I pray she was bluffing and Norwood isn't there. I'm ready for an easy meeting.
Still, this needs to be done. After this, I'm free of Mrs. Russo. Soon, I'll be free of Norwood.
Then it's just Dante, me, and our baby. That's the light at the end of the tunnel. That's the hope pushing me forward when all I want to do is curl up in a ball and hide in a dark room.
The car rolls to a stop. Ethan hops out and opens the door for me. Dante is right behind me, his hand holding my arm and keeping me steady. The steps are carefully shoveled and salted, but he's protective of me.
I hold onto him, knowing that I will be safe with him.
The butler greets us and leads us to Mrs. Russo's study. We leave a trail of wet footprints down the hallway, but Dante doesn't seem to care. I try not to care as well.
The study is empty, as I suspected it would be. Mrs. Russo loves playing her waiting games. I take a deep breath and center myself. This isn't the time to get frustrated or lose focus. This is my time to take control.
Still, I hold my messenger bag in my lap like a shield. Dante is wearing his gun again. He doesn't trust his mother either.
“I see you brought my son with you,” Mrs. Russo says, waltzing into the room. Today she's wearing a shade of green that makes me think of avocados. The dress is pretty enough, but seems like a style for an old woman.
“Mother.” Dante says the greeting without any warmth in his voice. He doesn't move to kiss her.
She frowns a little but then shrugs his lack of affection off. “I hope you don't mind, but I invited a guest as well.”
My blood chills. Today is going to be harder than I thought. I consider getting up and running, but Dante meets my eyes.
You can do this, his eyes tell me. No running.
“You don't need to look so worried,” Mrs. Russo chastises me. “He isn't here yet.”
That helps my chest relax a little bit. I don't have to face him just yet. Maybe I can miss out on facing him at all. As much as I put on a brave face, I am terrified of him.
“I must say, I'm a little surprised you called me,” Mrs. Russo continues. She sits at her desk, crossing her legs. “I thought maybe you came to your senses.”
“I actually came with an offer for you,” I tell her, doing my best to smile.
“An offer for me?” She laughs. “You don't have anything I want. I, however, hold the secrets to your mother.”
She tries not to glance at her son. She doesn't know how much Dante knows about her little scheme to me. I can tell having him here makes her nervous, but she is doing a good job of not showing it.
I open my messenger bag and pull out a folder. I fling it on her desk and it slides to her, but doesn't fall off the desk.
“Open it,” I tell her. “It's a gift.”
She frowns and shifts slightly in her seat before opening the folder. There's a series of photographs inside. I tried not to look at them too much myself, but I know what they are.
Mrs. Russo blushes a bright red as she recognizes herself in the photos. They are rather graphic and don't hide anything. It's very clear that she and a young man are enjoying themselves and one another.
She slams the folder shut. “Where did you get these?”
“Mrs. Romano gave them to me,” I reply with a nonchalant shrug. “She and I have agreed to be business partners. As I am to be your daughter in law, she thought it best for our business arrangement.”
Mrs. Russo's lips thin and she adjusts her collar. “Mrs. Romano gave these to you?”
“Yes. And she said you don't need to worry about her anymore.” I frown and reach into my bag. “However, you do need to worry about this.”
I toss another photo onto her desk. She reaches for it like it might be a poisonous snake. In her case, it almost is.
“That's a photo of you meeting with Paulie James,” I tell her. I toss another photo. “And that one, that's Paulie doing some non-approved business on the north side of my territory.”
I add a couple more photos to the pile on her desk but she doesn't look at them. Instead, she looks up at her son. “Dante...”