“Him first,” Brio said, nodding at me. “Let him take some of the heat first.”
“What? Whose ear didyoucut off?” Lorenzo asked, smirking.
“I got something to confess,” I admitted, watching as the boss man stiffened, and Emilio lost his easy smile. I had to admit I felt a little guilty to be the cause of that.
“Alright. I’m listening,” Lorenzo said. “You know… because I still have both my fucking ears,” he added, and I had to let out a cough to cover my laugh as Brio just shrugged that off.
“So, you know the chick who got shot while Cesare and I were doing that job?”
“The one you’re supposed to be paying to keep her quiet?” Lorenzo asked. “Tell me you didn’t fuck that up. If she’s talking to—“
“No. It’s not like that. She hasn’t said shit to anyone.”
“What is it then?”
“You remember what you said to me about her?”
I watched as realization dawned on him.
“Come the fuck on, Salvatore,” Lorenzo said. “At your age, you haven’t learned to keep your dick in your pants? What happens when she is pissed off that you didn’t call her, huh?”
“Gets better than that,” Brio said, rocking back on his heels, clearly enjoying himself. The bastard. “Guess who’s staying at his place.”
“Wait… say what?” Emilio asked, looking taken aback. Because, well, everyone knew I had no interest in anything serious.
And I never had.
Not until Whitney, anyway.
“You got the witness in your apartment? She’s there now?” Lorenzo asked.
“Yeah.”
“The fuck, Sal?”
“It’s worse than that, actually,” I admitted.
“Great. Eventful morning,” Lorenzo grumbled. “How is it worse than that.”
“Girl got bruises all over,” Brio interjected.
“Not by me. The fuck?” I asked when both Lorenzo and Emilio sent me hard looks. “You don’t know me better than that?” I added. “No, I went to her work to check on her leg wound. It had been infected. I’d been treating it again to make sure it didn’t get worse, and she’d need to see an actual doctor. But when I got to the diner, I noticed she was covered in bruises.”
“Was it that fuck?” Emilio asked. “The enforcer who shot her? Did he track her down?”
“Almost would have preferred that, but no. Turns out her sister has an abusive ex. Whitney has done everything she can to hide her sister, so since he couldn’t find her, he tried to force the information out of Whitney. It got ugly.”
“Oh, so she just needed some protection?” Emilio asked, relaxing slightly.
“Don’t let those shoulders slump just yet. There’s a problem.”
“Other than you fucking her?” Lorenzo asked.
“Yeah, other than that. The guy who did this—“
“Who I offered to cut the eyelids off of,” Brio chimed in again.
“Don’t you think you’ve done enough removing of body parts lately?” Lorenzo shot back.