Page 10 of Greed

“Two loads of goods are coming in,” Lorenzo comments, going to pour himself a drink while I start up my laptop. “Pep is handling them. He’ll move them by the end of the week without anyone noticing.”

“Good, good,” I murmur, not really paying attention.

“Carl will handle the three loads coming next Tuesday.” He sits back down and crosses his legs.

I look at him. “That’s fine. Carl can handle three. Anything else?”

“I’ve added a butcher and that new leather shop to our protection portfolio. They’ve paid their deposits, and they’ll begin paying the monthly orders on the last day of each month. Other than that, everything is quiet.”

“Quiet is good, for now. Because once we take over those casinos, it’s going to be absolute chaos. I’m going to need you here overseeing business as usual while I oversee those.”

“Of course, you know I will.”

Lorenzo leaves with his whiskey as I begin to work. It’s early evening when I finally stop and glance at the time. At first I’m not sure what pulled me out of my thought process, but then I realize my phone is buzzing with a call. I answer it, seeing it’s Gia’s driver.

“What is it?”

“She’s at Cosanostra. She’s drinking and dancing.”

I clench my fist and then slam it on the table top. Why the fuck would she go to a Ricci-owned nightclub without one of us to protect her? She’s got no guards, no nothing.

“Keep an eye on her, call if you need backup.”

“Yes, sir.”

I’ve barely hung up when Francesco calls me. “Gia is at Cosanostra.”

“Tell me something I don’t know?” I seethe.

“So is Matteo.”

CHAPTER FOUR

GIA

The music reverberates through the club and beads of sweat dot my brow. I’m so angry I just want to move my body. I don’t want to stand and stew with the fact that my brother thinks I’m a piece of meat he can bargain with. If I stand still, my body will tremble with rage, and I will look weak, and that’s the last fucking thing I want.

The song playing has a strong beat, and I move my body seductively. I want to lure someone in and break their heart. Someone unsuspecting because my heart is broken. My brother betrayed me. He put me in an impossible position. It isn’t fair.

Why should I be forced to marry someone because my family wants power? And they call that sacrifice? I’m the one who has to sacrifice, and what do I get out of it other than a rich asshole husband who thinks the world of himself?

This makes me look at the VIP section where a bunch of those rich assholes sit right now, and they are all so full of themselves. Anger courses through me again. Michael Russo could be there, all full of himself and drinking rich people drinks and talking shit about other people.

I don’t want that for myself. In fact, I’ve never wanted a relationship, not until my business is off the ground at least. And now I have to get married.

I glare at the people sitting there before I storm off the dance floor. I don’t give a fuck that I’m there alone. I sidle up to the bar and signal to the bartender that I want two shots of tequila and a glass of water.

The shots come first, and I drink one after another and pull a breath through my teeth before tapping the shot glass on the bar top. The glass of water arrives, and I down that before I swing around and go back to the dance floor and resume dancing. I raise my hands above my body and swing my hips, closing my eyes as I move.

I repeat this a few times, moving from the dance floor to the bar and back to the dance floor. I ignore everyone around me and focus on the music. When Mika comes on, everyone whoops, and I mutter the lyrics as I move. It’s a weird song to dance to, but I like it. Grace Kelly, that’s what it’s called.

I sing softly as the song builds up before everyone starts jumping to the chorus, and I join them. A group of girls near me ropes me in, and we dance together. We all sing loudly as the verse starts again, and I laugh, temporarily forgetting my anger.

The chorus starts again, and we start jumping on the spot again, high heels and all. The girls look as drunk as I feel, and we hang on each other as we sing the last verse.

Then we sway to the chorus before it builds up again and we’re hopping again, some of us holding onto our dresses.

I swish my hair from side to side as we scream the lyrics, past singing now.