Chapter 14

Hailey

The clothing I’d chosen truly did feel like armor when I stepped outside my room and found myself facing one of DiNardo’s men. I’m a DiNardo now. I recognized him as he’d been around, but this was the first time I’d been on my own with him. He looked at me with a dark, hooded gaze. Tall and broad-shouldered, his suit could not disguise his beefy build. He had a cauliflower left ear, like that of a boxer, and there was a thin scar running through his right eyebrow.

“H-Hello,” I stammered. He did not return the greeting. A blush rose in my cheeks. How long had he been standing out here? Had he been able to hear anything this morning? Last night? I cleared my throat. “I’m Hailey.”

He stared at me for a moment longer before finally responding.

“Tomas.” His voice was low and gruff, which matched his looks. Anyone walking down a dark street and seeing him coming toward them would cross the street immediately.

“Hello, Tomas. I’m going to have breakfast.” I squared my shoulders and started off down the hall. He followed after me, a lumbering, threatening shadow, though I don’t think he was meant to be threatening to me. Not unless I tried to escape.

But where would I go?

Bleakness suffused me.

The police would not help me. My grandfather certainly wouldn’t. Clara’s would probably be the first place Giacomo would look… and if I wasn’t there, he might use her to punish me, anyway. The stinging soreness of my bottom reminded me of what happened when I tried to free myself from him.

The only other option was to… give in?

For now.

Until I learned more about the family. Until I found another avenue of escape. I would have to bide my time. And, hopefully, lull everyone into a sense of complacency when it came to my cooperation. It would be far easier to get away if no one thought I was going to try to. Which would likely take time and certainly could not happen with a giant shadow on my heels.

So, I went to the dining room like the good girl Giacomo had called me and sat down very gingerly to eat my breakfast. Mrs. Valachi fussed about me, making sure I had everything I wanted. My food had scarcely appeared in front of me before Serena appeared, beaming at me.

“My dear! How are you this morning? I am so sorry my husband called yours away,” she laughed lightly as she sat down at the table. As if I should be sad that Giacomo had been pulled from our bed and that I was given a respite from him. But I did not want to upset her, and if I was going to lower everyone’s suspicions, my new mother-in-law was a good place to start.

“I am fine, thank you.” I shrugged. “And you?” I did not comment on Giacomo’s absence. I was not sure my acting skills would extend that far. Besides, it would be suspicious if I had an overnight turnaround.

Especially after last night.

“Annoyed with my husband, of course.” She sighed, but she was still smiling at me as though she didn’t have a care in the world. “But he insisted Jack was needed for today’s meeting with your grandfather.”

My hand slipped, my fork clattering loudly against the plate, jarring my nerves almost as much as her casual statement.

“My grandfather?” Every muscle in my body tensed. I wanted nothing to do with that man.

“Yes. These men and their meetings.” She waved off the announcement with a little twist of her hand that did nothing to reassure me. Nothing my grandfather did could be trusted. The fact that he wanted to meet with Giacomo and his father the day after our wedding…

My mind raced. What could he want with them? It was not as if our marriage meant I suddenly stood to inherit or anything. My breath caught as I realized I was… worried?

Of course, I was worried, I reasoned. My wellbeing likely depended on his. My grandfather had married me into a hostage situation. If something terrible happened to Giacomo and his father while they were with him, I would pay the price. It was unlikely anyone would believe that my grandfather did not care what happened to me, but I knew it was true. My chest tightened. The DiNardos had brokered a rotten deal if they thought my grandfather would behave honorably out of concern for me.

“What would you like to do today?” she asked, but I did not get the chance to answer—thankfully, since I had no idea what I wanted to do—before there was some noise out in the hall.

I stiffened before I realized there was no shouting, and no one sounded angry. It had taken less than a moment for me to be thrust back into the memories of living with my grandfather, probably because he had just been mentioned. I was on edge. Shaking off the memories and the urge to flee or hide, I sat up straight in my chair, ignoring the ache in my bottom.

I might be a pawn, a useless hostage, but that did not mean I was without pride. I would face Giacomo without letting anything show on my face. The more unaffected by the filthy ways he’d used me, pleasured me, the things he’d made me feel, the better. I didn’t want him to know that he’d affected me at all.

The door to the dining room opened and Giacomo’s father strode in, followed a moment later by Giacomo. Both of them were speaking loudly in Italian, too quickly for me to follow after all these years during which my understanding of the language had become rusty. I had purposefully tried to forget it, which I now regretted. They were upset with my grandfather, that much I could understand. I had to suppress the urge to flee again—especially when Giacomo’s father pinned me with his gaze, glaring fiercely. It took everything I had not to shrink back in my seat.

