The silence that fell over the room throbbed in my ears. None of what he said matched what I knew about him and his family.
The Neccis were bloodthirsty, self-serving, and ruthless. Romeo was his father’s oldest son. He was destined to become don in Marco’s place. He couldn’t be the one exception to the whole poisonous clan.
Romeo glanced over at Leo and then back at me. When neither of us responded, he shifted his weight a few more times and finally relaxed. He said his piece.
Leo sighed and dragged himself to his feet. He glared down at Romeo from what seemed like a great height. “You’re gonna have to forgive me, son, but I find it impossible to believe you. I’m not saying I don’t think your father and your brothers aren’t capable of everything you say, but you have to admit…”
“I’m telling the truth!” Romeo insisted. “I didn’t want to believe it. I wasn’t sure how to deal with it. He took me completely by surprise when he told me. I thought…”
Leo raised a hand to silence him. “You’ve said what you came here to say, son. Now you’re going to listen to me.”
Romeo gulped. “Forgive me, Consigliere.”
Leo flared his nostrils again. “Your family is our oldest enemy. Your father and your brothers cooked up this plot. You’ll have to forgive me if I don’t think you’re in on it somehow. Why else would you come here and spill your guts like this?”
My head started to clear. At least someone in this office was thinking straight. Thank God Leo was still on the job.
His words seemed to clear the air with Romeo too. Romeo only nodded. “I thought of that.”
“Of course, you thought of it,” Leo countered. “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t believe this was your plan all along. Give me one reason why I shouldn’t think you coming here and telling us this isn’t playing into your hands right now.”
Romeo blinked at him, gulped again, and then stiffened. His expression changed to one of stone-cold determination. “I can give you evidence that my brothers carried out the hit on the East River café last night.”
I glanced over at Leo, who stared at Romeo like someone just hit him over the head with a sledgehammer. The East River café… that must be one of the Leone family’s operations. The Neccis must have hit it just like all the others.
“I can give you evidence that our crew carried out all the other hits you blamed on my father at your meeting—the ones he blamed on someone else. I can also give you the details of the next few hits they’re planning on you. They’re all concentrated in the Times Square area where they think they can do the most damage. They think they can carve off enough of your territory that you won’t be able to unseat them, even if it comes to all-out war.”
Leo didn’t answer. Holy fucking shit—Romeo was really serious! He was prepared to sell out his own family—his own father and brothers—for Gia.
He was doing all this because he loved her. That much was obvious. He couldn’t bring himself to go through with this plan to hurt her.
He would even walk away from the chance to marry her because it might go the wrong way for her. Christ, what a man! I could only dream of doing something like that for her. Not even marrying her came close.
Just to cap it all off, Romeo turned to me. “I can give you details about hits they plan to carry out on Terranova territory too. They want to weaken you so you don’t make such an attractive ally for the Leones.”
Leo buckled and rested his hands on the desk the way I did a moment before. He panted hard, and he looked away toward the wall.
“Anyway, yeah,” Romeo went on. “I’ve decided to go home and withdraw my proposal, but don’t tell Gia the real reason, okay? I couldn’t stand it if she thought the way you did and thought I was part of this. Just make something up. Tell her I wasn’t serious. Tell her I just proposed to fuck with her head or something. That way she’ll be more likely to marry you, Cesare.”
Leo forced himself up. “Don’t leave, son. You belong here. We can…”
“I have to. If I stay, Gia might start caring about me. She might actually decide she wants to marry me, and I couldn’t let that happen. I wouldn’t trust myself not to go through with it. I have to leave. You know I do, Consigliere. It’s just a question of how much information I can give you before I leave.”
NICKY
Istared out the window trying to see the other security cars flanking the limo on our way downtown. Letting Gia leave the house to go shopping in a public place was the stupidest idea in the history of stupid ideas, but I couldn’t argue with Leo’s logic.
She was starting to climb the walls at home. Anyone could see that. The more security we brought in to guard her, the more agitated she got.
A motorcycle buzzed out of traffic, sped past us, and vanished in front of the limo. She sat forward in her seat to bring her face closer to the window. “Is that Johnny Di Paolo? I didn’t know he was coming on this…”
I shot out my arm to block her from getting near the window. I shoved her back down on the opposite seat. “Sit down, and shut up! Do you want to get shot through the window?”
She rounded on me in a rage. “Get your fucking hands off me! How dare you?”
“Keep your hair on. You’re putting yourself in enough danger with this stupid trip. Don’t make it worse by throwing yourself in front of a gun.”
She flung herself back in the seat, crossed her arms, and turned to the other window. “You’re as rude as you ever were. I never should have tried to be nice to you. You’re a bastard. I hope the next time someone tries to shoot me or break into my room, they hit you instead. Maybe then I could get a bodyguard who knows how to behave like a human being.”