Diavolo (Devil’s Playground #1)

27. Chapter 27

27

Two days passed in a snap. The day of their fateful meeting with Benedetto Graviano had come. There was much to be discussed with Elyse's grandfather. Pieces and players on their chessboard needed to be set in motion. Lives and livelihoods were at stake. Time was of the essence. Benedetto and his men agreed to rendezvous with Elyse and Alessandro an hour before Sverso opened to the public. Much to Elyse's dismay, however, tonight's exchange at the club would need to be conducted entirely through Alessandro. She'd yet to reveal her growing Italian fluency to her husband, and, even if she chose to share this little secret to him, it wasn't like Elyse would be much help, anyway.

Her grandfather only spoke Italian, and Elyse's proficiency was, on a good day, barely passable for even an elementary school student. Elyse had been brushing up on her studies with a vengeance, but there were only so many verb conjugations the human brain could process in a day. Language was power, and, as of right now, Elyse was still learning to brandish it. Her own ineptitude set her on edge. It gave her no choice but to be a bystander during tonight's negotiations.

Elyse wanted to contribute and wield some semblance of control over their fate. The outcome of Alessandro's conversation with Benedetto would dictate their plan of action for the rest of the night. If her grandfather agreed to their terms, his support would take them down one path. If he refused their proposition, they'd be forced down a completely different one. She willed herself to focus on carrying out what was possible in order to achieve something that felt almost impossible , which was to help her husband win a mafia war without getting themselves killed in the process.

That evening, Elyse prepped her hair and makeup on her own. Alessandro had sent Malina to Salemi on a special mission, and the housekeeper would likely be preoccupied there for the rest of the week. Elyse ended up choosing a wide-neck wrap minidress in a peach-nude silk that draped loosely around her curves. The hem rose high on her thighs, and the neckline dipped enticingly along her cleavage. She paired the dress with a pair of strappy gold heels. Elyse felt mostly classy and a little slutty in a very expensive and satisfying way.

Around this time, Alessandro appeared in a dark navy blue suit and white dress shirt. He leaned against the doorframe to admire her.

"Come here, cuore mio ," he murmured, "so I can take a closer look."

With gold stilettos click-click-clicking across the marble floors of their bedroom, Elyse smiled as she made her way to her husband. Alessandro's hands found the small of her back, pulling her close, as his eyes roamed over the swells of her breasts down to her long shapely legs.

" Perfezione ," Alessandro drawled.

Perfection. Delight buzzed in Elyse. Her hands slid up Alessandro's chest and locked around his neck. Her lips curved upward a little more as she murmured, "Thank you, Alessio."

Alessandro's palms ghosted down the curves of her ass. His fingers began to toy with the satiny hem of her skirt.

"You look like sex," he whispered, "wrapped in silk."

Her cheeks grew warm. "Do I?"

Alessandro reached under her skirt to grip her thigh. His hand trailed over to her inner thigh. Elyse released a slight shiver.

His eyes grew dark. "I cannot wait to unwrap you."

Alessandro then traced his fingers over her panties and caressed his thumb on her clit over the lace in slow, lazy circles. A pleasurable heat shot through Elyse's core. She gazed up at Alessandro with a mix of lust and adoration. Elyse let one of her hands drift down his torso.

"Later," she promised him, "I'll be all yours."

She brushed her palm against Alessandro's crotch. "To tease." Elyse grasped his cock between her fingers and gave him a few light tugs through the wool of his trousers. "To touch." His hardness was soon straining against the fabric and her hand. " And fuck ."

"Keep talking like that," he growled, "and I will split you in two next time we fuck."

"Break me, baby. I welcome it."

Her husband buried his face in the slope of her neck and groaned, "This godforsaken night cannot end soon enough."

"Agreed," Elyse replied in a soft, faint breath.

The fire between them managed to adversely ignite and cool at the same time. Their bodies still burned for each other, but reality had also cut through their cloud of pleasurable tension. Unintentionally, while stoking their lust, Alessandro's words rose as a reminder that their long, trying night had yet to begin. Reluctantly, Elyse retracted her hand from him. Alessandro removed his hand from under her dress as well.

A more serious note now wedged between them, and anxiety brimmed from Elyse's green eyes as she asked, "Do you think everything will go smoothly?"

