Chương 2 - The Things That Money Cannot Order

Raina came to Belladonna twice the next week.

Leo pretended not to notice a pattern.

On Tuesday, she arrived at seven-ten, dismissed two guards to wait outside, and ordered the sea bass again. On Friday, she arrived at eight, took a table near the kitchen, and asked Marisol what she wanted to change about the menu.

Leo heard the question while polishing glasses.

Marisol hesitated. “You mean what will sell?”

“I mean what you think should be on it.”

That answer bought Raina more goodwill in thirty seconds than the payroll correction had bought in two days.

Leo disliked that he noticed.

He disliked even more that she noticed him noticing.

“You disapprove,” she said later when he brought coffee.

“I’m working.”

“You make that sound like a legal defense.”

“It might become one.”

She leaned back in her chair. Without the coat, the dagger-and-rose tattoo along the inside of her forearm was visible when she lifted the cup. It was finer than he had expected, more botanical than threatening.

“You’re staring,” she said.

“At the tattoo.”

“Better.”

“Better than what?”

She looked at him over the rim of the cup.

Leo changed the subject.

“How angry are you?”

“About?”

“Whatever happened today.”

Her eyes narrowed.

He nodded toward the untouched wineglass at the empty place setting across from her. “You asked for a bottle before dinner, then didn’t drink it.”

“I changed my mind.”

“You don’t change your mind about wine.”

“You’ve served me four times.”

“Five.”

Raina went still for half a beat.

Leo smiled. “Observation is the job.”

She looked at the bottle.

“Fine. I’m irritated.”

“At Bell?”

“Among others.”

“Should I be worried?”

“No.”

The answer came too quickly.

Leo rested one hand on the back of the empty chair. “That usually means yes.”

Raina’s expression cooled, not at him but at the question.

“Martin found evidence that wage complaints were interfered with.”

“Interfered with how?”

“Someone persuaded the right people to stop looking.”

Leo’s face lost its humor.

“Bell?”

“Maybe.”

“Maybe someone else?”

“Yes.”

“Someone connected to you?”

Raina did not answer.

That was answer enough.

Leo looked toward the kitchen. Tomas was laughing at something Marisol had said. A server named Priya balanced four plates on one arm. For the first time in months, people had stopped checking their phones during service to see whether a deposit had arrived.

“You said no one here needed to worry.”

“They don’t.”

“You can’t know that.”

Raina set down her cup.

“No one will touch this restaurant.”

The certainty in her voice made Leo’s stomach tighten.

“That’s exactly what worries me.”

Her gaze sharpened.

Before she could answer, Priya called for him from the bar.

Leo stepped away.

The following afternoon, Raina met Martin in the conference room of DeLuca Freight Holdings, one of the legitimate companies that kept the family name printed on respectable stationery.

Martin had spread bank statements across the table.

“Bell made monthly cash withdrawals,” he said. “Mostly between six and eight thousand. Same week each month. No invoices.”

“Who collected?”

“We found camera footage from the alley behind the restaurant on two dates.”

He turned a laptop toward her.

A grainy image showed a man in a dark jacket accepting an envelope from Gianni Bell.

Raina knew him.

“Nico Valera.”

Martin nodded.

Nico was not family. He was attached to Dominic DeLuca, Raina’s cousin and head of security for several clubs on the west side.

“Could be personal,” Martin said.

“Nothing Nico does is personal.”

“Do you want Dominic called in?”

“No.”

Martin’s eyes lifted.

“If Dominic is involved, I want to know before he knows I’m looking.”

That evening, Raina asked her security chief, Marcus Reed, to move quietly.

Marcus had worked for her father, then for Raina. He had the useful habit of speaking only when he had something worth saying.

“Nico collects for Dominic,” he said.

“I know.”

“From clubs.”

“Not restaurants.”

“Not ours.”

Belladonna was now hers.

Raina looked out through the tinted window of the car as downtown passed.

“Find out whether Bell was paying him.”

Marcus nodded.

“And don’t lean on anyone.”

Marcus glanced at her.

“I mean it.”

“That is new.”

“It is specific.”

“Still new.”

Raina ignored him.

At Belladonna, Leo was not working.

She discovered this when Priya approached her table.

“Leo’s off tonight.”

“I didn’t ask.”

Priya smiled with professional innocence. “Of course.”

Raina ordered pasta.

She did not stay for dessert.

Two nights later, Leo returned to find a woman waiting at the bar in a navy coat, studying anatomy flashcards between bites of bread.

He groaned.

