Chapter 343

Alexi looks around to see what has happened, with the sudden change of atmosphere to an ice-cold chill, and one of the men frowns at me before whipping the menu out of his wife’s hand and sternly orders meals for them both. He doesn’t even ask her what she wants and just tosses her menu back when he is done. Cousin two follows suit and then Gino and Alessandra order for themselves quickly while no one seems to take a breath.

There’s a weird strained tension all around us, like a heavy smog and finally Alexi pipes in to break it.

“Steak for me too … make it a bottle of red for the two of us and I will have a straight brandy while we wait. She’s right, we are all famished, and the ladies shouldn’t wait to eat while we men talk shop.” He doesn’t seem at all flustered in the way the men are behaving but I can feel eyes eating into me, summarising the cause and realise that Alessandra is being oddly quiet too.

I don’t like the vibes I’m getting. I can tell I just broke some unspoken rule of etiquette for this family and I’m regretting it profusely. I don’t want Alexi mad at me for something so dumb.

“Where we come from the women wait for the men because they know their place. It’s a sign of respect.” One of the men butts in harshly, obviously not impressed with Alexi flippantly palming off the situation.

Rob looks at me pointedly, a weird snarly tinge on the corner of his mouth of pure disdain that a woman stepped out of line and I just stare right back at him, hackles rising and that fiery pit of hot lava in my stomach swirls. Brewing for a showdown. He’s trying to intimidate me, which I must admit is working, but I’ll be damned if I back down to this arsehole and show him he has dominance over me. He is not my lord and master, no man is. Not even Alexi fucking Carrero!

I don’t care if I broke a rule. I’m a free person and I can up and walk away if I want to. They have no power over me.

I don’t get the chance to reply though, even though my sarcastic response is lingering on my lips, poised and scathing.

“Well, she’s not from there and it’s not how I expect her to be. My woman has a mind of her own and knows exactly where her place is. She doesn’t need to be reprimanded by anyone who isn’t me!” Alexi’s tone is loaded even if it’s said in a friendly way, and I watch the silent tug of war that goes on between him and the lighter-haired Carrero. That power imbalance as the other man, clearly older than Alexi, bites his tongue from a harsh backlash. Eyes locked, a million translations in tiny looks and it’s obvious Alexi can out-stare him any day of the week. I recoil a little inside, although no longer worried that he will scold me for my faux pas and just loving him even more for standing up for me.

“Wait till you’re married and it all changes. Women need discipline and leadership. They learn or they suffer for the disrespect.” Cousin two, the one called Georgie pipes in, grinning smugly, trying to interject a little lightness with his words, despite the content being despicable and I can feel their wives trying to disappear under the table across from me. He places a hand on his wife’s thigh and squeezes hard, emitting a grimace from her and she flushes seven shades redder. It’s obvious she doesn’t like his public manhandling, and I wonder if arranged marriages are still a thing in families where title and connections still matter as much as money.

I would never have paired them normally. Either that or she is miss prim and proper and God may burn her soul in hell for having some public form of contact with her husband. I have heard worse.

Alessandra clears her throat and also seems to revert to submissive so suddenly, shocking for her normally brassy, bold self and it finally clicks. My brain giving me a shake.

Alessandra has dealt with this family for years and comes from an Italian family much like theirs. It’s a different set of rules when in the presence of Alexi’s family, and the far-out wider circle of Carrero. She knows how to act with these people and is toeing the line. It’s a complete contrast to the outspoken sex goddess I have known in my brief time but it’s a hint that I have no idea what I’m dealing with.

They have different values and opinions about their women in different sectors, and this attitude is more in keeping with other mob families and how they treat their worthless sex dolls. The man I first met in Alexi was like this with his women. Be silent and be obedient, but he’s not like that with me anymore; I have never seen it with his cousins or twin and their women either, or any of the men around us constantly, so I do not think it’s the norm for the New York family at all.

Alexi obviously had the influences in his life though, which suggests more of the Carrero line is like this, just not the ones from The Hamptons and the city.

I know the branch in London was equally vile with women, now that I know the Clarkes are Carreros. They treated their wives like objects, as far as the rumour went, and no women they were seen with appeared to be their wives. Escorts and dates were always whores.

“Her place is wherever she chooses it to be. I don’t need to silence my woman to earn her respect. Cam knows how to be when I need her to be a certain way. This is family, she doesn’t need to be anything but herself in your presence.” Alexi grits his teeth, that edge of anger moving in, annoyed for me, biting with that flash of famous temper and Gino coughs and leans forward. He can sense Alexi growing agitated and we all know what an unpredictable explosion that can be.

“New York is a lot different to Alabama, Rob. Women are far more independent and outspoken. We just had to learn to roll with the punches and loosen the leashes a little. They are harder work but that’s where the fun lies. Alexi likes a challenge and Camilla is definitely that for him; he would never be happy with servitude and nods in his chosen one.” Gino is trying to joke and calm the atmosphere in his smiley laid back way, but I can already feel the tension in Alexi thickening the surrounding air. My cool, controlled one has zero patience when it comes to me, even I have figured that one out. It’s the one chink in that facade I used to be unnerved by. Mr Control is incapable of keeping his shit together when you add me to the equation.