It nudged her a bit off balance when Alessandro didn't respond with his usual dose of poetic optimism and valor. He answered in an atypically restrained manner, "All we can do is hope for the best."

The fact that Alessandro had chosen to apply her favorite mantra to this particular scenario felt like an omen of some kind. And plan for the worst , she added silently.

Nils drove them to Sverso around 10 pm. When they arrived, Alessandro helped her out of the car. Elyse took care not to flash anyone with the shortness of her dress as she stepped out of the backseat. Monte and Luca walked behind them, leading a trail of bodyguards through the back entrance of the club.

The Sverso staff was still prepping to open their doors for business at midnight, so the inside was eerily calm and quiet as Elyse followed her husband's entourage down a dark corridor, up some stairs, and into a private VIP room on the second floor. The room's luxe interior was lit with dim red lighting, casting the entire space in a dark, moody atmosphere. Sleek white leather chairs and couches wrapped around glowing cube-shaped tables with built-in lighting. A bartender dressed in a black vest, black trousers, and a white dress shirt manned a private, fully decked-out bar in the corner of the room. Elyse felt as though she had stepped into the devil's playroom.

Benedetto Graviano was already sitting in the middle of the room with six of his men gathered around him.

Alessandro and Benedetto shook hands as they greeted one another. Then, Elyse came forward to say 'hello' to her grandfather. They offered each other customary air kisses on the cheek. The exchange felt almost as awkward as their walk down the aisle from the wedding. The biology of their blood and DNA made them family, but they were still very much strangers in every other way.

Alessandro took a seat directly across from Benedetto while gently grasping Elyse's hand to pull her down beside him. He didn't let go of her hand as the meeting barreled on in full-blown Italian. Elyse felt grateful. Her husband's touch grounded her nerves.

As Alessandro and Benedetto began their negotiations, Elyse did her best to follow along. It was a struggle, though. She was far more familiar with Alessandro's Italian, which carried a distinct Sicilian accent, but he spoke with more of a Palermitan influence, which sounded hard, strong, quick to her ears as opposed to Benedetto's Catanese softer, gentler, slower cadence. To the best of her ability, Elyse tried to piece together all the snippets she caught in passing.

At some point, her grandfather demanded, "Di che cosa hai bisogno?" What do you need?

Alessandro returned," I tuoi uomini. Le tue connessioni. " Your men. Your connections.

"Che vantaggio ne ricavo?" What's in it for me?

" 4.5 milioni di euro. " 4.5 million euros.

" Non abbastanza. " Not enough.

"No?"

" No. Potremmo essere una famiglia adesso, ma... " No. We may be family now, but...

" Ma cosa? Ora siamo una famiglia. La mia sofferenza sarà la tua sofferenza.Il mio successo sarà il tuo successo. " But what? We are family now. My suffering will be your suffering. My success will be your success.

The two men eventually settled on the original five million that Alessandro had intended to offer along with a few other addendums and adjustments. Elyse couldn't help admiring her husband's cool composure and sharp negotiation skills. She took careful note of the language and tactics Alessandro had employed on her grandfather. It was a combination of flattery and reason while letting Benedetto feel as though he'd won more than his fair share. She filed every little detail away for future use. By the end of their meeting, it seemed Alessandro had secured her grandfather's full support, which meant the next part of their plan was now in play.

Effective immediately.

As they exited the crimson-hued VIP room, the club slowly roared to life, and a steady blast of EDM beats and rhythms pounded into Elyse's ears. Alessandro placed a hand on the small of her back, guiding her down to the dance floor where they could be seen and judged by all the allied clans her husband had invited to Sverso tonight.

Elyse set her jaw and narrowed her eyes. Showtime . Flashing lights and music filled the air. The smell of alcohol and smoke swirled through Elyse's senses. Bodies writhed and bounced to pulsing, electronic beats around them. Alessandro's hands molded to Elyse's hips. She draped her arms around his shoulders to pull him closer. They surrendered to their impulses, moving in time to the hypnotic, pounding melodies.

All eyes were upon them. The useless king and unwelcome queen of the Vitale clan. Elyse crushed her lips to Alessandro's mouth, kissing him without abandon, as though no one was watching, as though they were in the privacy of their bedroom and not a crowded nightclub full of mobsters and tourists and locals. Her hands began to roam up and down her husband's god-like form, worshipping the hard planes of his muscles over the expensive fabric of his suit. Elyse became a wild, savage woman as she nipped and sucked on his neck, leaving reddened marks upon his skin.

