Chapter Thirty-Four

“Maybe you can talk sense into him,” Enzo greeted me when I stepped into Santino’s hospital room two days after my wedding blew up.

Santino was trying to pull a hoodie over his head but his bandages and the injuries covered by it made it difficult. I handed Enzo a cup of coffee, which I’d brought him yesterday as well. “What’s going on?”

“Santino decided to release himself from the hospital against the explicit orders of the doctors.”

Santino finally managed to shove one arm into a sleeve and gave his father an annoyed look. “Santino is a grownup and prefers to heal at home.”

I headed over to him and gave him a peck. Kissing him in front of others still felt strange but at the same time so wonderfully freeing. “Isn’t it too risky?”

Santino waved me off. “I can handle it.”

I helped him into his hoodie, knowing full well it was useless to argue with him if he’d made up his mind. He was stubborn as a mule.

“Not to mention that Dante requires my help to contain the scandal Anna and her mother caused,” he said with a wink at me.

“Excuse me? You were involved in the scandal too.”

“But I would have chosen a better moment to stop the wedding.”

“I doubt it,” Enzo and I said simultaneously. We exchanged a look and smile. My heart expanded, glad he and I were finally making peace.

“What do you mean, my dad needs you?” I asked. Dad hadn’t mentioned anything to me, which probably meant it was risky or something he considered dishonorable.

But the Clarks were furious and refused to talk so we needed to act. Clifford had ignored all of my calls and texts.

Santino gave me a grim smile. “I’ll help him handle the Clarks.”

Enzo’s expression pinched with disapproval.

“How?” I asked. “You can’t kill all of them.”

Santino lightly pinched my butt. Luckily the angle hid it from Enzo or I would have died from embarrassment. I slanted Santino a warning look, which he answered with a smirk. “I could, but I won’t.”

“Then what are you going to do?”

“The photos you took when you caught me with Dolora Clark, I downloaded them to my cloud in case I ever needed them.”

“Perv.”

He smirked but quickly became serious again.

Realization widened my eyes. “You’re going to blackmail her?”

He nodded. “She’ll do anything to prevent that scandal.”

“But she doesn’t strike me as a woman who holds enough power over her husband to talk him out of plotting revenge.”

“She isn’t, but I’ll try my luck.”

“If she can’t convince Maximo we can still blackmail him with the photos. He can’t risk a divorce at this point in his career, especially one following such a scandal.”

“You’re as cunning as you are gorgeous.”

“And you’re prone to causing scandals.”

“As are you, cherie.” He shrugged, then pulled me against him and kissed me again. “Let me talk to Dolora now.”

Enzo excused himself, obviously uncomfortable with Santino’s display of affection. My cheeks heated. I cleared my throat.

“Don’t let me stop you. If my dad thinks the plan is worth pursuing, then we should give it a try.”

“You aren’t jealous, right?”

I made a face. “Please. You can either play in the Champions League, or in the village cup.”

“Life in Europe left its scars. I won’t ever get used to your soccer references, and I’m not entirely sure they are accurate.”

He glanced at his watch. “I need to head to the country club where Dolora spends most of her afternoons now.”

“You want to drive yourself?”

He kissed me again. “I’m a big boy, Anna.”

“At least take your dad with you.” I still hated that Santino had banged Clifford’s mom but at least it could now save our asses. Who would have ever thought Santino’s homewrecking ways would ever be so useful?

Dolora left the country club. All of the Clarks were members, of course. It was an hour after her usual departure time and I’d almost run out of patience. Not to mention that my wounds hurt like a bitch and I hadn’t taken nearly enough painkillers. I parked in my car right at the curb in the hopes to catch her attention. Her eyes registered my car then me and she quickly looked around in worry. I rolled down the window and leaned out. “We need to talk.”

She rushed toward me and almost jumped in. “You can’t just come here. If someone sees us together, there’s hell to pay. I had to hide in the restrooms because of you.”

I started the car and drove us to the parking lot of a nearby Starbucks. “How did I do that?”

“You caused a scandal and now everyone’s talking behind my back. I can’t even show my face in the club without people giving me condescending smiles. I simply couldn’t bear it anymore.”

“I suppose then you wouldn’t want to have another scandal on your hand.”

She froze. “What are you talking about?”

“I need you to convince your husband to keep his connections to the Outfit, and talk him out of any revenge plots he might be dreaming up right now.”

“I can’t do that.”

I showed her the photos of us on my phone. Her blue eyes widened. “I’ll be ruined if this comes out. Maximo won’t forgive me if I ruin his career with something like that.”

It was kind of fitting that he’d worry more about his career than his marriage. I suppose that ship had sailed a long time ago.

“Then talk to him and make him see reason.”

“That’s blackmail.”

“You got in bed with a mobster, Dolora.”

She pursed her lips. “Maximo doesn’t listen to me. I won’t be able to convince him.”

“Try your best.”

She gave me a pleading look but I simply stared back. She closed her eyes, then nodded.

