Page 125 of Thin Lines (Donati Bloodlines 2)

Why did they have to be the bad people?

Why did they have to be the ones who lost in this?

Calisto didn’t stop fucking Emma on the piano untilhis semen filled her, and spilled out of her body onto the pristine baby grand.

And even then …

He flipped her over to her knees, and fucked heragain.

“Don’t you think you’re a little too close to youruncle’s wife?”

Calisto lifted his gaze from the amber liquid in hisglass to the man sitting across the desk from him. Ray Missotti had posed thequestion quietly, and without any emotion showing on his face.

Calisto hated the man for asking.

He’d been waiting for this moment, and frankly, wassurprised it took someone this long to bring it up and say something out loud.Sure, there were probably a few men who were thinking it, but not a lot wouldhave the guts to accuse Calisto of something.

Apparently, Ray did.

“I’m not sure what you’re saying,” Calisto drawledquietly.

“Don’t you?”

“No.”

“I’m saying that your presence in this house nightafter night, your demand to be the only person who watches Affonso’s wife, andyour lack of interest in other women is a little … concerning,” Ray finished,cocking a brow.

“So, the fact that Emma has been through hell sinceher attack last month, has been left to fend for herself, and is currentlywithout her husband is enough of a reason to accuse me of being too close toher?” Calisto nodded, resting back in the chair with a slow smile. “I see whatyou’re getting at, Ray. My friendship and concern for Emma can’t actually beinnocent, it has to have some kind of hidden meaning behind it. I must befucking her, or trying to. I have to be betraying my oath to Cosa Nostra, or myuncle. That’s what you mean, right?”

“Well—”

“And then there’s Emma,” Calisto interrupted sharply.“By saying what you’re saying now, you’re effectively shaming her to lafamiglia. You’re calling the respected wife of a boss a whore, or rather,alluding to her behavior as something worthy of a slut. That because she needssomeone to talk to—someone to be a friend that she can trust, as her husband upand left her without so much as saying goodbye—she is automatically doingsomething wrong.”

Ray cleared his throat. “I was just saying …”

“Do not forget that Emma was taken from her family andlife just one year ago. She had no one but the people here. And honestly, thatisn’t a lot. She is scared, she was nearly beaten to death because of herhusband’s involvement in something she doesn’t understand, and she is lonely.If being here at night to eat supper with her, and to make sure she feel safeenough to sleep is what she needs, then that is what I’ll do. Your opinionsover my actions mean very fucking little to me, Ray, considering I haven’t doneanything wrong. Neither has Emma.

“And it would benefit you greatly to keep youropinions to your goddamn self,” Calisto finished darkly.

“Okay,” Ray said quickly.

“Good. I would suggest you pass that bit of info alongto any other man taking issue with the friendship I share with my uncle’swife.”

Ray nodded. “Absolutely.”

Calisto went back to his drink, satisfied he hadhandled the conversation well enough to at least deflect people’s opinions fora little while. How long it would last, however, he wasn’t sure.

“Big day tomorrow,” Ray said after a while.

Calisto tried not to choke on his sudden rush ofanger. “I suppose.”

Yes, a big day.

Tribute, actually.

Affonso wasn’t there to collect. Calisto would have todo it. As Affonso’s consigliere, when the boss wasn’t around to do his duties,the responsibility fell to Calisto. Ray, as the underboss, would second theacting boss. If the men of the family deferred to Ray, then Calisto might havebeen able to get away with pushing Ray into the seat of acting boss, but themen didn’t. They favored Calisto because of Affonso’s direction over the years.Automatically, it would place him into a position where he was the acting bossof the Donati Cosa Nostra. He had been acting boss ever since Affonso left his famigliahigh and dry.

But this would be official.