Page 22 of Empire of Seduction (New York State of Mafia #2)

Three men in motorcycle cuts followed a few seconds later.

“Merda,” Tommaso muttered. “Didn’t he notice them earlier?”

Not if the place had been crowded. I looked at Clyde. “I want to see the camera with those three men.”

Clyde worked quickly, clicking the mouse and pulling up the camera on the bar. The three bikers were huddled there, their backs to Gaetano. I knew their cuts, though. These three were Red Raiders.

One of the bikers turned to face the camera and I peered closer. Recognition hit me. “That one right there? He’s part of the construction crew who worked on the cottage,” I told Tommaso in our language. “That motherfucker was in my house.”

“Cazzo madre di dio,” Tommaso snapped. “That is how he knew who Gaetano was.”

“What’s this man’s name?” I asked Clyde in English, pointing at the screen.

“That’s Jimmy Tate. Local kid. They call him Tater.”

I ground my back teeth together. What the fuck had Benetti been thinking, letting these MCs hang around his town? They treated the girls here like shit and now one of my men was dead. “Where can I find them?”

“Mr. D’Agostino, I don’t want any trouble.”

“So you said before. Let’s agree on this: I’ll ensure that a few of my men are here from now on to keep an eye on the place.

In exchange, you will tell me where to find these three Red Raiders.

” I lifted my chin at Tommaso. In response, he dropped more cash onto the desk.

“And,” I told Clyde, “you will install cameras in the parking lot.”

Clyde eyed the money and nodded. “I’ll tell you what I know.”

Maggie

The kitchen hummed with activity. I had to hand it to Massimo. He had everything under control, giving orders to keep the flow moving in anticipation of dinner service. I was no longer worried about whether tonight’s event would be a success, which was a huge relief.

At the bar, I helped Adam get ready for the cocktail hour that preceded dinner.

Celeste was here too, putting signs about the specialty cocktails on all the high tops.

Mikey arrived with a stack of extra napkins and handed them to Adam.

“We’re going to pull it off, right? Who the fuck would’ve believed it? ”

“Good job, everyone,” I said, high-fiving my brother. “Especially you and Celeste. You’ve both produced a miracle.”

“And don’t forget that sexy Italian chef in there,” Celeste added. “He’s the reason we didn’t have to cancel.”

“Sexy?” I wrinkled my nose in distaste. “Not you too, Celeste.”

“He has a girlfriend.” Celeste cradled the pack of napkins. “Why are all the good ones taken?”

“Hey!” my brother said, pointing to himself. “I’m standing right here.”

Reaching over, I patted his shoulder. “The truth hurts, I know.”

Celeste laughed. “Maybe it’s because you’re my boss,” she said with a pointed lift of her sculpted brows, then walked away.

Mikey and I watched her go, then I murmured, “Does Celeste have a crush on you?”

“What? No. She’s never said a word or even hinted . . . ”

“But now you’re thinking about it, aren’t you?”

Mikey avoided my gaze by checking the time on his phone. “Knock it off. Don’t try and distract everyone from your mess by stirring up trouble with me.”

“I don’t have mess.”

“Sure, that’s why you were drunk this afternoon after your meeting with Carlo. Bruce said Vito was pissed.”

“I wasn’t drunk.” I adjusted the edges of my jacket. I hated wearing a dress and heels. “And you and Bruce need to stop gossiping.”

“Listen, I like Vito. And I’d like to stay on his good side instead of getting a pair of cement shoes and being dropped into the ocean. Got it? Stop antagonizing him.”

“He stole our winery. I’m not feeling very warm and fuzzy toward him at the moment.”

“Neither am I, but we have to make the best of it. Vito is not a guy to be fucked with. Trust me.”

The way Mikey said it . . . “Is there something you aren’t telling me? Again? Because we agreed on no more secrets.”

He winced and stared down at his feet. “Mags,” he sighed.

“Oh, my god. There is something else, isn’t there?” I couldn’t even imagine what it was now. Something to do with Vito, something Mikey knew about the mafia business. “What is it? What are you hiding from me?”

“Can we talk about this later? Please? I have too much to do at the moment to have this conversation.”

“But you will tell me, right?”

“Yes. Later.”

