My voice trails away as I feel him tucking the blanket up over my shoulder. He drops his lips lightly onto my forehead and I hear his voice simply saying, “Sleep,” like he’s a stage hypnotist.
This time, I don’t have a chance of disobeying. I’m already out before I can say another word.
28
ENZO
* * *
She’s asleep which suits me fine. I want to join her but the collection team has only just left and I need some time to think. Sandra’s body has gone, never to be seen again.
The Don’s got to be thinking something’s up by now. Sandra and Dwayne are off the radar and there’s no other likely suspect than me. I can hold him off for a while but not for long. I need to decide what I’m going to do about this whole mess.
I sit with a whiskey bottle beside me, occasionally topping up my glass. I stare into the dying fire in the lounge and work things out.
I can’t keep hiding things from her. I need to tell her what’s going on. But if I do that, she’s unlikely to want anything to do with me ever again.
I’ll enjoy these last few hours of peace. Soon, I’ll join her in bed. Tomorrow, I’ll tell her everything and then we’ll see what happens. I get the feeling it’ll be the last night of peace for either of us for a very long time.
The Don’s got Imelda but he lied about Sarah. I gave her a call while Sandra was being wrapped up ready to go in the back of the van. She sounded sleepy which wasn’t surprising but she answered and she was fine. Spending the week at a friend’s house.
Maybe Imelda got the feeling something was up. Maybe we got lucky. Either way, that gives me some time to get her mom back.
The Don can only want Chloe dead for one reason. He doesn’t want anything that might connect Tom Blizzard to what they did all those years ago.
I made the connections while I was on my way here. If Umberto is going into politics, it’s because the two of them have made a grubby deal. Umberto presumably takes his place when the election is over. Or he’s working Blizzard, going to control him like a puppet on a string, have a senator the famiglia can use whenever we like.
To make a deal like that, the Don needed leverage which is why he had the box dug up. Only I know something he doesn’t. There were two boxes, both sealed.
I smile to myself as I think about how the Don will react when he realizes what I’ve done.
I could have killed her and not gotten involved in any of this. Taken the Don’s place like he offered. Taken charge of everything in the city, expanded our empire, and spread our tentacles across other cities, other countries even.
Not now.
The choice was between Chloe dying or my sister and me dying. Only I’m working out that there’s a third option.
I drain my glass as I make sure my plan is watertight.
I never used to overthink like this. I used to not give a shit about anyone. I’d get the job done and take the money. No morals, no emotions.
Like I said to her, she’s changed me. I’m not the cold empty Death they used to call me. I’m thinking about life, choosing it as that Scottish junkie movie used to say. Choosing life.
I get this right and she can keep the necklace and her neck. I get to be with her.
Maybe. Maybe not. The important thing is that she survives.
The more I think about it, the more I realize there’s only one real way to be sure. Once I get Imelda free, I’ve got to find a way to get close enough to the Don to take him out with my hands.
If they won’t let me take a gun to the meeting, I’ll just rip his throat out before anyone can stop me. Sure, they’ll gun me down but the Don will still be dead. She’ll be safe. No one else knows the full story of all this but me and the Don. With both of us dead, no one will bother chasing her. She can carry on with her life. Hopefully, find the peace I can never have.
I drain my glass and head through to the bedroom. This is likely to be the last night we’ll be together. Tomorrow, I’m going to work out how to get Imelda out of there without having to kill Chloe. The answer’s there, somewhere, but I need to sleep on it, for now, let my unconscious mind get to work on this conundrum.
I climb in beside her. She stirs long enough to give me a half-smile before falling still once more. I wrap an arm around her, thinking about everything we did tonight. Everything she did.
Took one of the most accomplished honey trap killers the famiglia has and whacked her without breaking a sweat. Then took a spanking and everything else I had to give her like she was starving hungry for it. Too exhausted to talk but found the energy to do that.
I know that feeling. After so much death, it was her way of proving to the world that she’s still alive.