Page 86 of Endure the Pain
I clasped it around my neck and the rose gold, diamond pendant rested just past the swells of my breasts. I couldn’t care less anymore as to why Stefan had given it to me. It was now a symbol of my revenge and I was going to make sure all my enemies knew it.
We pulled up to Alessandro’s—a restaurant owned by the De Luca family. I was here to speak with the don, not that he knew I was coming. Vincent had tracked Nicoli’s phone and tapped into the street cameras around the area to make sure that he was here. Which was how we knew he had been inside having dinner for the past half hour.
Asher and Dean hopped out of the Escalade and stood by my door, waiting for me to exit.
“Drive around until we need you,” I told Finn and Brenna, who were sitting in the front. I locked eyes with Finn. “If anything happens, don’t come back for me. Just get to the hotel, get Vincent, and get the hell out of here.”
Finn nodded and I stepped out of the car. Asher walked ahead of us to open the door for me. I took the lead and walked into the restaurant.
Without stopping, I strutted past the hostess and into the restaurant. The dining room was large and open. Italian music played in the background, the walls were painted a rusty red, and the table linens were solid black. All the way in the back and kind of closed off by sheer black curtains was a long table that sat ten. Nicoli was sitting at the head of that table with seven others dining with him. Five were men and two were women. I recognized Ivano right away and his fiancé, Alessia, sitting next to him.
As I approached, I spotted three tables with two goons sitting at each one. All of them stood once I was mere feet from the main table. I stopped in my tracks and stared straight ahead at the don, who had yet to notice me because he was distracted by a pretty blonde sitting to his left. Ivano noticed me and tapped Nicoli’s arm, while the rest of the table quieted and glared in my direction.
Nicoli finally pulled his attention away from the blonde to give his younger brother a questioning look. Ivano tilted his head toward me. The don’s golden eyes locked with mine.
I arched a brow. “Hello, Nicky.”
He leaned back in his chair and the corner of his mouth lifted. “You never cease to amaze me.”
“I like to keep you on your toes,” I said.
It looked like he was fighting hard not to laugh. “What can I do for you, Maura?”
“I need to talk to you, and I have your delivery,” I answered.
“You could have called first,” he said.
I shrugged. “I think you know why I didn’t call.”
He nodded slightly. “Stefan is offering a lot of money to anyone who can find you.”
One of the guys sitting at the table turned to Nicoli and asked in Italian, “This is the Quinn bitch?”
Before Nicoli answered, I replied in Italian, “Yes, I’m the Quinn bitch.” I returned my attention to the don. “May I join you?” I took one step forward and all of the Italian goons reached for their weapons. Out of my peripheral I saw Asher and Dean inch closer to me. I raised my hands. “Easy, boys.”
“They will need to search you,” another Italian man at the table said in English.
I gave Nicoli a look that said,Really?He shrugged. We’d never done this song and dance before. His family—the ones who helped him run his Mafia—were all at the table, so I supposed I understood to an extent. Stefan would probably frisk Nicoli too if he were ever invited to a family meeting.
I reached for the buttons on my jacket and worked to unfasten them. “They can look but they can’t touch,” I said and opened my jacket to reveal my bralette and my scarred, pale stomach to the table. I watched as Nicoli’s eyes roamed, unabashed, but when they landed on the long pink scar that started under my belly button and disappeared into my pants, his expression tightened. I spun around and lifted the back of my jacket to show I had nothing hidden there either, besides my shamrock tattoo. I turned full circle and fastened my jacket. “If you want to do a cavity search, you better fucking buy me dinner first.”
Nicoli gave me a cocksure smirk. “If that was a real offer, I’d buy you whatever you wanted.”
I actually wanted to genuinely smile—a feeling that had eluded me these past few months—but I held it at bay. “May I sit now, Casanova?”
Nicoli nodded at his goons and they backed off. Without having to be told, Alessia and the blonde woman stood and excused themselves. I pulled out the empty chair directly across from the don and took a seat.
“You’ve got a lot of scars for a pretty thing,” said the Italian man sitting to my right.
The first thing I noticed were the rosary beads wrapped around his wrist, and that instantly told me who he was. His name was Dario Moretti and he was infamous for strangling his enemies with his rosary—not that the cops could pin any of the murders on him. He was also Nicoli’s right hand man. I supposed he was to Nicoli as Jamie was to Stefan, which made him the deadliest person at the table.
I leaned close to him. “And you’re wearing some interesting jewelry for a scary man.”
His dark eyes narrowed. “I don’t believe you think I’m scary.”
“That’s because she doesn’t,” Nicoli stated as he returned to eating.
The rest of the table followed suit, apart from Dario. Nope. He seemed more interested in me. There was an unused wine glass sat to the side of the place setting in front of me. I picked it up and held it out to Dario. I could tell I intrigued him because the corner of his mouth twitched as he reached for the wine bottle in the center of the table.