It’s sweet but a total shitty weakness considering what he does.

“Well, you have certainly changed. Last time we met up your date was both obedient and silent and understood the meaning of the men taking the lead. Are you going soft cuz? Over a piece of skirt … is she really that good of a fuck? Or maybe you just lost your touch in keeping your bitch under control and making excuses.” Smirking, smug arsehole, acting superior towards his cousin and even I know that is the absolute wrong move.

I don’t like him.

I snarl subtly and glare at the conceited moron, grasping my napkin to curb the urge to tell him to go choke on his brother's dick.

This Carrero is a massive knob jockey, and I, honest to God, would love to see him talk to me this way back in New York, surrounded by Mico and Jackson. Pretty sure both of them would have something to say.

Wanker.

“Watch your mouth. I’m warning you.” Alexi growls, startling me with his sudden interjection, that low sadistic tone of the devil that used to terrify me to death. Such few words, precise, slow but loaded with meaning and the heaviness of my anxiety is painful with the sudden death chill.

It’s the way he always used to rein in control in any given scenario. It means he’s most likely bordering on snapping necks.

I can’t breathe in properly, just the memory of who he can be when riled, and even Gino falls quiet. Alexi is teetering on a cliff edge. It’s that evil husky note of ‘everyone in this room should be very afraid’ I know only too well.

Everyone does

“He didn’t mean anything by it. No disrespect Alexi. You’re the head of the family and he forgets himself.” Its George butting in, stammering sheepishly, trying to eyeball his brother to back off and looking less assured. Trying to tame his brother in the way Gino is trying to diffuse this pissing contest, and I can see which of the four got the alpha genes and which got the peacemaker ones. It’s so tense that the air crackles.

It seems though that Alexi’s tone is universally feared. Even arsehole Rob looks less cocky and nerves are peeking through in the way his eye twitches ever so slightly under Alexi’s unbreakable and unmistakably angry stare.

I broke a rule of etiquette within this hierarchy. I dared to speak first and order my food without permission from my man. This is the aftermath and now dinner is going to be a fucking ball.

I feel sick. Anxiety gives way to nausea and I clench my hands on my lap under the table to hide my discomfort. I wish the ground would open up and swallow me whole. Sure my heated face is the red blush of embarrassment at causing this. My body stiff and on high alert, blood running cold.

I expected this kind of opposition in his world of men in suits back home, but not between family. His own men. It reminds me that this world is bigger than us, and Alexi isn’t the monster I once believed him to be. He shows me more respect than these men show their own wives. He has always given me a sense of safety, even when he was being the devil. I never really gave him credit for that before.

Rob tenses his jaw and furrows his brow rather menacingly, sits back in his chair so he’s no longer leaning on the table but it’s all posturing and I can tell his fight has died. His whole demeanour takes on that of a sulky teen rather than a grown man itching to battle. Backing down because he is no match for his cousin. Alexi, the stealth, still growling darkness by my side, has one arm resting casually and his whole body is poised as though he’s unaffected. That means he is about a second away from jumping over the table and breaking bones.

“Yeah, I forget that even though I’m older, had way more time and experience under your father’s guidance, I was bypassed for my kid cousin, who was still in diapers. Sorry.” The tone matches the look and it’s laughable. Moody man child that has reverted in years in the blink of an eye and his insult is petty. Even Alexi frowns with a look of ‘what was that?’

It all makes sense and falls neatly into place with that begrudged and venomous statement though.

Rob was meant for the role of leader, wanted it, expected it, but Alexi swept in and took it from him. I’m guessing he assumes Alexi’s father had a role in his own son taking over, but I know that is far from the truth. Alexi was made for this role and his family saw it against all his father’s wishes.

You can’t deny natural gifts.

The air between them may have seemed friendly at first glance but the jealousy and competitiveness are there lingering between us all. Now it’s been highlighted I can see it seeping from every pore of the man. Wearing it like a thick cloak.

Not all Carrero men are charming. Some of them are meant for the world in which I grew up and it makes more sense to me now that their family has been known for generations as heavy-handed and ruthless gangsters. The hearts of the Carreros I know is not in all of them. They are unique.

Power mad, cruel and petty is the norm. I will bet your bottom dollar this branch of the family treats their women with less care than Alexi’s part in every way. I wouldn’t be surprised if they used fist and foot to punish them into submission and broke them down mentally. Much like the men I have known in my past. Much like he did to me when I was the enemy.

I move slightly closer to Alexi, that same old fear clawing up inside me when men who show a cruel, violent side peeks out and I’m the focus. I press my leg against his thigh to feel more grounded and take a little comfort from feeling his strong body so close to me. His natural heat reverberating through my naked leg.