Soon, it seemed, her relentless teasing and touching grew to be too much for Alessandro to withstand. He dragged her from the dance floor to one of the private curtained VIP tables near the hustle and bustle of the main bar. Alessandro slid into the booth and hauled Elyse onto his lap. They left their curtains wide open, inviting leering eyeballs to look and wagging tongues to gossip. This was the role her husband had embodied for most of his youth. Entitled playboy. Notorious fuckboy. Womanizing princeling. Harmless. Useless. Nothing like his father . How could any self-respecting mafioso take him seriously as capo?

Elyse and Alessandro started groping each other and making out like sex-starved teens. Their passion was real. Their motives were hidden. Alessandro flagged down one of the servers. A minute later, copious amounts of white powder and alcohol were brought to their table. He downed several shots of clear hard liquor as though it were water. He poured a few glasses for Elyse as well. She demolished every last drop. They let their laughter grow loud and obnoxious as their movements turned clumsy and sluggish.

Yet, the room wasn't spinning for either of them. Their minds remained clear and bright like diamonds. Alessandro poured a thin trail of white substance across the bare honeyed skin on Elyse's chest. He then bent over to snort the line from her collarbone to the swells of her tits. He dabbed a bit more powder on his forefinger and offered it to Elyse. Her tongue darted out to lick and suck his finger clean. The powder was tasteless. It didn't carry any bitter flavors or numbing notes. They did this several more times before making out once more like two addicts riding the crazed euphoria of their drugged-up bliss. Shamelessly, wantonly, Elyse started grinding her pussy against the hard ridge near Alessandro's crotch like an exotic dancer giving a beloved client a very exclusive and thorough lap dance.

Their high never hit, though.

For the rest of the evening, Elyse and her husband continued their descent into seeming madness, partying away in this hedonistic manner. It was a fine line to tread. They needed to act foolish enough to tempt the greedy and the ambitious, but they couldn't go so overboard as to lose the faith of their staunchest supporters.

As midnight hours crept toward the dawning of the next day, Alessandro's men and Benedetto's men lurked in the background of this master play, winding and weaving their way through the Sverso crowds and corridors and restroom stalls and private VIP lounges as silent, invisible eyes and ears, discreetly gathering intel, reading the rooms, and discerning loyal allies from false friends.

When the morning sun rose to the skies in a burst of golden light, the first act of Elyse and Alessandro's con came to completion. Together, they had shown to the masses that Alessandro was unfit to be capo. They hadn't consumed anything except juice and water and crushed vitamin D powder for the past couple of hours, but the seeds had been sown. Elyse hoped the fruits of their labor wouldn't backfire on them.

Around 6 am, they left Sverso and returned to the palazzo, bleary-eyed and groggy-headed, to catch up on sleep. Even though Elyse wasn't drunk or high, she couldn't recall ever staying out all night at a club. This shit was exhausting.

Later that afternoon, when Elyse and Alessandro finally stirred from their blacked-out state of exhaustion, Monte and Luca came to them bearing good and bad tidings. Both Elyse and Alessandro had listened to the report with similarly cool, unwavering expressions stretched taut across their faces like generals receiving status updates on the battlefield.

"Not a single Berlusconi was in attendance," Luca relayed with a grimace.

Elyse frowned. Invitations had been extended to Cara and Domenico. This intentional absence felt like a slap in the face. Alessandro murmured, "Fucking traitor . Domenico is making his position known to everyone."

Monte grunted in agreement," Fottuto traditore. "

Calculations clicked through Elyse's mind. The Berlusconi bastard was likely going to rally support from their allies to turn against them.

"What about the others?" Elyse asked, "where do they stand?"

She learned from Luca that the Svizzis had stayed quiet, neutral, unreadable, observing the drama unfold from the sidelines. The De Leóns, however, proved themselves to be trustworthy, for now, at least. Not only had Mariposa De León and her men kept their mouths shut about Alessandro and Elyse's questionable behavior, they even defended them against Carlo Moretti and Tara Trevisano.

