Giovanni (16 page)

Giovanni froze mid-throw. “Is that how the people in your life make you feel,
Tesoro
?”

“I beg your pardon?”

“The people you surround yourself with—is that how they make you feel? Like you owe them something just for having the pleasure of their company? If so, that’s a goddamn shame.”

Kim couldn’t speak for a moment. Franco had alienated her from the life she enjoyed so severely that everyone around her now made her feel unwanted in one way or another. Hell, even before Franco there were people like that in her life. Her father, most importantly.

“Sometimes,” Kim admitted quietly.

Giovanni frowned as he looked over the calm body of water. “In all the times I’ve been near you since I came to Vegas you’ve never looked more relaxed than you do right now. I know when you go back, you’re not going to be like this. So, I’m going to enjoy it; that’s all.”

“And you don’t expect or want anything to happen between us?” Kim pressed.

“Should I? Kim, I don’t know you. I mean, I know
you
,” he said, a smirk forming. “Know things a lot of people probably won’t ever know, but I don’t really know who you are. Your favorite color, animal, or season. Those sort of things are small and insignificant to other people, but I want to know them.”

“Why? Isn’t it kind of pointless considering I’m still engaged—”

“Nothing about you is pointless to me,” Giovanni interjected fiercely. “Regardless of this sham with Franco.”

Oh.
Well
.

“Blue … like the shade the sky turns after a storm clears. Horses, but wild ones; they’re untamed and beautiful, unbroken by man’s will. And winter. Only in Vegas, though, because it’s never too hot or too cold, but just right.”

Giovanni smiled. “Like right now.”

“Yeah, like right now.” Kim tucked her hands into the pockets of Giovanni’s leather jacket. She was careful to keep it hidden and never wore it for fear Franco or one of his idiots would identify it. “What else do you want to know?”

“Everything,” Giovanni murmured, the sound making Kim’s skin tingle. “I’ll settle for whatever made you smile a minute ago.”

How was she supposed to deny him after what he said? “My mom loved this place.”

“Oh. Yeah?”

Kim nodded. “She was a nature lover. Typical Italian mother, always sticking her nose where it didn’t belong and thinking she knew best whether anyone cared or not. Being here makes me miss her and remember her all at once. Lately, I’ve had so much going on I haven’t been able to sit down and think about her like I usually do.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you sad, sweetheart.”

“You didn’t. This was probably the best place you could have brought me to, Gio.”

Giovanni dropped the third rock he picked up and came to sit beside Kim. “You must take after her because you don’t look a thing like your father.”

Kim snorted, falling to her back and resting her hands beneath her head. “Good thing.”

“I won’t deny that. What was your mother’s name?”

“Lina.”

“I take my mother for granted. Cecelia is an amazing woman, more than I can explain. Sometimes I think she loves my brothers, father, and me far too much. She’s going to love us to death, no matter what we do or who we are.”

“I watched your father with her at the wedding. They were dancing and whispering like nobody else was around. It was sweet.”

Giovanni chuckled. “Sweet is not a word to use when describing Antony Marcello.”

“He is with her.”

“He is,” Giovanni echoed quietly. “If I ever needed an example of how to love a woman, my father is a good one to use. He’s always been devoted and faithful to Cecelia. There’s never been anyone else for him. I respect and admire him for it, but I don’t understand how one person can bring someone to their knees like that. Or I didn’t, I suppose.”

Kim tossed him a look, confused. “Didn’t. Does that mean you do now?”

“It means the more you talk, the more I’m learning.”

The answer only left Kim’s heart clenching painfully in her chest. Giovanni mimicked Kim’s position on the blanket, staying silent. Kim desperately wanted to get her mind away from the dangerous territory it was wading near. Like how easy it would be to love the man resting beside her.

Giovanni was dirtied, imperfect, and dangerous. He did terrible things and lived a bad life behind the surface of his good looks and charming attitude. He was more than that person, too. Giovanni made her feel beautiful just looking at her; he didn’t have to say a word. Even though she witnessed just what he was capable of, she didn’t feel unsafe in his presence. The attention he spared on her made her feel like for the moment, she was the most important thing to grace his life.

How he managed that, Kim didn’t understand.

