“Vinnie! Vinnie, goddammit, what did I say?! Relax.”
“Tell him that I want him to step out on the sidewalk. Go on, tell him.” Stefano pushes the gun harder against my head. His composure is calm, and he is in control.
“He wants you to go to the sidewalk. We’re just going to have a talk, that’s all.” My eyes locked onto Stefano’s.
“Like hell!”
“Do it, it’s going to be fine!” I shout through the door.
We hear Vinnie’s footsteps retreat down the garden path, Stefano checks the peephole on the door.
“Okay, into the kitchen.” He pushes me with the point of the gun. “Sit down.”
I take a seat on one of the chairs around the small dining table. Stefano pulls a chair opposite mine, his gun firmly aimed at my face. The light above the table blinks now and then.
“I just came here to talk,” I explain.
“Where’s Mia?” The old man asks, his voice cracking at his daughter’s name.
“Safe,” I answer. “You have my money?”
He laughs. “Both you and I know that’s not going to happen, it’s an impossible task. So why didn’t you just put an end to us when you had the chance? Why put us through all this?”
The bruises on his face are still evident and purple from our last visit.
“Because I saw an opportunity,” I answer, much to his disdain because he readies his trigger finger. “Ah, ah, I wouldn’t do that. If anything happens to me, then Mia is gone. And a bullet in the head will be the last thing they do to her.”
“You sick bastard!” The old man weeps, and I can see that every inch of his being wants me to eat that bullet in his gun.
My heart races, not in fear but excitement.
“I told you she’s safe,” I say, watching him relax his finger.
“So, what do you want? If you’re here to beat me, try and make me pay you back, I have nothing to give. Everything is already gone.”
It feels obvious to me, but the old guy I suppose hasn’t been in too many ambushes. He doesn’t care to look outside, where I know Vinnie has already made his way to the back of the house and is pointing his revolver straight at Mr. Gallo. In fact, I can see his big round head out of my peripheral vision, through the kitchen window. Problem is that I don’t want Stefano to die. Not yet.
“I just want to talk, that’s all.” I wave my right hand, telling Vinnie to hold off.
“What are you doing?”
“Relax, old man. I’m just telling my pal, who’s out in your garden now, to not shoot you in the head.”
The old man looks to the garden.
“Vinnie, don’t shoot! You hear me?”
“Yeah, I hear you, boss!”
Stefano’s breaths rush in and out of his mouth. He puts his attention back on me.
I slowly rest my hands on the table.
I clear my throat. “I’m going to be straight with you—my father wants you dead. See, he wants me to make an example of you. And you know what, I get it. You fucked up.”
The old man scoffs, but I raise my hand to stop him from saying something he’ll regret.
“I don’t care for any of your excuses. It’s done now, and you will have to pay for your mistakes. My father also wants Mia to disappear along with you.”