Apparently, Carlo had remarked to Tara that, at his core, Alessandro Vitale was still Vincenzo Vitale's spoiled, unbridled son , that his new wife seemed to be every bit as hopeless . Apparently, Tara had commented back that the pair of them made a perfectly imbecilic match . Apparently, talk of new business deals and backstabbing had swirled between the Morettis and Trevisanos all night.

After Monte and Luca took their leave, Alessandro and Elyse were, again, alone in their room. They glanced at one another grimly. A shared, unspoken thought passed between them: It hadn't taken the Morettis and Trevisanos very long at all to show their treachery.

"At least," Alessandro drawled, "we have lured the dissenters from hiding."

"Yes."

He cast an expectant look in her direction. "What comes next, wife?"

"We must hold onto the Svizzis and the De Leóns," Elyse said, "and find a way to set the Berlusconis and Morettis and Trevisanos at each other's throats. Until they're too weak to stand against us."

Her husband nodded. "I agree. They cannot be allowed to unite with Domenico. They must remain divided. Fractioned. At odds."

"I'll work on securing and reinforcing our ties to the Svizzis and De Leóns. Through their women."

"Sounds like a good start," Alessandro grunted, "I will work with your grandfather to set our trap for the other three clans."

"I want to help as well."

Alessandro's black eyebrows went up in surprise. Amusement gleamed from brown and blue-gray eyes. "What happened to the good surgeon who saved my life in Queens? She seems changed somehow."

"That surgeon married into the mafia," Elyse retorted quietly, "and now she must become a different woman altogether."

His hand reached over to cup her face. "Do you resent it, cuore mio?"

"What?"

"Being forced to adapt."

"Of course."

He swallowed uncomfortably. "I see."

His hand fell away from her cheek. She offered him a brave smile. "But I've been forced to do many things against my will. For survival. As a daughter, granddaughter, and wife. I'm used to it."

Alessandro paused with some hesitation before asking, "You once said that you will always resent me. Do you still feel this way?"

"No," Elyse answered, surprising herself in the process, "I'm beginning to see that you're not the enemy. It's the ones who keep fucking with my peace of mind that I must fight against. Cosa Nostra stole our freedom. I want to make them pay."

"But," Alessandro reminded her, "the mafia is in our blood. We are Cosa Nostra. "

She hummed noncommittally. A sudden wickedness rose in her. For her own sake, Elyse wanted to see the mafia self-destruct from the inside out. The irreversible harm it inflicted on her and her father's life, especially, had burrowed a profound and savage grudge inside her. The Mancinis destroyed Papá . They probably would've wrecked her, too, if Alessandro hadn't stepped in. "I'll be honest, Alessio, if your enemies end up killing each other by the end of this bloodbath, I won't shed a fucking tear."

Alessandro's smile looked positively feral when he replied, "Neither would I."

She shivered in spite of herself. "We're a bit frightening."

" No ," he corrected, "you and I are a force to be reckoned with."

Elyse thought of Stefano and Mikey again. "I guess, it's better to be feared than to be afraid. I hate feeling helpless."

"Do you still feel helpless, cuore mio?"

"Sometimes."

"What frightens you?"

"Many things."

"Tell me your fears, and I will take them away one by one."

She shook her head. "That's not necessary. Let me find my own strength. To face my fears. One by one . I simply need you to stand by me while I try."

Alessandro's mouth curved up. "As you wish."

"Thank you, Alessio."

Elyse kissed his smile until it grew even wider and happier. A comfortable silence stretched between them as he held her in his arms. But the ring of his phone soon cut through their peace. Alessandro answered it," Pronto ."

His expression grew darker and more troubled as the conversation carried on. When he hung up, Elyse asked, "What's wrong?"

"My father..."

She urged, "What about him?"

"He has been wanting to meet you, but I put it off because. The stronzo is not worthy of your company."

Goosebumps pricked her skin. Elyse sensed what Alessandro was about to say before he said it. Most likely, Vincenzo Vitale wouldn't be long for this world.

"It appears I cannot delay anymore," Alessandro muttered.

Sadness and dread crept into Elyse's heart for two separate reasons. The nature of terminal illness was always a sad, dreadful affair, but her father-in-law's death would also cement Alessandro's title as capo , which felt sad and dreadful in a completely different way. Her husband looked as though he was in shock. She reached over to grip Alessandro's hand.

"Take me to him," Elyse said in gentle tones, "and we can say our goodbyes together."