“What do you want to do after college?” Giovanni asked, jerking Kim from her thoughts. She was grateful for the distraction. “A major in mathematics gets you through to business and management, finance, or work in statistics. None of those scream Kim to me.”

“Probably because they all make me want to run away screaming.”

“What’s left?”

“Education,” Kim said, turning to watch him and propping her chin in her hand. “My mother was a high school History and English teacher. She loved her job, and it bled over onto me. I excelled in mathematics and English, so it felt right. Something I thought I might enjoy doing for the next fifty years of my life.”

“You keep my attention, so I have no doubts you’ll keep the focus of teenagers. The boys, for sure.”

“Thanks for that. What about you?” Kim asked, reaching out to nudge his shoulder with her fingertips. “College?”

Giovanni grimaced. “Dropped out. At the time, it wasn’t my thing, and I couldn’t get my shit straight enough to keep up.”

“What were you studying?”

“I was working towards law with a focus on criminal defense.”

Kim rolled back to her previous position with her laughter light in the air. “Oh my God, that’s rich. I should have figured that one out myself.”

“Fits my family well, I know,” Giovanni said, but his amusement sobered fast. “My father was pissed when I quit. Didn’t speak to me for a month, even when I was sitting right in front of him. I still don’t think he’s completely forgiven me for that.”

Kim frowned. “But he’s happy with what you’re doing now, right?”

“I think so, in some ways. He’s satisfied I’m doing my own thing and successful at it.”

“What about your brothers?”

“Business management, finance, and development,” Giovani answered. “They graduated Cum Laude and barely batted an eye while doing it.”

“Oh.” Kim chewed on her lip, considering her next words carefully. “The pressure must have been tough being the youngest, whatever expectations people had for
la famiglia
, and the success of your family as a whole. I mean, the Marcellos are an Empire, right?”

“Cosa Nostra was as easy as breathing for me,” Giovanni replied softly, turning to stare at her unabashed. “It was the one thing I never questioned. I didn’t have to. It was everything else that weighed me down. Sometimes it still does if I let it. I’m not Lucian or Dante, and you’re right in assuming a lot of people around me thought I should be no different from them.”

“What was it like, growing up as a Mafioso prince?”

Giovanni rolled his eyes, smirking again. “Like my life was already well planned out before I even knew my name.”

“Ouch.”

“It is what it is, Kim. I grew up in an extremely wealthy, influential family with an entire subculture surrounding me. Even if it doesn’t seem like it, I was grateful.”

Kim reached out to snag his hand resting on his stomach, intertwining their fingers together tightly. It felt right to want a piece of him closer, but she refused to dwell on it, and instead, take the day he gave her to make whatever she wanted of it.

“You don’t seem like it, you know,” Kim said.

“
Hmm
?”

“Some spoiled little rich kid with a superiority complex.”

Giovanni’s laughter rang out in a rumble, and he tugged on Kim’s arm gently, urging her into his embrace. Smothered in his warmth and scent, Kim calmed, resting her cheek on his chest. She slid her hand under his jacket and T-shirt, wandering over the ridges of his abdominal muscles before she wrapped her arm around his side.

“You’re something else,
bella mia
,” Giovanni said when his chuckles quieted.

“Good, I hope.”

“Perfect.” Giovanni sighed, his arm coming to rest across Kim’s lower back. “After today, what do you need from me, Kim? Tell me what you need, and I’ll do it.”

Kim knew what she wanted: Giovanni. It was also a fantasy, but much better than what she needed, which was to stay alive. The only way she could do that was bend to Franco’s will, including the marriage.

“I need you to stay away,” Kim whispered, her eyes stinging as tears welled. “I can’t do what I need to do otherwise. I’m going to keep hurting you because I keep wanting you.”

Giovanni’s hold on her tightened. “Okay.”

“I’m sorry.”

“No, I get it. Believe me, I get it,
Tesoro
.”

“I don’t want other people getting brought into my mess or ending up hurt for my mistakes. Before it was just Cody and me I had to worry about, but I don’t want to think what would happen if he found out about us.”

“Because there is one,” Giovanni said low.

“What?”

“An us. Something, whatever it is. There is one. It just took you a little bit longer to figure it out than it did me.”

No, Kim knew. It was simply easier to ignore than admit.

