Black Widow's Bite

Don Saputo

Don Baldasarre Saputo stretched his long legs out in front of him under his desk and stared at his consigliere with a smirk. “She is loyal to her family.”

“She’s single-handedly the only reason you weren’t able to swoop in and steal his entire enterprise the minute Don Amato suffered his heart attack and nearly died five years ago. She took over where his son failed.”

“It’s true.” He chuckled as he thought of Giada.

“Rumor has it his son is pulling up his stakes in Italy. He was seen boarding a plane today. Our source says there was a redhead wailing in the airport hangar over his departure. It was quite the scene.” He dropped a file on the desk open to show a photo of Cipriano Amato boarding a private jet and shoved it towards Sarre.

Arrogance oozed off the man in the photo but there was no judgement on this part. It was in their bloods to be prideful bastards. It was the fact he typically left a wake of chaos and destruction and broken hearts wherever he went which made Sarre despise him. One of his cousins in Italy once made the mistake of hooking up with him, staying an entire week at the Amato mansion before she’d been kicked to the curb. He knew the man never promised her anything, but family was family and it pissed him off Cap didn’t think twice about f*****g with his.

“Interesting. Looks like the prodigal son is returning home. I wonder if Ermano Amato is foolish enough to hand his enterprises over to the traitor.” Sarre rubbed his cleanshaven chin thoughtfully.

“I hope he doesn’t try to force a marriage between his number three and his son.”

“Jesus Christ,” Sarre sneered with disgust. “His number three would need to insist on a full physical and s****l health screening before the wedding night and even then, I wouldn’t trust the prick. Cipriano Amato is a misogynistic bastard, and he would make her life a living hell.”

“She could simply shoot him in the head and take the family. I can promise not a single family in all of North America would blame her. She deserves it. She’s put in the work.”

He pushed away from his desk with a sigh, “as much as she deserves it, I have my own plans for her. I want her. Since the time her Don lent her to me for a brief time for an assignment, I have been admittedly obsessed.” He wasn’t telling Luigi anything he hadn’t said before. They were closer than brothers and he was well aware the man needed to know everything about him, including his weaknesses and Giada Amalfi Puglisi was his ultimate weakness.

“She would make a fantastic asset to our family.”

“Yes, she would,” he grinned wickedly, “and our babies would be f*****g beautiful, brilliant, and spoiled brats. Alas, she is not ready to settle down and I am going to need to make choices sooner rather than later. I need an heir and I’m not getting younger. Continue allowing my mother to set these dates up. At some point I’ll have to settle but until then I will continue to badger Giada and pray, she changes her mind. Giving up her life in New York is a big ask but I will make it worth her while.”

He lifted the file on his desk and turned the photos back. The face of the battered woman making his fingers tighten involuntarily. His croupier tried to make a few bucks on the side but unfortunately Craig Greco was the date. He’d beat her hard and then raped her and left her for dead. Her sister found her in her apartment barely breathing. She was currently on life support.

“Teo Greco would know where his favorite cousin is.” Luigi tilted his head.

“There was a sighting of him leaving an airport in Fresno. It’s likely he drove from here to Fresno and booked it back to Chicago.” He added quietly, “he has to know you’re looking for him now. It’s why he ran to California instead of flying straight from here. Teo is hiding him. It’s certain.”

“I agree.”

“I want him dead.” He traced the image of the young woman and grimaced. “I want you to send Jaws after him.”

“You’re taking this personally.” Luigi knew the man mentioned was nicknamed because he was a torturous bastard who crafted a series of devices similar to animal traps he called “jaws of death” and he loved to amputate body parts with them. Usually, Sarre didn’t care much for the theatrics of it, but he wanted Craig Greco to suffer.

“Teo Greco owes me ten million dollars, Luigi. It is not money he can siphon from his father while the old bastard is still alive. I want my money back and then, when I get it back once he is Don, I’m going to kill him, slowly, meticulously and with immense pleasure. Then I’m going to destroy his entire family. However, the fact they think they can still enter my casinos and knock around my employees like this is a form of violent brothel is starting to piss me off. I told Don Amato I would give him time to deal with his enemy first, but the delays are irritating me.”

“You don’t think Giada had a bead on him?”

“I think she did. I think she did, and she didn’t want to share intel because we are not family.” He paused. “Yet.”

“Unless she marries Cap.”

“I’ll shoot her myself before I let her defile herself in such a manner.” He swung his jacket over his shoulders.

“How do you want to manage Cap’s return?”

“Cautiously. Let Don Barbera know of this development as a professional courtesy. Ask him to keep an eye on Giada and El Capo,” he grunted, “what a stupid nickname for a grown man. Not even a title his father gave him. He took a nickname like the arrogant fucker he is. I want to know everything the miserable jackoff does from the minute he touches down.” He paused, “actually, get me full intel on what he’s been doing in Sicily the last six months.”

His consigliere followed him from his office and towards the elevators at the end of the hall which would take them back down to the floor. “We also managed to let the politician know Giada works for Amato. Anonymously sent him a photo of her driving the Don around. The politician called the son in on Wednesday and gave him hell for not vetting who he was f*****g. The last thing the politician needs in an election year is his son being caught up with an Amato. It’s over now.”

He chuckled, “she was getting too comfortable with him. She needed a nudge to remind her she is far superior to a crackerjack lawyer who knows three positions in bed.”

“You keep meddling in her affairs, and she finds out, Sarre, she’ll be putting her poison pens in your neck next.” Luigi shook his head in warning.

He laughed at the man he considered his second of two best friends, cousin and closest confident, “Luigi, if she wants to try to poison me while we are both naked, I will consider it a win.”

They laughed quietly as they entered the elevator, each lost in their own thoughts as they returned to the main floor. Stepping into the bright lights the security immediately flanking him as they began once more to tour the VIP rooms, Sarre found himself wishing yet again for the company of the woman assigned to help him just over a year ago.

She posed as his arm candy for a month while they worked out who was the mole. The information leaked in his organization was eerily akin to the information leaked in New Jersey and as such, they knew there was an informant working both families for the FBI.

For the entire month, she performed her job well, flirting when appropriate. However, when the crowds were away, she’d been all business, insisting the only time she took business with pleasure was for the sole purpose of work. She told him she valued their budding friendship too much to f**k around while on the clock. The minute the job ended, and he’d eliminated the mole, he told her she wasn’t working anymore and now he was coming for her.

She’d hightailed it back to New Jersey the next morning and he’d laughed at her cowardly retreat. Giada Amalfi Puglisi didn’t do emotions well. They scared the hell out of her, and he understood. He too was the same until he’d been captivated by her. She was everything he knew he needed in his life but her life, her career and her sense of individual was important to her. He was willing to let her sort out what she wanted. He held too much respect for her to demand she give everything up to move from her family and friends. She could very well be the one who got away, but it was a risk he was willing to take. He was hoping, she would learn he was looking for a wife to settle down, expose her jealousy and come gunning for him to claim what they both knew he was. Hers.

He considered again the return of Cipriano Amato and wondered what the goal of Ermano was in pushing for his wayward son to come home. If the man was intending for Ermano to wed his third in command, he would have to act sooner rather than later. He wasn’t going to allow the old man to f**k up the life of one of his dearest friends. Even if Giada never married him, he held far too much respect for her as a friend to let such s**t happen.

As he began working the room, shaking hands, and checking in on the high rollers, he pushed the Amato family to the back of his brain and did his job. His plans for taking their most prized possession right from under their noses would have to wait. For now, he had his own family to run.