I want this. And I will be masked. In a safe place, and with Addie. “We have to find a way to ditch the guards, or they’ll just tell Massimo, and he’ll have the Roselli soldiers bring me home.”
Addie laughs. “I’m a step ahead of you. Here’s the plan…” I listen to her jabber animatedly for over ten minutes and by the time she actually takes a breath I’m convinced we can pull this off.
I lean back in my desk chair, drawing my bare feet beneath my legs. “Okay, you have thought of everything. I have so much to do. I mean, hair, nails, shopping for a dress. I only have six days.”
She’s quiet for a minute. “It’s so good to hear some real happiness in your voice. I know you love Sophia and have grown fond of the Rosellis but it’s not the same as having your own life.”
“You’re not wrong. It’s time I tiptoe out into the world again. This is probably exactly what I need. Thank you for giving me the little nudge.”
She laughs. “Little nudge? I’m tossing you into the deep end! Right into a pool of alpha males who I’m hoping will light your fire again.”
It’s hard not to love my friend’s exuberance. “Your plan for me to spend time at your house should work. Massimo trusts your family.”
“Right. They’ve been fine with you coming over and staying the night as long as the guards can stay at the perimeter. We’ll have you stay the night before too. I’ll have my stylist come over and do our hair and nails before we leave. I’ll make reservations and have a few dresses delivered. You can try them on and decide which one you want to take.”
The blood thrums through my veins with excitement. We may just possibly pull this off. “Okay, I’ll see you on Thursday, and then we leave for Atlantic City on Friday evening. Go to the masquerade, check out the sex club, stay at the hotel, and thenSaturday we drive back here. We go in and out of your estate the same way, and the guards won’t be the wiser.”
“Anything we haven’t thought of?” she asks.
“I think we’ve got it covered. I’m so excited that I may pass right the hell out.”
Her voice turns serious. “You’re kidding?”
“Um, no, maybe.” I suck in a deep breath. I want this and if I’m going to take back my life, I need to do this for me. No matter the consequences if Massimo and Sophia find out.
3
VINCENZO
Iadjust my cuff links and tug the crisp white ends of the dress shirt beneath my suit before taking the private elevator from my penthouse to the lower level of the DeLuca Casino and Hotel. I walk off the elevator and down the red carpeted hall to the black double doors with a gold embossed sign saying Deluca X Club. The guard has been one of our trusted soldiers for years. He takes my invitation without looking at me or my masked face before waving me through.
We may be in disguise, but the people who know, know. As evidenced by the barrage of unattached women who eye me from the booth just ahead. I give them a gentle nod but keep moving. The socialite princesses, all with their sights on one thing. Money, power and more of both. Groomed by their families from a young age to match well. The thought of being in someone’s sights makes me move quicker past their table and deeper into the club.
Across the room, I spot Mistress Valentina in a bright red dress that plunges right to her navel with her signature black laced-up boots. Her eyes, adorned in a femininely ornate black and gold mask, light up when she sees me walk through theprivate door. I close the distance between us taking in her sleek and sexy cane, her implement of choice I’m told, in one hand.
Our club manager taps my suit coat with the tip giving me a bright white smile framed in red lips. “You clean up very nice, Vincenzo. Anyone you wish to be paired with this evening?” she asks, referring to the abundance of women at the ready in any of our casinos and lower-level clubs.
I tap her very thin sleek mask, hardly a cover for her eyes at all. “No, just going to wander around and check things out. You’re not supposed to know who I am.”
She laughs. “Darling, I know who everyone is, it’s you who isn’t supposed to know who the others are and vice versa. Go play. Enjoy the freedom. It’s been far too long since you’ve been to the club my dear friend.”
“You’re dressed to the nines tonight, Valentina. Looking for the one?” I ask.
Valentina laughs, a deep throaty laugh that many swoon for I’m sure, I just don’t happen to be one of them. “Not in this lifetime, love. I’m a free spirit, coming and going as I want, no need to tie oneself down to a life of monotony. I’m afraid I would die of sheer boredom after a week.”
I smirk at the overtly dramatic Mistress of DeLuca X Club. “Truer words. Looks like your invitations have drawn a full house. And the money in the coffers come Monday will look great.”
Valentina arches a well-shaped brow. “Always about the bottom line. Go enjoy. I have work to do,” she says, using her hand to brush me away.
I leave her to the business of mingling with the elite, walking to the bar while mindfully scanning the bottles against the deep crimson back wall. The horseshoe design of the black marble bar accommodates more seating, in close proximity to the booze usually equating to far more profits for the house, all whilegiving the staff a little more room behind the counter. Space needed for critical things in this powerful underworld game we play and that no one else is privy to see.
Increasingly so with the war between the Rosellis, Gallinis, and Amortes in Jersey City spilling into the adjacent family turfs and signs of growing much worse in the near future.
The bartender doesn’t recognize me, and I’m not surprised. It’s been far too long since I’ve been downstairs. “Dalmar please.” It was probably a mistake to come. Out of all the seemingly unattached females I’ve passed this evening, not one interested me enough to put in the time or energy to even broach a single conversation.
The young guy behind the bar pours the top shelf scotch kept on hand for our most exclusive customers, the ones who generally ask for Dalmar specifically. I inhale the aroma before bringing it to my lips but a slight movement in the dimly lit room draws my attention to my left, causing my glass to stop midair on its way to my lips.
A dark-haired angel in a golden dress that sparkles floats gently across my path of vision, tentatively looking this way and that as though unsure of where to go or what to do. My eyes follow the sway of her behind, watching every single step and grace of her walk.