“What if I figured out a way to—”

“Please don’t bring up what ifs and possibilities. It’s a hell of a lot easier for me to deal with this whole situation if I stay in reality and don’t play in delusions.”

Giovanni swallowed audibly. “There has to be something to get you away from him, Kim. Don’t tell me not to look, but I’ll give you space while I do it.”

“And if trying got you and me killed in the process?”

Would Giovanni take that risk? Kim wasn’t sure.

“Stay with me tonight,” Giovanni said instead of answering her question. “I’m not asking for anything to happen, just for you to stay. I know you’ll take hell for it when you don’t show up after your classes get out, or whatever, but—”

Kim didn’t care. “I’ll stay.”

“And I’m putting my number in your phone before you go back,” he added, sighing heavily. “If he puts his hands on you again, you’re to call me, no matter what. Promise me, Kim.”

“I’ll call.”

Giovanni lifted her, his hands tilting up her head so he could press a soft kiss to her lips. It was so sweet it hurt. Kim melted into the softness of the kiss.  When he pulled away, she wanted to yank him right back. “You know, I learned a long time ago breathing didn’t make a person feel alive. But you knock the air right out of my lungs, and it’s never felt more real.”

“I should never have approached you in New York,” Kim said, wishing she hadn’t dragged him into her screwed up life.

“I’m so fucking glad you did.”

Chapter Thirteen

Gio felt dazed as he tried to focus on the conversation with Maximo. The man had been asking for a meeting ever since Gio came out to Vegas. The least he could do was offer the respect of his attention. Unfortunately, his focus was somewhere else entirely.

“I shouldn’t even ask.”

Gio quirked a brow. “Ask what?”

“If you would possibly consider staying in Vegas a bit longer,” Maximo said.

“Pardon?” Gio didn’t think he heard the Sorrento Don correctly.

“Putting aside the differences you and my son have …”

“Those aren’t merely differences, Max. It’s a mutual disdain that’s bred as deep as it’s ever going to get. We play nice when we have to, but it takes every bit of effort I have to do it.”

Maximo laughed, leaning back in his chair. “Bluntness is one of your best qualities.”

“Funny, my father thinks I speak too often and listen too little.”

“For him, you probably do. Antony has a way about those things.”

“How long would you want me to stay?” Gio asked, the back of his mind focusing in on the possibility of being closer to Kim.

Even if she didn’t want him, Gio felt like he had to look out for her. To keep her safe and watch out for Franco’s temper. For Gio, he was now dancing a thin line between desire and obsession.

The borderline addict living inside Gio desperately yearned for Kim. Craved the danger surrounding her. Needed the rush. Wanted the high.

How was this healthy?

Love.

That’s what he kept telling himself. It wasn’t the same kind of high. It was better.

Love
…

It didn’t help that Kim couldn’t seem to share those feelings, even if Gio only just started to realize his were very much there. He was done pretending as if Kim didn’t own all the parts of him, good and bad. They lived inside of him like they were their very own entity, growing stronger, taking over his cells one by one, and making every second of his days hell.

They made it like heaven, too.

She did that—Kim.

Love’s crazy that way. It takes and takes. All Gio ever did now was give.

He needed it to be given from Kim, too. She just wouldn’t. Then again, Gio hadn’t told Kim the extent of his feelings. Wasn’t it obvious enough?
Cristo
, he was risking his life every time he breathed in her fucking direction.

“Skip?”

Gio jerked out of his thoughts for the second time, cringing. “Sorry. I’m off my game today, Max. Maybe another time would be better for this chat.”

“No, now’s fine,” Maximo said, leaning forward to rest his arms on the desk. “Something got you distracted, Skip … or rather, someone?”

Gio coughed away his surprise. “Uh, no. Pleasure doesn’t mix well with business. I don’t let it, either.”

He was such a fucking liar. Gio hated liars.

“Ah, this must be what your father means when he says you live in your world and like to run it by your rules, then.”

“Antony gossips too much,” Gio replied, stiffening.

“It’s talk with an old friend, not gossip. After all, both Antony and I have one thing in common other than La Cosa Nostra, and it’s kept us in contact and closer than most other family leaders for years.”

Curiosity got the better of Gio. “What’s that?”

