She nods, her eyes downcast on the remainder of her uneaten meal. Olivia picks at her food with her fork. Her appetite seems to have vanished.
Mine has too.
“I’m sorry,” I repeat. I hadn’t intended to upset her or make her the least bit uncomfortable.
“Yeah, I think I’m just going to take a hot bath and get ready for bed.”
“Sure, I’ve got the dishes,” I offer. The last thing I want is for her to be stressed during the pregnancy. That doesn’t help anyone, and I don’t want her emotional state to cause her to miscarry, if that’s even a possibility.
She takes her plate to the kitchen and cleans it in the sink before disappearing down the hallway.
With a heavy sigh, I grab my phone. There are a half dozen missed calls and texts from Matteo.
I wait until her bedroom is closed. While I can’t see her room from the dining room, I hear the clasp of a door being shut.
Standing, I grab my dishes and clean up the rest, dumping them into the sink. I skim through the texts. There’s nothing specific from Matteo, justcall me backorurgent, and my favoritepick up the damn phone, boss!
I dial Matteo, skipping the voicemail. He doesn’t leave me messages of any value. Just to call him back. I know his routine.
“Finally!” he sounds exasperated.
“What’s going on?” I ask. “Why the urgency?” If he’s calling me repeatedly within an hour, something is wrong. I try to hide the worry in my voice and remain calm. Maybe he’s overreacting.
When has Matteo overreacted?
Other than bringing Olivia on as a surrogate, that was quite unconventional. I give him slack on that one time.
“We’ve got a problem. There’s been an incident down at the docks.”
I clear my throat and glance down the hallway, making sure I’m alone. There’s no sign of Olivia. “What kind of incident?” I ask.
“The Caruso’s caught one of our capos.”
“Shit.” I curse and wince. “Who?” I ask. I trust my men, but I can’t help but worry. Secrets need to be kept, and torture can be a persuasive method to gain information.
Will he divulge information at the hands of Caruso and his thugs?
“Andrea,” Matteo says.
“How did this happen?” I need every detail. Mistakes like this can never happen again. Not on my watch as don.
“From what I’ve gathered, Andrea was followed down to the docks. One of Caruso’s men tailed him during a shipment pickup.”
I pinch the bridge of my nose and exhale a heavy sigh. Andrea knows more than he should. He’s a vital part of our organization. I can’t afford to lose an asset, but what’s worse is that Don Caruso is holding him.
“What do you suggest we do?” While I don’t take orders from Matteo, I do appreciate his insight. Sometimes he offers a unique perspective, and I want to hear his recommendation before I rattle off my orders.
“As much as I like the guy, he won’t talk.”
“Are you sure?” I value Matteo’s input, but I can’t help but worry that anyone can be manipulated to divulge secrets. Especially those that have intelligence information that could hurt our operation.
“Reasonably so, Sir.”
“If we leave him in Don Caruso’s hands, he’s good as dead,” I say.
I hate losing men, especially good men. But going to war over one man being nabbed would be far more dangerous and riskier. It could destroy everything that I’ve achieved.
And that’s Caruso’s power move.