The estate was already dangerously undermanned, and now this. Cesare Terranova coming to stay here would make my job astronomically more complex, no matter how many additional resources Leo brought in.
“You okay, man?” Leo asked. “What’s that thumping sound?”
“It’s nothing.” I shook out my bloody knuckles. “I’m fine. I’ll get right on it. When is Cesare coming?”
“Later this evening. Maybe when you finish what you’re doing, you could come see me, and we can discuss arrangements.”
“Yeah. Okay. No problem. See you later.”
I hung up and gave full vent to my frustrations. “Son of a fucking bitch! What the fuck!”
Art hunkered over his desk, digging into his first aid kit. He came out and handed me a large square of gauze. “What’s up?”
“Fuck!” I shook the blood off my hand and then pressed the gauze to it. “There aren’t enough trained men in New York to deal with this fucking disaster. That’s what’s up.”
Art handed me a roll of tape. “You gonna be okay?”
“Oh, I’m gonna be just fucking peachy, pal. I’m responsible for protecting the fucking lives of three of the most high-ranking fucking mobsters in fucking New York fucking City, and I’m saddled with these fucking amateur fucking security guards who walk around calling themselves sergeants at fucking arms. I’m just fucking grand.”
Art laughed, but just then, his phone went off. He looked at it. “It’s Leo.” He nodded to me and went back inside the gatehouse to take the call. No doubt Leo was telling him all about Cesare’s visit. Fucking great.
I finished taping up my knuckles and put the tape back in the first aid kit before I walked away. I had enough to worry about protecting Gia. Now Cesare was coming.
What was I supposed to do—fucking replicate myself so there would be enough of me to bodyguard them both? This was a catastrophe. It was downright comical considering how thin our troops were already stretched.
I didn’t trust myself to go back to the house when I was this steamed up, so I took a tour around the grounds to check on the new guys. They were all following the rotation I laid out. At least someone around here knew how to do their fucking jobs.
At least Cesare Terranova was an ally. I didn’t have to worry about him trying anything around Gia—not that him being an ally made me feel better. Why couldn’t he bring his own security?
I kept walking along the wall, checking some of the blind spots. I could still see the guard posts, but at certain points, the guards on both sides were facing away. That left way too many holes in our safety net.
I cursed again when I remembered Cesare and Gia at Don Alonzo’s funeral. I would have punched the stone wall and pretended it was Cesare’s face, but my knuckles were already fucked up enough.
Damn it. Cesare was coming to stay at the estate to get cozy with Gia. Everybody knew how close they were as kids. Now Leo had been working his ass off to get her engaged to Cesare. Cesare would almost certainly marry her.
She loved Cesare because they grew up together. I’d been around her father’s organization a lot more than Cesare ever had, but she would never blush and laugh at me that way.
I grew up seeing Gia Leone every day of my life, but she never looked sideways at me. Why should she? She was a fucking princess with more money than God Almighty. She had it all. What was I? I was nothing. I had nothing.
I was her father’s lowest foot soldier and always would be. I never stood a chance with Gia, and after the way I’d been sticking my foot in it lately, now she really hated me.
I didn’t have to look too hard to see that disgusted look she got whenever I came around. I didn’t go out of my way to make her like me. In fact, I went out of my way to make sure she hated me. Why?
If she wasn’t going to like me and smile at me and blush at me like she did with Cesare, then I didn’t want to even think about it. I wanted her as far away from me as possible, but somehow, it didn’t work out that way.
The longer I spent in Don Alonzo’s organization, the closer I seemed to get to her. Every promotion in rank brought me more and more into contact with her.
Now Leo assigned me to be her bodyguard, so I couldn’t get away from her. I went everywhere with her. I was personally responsible for her fucking life.
I shouldn’t complain about that. I was lucky Leo trusted me enough to guard her. That was the best I could hope for, but that didn’t help much.
I didn’t have to make her hate me, but having her hate me was easier than thinking about what could never be. Better to have her hate me than to even think about the alternative. Thinking about the alternative hurt too much.
Making her hate me didn’t stop me from thinking about her. If anything, it only made me think about her even more, which made me treat her worse, which made her hate me more, which made me think about her more. I couldn’t win for losing.
Now I would get to stand around and watch her fall in love with another man, marry him, and ride off into the sunset of mobster Heaven.
If everything worked out perfectly, I would be on hand to see her have his children, visit her in-laws during the holidays, and live happily ever after while I got left out in the cold.