So tell me, what is it that you do exactly Winter? I heard you were a professional mistress but I don’t know if I believe that.
How did you get your hair that curly?
Genetics? What does your mom look like? Is she hot?
When he sends me a wink and a smirk, I feel Vito tense up beside me. I think he’s going to say something but it ends up being Giovanni who lets out an agitated grunt of warning. “I know that you like black women but this one is off limits,” he snaps at him.
My mouth drops open and my fists clench.
How fucking dare he?
He’s been cold and acting as if I don’t exist the entire dinner, the same way he behaved on the car ride here. And now he has the audacity to say that I’m off limits?
“That’s right,” I snap. “Giovanni has plans to drown me again at some point this week, so don’t bother.” I should hold my tongue, said drowning a prime example of why I shouldn’t fight back. But fuck, I’m alive and irritated.
How can someone act as if they didn’t toss you onto death’s door for no good reason?
It doesn’t matter if he thinks that I’m up to something with Diamond, he’d completely lost it the other day. While I’ve always known that he isn’t that stable, he and Vito have always been the ones who seem to at least think out their actions.
It’d been clear Giovanni hadn’t given good thought to killing me that day.
It’d just happened and he’d gone with it.
What would he have done if someone hadn’t saved me?
I’m still unsure of the details, of how I made it out of the pool. But since I remember hearing Vito and Enzo often, I assume one of them managed to save me.
On the orders of Giovanni or on their own?
It frankly doesn’t matter, because nothing can atone for what he did.
“You keep fucking mouthing off I won’t wait until we’re by another body of water, I’ll just put a bullet in your head here and now,” Giovanni snaps out, his eyes full of fire when he looks at me.
Everyone around the table goes quiet, as if they can’t believe what he said.
The silence is broken by a loud pop, a gunshot.
Did he really…
I’m not in pain and the shot seemed to come from far off, but maybe I’m just in shock. I look down but I don’t see any blood. Before I can do a further inspection, glass shatters and something whizzes past my face. I let out a scream when a body collides into mine from behind, knocking me out of my chair and to the ground.
My breath leaves my lungs as my chest slams into the ground and the weight on top of me isn’t budging as I try to move.
More shots ring out.
“Be still,” Vito’s voice notifies me that he’s the person on top of me.
I give a jerky nod, unsure whether he sees it or not. I put my hands to my ears as more loud plops assault them. Something bites into my knee and I wince at the pain.
I don’t know how long it is before Vito’s weight leaves my body. His hand wraps around my arm and he yanks me to my feet before placing a hand over my head, cradling me into his body. He’s moving me across the room and I can’t see what’s going on.
Some of the pops are coming from closer and I know somebody has to be returning fire, likely Giovanni.
“Take her,” Vito orders someone.
I don’t have time to look up but when a familiar smell enters my nostrils, I know it’s Enzo.
I think I know what each and every one of them smells like at this point.