Tried for Love (TSATD)

Chapter 20

Leah

  A dinner with private audience, as my father preferred calling our guests, had once been a very pleasant way to spend a night-in. Especially when the guests were old family friends that I put every ounce of my trust in.

  That night however, being the very hostess of the dinner alongside my new fiancé.. It could be said that I didn't find it all so very pleasing. No, not with the things I had found out just the minute before the guests had arrived.

  Valentine.. God, my blood boiled with anger at the mere thought of him, let alone a glance or a touch from the devilish man. He had outdone himself that night. Oh, how angry I was with him, he couldn't even imagine.

  Deluded fool that he was, he believed his little scheme of a plan could end Jon Tallo. The fifty year old man that had sat across from us on the table that night, with all the power and strength radiating from his mere presence even at that time of his life..

  It only proved that he was a respected Mafia's man that had thousands bowing to him and calling him their boss, while — Good Lord, while Valentine was just as powerful, twice as vigorous, and yet damned stupid to believe that he could ever take down a Tallo.

  I had known the man my entire life.. Even though we, as St. Clairs, had been far more influencing in the world we lived in, Tallo had worked with my father in the same ranges of crime.

  Committed the same crimes and followed the same rules. If anything, they were considered equals in the noble Mafia families of black blood.

  Gabriel Valentine didn't have black blood. He was born outside the Mafia circles, and even though never considered an outsider, many respectful leaders considered him a mere criminal.

  Despite the fact that he had earned his reputation and made his empire himself, in New York, Chicago, and wherever else the mafia thrived, only years could gain him the kind of respect Tallo had. Not arrogance, not an endless chain of mistresses.. Not even marriage with me.

  And yet still, he was plotting a murder. No, he did not wish to merely make peace with Jon Tallo. He meant to earn his trust just so that he could later stab him in the back. Kill a black-blooded Mafia's man. And get away with it?

  Ridiculous! Absolutely impossible. It was a damned suicide mission, this plan of his. Oh and how furious I was with him for keeping that detail from me. Keeping it a secret even when he had made the marriage proposal.

  Damn well it was not a small detail to misplace and yet he had dared to prepare a whole wedding ceremony in the past few days and still failed mentioning to me that I might be widowed in the period of six months that out marriage was going to last.

  So a dinner with my fiancé, Jon Tallo and his latest wife, wasn't pleasant at all. We were joined by Ethan and a girl he apparently had under his protection for quite some time now, Jenna.

  There was something between the two of them I believe, and perhaps there had been ever since the moment Jenna had witnessed a murderer that winter that had occurred in one of New York's most infamous clubs, between two men involved in the Mafia.

  Either way, instead of her being killed for being a witness, Ethan had taken her under his roof. It was enough of her to share as much of her life story with a stranger that I was to her. It would most definitely be rude to ask too many questions and examine the reasons of whatever relationship the two maintained.

  But in the past week since I had met her, Jenna was the only woman that visited and was, in fact, very pleasant to spend time with. It seemed Valentine and Ethan had made it their mission to rescue those that needed rescuing. The thing wasn't sure if that protection would be necessary once I inherited my family's empire.