Fight Me Little Pearl

Chapter 30

Chapter Thirty

FRANCESCA

“ L ouisa, I have to go.” I lean in to kiss her cheek.

She frowns. “What? We arrived together.”

“It’s okay. Stay with your friends. Valentino is outside. Let’s do this some other time.”

“I’ll walk you out,” Louisa says, taking my hand. I wave goodbye to the girls.

There’s a very expensive-looking sleek matt-black sports car I’ve never seen before parked right at the entrance and Valentino is leaning against it. He is in his signature all-black look. From head to toe, he is dressed in black.

“Damn,” Louisa whispers. “You’re eating good, Francesca.”

“Behave,” I mutter.

Valentino holds out his arm when I reach him, and I step into his embrace. “Valentino, this is Louisa, my cousin and best friend. She was at the wedding, but I don’t think you have officially met her.”

Louisa holds out her hand. “It’s nice to meet you officially.”

Valentino shakes her hand briefly. “Thanks for taking care of my wife.”

“You don’t have to thank me. It was my pleasure.”

Valentino leads me to the passenger seat of the car and holds the door open. I wave at Louisa before slipping inside. As we drive off, I continue to wave at her until she’s out of eyeshot.

“Why are you in a bar, piccola mia? ”

I turn to him with a smile. “You don’t like it?”

“I’m not sure,” he says mildly. “I’m not going to dictate what you do, but bars are filled with drunken men. I will have to commit murder if someone touches you inappropriately.”

I laugh. “It didn’t come to that. No one touched me inappropriately. And if one had I’m sure one of those men trying very hard to blend in and not quite succeeding would have stepped in.”

He smiles. “Yes, they would have. How was your day?”

“It was okay until the girls found the alcohol.”

“Tell me about it,” he says conversationally as he navigates through traffic.

I arch my brows, surprised he is interested in my day out. “It was mostly just women’s gossip. Are you sure you want to know?”

“I wouldn’t have asked otherwise.”

“Okay.” I stare at his profile. “Maria is married to a sixty-something-year-old prick who apparently doesn’t satisfy her in any area of her life, especially sexually.”

He glances at me. “Hmm.”

“Unlike Maria, Bella’s husband is in his forties, but in my estimation, he is worse. He beats her regularly, and she’s had two miscarriages because of this.”

“That’s because he has another family,” Valentino states quietly.

My mouth parts in a gasp, and I blink at his handsome face. “What?”

“He has another family,” he repeats. “A wife and four kids. Three boys and a girl. Bella is wasting her time.”

“How do you know this?”

“The background check. Remember?”

“You said it would be a simple thing.”

“This is the simple version for Vance,” he says. “If he wants to be thorough, he will even find out what Maria’s dead grandmother had for breakfast before she died.”

“Her grandmother is dead?”

“For five years.”

I burst into a disbelieving laughter. “This is crazy.” But curiosity gets the better of me, so even though I’m embarrassed, I find myself asking, “What about Maria? Any dirt on her husband?”

Valentino slides me an amused glance. “Look at you. What a curious little thing you are?” he teases.

“Come on. Please.”

“Well, since you asked so nicely.” He steers the car into our neighborhood. “Maria’s husband doesn’t actually fancy women, but it’s all good because she has a boyfriend, and Tina, who you haven’t mentioned, knows about it.”

I slump in my seat. “I need to talk to Vance. Can he run a background check on my future?”

Valentino grins. “He already did. Fifty years into the future, we’re still married, our kids are all grown up, and we spend our days fucking in bed and rocking in the verandah.”

I laugh. “Don’t kid yourself. In fifty years you’ll be over eighty. You’ll be lucky to get one erection every two months.”

Valentino pulls the car onto the driveway. “Then I guess I have to get all the sex out of the way before then, won’t I?”

His eyes shine with lust, and I’m about to dash out of the car when he grabs me and pulls me to him. I try to scramble out of his hold, but his arms tighten around my waist.

“Don’t struggle. You’ll only make your punishment worse,” he whispers into my ear, sending a ticklish feeling down my body. I bite back a laugh. “Put me down, Valentino.”

“You don’t have enough bass in your voice,” he mocks. He rushes me up the stairs and into our bedroom. He’s just put me on the bed when there’s a knock on the door.

Valentino frowns. “What is it?”

“Sorry to bother you, Don Barone,” the housekeeper says, “but there’s someone in the living room waiting to see you.”

“Who is it?” Valentino asks.

“He says his name is Tom Hawkins.”

Valentino’s disposition changes as he sets me on my feet, and I know I’m looking at the Boss of the Barone clan. A sliver of fear snakes up my spine.

“Give me a minute, Francesca,” he says softly. “I’ll be back. Don’t move a muscle while I’m away.”

I nod and slump onto the bed as he disappears from the room. I stay as I am for a few minutes, but with every second that ticks past, I feel myself grow more and more restless. There is something different about this visitor. It was obvious in the immediate switch in Valentino at the mention of the name.

I scramble out of the bed and head for the door, careful not to make too much noise as I pad in my bare feet quickly down the stairs. I hear an unfamiliar voice and trace it all the way to the living room. Hiding behind the wall I carefully peek into the living room.

Valentino is seated on an armchair and his body is calm and composed, but I detect anger rolling off him in waves. Three men are standing in front of him, but one of them is obviously the leader, his posture is more confident and aggressive.

“We urge that you desist from ruining this city,” he says in a harsh tone. “As the new superintendent of the New York City Police Service, I intend to rid the city of people like you. People who make money off people’s weaknesses and perversions. You have made yourself very rich, but I need you to know that it’s not for long. Because Tom Hawkins has arrived and I plan to clean up this city.”

When he finishes his rant, Valentino observes a moment of silence before clapping his hands. “Bravo,” he says sarcastically. “Great speech. Wrong audience.”

Tom Hawkins starts to speak again, but Valentino raises a finger, effectively shutting him up. “If you have a personal vendetta against me, join the queue,” he says. “But I guarantee that your high and mighty stance will not end very well for you.”

“I don’t have a personal vendetta against you, Mr. Barone. I’m just taking the trash out of my city!”

“Trash?” Valentino growls suddenly, and I gasp, slapping a palm over my mouth to keep the scream at bay. Suddenly, he is not the man I know. He is scary and he’s not even on his feet. Tom Hawkins is so shocked by the transformation he stumbles back and knocks into the two men behind him.

“Like I said, if you want to make an enemy of me, join the queue.” Valentino rises to his feet and towers over the three men like a giant. “But I must warn you, the next time you step foot into my home, you’ll leave in a wheelchair.”

“Is that a threat, Mr. Barone?”

Valentino smiles. “Why don’t you find out?”

Tom Hawkins stares back at him for a moment before turning abruptly to leave. I move back as they walk past me towards the front door. I start running up the stairs to go back to the bedroom when I hear my name called.

“Francesca.”

I freeze before turning around to look at Valentino. The cold scary beast that dealt with those men is gone, but I know it is lurking underneath, ready to resurface at any moment there is danger.

“Did you hear that?” he asks.

“Yes.”

“I told you to stay in your room.”

“I was curious.”

He walks towards me, stopping only a few steps below. “So what now?” he asks. “Am I a monster? Are you going to tell me how I’m worse than your father?”

I close the distance between us. “No. You’ll never be worse than my father.”

An emotion flashes in his eyes, but I can’t place it.

“Weren’t we busy upstairs before we were interrupted?” I ask quietly.

He nods slowly. “We were.”

“Then what are we waiting for?” I ask, arching into his body. “Let's finish what we started.”