Enzo’s hand goes up. Ready to strike.
“You little—”
“Wait!”
My father’s voice cracks across the room. He’s staring at the painting. Then at me. Back at the painting. Back at me.
“That. That girl. The birthmark on her neck. Sera’s got the exact same one. Exact same one.”
Enzo’s hand freezes in the air.
He follows my father’s finger to the painting. Then his eyes lock on my neck. And they don’t move.
Something happens behind his face. Pupils blow wide. Mouth parts.
He fumbles his phone out. Fingers shaking. Voice comes out choked.
“I’m calling the Don. Right now. Ten years. Ten fucking years he’s been looking for her.”
The dial tone starts.
Then something crashes into the phone from behind. Knocks it clean out of his hand. Call cut.
A woman’s voice cuts across the room. Sweet. Poison-sweet.
“Enzo. The Don just took his meds and finally passed out. And you’re gonna wake him up for some cheap little thing they dropped off at the door?”
She walks down the stairs like she owns the place. Red dress. Red bottoms. Heels clicking.
Valentina.
I know her. All ten years I spent by Cassian’s side, this woman was always somewhere in the background. Stuck to him like gum on a shoe. He never touched her. Never even looked at her.
Guess she never gave up.
Her eyes slide over to me. Bored. And then they stop.
The jealousy in her face burns hot enough to blister.
She clicks over in her heels. Grabs my chin. Yanks it up.
“Huh. You do look a little like her. Pity.”
“You know what you are, sweetheart? A hole. A warm body. Something for him to fuck when he misses her.”
I turn my face away from her hand. Voice flat.
“Who said I was a replacement?”
Valentina blinks. Then throws her head back and laughs. Actually claps a hand over her mouth like it’s the funniest thing she’s ever heard.
“Not a replacement? Oh honey. Don’t tell me you actually think you’re her. The dead one. The one he’s been mourning for ten years.”
I tilt my head away from her. Cold.
“What if I told you I am?”
Her face drops.
Her hand flies up and cracks across my cheek.
“You little bitch. You’ve got a face that looks kinda like hers and now you think you can pull that shit in this house? You got a death wish?”
I catch her wrist before she can hit me again. Squeeze until her manicure bends.
“Who the fuck are you to put your hands on me?”
My father’s eyes bug out. He can see his billion dollars dying. He lunges across the room and kicks the back of my knee.
Hard.
“You stupid fucking bitch! Down. Now. Apologize to her. Right fucking now.”
My knee slams into the marble. Pain shoots up my spine.
Valentina smiles. Slow. Ugly. And pulls a knife from somewhere in her dress.
“You got a mouth on you, huh? You look a little like her and now you think you’re something?”
She steps forward. The blade catches the light.
“Let’s fix that face. See how well you seduce the Don with it carved up.”
The steel touches my cheek. Ice cold. She presses.
I snap my head up. Voice ripping out of me:
“Cassian! You get down here right now. You don’t come out of that room, I swear to God, this is the last time you ever see me.”