Blood in the Golden Palace

Chapter 12: Penny-4

That tender smile returned to him. “A movie sounds nice,” he said. Throwing on his coat, Angelo fixed his final buttons before leaving the hotel room. And leaving Penny alone with her thoughts.

* * * *

“‘…Now to bed. We both sleep in the same room; it makes for far less risk.’

“‘No, you secure the bedroom for yourself,’ I said. ‘I’ve no intention of staying in the same room with you.’

“He became furious. ‘Don’t do anything stupid, Louis. I warn you. There’s nothing you can do to defend yourself once the sun rises, nothing. Separate rooms mean separate security. Double precautions and double the chance of notice.’ He then said a score of things to frighten me into complying, but he might as well have been talking to the walls.”

Penny’s eyes drifted from the page for the fifth or sixth time that afternoon. This was not a mark against the writing styles of Anne Rice, but rather, a mark against her threshold for attention. After a few hours stuck in the hotel room, Penny knocked on Hank’s door to ask if she could go downstairs to read instead. At least that way she wouldn’t feel so claustrophobic. Or maybe it was the fact that her complex emotions were best left to breathe in a room not surrounded by her most recent memories.

Angelo had been on her mind the entire day he was gone. Penny tried cracking open some of her new books to keep herself distracted. When those didn’t work, she turned to an old favorite, Interview with a Vampire. It did the trick occasionally, but nothing stopped Penny from drifting off to the night before.

The smell of Angelo’s skin. How rough yet tender he handled her body. After their initial horizontal mambo, they stayed awake for a while longer, teasing and talking and playing with each other’s hair. Penny wasn’t sure when she’d let go in her sleep, but wondered if she hadn’t, if he would have been there when she woke up. Marking her page, Penny set her book aside and stared out the window.

She and Hank occupied two cushy arm chairs in the lobby, facing a window into a beautiful courtyard. Due to the season, the pool was drained, but the poolside bar had plenty of patrons, even in that early afternoon hour. The bells and whistles coming from the casino floor adjacent to them made for good white noise, though she could do without the wafting cigarette smell. She must have been staring out the window for far too long, because eventually, Hank dropped his newspaper to ask her: “Everything all right?”

Penny nearly jumped. “Yeah, I’m fine. Just spacey.”

“Are you hungry? Want to go for a walk?”

“What am I, a dog?”

Hank, realizing how he came across, chuckled and set his paper aside. “Sorry,” he said. “Boss gave me strict instructions to make sure you were as comfortable as possible.”

“So I am a dog.”

Hank checked his watch. “I think I could use a drink. You want anything?” Penny shook her head. Standing, Hank headed over to the lobby bar, and Penny returned to her thoughts. That is, until someone sat across from her and lit a cigarette. Penny turned, surprised to see a beautiful blonde woman sitting elegantly in Hank’s place. She wore all white, with the exception of her massive sunglasses. Her hair was pinned up in a perfect bun, and around her neck was a string of fine diamonds.

“Um, excuse me?” Penny said carefully. “That seat is taken.”

“It sure is.” Wrapping her red lips around the filter of her smoke, the woman removed her sunglasses and propped them up on her head. If Penny had to guess, she must not have been much older than her. Penny was immediately reminded of Angelo’s sister, although she lacked any warmth Nicoletta might have possessed. Pinching the cigarette between her knuckles, the woman in white pulled it from her lips and blew out a steady stream of smoke. “So…this is why he was busy.”

“I’m sorry?”

“Yeah, probably.” The woman ashed her cigarette onto the floor, apathetic to that day’s cleaning crew. “Though maybe not now. More likely in the future.”

Penny, totally blindsided by this…person…took a second to re-calibrate her brain. “I…Do I know you?”

“Not a bit.”

“Do you know me?”

“Regrettably.”

“I…” Penny shook her head and leaned forward in her seat. She was starting to get irritated. “Who are you? Are you from of Angelo’s family—?” Penny’s words cut off at the woman’s snide laughter.

“That’s the plan,” she said.

Penny frowned. “Look, I like cryptic riddles and all, but who the hell are you? How do you know me? How do you know Angelo?”

“Miss Acino?” The blonde woman turned as Hank approached, clutching a Bloody Mary. “What are you doing here? I thought you were supposed to be in Europe.”

“Came home early,” the woman replied, bored. “Heard that my Angelo was in town. Thought I’d swing by to say hello.” She turned to Penny with dull eyes. “Guess I must have missed him.”

Penny looked between Hank and this Miss Acino person, now suddenly panicked. “Hank? Who is this…?”

Hank set his cocktail down and cleared his throat. “Penny, this is Felicity Acino. She’s related to the Corsetti family. She’s Angelo’s, um…”

“I’m his fiancée.”

All at once, every breath of air was sucked from the room. Penny stared at Felicity in utter disbelief. She turned to Hank for a denial, but he had none to give. Felicity took another drag of her smoke. “O-oh…” Penny’s voice was barely above a whisper. She felt like someone had stuck a pair of egg beaters in her chest and flipped on the switch. “I…I didn’t know he—”

Felicity did nothing to assuage Penny’s guilt, and instead stood to address Hank. “Tell Angelo I’ll meet him for dinner at eight o’clock. Nothing under five stars. And for God’s sake, tell him to wear a tie.”

“Miss Acino, the boss is in a meeting at the moment with your family to discuss business.”

Finishing her smoke, Felicity dropped the butt into Hank’s drink without a shred of remorse. “Make it 7:30. I’m craving lobster. Goodbye, Hank.” She walked off, leaving Penny helpless and decidedly more torn than she had been that morning.