I was more confused than ever before in my life. “Antonio, you have Frank. What about him? You are gay.”
Antonio avoided my eyes. “I know. But you could be the exception. Frank wouldn’t mind if I acted as a husband should. He doesn’t mind sharing.”
I blinked, on the verge of laughter. “You want what…a love triangle?” I wasn’t sure what else to call this. It was too ridiculous to even consider.
Antonio gave me his most endearing smile. The one that brought back memories of our youth together, the one that had manipulated me countless times before.
“I’m married to Dante now. You aren’t even my husband anymore. You were declared dead.”
“But you can’t be married to Dante if I’m not dead, because our marriage is still valid.”
“You realize that Dante might be reluctant to agree to your insane suggestion, right?” I said. This was surreal. Maybe this conversation wasn’t happening. Maybe I was asleep and dreaming.
“Yes. He wouldn’t allow it, and he would kill me if he found out I’m alive. That’s why I need your help.”
Dread settled in my bones like a leaden weight. “What kind of help?”
“I know you didn’t want to marry Dante. He’s always been a cold bastard. You can’t be happy with him.”
“Antonio,” I said imploringly. “Spit it out.”
“When I decided to return to Chicago, I contacted a couple of my former friends who aren’t too fond of the way the Cavallaros run the Outfit, especially Dante with his new rules. I told them I had faked my death because I was sick of serving under the Cavallaros’ rule. They welcomed me with open arms. They want change as much as I do. Dante hasn’t been Capo for very long. This is the perfect moment to force a change.”
I swallowed, worrying where this was going. “Who are those friends?”
Antonio shook his head. “I can’t tell you, but they want what’s best for the Outfit. Once they are in power, I can safely return and be a part of the Outfit again.”
“Did you tell them you were gay?”
“Not yet, but I will eventually.”
“They won’t accept you.”
“That’s for me to worry about when the time comes. What matters is that I will get the chance to live in Chicago again, to return to you.”
“What is it you want me to do?” I asked quietly.
“It’s too risky for us to attack Dante in the open. We don’t want an open war. Once Dante is out of the way, things will fall into place. Old Fiore Cavallaro will be easier to dispose of once his son is dead. But we need you for our plan to work.” Antonio pulled a small vial out of his pocket and checked the aisle, but we were the only customers, except for an elderly lady at the counter chatting up the pharmacist. He held out the vial in front of him. “You are the only one I trust enough to ask and who has direct access to Dante.”
“What’s that?” I whispered, even though I knew.
“It’s poison, Val. All you have to do is sneak it into Dante’s drink, and you’ll be rid of him.”
I backed away, out of Antonio’s hold. My stomach was churning. “You want me to kill my husband?”
“I’m your husband, Val.” Antonio grabbed my hand and pulled me toward him, eyes imploring. “Does he love you like I do? Does he even care about you? We’ve known each other all our lives.”
I couldn’t breathe. I searched Antonio’s eyes for a sign that he was joking, but found none. He held out the vial. “Take it.”
I grabbed the vial, stared at the colorless liquid inside of it.
“He won’t notice. It’s tasteless and odorless, don’t worry.”
I still didn’t pocket the vial. I seemed unable to move a muscle.
“It works quickly. It’s a muscle relaxant, and causes the lung and heart to stop working. A quicker death than he deserves.”
“You really want me to kill someone?” My voice was almost toneless. “If something goes wrong and I’m found out, they’ll kill me.” Or more accurately, Dante would probably kill me himself after such a betrayal.
“You are too clever to be caught, Val. And once he’s dead, we’ll be taking over power in no time. You’ll be under my protection. Everything will be fine.” Antonio leaned down and brushed my lips lightly with his. I was too stunned to pull back. Slowly I eased the vial into my bag.
“You should do it tonight. The sooner we move, the better. I don’t want to risk staying in Chicago like this for much longer.”
“Does Frank know about all this?” I had to ask, had to know. I fought the tears that wanted to rise into my eyes.