Two days later, she called to tell me that her husband wouldn’t listen. That meant we had to convince him ourselves.

Dante, Leonas, and I waited in an Outfit restaurant for the Clarks to arrive. With a minute to spare, Maximo, Clifford, and Dolora entered the restaurant. Their bodyguards stayed outside on their orders. They obviously wanted fewer ears to listen in.

Maximo’s expression made it plainly clear that he didn’t want anything to do with us. Clifford seemed surprisingly blasé about the situation. He’d never seemed awfully invested in his bond to Anna anyway. Now that he wasn’t going to marry her anymore, I found him much more tolerable. I suppose his opinion of me hadn’t improved though.

Dante got up with a businesslike smile. “You made it.”

As if they’d had a choice. Maximo ignored Dante’s outstretched hand and sank down on the chair across from him. “I hope this won’t take too long. I have another call with my lawyers.”

If he thought that would impress anyone here, he still didn’t understand what a deal with the devil meant. Only Dolora looked thoroughly spooked, which made me feel almost sorry for her. But again, she slept with a mobster so she could have foreseen repercussions.

“I’m sure we can settle the matter quickly and to both our satisfaction,” Dante drawled. I had to stifle a smile.

He pushed the printed-out photos across the table. I wasn’t proud of my actions, especially because Anna had caught me. My feelings for her had changed me, but now that my Casanova ways were our ticket to blackmail the Clarks I couldn’t really regret my actions. Clifford’s face twisted with disgust then anger. He shook his head and stepped back. He probably recognized his bed, which in hindsight had been a really awful place to get it on, but Dolora had chosen it, and he was her son, not mine.

Maximo’s jaw tightened and his face turned red. He glanced at his wife, who looked like she wanted to disappear.

“It was a one-time thing, Maximo,” she said. A lie, no doubt. Dolora hadn’t been hesitant about her actions when she’d flirted with me. Not to mention that she had a second phone, which most people used for their secret lovers. “I was hurt because you’d picked your intern to cheat on me and needed to feel validated.”

“This isn’t about me,” he growled, glancing at Dante warily. Of course, my Capo would be filing this information away for later use. “Who picks the bodyguard of their son’s fiancée?”

“And uses his bed,” Clifford muttered.

“That was our son’s bed?”

Of course, Maximo wouldn’t recognize it. I doubted he spent very much time in his kids’ rooms or with them. He seemed like someone who had kids because they looked better on his CV and made good extras on campaign photos.

She shrugged.

“On my birthday, Mom?” Clifford asked with a disgusted shake of his head.

“It was a difficult time for me.”

“What about discretion? You and Dad always told me extramarital activities needed to be handled with care.”

“They do. Your mother obviously forgot.”

Dante watched with a look of cold calculation. We had the Clarks. He knew it.

“I have no intention to make your extramarital activities public,” he drawled. “If we can come to an agreement.”

Maximo motioned at me. “It was probably you who set up that guy to fuck my wife.”

“I can assure you that I believe in the sanctity of marriage and won’t set up my men to encourage cheating.”

Maximo snorted. “Stop it. We both know you don’t have any morals.”

Dante’s expression became even colder. “I have more than you, it seems.”

“What do you want? It wasn’t my son who broke the deal. It was your daughter.”

“Indeed, but that doesn’t have to be the end of our cooperation. I’m sure we can find another option. We have many beautiful girls who’re of marriageable age,” Dante said diplomatically, but I could tell he was running out of patience. If I’d been in his stead, I would have thrown Maximo Clark from the closest bridge by now. Something about that man simply set my teeth on edge. He appeared far more relatable and pleasant in his campaigns. His campaign managers must be true magicians.

Maximo pushed to his feet, which was another act of disrespectfulness. “We don’t want you to throw Clifford a bone as if he’s a dog.”

I had a joke about the dog Clifford on my lips and had difficulties reining myself in. Instead I growled, “Sit down. The conversation isn’t over.”

Maximo flushed, but I didn’t miss the brief expression of satisfaction that flitted across Clifford’s face. Maximo sank back down.

“It’s a way to protect a bond we’d both benefit from,” Dante said.

“I’m not so sure we would benefit from this bond. My son doesn’t need another scandal.”

Dante looked at Leonas, who had listened in silence so far, but like his father, he’d filed everything away for later use. Anna definitely shared their cunning.

“I could marry one of your daughters,” Leonas suggested with a shrug. “I bet you can spare one of them.”

Maximo Clark’s skin turned an even darker shade of red, which I hadn’t thought possible, but in his eyes, I could see he was considering it.

I didn’t listen to rumors very often but I knew one of the Clark twins had been involved in an unpleasant incident that had made some smaller waves in the press.

Maximo exchanged a look with his wife then Clifford, but the latter seemed less than enthused about the suggestion. Maximo, on the other hand, seemed relieved to have found a way to dispose of his scandalous offspring. “When would you suggest a wedding?”