Page 113 of Thin Lives

A hopeless wife was better for Affonso’s manipulations.

It was just too damn bad her husband was to stuck in his own head to realize the truth.

No one was safe to Affonso.

Least of all, her.

“Emma?” came a voice at her side.

Emma turned to the Capo beside her, and smiled at the familiar face. “Wolf. Are you enjoying the dinner?”

The man chuckled. “A little awkward.”

“I only guarantee the meal, not the company.”

“The meal is wonderful,” he said, smiling just a little. “I have something for you, a gift.”

Emma’s brow furrowed. “A gift?”

“Of sorts.”

“Oh?”

“Apparently, I am just returning it back to its owner, but he asked me to thank you for leaving it with him for a while. He said it helped.”

Emma didn’t have a clue what Wolf was talking about until she watched his hand disappear into his suit jacket pocket, and reappear with a familiar poker chip. He quickly lowered his hand, hiding the chip from view.

“Cal?” she whispered.

Wolf nodded, placing the chip in her hand under the safety of the table. “You have allies everywhere, Emma, and not all of us need to know why.”

She wasn’t quite sure what to say.

But she grabbed tightly to the poker chip, and felt a little safer.

It wasn’t long before the party moved from the dining room to the living room and other areas of the Donati home. Emma kept one eye on her husband, and the other on her son. Affonso still refused to let the child go as he drank and milled about with his guests.

She was so distracted with her focus, that she almost missed the change in the room when it first came.

Almost.

The night had mostly gone along well, as the majority of Affonso’s dinner parties did. He liked having his people around him, making him feel like the king he believed he was.

A pin could have dropped on the other side of the large home, and she would have heard it. Heads turned all at once, quickly taking notice of the men entering the party without so much as a greeting or a welcome.

At the very front, heading them all, was Calisto and another man.

Emma froze on the spot, unsure of what she was seeing. If the shock on Affonso’s face, and those around him were any indication, he hadn’t been expecting Calisto’s entrance, either.

“No hello for me, zio?” Calisto asked quietly, a smirk etched onto his hard features.

Emma wasn’t quite sure what to do, but she found herself doing what the others in the room were—looking from one man to the other, waiting for something to happen.

The whispers started just as fast.

Where had Calisto been?

What was happening?