First Comes Blood by Lilith Vincent

3

Vinicius

I’m standing out by the pool as Salvatore strides past me. “Did you have a nice chat with the birthday—”

He keeps walking with a face like thunder, and growls, “Disrespectful little bitch. I’ll enjoy putting her in her place when the time comes.”

I grin to myself in the darkness. Salvatore has no subtlety. I suppose when diamonds didn’t do the trick, he went straight for threats. Everyone knows you catch more flies with honey.

I saunter around the pool to the sitting room where Chiara is gripping the back of a sofa with a trembling hand and trying to catch her breath. “How was your talk with Salvatore?”

She whirls around, her big eyes opening wide. “What do you mean?”

“You’re shaking.”

Chiara takes a deep breath, but slowly. “I’m fine, thank you.”

She moves past me, but I step in front of her and smile pleasantly. It was clear from her expression over dinner that she doesn’t like Cassius or Lorenzo, and Salvatore just scared the shit out of her. All these dragons. I’ll be her prince charming.

“This must all be so strange for you. You had no idea that your father worked so closely with us before tonight, did you?”

Chiara studies me carefully, searching for the trick.

No trick. I’m just being nice.

For now.

“Sit down with me for a moment. The others have tempers and even I have a hard time making them listen to me.” I go to the sofa and make myself comfortable. “I prefer a good conversation, so let’s have a talk.”

Chiara glances toward the dining room, seeming to wonder if it’s safer in there than out here with me.

“I swear I won’t make you promise yourself to me in marriage in the next thirty minutes. You must be curious about the four of us. Maybe I can answer your questions.” I tilt my head, doing my best to disarm her. “Maybe I can help you.”

Slowly, she makes her way over to the sofa and sits down next to me, glancing at me like I’m a bomb that’s about to blow up in her face. I relax back with a smile.

“You seem different from the others,” she says after a moment.

“What, not completely insane, you mean?” She nods, and I laugh. “That’s fair. Salvatore and the others are used to getting their own way. Right now, I imagine they’re all furious that you never answered Salvatore’s question.”

“I’m not going to marry any of you,” she says right away.

“Sorry, kitten. Unless something unforeseen happens, then you are going to marry one of us.” The one who claims Chiara as his wife will have all sorts of interesting leverage over the mayor. I was arrested last year, and even though the charges didn’t stick, the memory still makes me burn with anger. That won’t happen again if I have Chiara.

Her face creases in despair. “But this is so archaic. I never imagined that my future was going to turn out like this.”

I take a pack of playing cards from my pocket and show them to her. “Maybe I have the solution. How about we play a game?”

“What kind of game?”

“A little bet to settle this once and for all. Salvatore might own the casinos, but I’m the betting man among us. If you ask him, I have a problem, but I can stop any time I like.” Another smile, this one self-deprecating.

Chiara glances at the cards. If she were going to walk away, she would have by now. I just have to reel her in.

I split the deck and riffle them together; arch them and stack them back into a neat pile. The familiar hand gestures are slick and pleasing. They never fail to get a betting man’s attention.

Or woman’s.

Chiara eyes the cards with interest. “What are we betting on?”

I sort through the cards, looking for one in particular. “If you win, then we four disappear from your life forever.”

The effect on Chiara is electric. Her spine straightens and her eyes light up. I can feel how much she wants this and I draw out the moment, drinking in every second.

“That’s not something you can promise all on your own, is it? The others seem like they do whatever they want.”

“Oh, but it is. The others will be angry with me if I lose, but they’ll stand by the bet.” If I lose.

If.

“Why?”

“Because in our world, a deal is a deal, and the only way out once a promise has been made is in a pine box.” We might be a bunch of criminals, but we have a code. We lie, steal and cheat to get what we want, but our word is sacred.

“And if I lose?”

I find the card I want and flip it around to show her. “Nothing changes. We carry on as before, and one of us will do his best to win your heart.”

“I’m not stupid. This isn’t about my heart.” She glances at the card. “What game are we playing?”

I place the queen of hearts on the table. “Find the Lady.” I deal out two more cards, face up, and lay them beside the queen. The ace of spades. The ten of clubs.

Chiara shakes her head. “The game where you show me the queen of hearts and then switch the cards around using sleight of hand and I have zero chance of finding her? No way, that whole game is a con.”

I grin at her. “Ah, and I was hoping you wouldn’t know the trick.”

“There are shills who play this game on the bridge over the river. I walk past them every weekend on my way to church.”

“Church? What a little angel you are, inside and out.” I pick up the three cards and hold them out to her. “We’ll switch places then. You move the cards, and I’ll find the queen.”

Chiara takes the cards from me, her expression doubtful. “I still don’t trust you.”

I put my hand over my heart. “Who me? I’m putting myself in your hands.”

She glances at the backs of the cards and her expression becomes totally blank. “All right.”

I hesitate, her sudden poker face throwing me off. “Wait, really? Do you know the trick?”

She blinks her long lashes at me. “Who, me?”

I narrow my eyes. Either she’s bluffing or she really does know sleight of hand. The others will flay me alive if I mess up this deal for them. They want Chiara, badly. I want her, too. The stakes are high and I could actually lose.

I feel suddenly energized and crack my knuckles. “Interesting. Let’s do this.”