I was going to hold him to that. “Fine.” I moved toward our bartender, who was cutting limes. “Adam, give me something else to do before I lose my shit on my brother.”

“Start opening the wine,” Adam said. “They should start arriving any minute.”

I gave him a salute, then got to work. Soft music filled the room and Mikey dimmed the overhead lighting.

Candles were quickly lit for ambiance. After the cocktail hour, guests would move into the dining room for dinner.

The bride-to-be was from Albany, but her fiancé, Josh, was a guy I knew from high school.

His family was middle-class, like mine, but his girlfriend was supposedly loaded.

They’d spared no expense tonight and this revenue was crucial to our quarterly P&L.

The first to arrive were the fiancée and her parents. The mother and daughter were both blond and wearing matching dresses. Okay, weird. Mikey welcomed them and the group stood chatting for a minute. Adam poured three glasses of our sparkling wine. “Here,” he said and handed me a tray.

“Good idea.” I loaded the glasses on the tray and walked them over. “Hi. Welcome to the Fiorentino Winery. Would you like a drink?”

“Thank you,” the mother said, practically ripping a glass off the tray.

The father and bride-to-be took theirs more delicately, and Mikey said, “This is Maggie, the other half of the Fiorentino Winery.”

The young woman gave me a careful once over. “Oh, you’re the one who hooked up with Josh in tenth grade.”

So, Josh had spread that news around. Great. “I hope you enjoy your evening. We’re very glad to be hosting you tonight.” Then I turned on my heel and headed back to the bar. This was why I liked vines better than people.

I went to stand beside Adam and set the tray down. “I’m hiding out with you for the rest of the night. Josh told her we hooked up in high school.”

Adam chuckled. “Don’t let it get to you. Josh is a douche.”

“One time,” I whispered. “It was at a party. I barely even remember it.”

“Well, I think it’s safe to say Josh does.”

“Ugh.”

“Here come more people. Don’t worry about it.”

The room began to fill after that, and I didn’t have time to think about past hookups and their big mouths. I served drinks and poured wine, even walked around and passed out flutes of sparkling wine once or twice. It was easy and kept my mind off my other problems.

For the most part Josh kept his distance, not even acknowledging me when I poured drinks for him and his college friends. That was fine by me. They tipped well, which was nice. Adam would receive the entire tip cup tonight, so anything I could do to help him out, I would.

Then I saw a familiar figure standing at a high top. Vito .

What the fuck? Yet my eyes were not deceiving me. Vito was here with Carlo, the two of them casually drinking like they had the right to be here. This went against policy. As staff, we never attended the events as a guest. It was bizarre and rude .

I grabbed a tray of full flutes. “I’ll be back,” I told Adam, then merged into the crowd.

I passed out drinks and collected empty flutes, traveling in the direction of Vito’s table.

When I reached the two Italians, I set my tray on their table.

Carlo smiled at me, while Vito’s face revealed nothing.

His gaze watched me intently and goose bumps raced along my skin under his regard, my body reacting even though I wished it wouldn’t.

I pasted on a fake grin. “Hi. What are you two doing here? This is a private event.”

Vito put his empty flute on my tray. “We were invited.”

Bullshit. “By who?”

“Does it matter? I’m the owner. I can be wherever I choose.”

This fucking dick. My smile fell. “It doesn’t work that way. These people don’t want?—”

“Signorina.” Carlo gently touched my arm. “The fiancée and her mother, we met them outside and they invited us.”

“Oh.” Relief cascaded through me. “Thank god. I thought I was going to have to bounce you.”

When I looked over, Vito’s chilly gaze was locked on my arm. Slowly, Carlo moved his hand to the table and when I looked at Vito, he was rubbing his jaw. “Carlo, you’ve seen enough tonight, no? We can catch up tomorrow.”

It wasn’t a question.

Carlo nodded and downed the rest of the liquid in his flute. “I really like this sparkling Riesling, Maggie. The hint of apricot and wild rose is a nice touch.”

“Thank you. I’m pretty fond of it myself.”

“I’ll bid you both goodnight. See you in the morning.” Carlo bent and kissed both of my cheeks. “Ciao.”

“Ciao,” I said, while Vito said nothing.

When we were alone, I glared up at him. “What is your problem with Carlo? Because you don’t have any right to be mad at him for flirting with me.”

