Chapter 55

I grunted in response. Enzo was one of the few people allowed to talk to me so casually. And only because we'd been together since school. He knew me well. Probably too well. But he always had my back. And I, his. I trusted him with my life. Hitting the intercom on my desk, I called the kitchen, where I'd seen Lisa bustling around on my way to my office. "Lisa, make sure Veda is showered and dressed and ready to go shopping in three hours, please."

"Yes, sir, Mr. Morelli," her pleasant voice responded right away. "Should I bring in your breakfast?"

"Yes. Thank you. For Enzo, too."

"Of course."

Logging onto my computer, I checked the business accounts for the strip clubs we owned downtown, making sure the expected deposits had been made. I'd check in with the managers later today and make sure everything was running smooth. We laundered our drug money through them, so it was important they didn't reflect that. Lisa came and went, dropping off our food and coffee. I was halfway through my egg white omelet before I realized Enzo wasn't talking. Nor was he eating.

I set down my fork, looking at him around my monitor. "What is it?"

He took his sunglasses off the top of his head and set them on the desk. "I have concerns, Luca."

His way of telling me he didn't approve of something I was doing. "About?" "Veda."

Leaning back in my chair, I laced my fingers over my stomach. "What about her?"

"I don't like this."

I sighed and took another bite of my breakfast. I’d known this was coming. Eventually. Deep down inside, Enzo had a soft heart, and an unusual set of morals. Unusual for someone in his position, that is. "We've discussed this," I told him.

"No, Luca. We discussed doing this to Mario's actual wife-to-be. Not her sister. A woman who has absolutely nothing to do with him. She's never even met him."

"I find that hard to believe." This was exactly what I’d just been thinking to myself, and yet I found myself arguing with him anyway.

"Why?"

I set down my fork and stared across the expanse of my desk at my longtime friend. "Veda is Nicole's sister. Her twin sister."

"But she is not Nicole."

"She's been mourning her sister's death for weeks. I find that an unusual way for someone to act if they weren't close."

"Maybe it's not her sister's death she's mourning, but her own."

I closed my mouth, whatever I'd been about to say dying on my tongue, and threw myself back in my chair. This, too, had come to me in the dark hours of the night. And yet to hear it said out loud…"Fuck."

Convinced he'd finally gotten through to me, Enzo relaxed and took a bite of the breakfast Lisa had brought for him. "So, what are we going to do with her?" he asked around a mouthful of food. "We can't just let her go."

"Of course I'm not letting her go. The plan hasn't changed." His eyes flew to my face, his gaze sharp as glass. I explained, "Veda is a small sacrifice for the overall greater good, Enz. You know this has to happen. Our lives depend on me getting a leg up in this organization again. And to do that, I have to cripple Mario. And Veda is the path to that end.”

He shook his head, stubborn as always. "There's gotta be another way."

"There's not."

“You could just kill him.”

“Not good enough.” Not after what he’d done to me. To Maria. “Besides, that’s my father’s final call. Not mine. And he hasn’t given me the go ahead.”

Tension rode in the air between us. That wasn't unusual. Whereas Tristan was prone to just do what I told him—not because he was easily swayed, but because he honestly didn't give a fuck about anyone or anything except the two of us in this room—Enzo and I often didn't see eye to eye. It's what kept me from getting too cocky, and I appreciated him telling me his side of things. But I wouldn’t be swayed. Not on this. I needed to see Mario suffer as I had. And it was nothing less than he deserved.

"Goddammit, Luca."

"Finish your breakfast," I told him in a kinder voice. "And then go get some sleep. I'm just going to run over these numbers, and then I'm taking Veda shopping."

"Why not send her with Lisa? Tristan can go with them."

"Because I don't trust her not to make a break for it, and because I'm taking this as an opportunity to be seen before the party.” I paused. “And to win her over to my side of things.”

"What if she won't play along?"

I was glad to see he'd given up on the subject of letting her go. At least for now. "She will."

EXACTLY THREE HOURS later on the dot, I was standing in the middle of the great room, waiting for Veda. I heard her bedroom door close, and a few seconds later she was walking swiftly down the walkway to the stairs. When she saw me waiting for her, she stopped.

I watched her debate what to do, until finally her desire to get out of this house won out over whatever apprehension she had about spending time with me, and she gracefully descended the stairs. My eyes roamed over her. She was dressed in a similar black outfit as the day I took her out of her self-imposed prison. Lisa must've loaned them to her. The material stretched across her tits and ass, but luckily it was thick enough that it wasn't see-through.

"I don't want you to take me shopping," she informed me when she reached the bottom, her sneakered feet silent on the marble floors.

"It's not your decision to make," I informed her. "You want clothes to wear? Then you’re going to let me take you shopping. If not, you can keep running around in the same borrowed clothes. It's your choice."

She narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest, leaning her weight to one side and cocking out her hip. "Now, why would you take time out of your busy day to do something so mundane as take me shopping?" she mused.

"I've told you. I don't trust you. Are you ready?"

After a pause, she sighed and walked toward the front door, and I followed.

"Why can't I wear my other clothes? You know, the ones I had on when I got here." Her tone was deceptively calm, but I knew better.

"Your clothes are here, but you won't be wearing them."

"Why the hell not?"

I came up behind her and pressed my hand against the door as she tried to open it, not missing the way she stiffened when she felt me behind her. "Rule number one. While we're out in public, you will speak to me with respect. Rule number two. You will know what you need to know; no more, no less."

"I don't understand why I can't just wear my own fucking clothes," she gritted out. "Instead of walking around in hand-me-downs like a homeless person."

I decided to give her this one. "Because if, by some miracle on your part, you were actually able to escape, I don't want you being seen in the same clothes you may have been reported missing in. If there is anyone who actually misses you. Do you understand now?"

Her chest rose and fell with each shallow breath. "Yes."

"Good. Now let's go find you some new things to wear."