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.He has people for that.So having Allan stand there with nothing between him and the floor to ceiling window will have Angelo searching for a red dot.”“What?” Amy echoed Melody’s confusion.“Sniper,” Loraine answered.“He’s going to assume Allan has a sniper looking over his shoulder, watching the room, especially if Angelo knows the story with Anthony Torino and notices his men are missing.”Ruiz nodded with a slight dangerous smile.“Been watching a lot of gangster movies Loraine?”“No, I just notice things faster than the normal human.Years of being very observant about my surroundings.”“And you Ruiz?” Melody blurted out.He turned his hard gaze on her.For just a second, his eyes softened before they were hard again.“I played gangster long enough to know the ins and outs.” He turned away from her then.“Matthew, behind the couch, but close to the liquor tray.”“You’re staging us.All this is to provoke a certain perception.And us, the wives sitting in the line of danger, is that supposed to show your confidence that this will go down your way?” Amy asked anxiously.Ruiz shook his head.“Only a fool would do that.”“Then what is the point?” Matthew asked sounding agitated.Melody didn’t blame him.He had cover to jump behind of, his wife didn’t.“To tell him he’ll leave in a body bag if he tried anything stupid tonight.The same reason he has my mother on his arm.”“It’s a warning?”“Or a sign of peace, it all depends on him.He won’t even pay them much attention.I can assure you that he doesn’t believe in hurting women—physically that is.It wouldn’t be an even fight because he sees them as weaker.He just uses them as chess pieces and in the process—I won’t lie to you—some of them end up severely traumatized.”The knock came again, this time impatient.Ruiz went to open the door, “Whatever you do, don’t show him any weakness more than what we’ve already displayed—our wives.”“Or you’re dead,” Melody finished the phrase she’d heard him say to his image in the mirror a few weeks ago.Showing weakness gets you dead.He turned to her again, but this time the hardness didn’t leave his eyes.He turned away from her and Melody moved to stand, but Loraine pulled her back down and held her hand tight.She was beginning to wonder if she was the only one scared out of her mind until Loraine’s tremulous smile told her otherwise.“Jon Luc, Dante.You’re late to the party.Mother, Angelo and Anthony, I don’t remember inviting you up.” But even as he said the words, he stepped aside and let them all in.“Do you have to be so rude all the time?” his mother chastised sauntering in with Anthony like they were royalty.Melody noticed Angelo didn’t give Ruiz his back even once.But Ruiz did, closing the door and walking into the room.“Champagne anyone?”“Pour me one darling,” Clarissa sat in one of the two single chairs in the living room.“Me too,” Antonio—Anthony said, smugly falling into the chair next to Clarissa.His confidence sickened her.Ruiz didn’t even spare him a glance when he handed his mother a flute and said, “I don’t serve the help.” Then he stretched the other one out to Angelo.Angelo narrowed his eyes with suspicion not making a move to take the flute from Ruiz.Without missing a beat, Ruiz downed it with one swallow, picked up the bottle from the ice bucket, filled half the flute, downed that too before he refilled it to the top and offered it to Angelo again.This time he took it with a smirk.“Jon Luc, Dante?”“We’ll have something from the liquor trolley,” Jon Luc answered, already pouring himself a drink.“I’ll just pour myself a glass then,” Anthony grumbled.He got out of the chair and Ruiz pushed him back down.“The help don’t drink.So mother, Angelo wouldn’t have anything to do with your visit last month, would he?”The shrewd smile was answer enough, but before she could put it to words, Angelo spoke.“Seeing as how my money is frozen in your accounts, I needed someone to check out the lay of the land for me.”“Your money?” Ruiz chuckled.“Wow Angelo, I never took you for a fool.You trusted the wrong man this time.”Melody watched as Angelo’s gaze grew hard and the muscle in his jaw jumped repeatedly.What was Ruiz doing antagonizing him? Then Angelo looked around the room, he stared at the ladies with a smile and a slight bow of the head to each one of them.Melody was glad none of them smiled back and though she knew they were as scared as she was, they didn’t show it.When it came to the men, the smile was still there, but his gaze lingered for a long while like he was assessing what kind of threat they pose to him.And then just as Loraine predicted, he looked out the window, at Allan then back out the window.Melody couldn’t believe how relaxed they all looked, like there was nothing wrong with what was happening.“You have a beautiful view of Paris,” he commented casually.“We like it.You can see half the city from up here,” Reno said.“But why are the drapes open? Anyone can look in?”“Precisely,” Allan answered, swirling the brown liquid in his glass with a twist of his wrist, and the lopsided grin on his face that Melody has always found terrifying [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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