“We both have a son that’s always been particularly difficult in their own way.”

Gio was starting to believe his father had a more personal reason for sending him to Vegas other than just Franco. One revolving around Antony’s longtime friendship with Maximo and the respect and loyalty he held for the man. Antony didn’t make friends easily, or rather, didn’t care to make any at all. The ones he did have, he kept close and protected fiercely.

“Like I was saying,” Maximo continued, eyeing Gio carefully, “… maybe a couple of more months. A half a year, maximum.”

“Why, though?” Gio asked. “You don’t need an extra capo. You have more than enough guys taking care of your shit. The Sorrentos don’t need a Marcello pushing in on their business. And frankly, I don’t need or want the hassle.”

“That’s not what I need, either.”

“I feel like you’re talking me in circles.”

Maximo chuckled. “It isn’t easy for me to admit I might have some issues in my family that need to be corrected because I let them go on for too long. Do you understand what I’m saying, Giovanni?”

Without a doubt. “Franco.”

“Awful, isn’t it? I wrongly assumed my son would grow into his boots, so to speak. He’s failing, miserably.”

“Miserably is an interesting way to put it.”

“How would you put it, then?” Maximo asked.

Clearly Maximo wasn’t pleased with Franco, but Gio didn’t want to overstep the man’s boundaries. It wouldn’t lead to anywhere good. Gio decided to go with the obvious approach. One that anyone who came in direct contact with Franco would have experienced.

“He’s difficult on good days, with little reverence or gratitude for his position. Franco doesn’t think he has to earn respect; he just expects it to be a given because you’re his father. I have to wonder if he’s ever had to work for anything in your family because he certainly doesn’t believe he has to now.

“He has to behave a certain way to his guys, just like I do with mine, but he’s downright abusive to them most times,” Gio continued, resting back. “Those men—
his
guys—they need to have a reason to either like him or fear him, but it can’t be because he’s a goddamn asshole. It’s just as much a respect thing for them as it is for him. Earning that from men like them, it’s vital. Someday, the way he treats them is going to bite him in the ass.”

“Your father was right. You’re tough to handle when you want to be, but you’re incredibly good at what you do. Invaluable was the word he used, I believe.”

Well, it was good to know Antony had something decent to say.

“I don’t understand what your issues with Franco have anything to do with me, Max.”

“Well, I’m asking you to extend your stay so my son might learn a little respect for the position he’s expected to fill.”

“Franco is in a higher position than me,” Gio pointed out. “And that begets his whole damn issue. The fact that he is where he is means he doesn’t care what anyone below him might have to teach or offer.”

“I’m aware,” Maximo replied dully. “I thought, and wrongly so, that ranking him high and fast would give him the chance to be everywhere at once. I need someone like you, a person that pushes Franco out of his comfort zone, to remind him of why he is where he is in the first place.”

“Someone like me,” Gio echoed.

Maximo shrugged. “You’re perfectly content to be where you are. The expectation to rise or feel more entitled to your family’s empire isn’t in your concerns. You may be a mafia prince all the same, but you’re always going to be a capo first. It’s what you’re the very best at, and you know it. Somewhere along the lines, Franco forgot who he is and what he’s good at. I’d like for you to remind him.”

“Franco and I manage to keep up a decent façade that we can stand one another when we need to, but I highly doubt that’ll last if you stick me at his side.”

“He won’t have a choice,” Maximo said, sighing. “It’s high time I put Franco in a position where he sinks, or he swims. God knows I had to.”

“I don’t know,” Gio said, feeling unsure.

The idea of having to deal with Franco more than he already was churned his stomach with irritation. Then again, Kim slipped into his thoughts, and Gio couldn’t imagine leaving her behind.

“I need time to think about it, Max. I have my family to consider, too.”

The Sorrento leader gave a single nod of acceptance. “I’ll take that over nothing. It’s better than what I had before.”

Gio stood from the chair. “Are we—”

A phone on the desk rang, interrupting Gio’s attempt to leave. Out of respect, Gio waved for Maximo to take the call before they finished their conversation. Maximo picked up the phone on the second ring.

“
Ciao
?” A beat of time passed and Gio knew instantly something was wrong by the way Max’s eyes narrowed and his shoulders tensed. “Why would you do that, Franco?”

