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Her eyelids scrunched tighter. “Knew it was a bad idea, but I let them go anyway.”
“The Irish rarely get into bed with the Italians, but the O’Connells appeared to want an alliance,” Antonio argued. “You couldn’t have expected what happened.”
Her eyes slitted open. “Did you?”
His scowl fell. “What?”
“You sent the assassin. You must have suspected something.”
Antonio considered lying, but then surprised himself by telling her the truth. “Luka followed Lucchese there last night. I didn’t find out the Coronellas were going to the O’Connells until—”
“I’m not blaming you, Di Salvo. I told you. I’m thankful.” Her hand curled over the comforter. “Was pretty sure I was going to die. The fact that it was her behind it was—” She broke off, her lips pressing together.
“Her?” Antonio asked, his hand stilling in her hair.
Vespa reached up to push his hand away. “You can’t stay. I’m not in the mood.”
That bullheaded blocking of hers was back. She was so obvious when she was trying not to talk about something. “I’m not here for sex, Vespa.”
“Then you have no reason to be here. Go on.” She pulled the comforter higher and tried to yawn but winced instead. “Need to sleep, and I don’t want the men thinking too hard about you being in here.”
Antonio knew when he was being dismissed, and he had no desire to be somewhere he wasn’t wanted. Rolling off the bed, he looked at her once more, but Vespa was strong and had a stubborn tilt to her scuffed chin. Even hurt, she didn’t need him. She wasn’t the whining type.
That was so different from his mother, who had complained about breathing.
He reminded himself that he and Vespa weren’t in a relationship. He kept needing the reminder.
She didn’t open her eyes again before he left the room.
He’d been truthful about the Coronellas being spread too thin, though, and so he remained on the estate. The Coronellas had wiped out the Irish in retaliation, but that didn’t mean the danger was gone. Night had fallen, and the Lucchese could still mount their own offense, even if the O’Connells were in no shape to do the same. Antonio was protecting the alliance, that was all.
He wondered who he was trying to convince.
The Coronella soldiers eyed him while he completed his rounds, but they couldn’t argue about the added safety provided to them by the extra soldiers he’d brought.
Well, they could, but Giulia wouldn’t let them. She’d been a hard one to crack. Antonio used to visit the restaurant back when he was considering asking the Coronellas to help the Di Salvos kill his father. That hadn’t ended up being necessary, but all of his repeated visits had softened Giulia toward him.
Case in point: her glare was nowhere near as fierce as it could be when he pushed into the kitchen for a glass of water.
“What are you still doing here?” she snapped.
“The Di Salvos are allies. I’m helping.” He grinned when she snorted at him.
“You must be getting something out of it.”
He leaned against the wall next to her, noting that Giulia had circles under her eyes. “The Di Salvos are vested in the Coronellas ending up ahead in this conflict. It benefits us too.” He studied her. “Why are you still awake?”
She grimaced, wiping her hands on a towel. “I shouldn’t have let them go.”
“You sound like Vespa.”
“That girl is probably kicking herself something fierce,” Giulia agreed. Her eyes slanted his way. “Though not everyone would realize that.”
“I’m very observant,” Antonio said, letting his customary smile flash as his phone vibrated in his pocket. He reached to fish it out.
“You’re something,” Giulia said, and her tone wasn’t complimentary. She bit her lip before sighing. “The women got hurt the worst. That makes it tougher on Montrell. He might not be able to sleep.”
Antonio stared down at a text from Vespa. “He’s not the only one.” And Vespa couldn’t be serious about what she had texted. That she was awake at all was worrisome. That she texted ‘BC’ meant she was delusional as well. The text disappeared, replaced by a notification of a deleted message. At least she realized the request had been a mistake.