“He works for me and that is the second time I’ve caught him touching you. I don’t want him trying to get into your pants.”

“Well, he doesn’t work for me and I’ll sleep with whoever I want.” I leaned in and lowered my voice. “And you have no?—”

A strong smell hit me, one I recognized.

Perfume, sweat, musty carpets. A hint of disinfectant and tobacco.

It was how the high school guys smelled when they returned from the strip clubs.

Tommy Favato had been a regular at Club X and I’d almost gagged the one time he and I hooked up during junior year.

Leaning in, I inhaled Vito’s suit. Yep. Definitely a strip club. “Which one did you visit, Sparkles or Club X? Sparkles has the prettiest girls, of course, but I hear Club X is a little looser with the rules, if you know what I mean.”

Vito drummed the fingers of his right hand on the table lightly. I didn’t want to stare at his hand so I focused on his handsome, lying face. He said, “I didn’t go there for that.”

“Really? Are you telling me you didn’t get a lap dance? Because I can smell perfume and baby oil on you.” The truth was plain in the stormy blue of his eyes. I gave a brittle laugh. “Are you really that hard up, Vito?”

“You’re wrong. About all of it.”

“Sure. I’m glad we talked, though. This was a good reminder for me.” I lifted my tray and walked away, feeling the weight of his stare on my back.

Fuck him.

My god, what an asshole. Off getting lap dances! Thank goodness I knew the truth about him. This was not a man who deserved my time or energy. Now if I could only stop fantasizing about him, remembering every detail of our night together, that would be a big help.

I threw myself into the work behind the bar.

I was a dynamo, doing anything Adam needed and pouring drinks with singular focus.

Thinking about Vito was unacceptable. Then the group began to thin, everyone working their way into the dining room, and relief filled me.

Soon I’d be able to go home and crawl into bed.

When the room was nearly empty, I finally looked around.

And my stomach dropped to my toes.

Vito was still at his table, but he wasn’t alone.

A young woman was there—one of the bridesmaids, if I wasn’t mistaken—and she was standing close to him.

A little too close. He was smiling down at her, then he said something that made her throw her head back and laugh—and my chest tightened painfully.

He hadn’t smiled at me like that, not since the casino.

No, he’d been cold and emotionless while tearing my life apart.

Well, he wasn’t cold and emotionless now.

Was he flirting with her? Because the bridesmaid was clearly flirting with him.

She tossed her hair and blinked her long lashes at him, her expression fascinated.

I couldn’t blame her. Vito was good-looking and his accent was panty-melting.

But he was also pretending to be married.

Then he lifted his left hand and I didn’t see a ring. There was nothing there, no band of silver wrapped around his fourth finger.

He took the ring off.

That motherfucker. My throat closed as a lump settled behind my ribs.

There was only one reason he’d take off that ring and it was to sleep with this woman.

I couldn’t breathe. The room tunneled to that table, a tiny sliver of horror in my brain, and I couldn’t decide whether to laugh, cry, or hurt someone.

I latched onto my anger, fanned it. Poured metaphorical gasoline on it until I was fuming.

Oh, hell no.

I didn’t care if he was single or not. He wasn’t picking up women in my winery. No, sir. I wouldn’t let it happen. Fuck that.

Hands shaking, I walked toward them, my fingers wrapped around a pair of scissors that I barely remembered picking up.

I was too angry to think clearly, so there was no plan.

I had absolutely no idea what I was going to do when I reached the table.

It was like I was having an out of body experience, watching myself from above.

Vito noticed me first. He didn’t react, just cocked his head as I approached. The young girl rolled her lips and sipped from her wine glass, peeking up at Vito the entire time. I ignored her though. She hadn’t done anything wrong.

Walking up to him, I grabbed his tie with one hand. I think I surprised him, because he didn’t move or say anything. In a flash I lifted the scissors and cut through the expensive silk. It took three good slices, then I held half his tie in my free hand.

I dropped the scrap into his wine glass.

Then I looked at the bridesmaid. “Hey, babe. You should know that even though he isn’t wearing a ring right now, he’s married.”

Head high, I walked away. I didn’t know where I was going, but I couldn’t stay here for one more goddamn second.