Gio cringed at the venom in Maximo’s tone.

“Give that girl a bit of breathing room, son.” Maximo grew silent, shaking his head. “What do you want me to do, huh? You did this, Franco. Don’t forget, it was what
you
wanted. I suggest this time, you leave her be and keep away for a while. And no, you will not send your guys out looking for her. She’ll come back when she’s cooled down. Let her have time to do that.”

Maximo hung up the phone without another word.

Gio felt an uncomfortable pressure build in his chest. An impending sense of dread climbed up his spine. “Everything okay?”

“No,” Maximo growled angrily. “Another mistake of my son’s.”

“Franco marrying Kim, you mean?”

Gio was under the impression Maximo was in agreement about the arranged marriage. Maximo didn’t speak about personal affairs—today was a surprising exception—so it was only an assumption on Gio’s part. The man looked anything but pleased behind his desk.

“They’re both passionate people,” Maximo murmured, staring at the phone on his desk like he wished it would disappear. “Unfortunately, you need the right kind of passion to make the worst parts of marriage bearable. They just don’t have it together. The two of them, it’s an awful mixture of obstinacy and resentment from both ends.”

Gio couldn’t help but defend Kim in some way. It wasn’t like she had wanted a marriage with Franco to begin with. “She seems like a great woman, though.”

“She is … but again, that doesn’t mean she’s great for Franco. For someone else, I have no doubt she’d be the perfect wife, lover, and friend the man needed. Just not for my son. It’s too bad he can’t see through his own bullheaded shit to realize it.”

“Marriage is a make it or break it kind of thing,” Gio said. It was on the tip of his tongue to ask Maximo how he could approve of Franco’s treatment towards Kim, but he knew he shouldn’t. There were lines he couldn’t cross, and that was one of them.

“Or fake it until they make it,” Maximo replied sadly. “There’s a lot more of that going on between those two than I like to admit. This won’t end well, but I’m not sure which one it’ll end for first.”

That’s what Gio was afraid of.

• • •

Gio was lost inside his head as he stared out the windshield, still parked in front of the Sorrento leader’s home. He was trying to decipher parts of his conversation with Maximo, but found himself focusing too much on the phone call before the meeting ended.

The buzz of his phone signaling an incoming text finally snapped Gio out of his thoughts. Plucking up the device from the center console, he read the text three times before it registered.

I know it’s odd for me to ask you
, it read,
but have you seen my sister lately?

Gio frowned, hitting the call button to phone Cody. It was odd for the kid to ask Gio that. He was careful about hiding even the slightest suggestion of his feelings for Kim. He couldn’t stand to think what might happen to her if someone did find out.

Cody picked up on the first ring. “Hey, Skip.”

“Kim’s missing?” Gio asked.

“I guess,” Cody confirmed quietly. “Dad got a call a while ago asking if she showed up here. She’s not. I just thought I’d send out a text to a few people and see if they happened to see her anywhere. Heard you were out today and thought maybe you might have seen her, so.”

“Doesn’t she live in the dorms at the college?”

“Uh, not anymore.”

Kim lived there yesterday when Gio took her to Lake Mead. She was insistent on staying in her dorm until the wedding when she wouldn’t have a choice but to move. Surely something like that wouldn’t have changed in a day. 

Gio pushed the rising worry back and tried to sound disinterested. “Oh?”

Cody sighed. “I don’t know, at first I thought Kim could handle Franco. She’s stubborn as fuck. She didn’t need the overprotective big brother growing up, just a partner in crime. Girls like her, they have a tendency to break a guy’s wall down and bleed their way in.”

Oh, Gio knew it. Every part of that woman was swimming in his blood with no intention of leaving.

“I thought she could handle him,” Cody repeated quieter.

“Franco’s … different.”

“He’s a first-rate asshole, you mean.”

“Basically,” Gio agreed. “What happened?”

“It’s like pulling fucking teeth to get anything from Franco’s guys sometimes.”

“They’re scared of him for all the wrong reasons.”

“Yeah,” Cody agreed. “I did take a drive over to Kim’s dorm. One of the girls who knows her was there. She said something about Kim coming back from classes to an empty dorm and losing her shit.”