“Naomi.”

His younger sister looked up. “You ignored three texts.”

“I was working.”

“You always say that.”

“Because I’m always working.”

Naomi Bennett was twenty-four and in her second year of medical school. She had their mother’s stubborn chin and their father’s ability to make worry sound like criticism.

“You sent me money,” she said.

Leo lowered his voice. “Not here.”

“It was too much.”

“You need it.”

“I need you not working fourteen-hour shifts.”

“I got back pay.”

“And the extra two weeks.”

He stopped.

“How do you know about that?”

“You told Mom. Mom told Dad. Dad told me while pretending he wasn’t telling me.”

Leo rubbed his forehead.

Naomi smiled. “Family.”

“You’re giving half of it back.”

“No.”

“You have loans.”

“So do you.”

“Mine aren’t medical-school loans.”

Before he could answer, the front door opened.

Raina entered with Marcus behind her.

Naomi’s eyes widened.

“Oh.”

Leo followed her gaze.

“No.”

“I didn’t say anything.”

“You were about to.”

Raina saw them and approached.

“Am I interrupting?”

“Yes,” Leo said.

“No,” Naomi said at the same time.

Raina looked between them.

Naomi stood and offered her hand. “Naomi Bennett.”

“Raina DeLuca.”

“I know.”

Leo closed his eyes.

Raina’s mouth shifted.

Naomi continued, “Thank you for paying him.”

“Naomi.”

“What? She did.”

Raina looked at Leo. “You objected?”

“He objects recreationally,” Naomi said.

“I’ve noticed.”

They both smiled.

Leo felt betrayed by bloodline.

Naomi gathered her flashcards. “I’m leaving.”

“You just got here.”

“I suddenly have very important studying.”

“You were already studying.”

“More important now.”

She kissed his cheek and whispered, “She’s terrifyingly pretty.”

Leo muttered something unprintable.

Raina sat at the bar after Naomi left.

“Your sister likes me.”

“She likes situations.”

“Is there a difference?”

“Not to her.”

He poured water.

Raina watched him.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

“You don’t do nothing.”

“Your sister is in medical school.”

“Yes.”

“You help her.”

“She works too.”

“But you help.”

Leo’s shoulders tightened.

“I don’t need you to solve that.”

“I didn’t offer.”

He looked at her.

Raina held his gaze.

“I’m learning.”

The answer landed more softly than he wanted it to.

For the rest of the shift, she did not mention Naomi’s tuition.

At closing, Leo found Marcus near the entrance while Raina spoke with Marisol.

“You’re Marcus, right?”

“Yes.”

“Can I ask you something?”

Marcus looked toward Raina once. “You can.”

“The men who used to come for money. Before the sale.”

Marcus’s expression did not change.

“What men?”

Leo noticed the wording.

“Two sometimes. Usually one. Bell would meet them out back.”

“Did you see them?”

“Once.”

“Could you identify them?”

“Probably.”

Marcus nodded.

“Why?”

Leo studied him.

“You tell me.”

Marcus was silent for a moment.

Then he said, “Because Ms. DeLuca is trying to find out whether someone used her family’s name here without her authorization.”

Leo looked toward Raina.

She was laughing at something Marisol had said, but the laugh disappeared as soon as she turned and saw his face.

She crossed the room.

“What happened?”

Leo looked at Marcus, then back at her.

“You think the protection money came from inside your organization.”

Raina did not lie.

“Yes.”

“And you still told me no one here needed to worry.”

“I told you no one would touch the restaurant.”

“That’s not the same thing.”

“No.”

“Do you know who?”

“Not yet.”

Leo leaned both hands on the bar.

For the first time since she had started coming back, his expression was not skeptical or amused. It was disappointed.

Raina found that unexpectedly difficult to tolerate.

“What do you want me to do?” she asked.

His answer came immediately.

“Don’t make me grateful before I know what I’m grateful for.”

She went very still.

Leo continued, quieter now.

“If your people created the problem, fixing it doesn’t make you the hero.”

Raina could have reminded him she had not owned the restaurant when the payments began.

She could have said she had never authorized extortion from Bell.

Both statements were true.

Neither mattered enough.

“You’re right,” she said.

Leo looked surprised.

Raina picked up her coat.

“I’ll find out what happened.”

“And then?”

She glanced at the empty dining room.

“Then I’ll decide what kind of owner I am.”

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Leo watched her leave.

Only after the door closed did he realize that for the first time, Raina DeLuca had asked him what he wanted before deciding what to do.