Page 12 of Poisoned Promise
4
FELIX
“Are you sure this is wise?” Toph, my ever-reliant driver, glides his gloved hands around the steering wheel as we drive through towering iron gates and begin the winding drive up toward the Salamose Estate.
“As if he has a choice,” snorts Reese from the back seat. He lounges back against the cushions and presses his head into the headrest while gazing out of the window. “Can you imagine the shit storm if he doesn’t turn up?”
“It’s fine,” I reply, lightly drumming my fingers against my thigh. “Caterina likes me. This is just business.”
“She likes you because she can use you,” Toph points out with a slight sting of bitterness in his tone. “Everyone can see that you don’t need her. Everything you’ve done? It’s been on your own back, Felix. You’d be doing so much more if you didn’t hand the best deals off to her.”
“I don’t hand the best deals off,” I reply, lifting my gaze from the intricate pattern on the dash and glancing at Toph’s face. “We work together. That’s what a partnership is all about.”
“A partnership works both ways,” Reese remarks. “What does she do for you?”
“She pays me enough to keep useless lumps like you around,” I shoot back.
Reese grunts and kicks the back of my seat. “I’m serious, Boss. The deal with the Rustovs? They came to you and you handed that golden goose to her. The weapons deal with the Cartel? You had that in the bag and yet somehow she’s reaping the benefits.”
“Her power grows because of you,” Toph agrees. “ And you’d be ten times bigger without her.”
A pulse of irritation worms under my ribs and I swallow hard.
They speak from a place of concern, I’ve known that for a long time, but that doesn’t stop the irritation that piques as if they’re undermining my own decisions.
“Enough,” I snap, bringing silence to the car as the vast Salamone Manor comes into view. “What’s good for the Salamones is good for everyone, including us. And if you’re not careful, the wrong people will hear you dismissing the Dona and I won’t be able to save you, understand?”
A murmur of discontent bounces between Toph and Reese before they finally voice their agreement.
“Yes, Boss.”
“Good. Not another word.” I climb out before Toph has brought the car to a full standstill and stride up the white stone steps to a black front door that swings open before I’m even halfway up.
For years, we’ve flourished under Salamone leadership and to an outsider, it certainly looks like a lot of what I do is simply taken by Caterina, but she’s more than just a Dona to me.
She’s been through more than enough in our lives that helping her flourish, and by extension, flourishing myself, is what I’m meant to do.
“She’s in the study,” announces her doorman as I reach the top of the steps.
I brush past him and follow the familiar winding hallways past the kitchen and libraries to the study Caterina calls home.
In all my years, these hallways have never changed. I ran these same carpets as a child, clung to these same statues, and dirtied the same walls with my little hands.
It’s like walking through a time capsule which always leaves a slight unsettling weight on my shoulders.
Reaching her office, I knock twice.
“Enter!” calls an elegant voice, sweet as always yet rough at the edges from age.
Opening the door, the lingering cloud of her overbearingly floral perfume hits me in the back of the throat like a punch.
That scent is just as familiar as these hallways and I smile as I enter.
“Caterina?”
She stands in the middle of the room, a head shorter than me, with her crisp, white curls perfectly smoothed and pinned to the top of her head with extravagant gold pins.
Clad in an emerald green dress that tucks in at her waist and flows down her legs like liquid, she’s the picture of elegance with an even sweeter smile to match.
