Indebted to the Mafia King

Eleni

I rip all the slices of onion off my face while looking at Mama.

"Go," she says, impressing on me with her eyes that I'm not to make the boss whose house we're standing in upset. "I'll get the 'zucchini balls' finished for you."

I stand and join Dante in the doorway. He immediately steps into the hall, then leads me deeper into the house than I've been before. Now, having been in the kitchen, I can see the touches of opulence everywhere. That blue-and-white vase on an end table is probably antique. The plush carpet we pad over is probably from overseas. The leather chair in a nook is probably real.

A door opens ahead of us, and I jump back a step as a beautiful woman in matching leggings and a sports bra steps out. Her long, pitch-black hair curls nearly to her waist, and her dark eyes are emphasized by smoky shadow. "Oh, sorry." She kisses Dante on the cheek. "I was just headed out."

He nods and doesn't say a word, but I can't resist glancing over my shoulder to watch her disappear out the front door. I shouldn't be surprised Dante has a girlfriend and was going to sleep with me. He's a boss. I have to stop forgetting that. "We need to talk about what comes next," Dante says as he leads me into a spacious living room.

"Can it be a shower?" I look down at my filthy nightgown.

"Certainly." Dante chuckles as he sits in a deep-red armchair with what seems like the perfect view of the massive TV on the wall. "I could even arrange new clothes, if you like."

I nod, but I don't sit. I don't know what else there is to discuss, other than whether Mama and I are taking the ferry home or not.

Dante sighs. "Look, you and your mother are going to have to stay here for a few days."

"What?" I pale. "Are you kidnapping us?"

"No, no." He holds his hands up. "It's simply that the restaurant-and the apartment above it-are known. And as much as Frank is dead, Luca very much isn't."

I swallow. The money's in the apartment. There's no escape for Mama and me without that money. But I'll be happiest if I never see any Lombardis again. "Why here?" I ask. "Why are you helping us at all?”

Dante runs a hand through his dark hair and suddenly looks the ten years older than me that I suspect he is. "Frank Lombardi killed my father. Happened about five years back, now. I went to The Greek Corner to rattle his cage a little, and you ended up being a very convenient way to rattle his cage a hell of a lot more." He shakes his head. "But that's not the point. I need to know why Frank took you instead of killing you."

I cross my arms-how dare he talk about me like nothing more than a pawn in his game but my fickle heart aches. I want to ask how it happened, if he found his father like I found Baba, if he knows how long I'll keep smelling Baba's blood every time I turn. For a brief moment, I'm grateful to that monster Leo for putting the bag over my head before he dragged me into the living room. I don't want those images in my mind.

"He wants-wanted me for Luca." I swallow. "As a bride. He made the offer to Baba first and killed him because he said no." I scrub my hands over my arms and wish he'd let me shower first. "When Frank made the offer to me, he said my options were Luca or the rest of his men. And he said Luca had bad taste, or something."

I can't help it. I glance at Dante to see his reaction. He went to the virginity auction, so clearly a woman being pure is important to him.

I don't expect to see his face turn into a thundercloud. Powerful rage, just as deep as I saw from Mama in the kitchen, mars his features. But only for a split second. He blinks, and it's gone, leaving him nothing more than the smooth-faced don of the Staten Island Saints once more.

"I'll handle it," he says. "You just stay here with your...mama. Don't worry."

I take a step closer to him. "Whatever Luca wants with me has nothing to do with your dad."

He sucks in a deep breath and exhales slowly. "What makes you say that?"

"I was there." I hug my arms tighter around myself. "He didn't say anything about you or your dad. Why do you care what he wanted with me?"

Dante looks at me for a long moment, scanning me from head to toe. I've been with him for hours now, it seems, and I suddenly feel underdressed. That liquid heat returns to his gaze, but it's muddied by a dozen other emotions I can't pull apart.

"You shouldn't have been swept up in this in the first place," he says.

I take a step back like I've been hit. Another rejection. He doesn't want me for anything specific. Not anymore. "That's big talk from the man who pulled me into it," I say. "You used me to get at Frank. You said it yourself."

He stands. "That's not what I-"

"No." I take another step closer. "You asked if I knew what you are? Well, I do. You're a mafia boss, and that means I can't trust a word you say. Every gift you give comes with strings. If you really want me to stop worrying, you'll let me leave, because I couldn't ever relax here."novelbin

His dark eyes are intense, burning. "El-"

"Don't use nicknames for me." I whirl away. I can't get distracted. "I won't forget what you are again. I bet that's why you bought me at the auction in the first place, because you saw me, and you recognized an in."

"I would've bought you no matter what," Dante murmurs as he strides out of the living room past me. "And this wasn't a discussion. Take whichever of the bedrooms upstairs you want, and shower at your leisure." He turns back and meets my gaze. "Do anything you like. Just don't go open the last door to the left upstairs. That's my room."

"Fine," I bite out, but he's already gone.

I follow the smell of frying oil back to Mama.