“I just got home.” I downed another drink, not needing him right now.
“So, are we going out or not?” Anna snickered as she came in, half in the bag.
“Yes, yes.” Mariano brushed her off and gave me a look. “Why don’t you join us?”
“No,” Anna spoke for me, “no tagalongs. I refuse to babysit a prissy little uptight girl who wants to pretend she’s the princess in the castle, when she’s anything but…” She flipped her pin-straight hair over her bony shoulder. When I didn’t react, she went on. “Elio was supposed to marry me. That was the deal after what my father did for their family.”
I felt rage burn through my veins at that. It was the first I’d heard of it.
“It was all supposed to happen, and then you came along. Little orphan girl, with the big blue eyes, and the big fake boobs.”
I licked the inside of my mouth, leaned over the island, grabbed her hand, and yanked her straight down onto the marble countertop. I moved my face inches from hers and smiled like the crazy person I was becoming.
“Elio wants a real woman, not some skinny drunk who can’t keep the bottle from her jacked-up lip job. Nor would he even want to entertain visiting your eight-men-a-day, stretched out, trailer trash vag.” She blinked at my crass words. “Come at me again, and I promise I will show you what I learned on the streets.”
I let go and leaned back, snatching the bottle from Mariano, who stared at me with a gaping mouth. “Oh, Anna, these are far from fake.” I took another shot, high-fived Donte behind the counter, and left.
A while later and after the whiskey dulled the pain, I made a plan. I needed this for me. I sent a text and headed downstairs.
“Donte?” He looked up at me and smiled, but it fell when he looked at the bag I carried. “Can you give this to Elio?” I handed him a piece of paper. “I’m not leaving the country. I’m just going to the hotel where my mother is staying. I need a break.”
“Of course. May I?” He took my phone from me and entered his number. “I might be crossing a line here, but friends are supposed to exchange numbers.” I gave him a hug.
I retrieved my luggage from the entryway of the Hill House and once again felt like I didn’t belong as Cousin Ugo opened the car door for me.
“I was shocked when you called.”
“That makes two of us.” Happy Abramo had gone back to his lair at Nonna’s, I climbed inside the black town car and was glad to hide behind its tinted windows.
By the time we arrived at the hotel, it was dark, and I checked into a room a few doors down from my mother’s. I could barely hold it together. I sat on the edge of the bed, clutched my necklace, and felt my sides burn.
What was happening with Elio?
I leaned back, closed my eyes, and fell into a restless sleep.
New York was hot and muggy when we landed at JFK, and I was more than ready to climb in the back of the limo when it arrived on the tarmac.
“He’s in town,” Niccola said as he climbed inside the car and removed his suit jacket.
“Good.” I knocked on the partition for the driver to take the detour. I pointed the air vent at me and tried to focus. The heatwave that was smothering the west coast had now reached us.
“I’ll wait in the car.” Vinni tapped his knee, nervous as always whenever we met up with this particular man. “The guy gives me the creeps.”
“You killed for the mafia this morning, you have friends in the Mexican Cartel, but yetthisguy gives you the creeps?” Niccola rolled his eyes, and I smirked behind my hand.
“Yeah, he does.” Vinni’s heel started to tap rapidly. “I get you’ve known him since you were young, and I know there’s some crazy story about you two fighting and then flipping the tables on some event, but at the end of the day, there’s the mafia and there’s him. Plus, he has a stare that goes right through me. It’s like he can see your soul.”
“Deal with this, then.” I dropped a file on his lap and watched his computer brain tackle the latest numbers on our last oil shipment. Papa wanted me to see if I spotted anything, but, of course I didn’t, since I now knew Stefano was only using the trafficking as a ploy. However, an extra pair of eyes on it never hurt, and Vinni needed the distraction.
We parked under an overpass, and when I stepped out and buttoned my jacket, the doors to a warehouse opened and out came the Devil’s Reach. To anyone else they were ruthless, but to us they were an ally. Trigger and I did have a history, one that dated back to our youth. We fought in the same underground competitions. The first fight he won, and the second I won. The only difference was I didn’t get a beating if I lost. After I met Trigger’s soulless father, we made a deal never to set foot in the same ring together. Instead, we worked together to weed out any scum that crossed our paths—that was, until I stopped fighting. Since then, we kept our friendship quiet and our working relationship a secret. The best allies were the ones you never saw coming.
“Heard you found your girl,” Trigger said through a joint that dangled from his mouth.
“And I heard you got married.”
“Yeah,” he smirked, “who’da thought?” I’d normally give a handshake, but I knew better with Trigger.
“Shit.” Rail, one of Trigger’s men, pulled at the crotch of his jeans. “Damn humidity. It’s makin’ my balls stick to my leg.”