Dating the Don (Savage Crime Lords #1)

Chapter 10

CHAPTER TEN

CRISTIANO

C onvincing my men that Maeve is no threat to us was always going to be hard. They think of her as the help. Never mind that to me she’s always been so much more than that. Annalisa, my mother, is standing unhelpfully on the balcony as I address my men in the yard. I’m sure that they have questions, but I will not allow them the chance to ask a single thing. This is not an option. There is no explanation needed. I am marrying her, she is the one that I have chosen and as such, she’s infallible to them.

Or else.

“Two of you are to be on rotation at all times to guard my fiancée until further notice. You will divide the duties amongst yourselves. If I must do it, I will be most displeased,” I speak firmly, despite my casual posture as I walk between the militant lines of my closest and highest-ranking men. As I near the front of the perfect lines covering the expanse of my front lawn, I move closer to Al, my right-hand man. To him, and him alone, I allow myself to speak more softly. “I suppose that it goes without saying that I will have you assigned to Ada. I need somebody I trust to keep a close eye on her at all times.”

Al rarely questions me, but I can see the flicker of hesitation in his gaze. “I don’t like the thought of leaving you without a guard. You need somebody on your side, timing is crucial.”

His words might seem insubordinate to others but I know that he’s only looking out for me. I squeeze his shoulder in acknowledgment of his words.

“Ada is the one who’s fragile in the wake of father’s death. We cannot allow her to backslide when she’s come so far. We both know that she would rather die than willingly ask for help from anyone, least of all me.”

Al dips his head in understanding. “It will be done.”

He starts to walk away, but I stop him and step closer, speaking lowly so that only he can hear. “I will need reports on when and how much she eats, if she’s going to the bathroom after eating her meals, things of that nature.”

Al’s lips pull into a thin line, but he nods. “Like before?”

I nod once, and we share a look of understanding before Al silently excuses himself. It’s for the best. I hate not having him at my side for the reasons that he mentioned, but I know where he will be most useful.

Ada has struggled with both anorexia and bulimia since high school. Not long after she started modeling, that toxic world threatened to consume her. Body image is hard enough on a teenager without the added pressure of thousands of eyes on you at all times. After a small stint in college, she’s had the disease mostly under control but severe stress tends to bring it out in her. She thinks that I haven’t noticed the way her ribs are slowly growing more and more visible. Her worst nightmare is that Maeve will find out about her issues, and that fear has allowed me to blackmail my sister into eating since my father’s death, but I can’t always watch her on my own. Not now. Not with everything else that’s going to happen in the upcoming days.

She has to be cared for.

My family will always come first.

I turn on my heel, looking out over the lines of men with a soft nod. I understand these men, and they will come to understand me. Despite their reservations. It’s only natural. I was born to do this job. I’ve been groomed for this position my entire life. The only difference between today and any other day, is that instead of giving these speeches with my father standing right by me, I now say these words alone.

My father should be here.

He always wanted to see his legacy in action.

With that thought, I dismiss my men and they break apart in waves to head back to their assigned duties. I turn and make eye contact with my mother. She’s leering down at me with clear disapproval. Her black dress swishes around her as the lace veil she wears to cover her face sways in the soft breeze, but I miss not one watt of her anger.

I head inside, attempting to ignore her but the weight of her disapproval is heavy on my shoulders.

She’s sitting at the tea table in her room when I arrive. Waiting for me. She’s got her arms folded over her chest and her legs crossed at the knee. Her perfectly plucked brow is lifted in accusation as she glowers at me.

“Weren’t you the one insisting that I settle down as soon as possible?!” I practically bark at her. Somewhere behind me the door that I slammed open taps shut again.

“I expected you to have more sense in your head.”

My eye twitches. I wasn’t able to react the way that I wanted to in front of Maeve. She would have taken my anger poorly or thought that it implied something that it didn’t. Our bargain is too precarious as it is. I cannot allow her to get the wrong impression or doubt me, not even for a second.

“I don’t understand why it is that you’ve suddenly turned on Maeve when you are the one who brought her into this house in the first place. What is your problem?”

“You just act without thinking sometimes, Cristiano, and it will be your downfall. Mark my words, you are going to regret pulling this string.”

“Will you stop being so damned cryptic?! There’s nobody else here! Speak plainly or control your face when there are witnesses,” I hiss.

Family business and dirty laundry are never to be aired in public. I would have thought she knew that as she was the one who taught me that very same lesson. The hard way.

When she doesn't answer, I take a step back. I have to. I can’t allow myself to lose control. I rake my hands down my face and decide to try a slightly different approach. I move across the room and sit, uninvited, at her tea table. Mother makes a small noise of chastisement that I choose to ignore.

“You cannot truly sit there and pretend to ignore my interest in her.” I hold her gaze so directly that she has no choice but to look me in the eye. “You know that ever since I was old enough to know what these feelings meant…” I gesture to my chest as I speak, “that my heart has only ever beat for her, long before she had any idea that I felt this way.”

Annalisa’s lips purse. “You mean to tell me that this… this abomination of a union is real?”

She is reluctant to allow me to be head of the family due to my age, as if she had any choice. That role will always and only go to a man, and she knows it. She might not like taking orders from her son, but she better get used to it.

I could tell her of my hopes for what might come of this bargain but everybody must buy its validity. Including my own mother. So, my only answer—the obvious one—is to simply nod.

Annalisa sinks back into her chair and heaves a long, suffering sigh.

“Of course, I remember,” she finally admits reluctantly. “I used to find you in here rifling through my jewelry to give that girl a present. Every year on Valentine’s. I still do not know if you ever plucked up the courage to actually give her any of it.”

Even I had forgotten that. The habit had faded well before middle school, having begun when I was quite young. I handed them to Maeve's mother instead of giving them to her personally since I never had the guts to do it. I have no idea what became of the stuff after that, and I couldn't care less. Whether sheactually wore them or whether her mother pawned them, I suppose it doesn't really matter in the long run because Maeve would ultimately profit from everything. That was what truly mattered to me.

“What a monster you must think that I am,” Annalisa says when she finally speaks again.

No, not a monster. Never that.

“What sort of mother wishes to actively step between her child and their happiness? What right do I have to tell you who to love or how?”

All rhetorical questions that I know better than to answer. So, I go another route. “I think that you need to trust that I know well enough to know what is best for me.”

“You need to be careful, Cristiano,” Annalisa warns as she leans forward, her thin hand lifting to cup the corner of my jaw and brush her thumb over my cheek as she has done since I was a child. “I know that nothing I say can stop you from something that you’ve set your mind to. That has always been the case with you, my dear. But I urge you to listen to your mother and use caution.”

I wait for a moment before moving again, hoping that she’s going to offer up some sort of explanation, anything really.

“There are things that you do not know, that I hope you never uncover. But, believe me when I say that Maeve means trouble.”

Minutes later when I’m standing outside of her bedroom with my back pressed into her closed door, I don’t feel like I’ve come to any more sort of clarity on the situation than I had before.