“Yes. It was actually his suggestion. He thinks it’s safer than risking a gunfight. Dante is a damn good shot, and the bastard never lowers his guard, except when he’s home.” Antonio smiled brightly at me. I was a means to an end for him—again. Once before he’d used my feelings for him to lure me into a fake marriage, and now he wanted to manipulate me into killing my husband. Maybe I should have tried to talk him out of it, but the moment I’d tried, he would have gotten suspicious, gone into hiding again and attacked Dante another time. It was too much of risk.
“I’d really feel more comfortable if I knew the names of your friends. I trust you, but what about them?”
“I trust them.”
I gave him a pleading look.
Antonio brushed a strand of hair from my face. The gesture was so tender and loving that it made me choke up with emotion. Antonio must have seen it because he nodded. “I can give you one name, but the others will stay a secret until things have settled down.”
“Okay.”
“Raffaele, you know him from the casino, right?”
Oh, I knew Raffaele. And he was the last person in the Outfit who’d ever accept Antonio’s homosexuality. “Yes, I do.”
I was close to bursting into tears. To hide it from Antonio, I pretended to look at my watch. When I was sure I was in control of my emotions, I raised my face.
“So will you do it tonight?” Antonio asked almost eagerly. “For me, for us?”
I patted my bag where the vial was hidden, then I reached up and cupped Antonio’s cheek. “I’ve loved you since I was fourteen. I was so happy when we married.”
Antonio smiled, eyes brimming with satisfaction. “I know, Val. I should have been a better husband to you.”
Yes, you should have been.
“But soon things will change. And this time everything will be better.”
I nodded. No, it won’t.
I drew back. “I need to return to the car before Enzo gets suspicious.”
“Here’s my number. Call me once it’s done, okay?” He slipped a piece of paper into my pocket.
I nodded again.
“Say goodbye to Dante from me,” Antonio said with a wink. He was still so very confident in the power he’d once held over me, but I wasn’t the doting, naïve girl I used to be.
I turned around and slowly walked out of the pharmacy and back to the car.
Goodbye.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Itwisted the vial in my hands over and over again. The tears had dried by now, and my face felt hot and sticky from crying, but my decision was made. There was only one thing I could do. Dante’s step rang in the corridor, and I quickly pocketed the poison. The door opened and Dante stepped in, then stopped with a surprised look on his face when he saw me standing in front of the window.
“Valentina, what are you doing here?” His gaze swept over my teary face. “Did something happen? Are you all right?”
“We need to talk.”
Dante closed the door slowly, every motion deliberate and calculated. He knew something was up. I didn’t have to see my face to know it gave everything away, not only because of my swollen eyes. I had never been so shaken in my life as I was today. He approached me carefully, then stopped out of reach. I searched his face for something, some kind of gentleness, but he was only alert. This was the man who’d accused me of having cheated on him, who’d rejected our unborn child because he thought it wasn’t his. A man who never let me get close. Would he ever love me? Would I ever find in this marriage what I so desperately wanted?
Dante’s cold scrutiny was such a stark change from Antonio’s tenderness and easygoing smiles. Antonio had promised me to give me what I wanted, to be a husband I deserved. Three years ago I’d have done everything to hear those words from him, even slipped poison into the glass of someone who wanted Antonio dead. But somehow in the last months of my marriage to Dante, something had changed. My heart had moved on from one unattainable man to the next. Despite everything Dante had said and done, he was my husband and I had come to love him, no matter how stupid that made me. He was the father of my child, even if he didn’t want to believe it.
“Valentina?” A hint of impatience crept into Dante’s voice.
“I saw Antonio today.”
Dante frowned. “You went to his grave?”
“No,” I said with a hysteric note. “I saw him in person. He isn’t dead.”
Dante became still. I could tell that he wasn’t sure if he should believe me. He probably thought I was losing it. “What do you mean?”
Tears spilled out. “What I said. He isn’t dead.”
Dante’s face hardened but he remained silent.
“That’s why Frank contacted me. Antonio was there that night at the warehouse. He shot at us to save Frank. It wasn’t the Russians.”
“Why did you meet him without telling me after he tried to kill you once already?”