A smile tilts up the corner of Chiara’s mouth. “It’s almost as if the idea of losing is exciting to you.”

“I’ve had too many sure bets lately. It’s fun living dangerously.”

“You really will honor the bet if I win? I don’t know if I can trust you.”

“You think a man like Cassius would let me go back on my word? Or Salvatore? The man runs a casino.”

She flips through the three cards, watching me with her head on one side. “Either I get rid of you all, or everything stays the same. You’ll honor that?”

“I swear it.”

“I guess I can’t say no, then. What have I got to lose?”

More than you realize.

I slide closer to her and murmur in her ear. “You’re really beautiful, you know that?”

“Stop trying to distract me. You said you weren’t going to use any tricks.”

I stroke my hand down her arm. “No tricks. It’s not often that a beautiful woman holds my destiny in her hands.”

“I’m holding on to these,” she says, showing me the backs of the three cards in her hand. “You can flatter me as much as you want but I’m not letting go of them.”

I don’t give a damn about the cards right now. “The game is all the more interesting when the stakes are high, don’t you think?” I slide my hand around her waist. “Think about it, Chiara. You’re in control. Doesn’t that make you feel powerful?”

She raises her chin to look at me, her eyes as bright as stars. What did it feel like when Salvatore kissed her, I wonder? He likes an ambush. I prefer surrender.

“It’s…different.”

“Come now,” I murmur, dipping my mouth closer to hers. “I’ve been honest with you. Won’t you be honest with me?”

Her gaze flickers to my mouth. “I don’t know if I can trust you.”

“Why don’t we try this and find out?”

I press my mouth to hers. Her lips part and she lets me claim them, one after the other. I feel her inhale as her eyes drift closed. For a sheltered Catholic girl, she has a seductive kiss. Mm, yes, the others will enjoy her, too. Just enough innocence for Cassius. More than enough vulnerability for Lorenzo.

One of her hands is on my chest and the other is clutching those precious cards. She’s unguarded, and I reach down to her ankle and slide my fingers up the inside of her leg.

Maybe I like an ambush just a little.

Gasping, Chiara breaks the kiss. We stare into each other’s eyes, our breath mingling. What a bold girl she is. I wonder what it would take to make her go all in.

She pulls away and brandishes the cards. “Let’s just get this over with.”

I stop her with a hand on her arm. “Wait. Let’s make this more interesting. Are you up for that?”

“More interesting how?”

“Don’t show me where the lady is. Deal all the cards face down, switch them around, and I’ll just pick one.”

“But that makes it even less likely that you’ll pick the queen. Why would you want that?”

I shrug one shoulder. “I like you, Chiara. After you’ve won the bet, maybe I’ll ask you on a date. You’ll never want any of us if we force you.”

She looks at the cards in her hand and then back at me. She’s still puzzled, but she’s going with it. “All right.”

Victory races through me, tasting almost as delicious as her lips. A conman knows one thing for sure: you can’t con someone who’s not greedy. Chiara just got greedy.

She lays the three cards out, face down. Then she starts shuffling them back and forth on the table. “Go on, then. Find the lady.”

I tap my heart. “I’ve already found her.”

Chiara glances at my chest. “That’s pretty cheesy. Don’t try and wriggle out of this. Pick a card.”

“I’m not. I’ve already found my queen.”

“Choose anyway.”

“Fine, but I have her already so it doesn’t count. The middle one.”

She reaches for the middle card, and stops. “If I turn this card over and it’s the queen of hearts, then either you have the luck of the devil or you’ve tricked me, and I won’t rest until I figure out which it is.”

I smile a slow, heated smile. “The devil’s definitely on my side, but I don’t need his help tonight. This is between just you and me.”

Chiara takes a deep breath and flips the card over, revealing the ace of spades. She puts her hands on her cheeks and gasps. “I won! I can’t believe I won.”

I shake my head. “Sorry, kitten. No, you didn’t.”

“Don’t be a sore loser. I beat you fair and square.”

I reach into the front pocket of my jacket, draw out a playing card and show it to her. The queen of hearts. “Told you I already had her.”

“What?” Chiara snatches the queen of hearts from me and stares at it. Then she grabs the other two from the table. The ten of clubs and the jack of diamonds. “But…but I had the queen of hearts! I didn’t let go of the cards even when you kissed me. How did you get hold of her?”

I smile wider. “First rule of playing with a conman. Suspect everything, especially when things seem to be going in your favor.” I may enjoy a risk, but I’m not a fucking idiot. There’s no way I’d make a bet like that if I didn’t already know I was going to win.

Chiara’s shoulders slump as she realizes the trick. “You switched the cards before you even gave them to me. I can’t believe I didn’t check the cards.”

She was too busy enjoying being kissed by me. Now I know she wants me I’m going to fight twice as hard to make her my wife. I want the security of having Mayor Romano in my pocket wherever I go in this city.

I take the cards from her and throw them aside. “I’ve got a present for you. A little piece of advice. Trust no one, not even your own family. The only person you can rely on is yourself.”

“There’s no chance I’ll ever trust you again.”

I smile, revealing pointed canines. “Especially not me.”

My head dips toward hers like I’m going to kiss her. At the last second, I snap my teeth together, and she jumps. “Happy birthday, kitten.”