To my surprise, Serena immediately started scolding him—also in Italian, but I recognized enough to know she was defending me. Not only that, but Giacomo also said something to him harshly… I think telling his father not to blame me.

I sat alone in the midst of the storm of words that I did not entirely understand, waiting for the inevitable ax to fall. Instead, Don DiNardo cursed—those words I remembered—and turned on his heel, storming out of the room.

Serena gracefully sat back in her seat as if nothing had just happened.

“Hello, dear. Your wife and I were just discussing her plans for the day. I think you should take her out shopping,” Serena said, returning to English. Had she noticed that I was unable to fully follow the argument?

I remained in place, still slightly stunned. Why had she and Giacomo defended me? Why had I not been thrown in front of Don DiNardo as an offering to assuage his temper?

I did not understand.

Jack

“Shopping sounds like a good idea,” I said to my mother. Hailey, as well, though she was so pale and her gaze so unfocused that I was not sure she heard me. My father was frustrated after the meeting with Don Bianco, and his temper could be a frightful thing.

It was not her fault that her grandfather had accused us of stealing from him. He was hardly the only one among the Familias who’d had something of value pilfered from him lately. The problem seemed to be growing, and so far, we had no idea who was behind it. My father was highly insulted by the accusation—to insinuate that we needed to steal such a small amount from Don Bianco—then he’d added to my father’s affront when he’d suggested we needed to change the terms of our agreement immediately after the accusation.

The move seemed deliberately designed to provoke us, which made me suspect ulterior motives. Don Bianco had been in the game too long to make such a move without good reason. And he could hardly think I’d been so blinded by my bride that I would push my father to agree to unfavorable terms.

His insistence on my presence also made me wonder… had he known about Hailey’s attempt to kill me? Had he orchestrated it? I did not think so, but I was not sure.

A shopping trip to get Hailey out of the house while my father calmed down and also so I could see what she did would be for the best. If someone approached her, I could watch. Have one of my men follow them to find out if they belonged to her grandfather.

If she was spying for her grandfather, I would be disappointed because I thought she had more backbone than that—failed assassination attempt notwithstanding—but it would not change that I had married her. If I had to spank her and fuck her ass every night until she understood whose family she was now loyal to, I would.

And I’d enjoy it, too.

“I do not need anything,” Hailey said, stirring as though my statement that I thought shopping would be a good idea had broken her free of her silence.

Of course, she would do so in order to argue with me. I suppressed a smile. I would much rather her arguing than sitting so silent, pale, and frightened looking.

The fact that she was not jumping on an excuse to go out boded well, too. She would rather be here with my angry father than out where someone from her grandfather’s people might be able to contact her.

“You should go out,” my mother said, leaning forward and putting her hand over Hailey’s. “It will give Lorenzo time to calm down. Besides, it is the first day of your marriage, and Jack abandoned you for a business meeting in the morning. He owes you some jewelry and spoiling. You should not let him get away with such behavior without some kind of recompense, or he’ll think he can do it all the time.” She smiled brightly, and I shook my head.

From the mulish expression on Hailey’s face, I was sure she was fighting the urge to reject the notion that she wanted me around. But my mother was right.

I nodded firmly.

“I’ll go have them bring the car around. Jewelry is definitely in order. And a late lunch and ice cream at Hildebrandt’s.” I winked at Hailey’s jerk of surprise, wanting her to know that, yes, I knew her favorite place to go for a treat. The uncertainty that crept into her expression was my reward. I liked keeping her unsettled.

Twenty minutes later, we were in the back of the car, and she was only squirming in place a little. I smirked, knowing why, though I did not embarrass her by bringing it up where the driver could overhear.

“We’ll start at Maiden Lane and then Canal Road if we don’t find what we want,” I told Benny, our driver. Quite a few of the stores on Maiden Lane had been driven out by rising rents as new financial institutions took over, many of them moving to Canal Road. The most successful ones were still on Maiden Lane, including several with owners I personally knew.

“You do not have to actually buy me any jewelry,” Hailey protested, wringing her hands on her lap beside me. She could not quite bring herself to look me in the eye. Reaching over, I put my hand atop hers, sliding my fingers through hers. She stiffened immediately in reaction.

I grinned. I wonder how sore her bottom still was. She was squirming, and possibly not just from emotional discomfort.

However, since I wanted our outing to go well, I would not mention it.

“Of course I do. My mother would be highly disappointed in me if I did not. You do not want my mother to be disappointed in me, do you?” The only reaction she had to my charm was to press her lips together and huff a sigh. I was sure my new wife would not care in the least if my mother was disappointed in me; however, Hailey didn’t want to disappoint my mother.

I would press whatever advantage I had.