“I didn’t! He followed me into the pharmacy today.”
Suspicion was edged into Dante’s face. “Why didn’t you call Enzo? Where was he?” He didn’t sound like a husband; he sounded like he was my Boss and I was one of his soldiers.
“I don’t know. I was shocked. I thought Antonio was dead and then suddenly I’m staring at his face. I wanted to hear him out. He told me he faked his death to escape the Outfit and live with Frank.”
“And now he’s back. Does he want my forgiveness? I don’t have any to give. I hope he doesn’t expect me to give him a warm welcome. The only thing he can have is a quick death.”
I wrapped my arms around my middle. “He doesn’t want to ask for your forgiveness.”
Dante searched my face.
“He wants you dead. He and a few others want you and your father gone so they can take over power.”
Dante’s jaw flexed. “Do they now? And how do they intend to do that?”
“Antonio asked me to poison you.”
Dante’s eyes bored into mine. “Why would he think you’d agree?”
“Because he’s certain I still love him. Because he trusts me. Because it’s probably obvious to everyone how unhappy I am.” My hand unconsciously moved to my still mostly flat stomach. There was only the slightest bump visible when I was naked. Dante’s eyes followed the movement, and some of the hardness around his eyes lessened. “And what did you tell him?”
I made an exasperated sound. “Would I be telling you about all this if I wanted to kill you? It was bad enough that you accused me of cheating and didn’t believe me when I told you I was pregnant with your child, although you are the only man I’ve ever been with. But this? Thinking I’d agree to kill you, this is too much, even for me.”
Dante walked up to me and touched my upper arms lightly. “I didn’t ask what you decided. I didn’t think you’d kill me. I asked what you told Antonio. There’s a difference.”
“I pretended to agree with his plan. I worried he’d find another way to kill you.”
“Probably. And I bet he would have tried to kill you too.”
I sucked in a breath. “Antonio would never harm me.”
“Are you sure? This is a man who goes to great lengths to get his way, from what I know.”
“I don’t know. I don’t know anything anymore.”
Dante kept his hands on my arms. “Did he tell you who else is involved?”
I nodded numbly. “He mentioned Raffaele, but he didn’t want to tell me the other names.”
“Okay,” Dante said gently. “Do you have a way to get in contact with him?”
“You are going to kill him.”
“I’m going to kill them all, Valentina. I have to.”
I stared into his determined blue eyes. No hesitation, no pity, no mercy. “I have his number.”
“You will send him a text saying you gave me the poison, and now you’re panicking because you don’t know what to do with my dead body. Ask him to meet you at the warehouse again.”
A tear slid down my cheek. Dante wiped it away with his thumb. “You know what’s strange?” I whispered thickly. “At one point, I thought I could never love someone as I loved Antonio, no matter how unrequited that love was. And today I’m condemning him to his death for another man who will never love me back.”
Dante’s fingers froze against my face. His gaze flickered, and some tiny part of me hoped he’d say that he loved me. It would have made things easier. He cleared his throat. “We shouldn’t wait too long. Maybe he’ll realize it was stupid to contact you and he’ll decide to go back into hiding. We need to reach him before that.”
I drew away from his touch, and nodded. I reached into my bag for my phone, my fingers brushing the vial with the poison. I should tell Dante about it. I pulled out my phone and opened a text. I quickly typed what Dante had told me and sent it off. Afterward, I anxiously stared down at the screen. Less than a minute later, I got a reply.
Meet me in 30 minutes. Bring the body. I’ll take care of everything.
“How am I supposed to get your body into my car?”
“I suppose dragging would work,” Dante said dryly.
I laughed, then choked up. “What now? You will need reinforcements.”
Dante shook his head. “I don’t know who to trust right now. Not until I’ve talked to Antonio.”
I knew he wouldn’t just talk to him, and the thought sent a stab through my heart. “But what if Antonio isn’t alone? Isn’t it too risky for you to go by yourself? Maybe you should ask one of the guards. They have access to this house. If they wanted you dead, they’d probably have figured out a way to kill you by now.”