“You want me to take over?”
“Even with a shot to the arm, I can still fly better than you.”
I sit back in my seat, looking at my hostage. She’s still got her head in her hands, refusing to look at me. I’ve yet to see her face properly. I need to decide what to do with her.
“The house was rigged to blow,” I say out loud.
“You sure?”
“We didn’t carry any high explosives. It was a set up. I was supposed to die in there.”
“Don Moretti?”
“Dead. The whole lot of them are dead.”
“Except her.” He nods back toward my hostage.
I think to myself for a moment, ignoring her. She’s no threat. I try and work this out.
“Don’t take me home,” I tell Andy.
“You think this was your brother?”
“I’ve no doubt.”
Giovanni set me up. He knew that when he told me about the plan to take out Don Moretti, I’d jump in first. My father even told me just today that I’m too impetuous.
So Giovanni rigged the house to blow. Maybe Matteo told him I was going. Maybe he worked it out himself. Either way, I get there and they’re waiting for me. They go to wipe out me and my crew but Giovanni’s a sneaky son of a bitch. He’s got a second plan in case I don’t get shot. He’s rigged the house to blow. Don Moretti gets killed. I get killed. There’s no rival to fight to take over the famiglia when our father dies. He inherits by default. No witnesses to what happened.
If I go home, I lose the element of surprise. For now, let him think I’m dead. That way, I have the advantage. I can find that girl, get married, get her pregnant. I become the Don. All behind his back.
The son of a bitch.
I clench my fists as I think how close he came to succeeding. Any one of those bullets could have taken me out. The only reason I’m alive is her. The woman refusing to look at me.
She must be a stable-hand or something. But if that’s the case, why not just shoot her to kill me? Yet, they held off. Why is that?
“Where’d you want to go?” Andy asks.
“You get me close to my place on Maple?”
“There’s a pad on the roof of the hotel down the block. That do you?”
“Close enough.”
“Couple of minutes and I’ll have you there.”
“Make sure you get that arm looked at after we’re dropped off.”
“Will do.”
The woman is shifting in place, rocking slightly like a kid trying to soothe themselves.
“Look at me,” I tell her.
She freezes, her shoulders hardening.
“I said look at me.”