Let him learn his lesson.
CHAPTER 16
DAMIANO
Three days later,the morning headlines make me smile as I read the newspaper that Rosa set out with my breakfast.
Infamous Clemenza Townhouse Continues to Auction Despite Tragic Suicide.
I refold the paper with a crisp snap and set it beside my espresso cup with a happy heart. Fate has been showering me with her favor lately, and this has to be the cherry on top.
Rosa clears her throat softly from the doorway, her hands clasped tightly around a tray of food. She knows better than to interrupt my mornings unless she has something interesting to say.
“Well?”
“The tray came back full last night.” Her voice carries that particular tone—the one she uses when she wants me to know she’s not happy. “Same with breakfast this morning.” She holds out the tray for me to see. I give a satisfied nod. Everything’s lining up.
It’s time.
Three days I’ve left him down there alone.
For three days, Rosa has been sending down three meals a day in the dumbwaiter on my cue. Wherever I am in the city, I take out my phone and open the video feed to watch Caligula Clemenza’s reaction as I slide up the lights from off to dim, enough for him to see the food when it’s sent down.
Then I send him back into darkness.
No human contact. Not even a voice. Nothing but the darkness and the bones of his grandfather’s empire. The Clemenza prince is learning that privilege dies hard, but it does die.
“I’ll take something down to him myself,” I say, rising from the mahogany table. “Can’t have ourguestwasting away.”
Rosa just purses those lips, but she hands over the tray without comment.
I’ve been watching him on the cameras. More than I should. More than is strictly necessary—but then, I need to monitor my investment. Make sure he doesn’t find some way to harm himself and rob me of my revenge. That’s the only reason I check the cameras dozens of times a day.
And I watch him shower. After his breakfast each morning, I turn on the shower from my controls, leave it on until he reluctantly gets under the water and cleans himself. I watch the water running over him, the graceful line of his spine as he tilts his head under the spray.
Then I plunge him back into darkness, amusing myself sometimes by cutting the lights before he’s reached for the towel, so that he has to grope his way around to find it.
He has become…a distraction. A sweet distraction.
So today I want him to learn that it’s not going to be all darkness and solitude while he’s here.
Sometimes I’ll make him hurt.
The elevator descends and the doors slide open, revealing a void beyond. I stay where I am, standing in the threshold so he can tense up, get scared.
Then I take a step in and turn on the lights.
The illumination isn’t blinding by any standards, but I’m pleased to see the Clemenza flinch instinctively, his whole body jerking like he’s been struck. One hand flies up to shield his eyes, and the other braces against the mattress as though he’s preparing to run.
Christ, he’s really pretty.
Even like this—especiallylike this. Sharp cheekbones, those impossible, wide-set golden eyes, the defiant tilt to his chin.
He’s a mess. Tangled hair, three days of fine golden stubble softening the angle of his jaw, making him look younger. More fragile. But even like this, there’s something untouchable about him. A regal air that three days of darkness hasn’t dimmed…
Enough. He’s a tool for vengeance, and that’s all he is.
I step into the room and let the elevator doors shut behind me, sealing us in together. “Good morning, golden boy.”