“Then, let’s make a deal, Horatio. You like deals, right?” I asked.
“Okay,” he huffed.
“You take me to where I can find the Banachis, and I won’t hurt your family.”
“Okay, Boss. I’ll take you right now.”
“But Horatio, you know what’s going to happen if you don’t give me what I need, don’t you?” I shifted my gun to point at Maggie’s face, and children started screaming. Maggie closed her eyes, her bottom lip shivering. “I’ll let you live so you can think about how your actions cost your family everything.”
Horatio nodded. “Please, Boss. I’ll take you.”
“You understand that I don’t want to be played with. I’m really not in the mood for it, Horatio,” I said.
Horatio nodded. “I got it, Boss. I won’t play games. I’ll take you there right now.”
I gave him a fake grin. “Well, I’m glad we could see eye to eye, Horatio. Now let’s go.”
23
Willow
It felt like everything I was doing was taking so much longer than it should have. I didn’t know if it was because I was that reluctant to do what I was planning to do that day, or if I was struggling to readjust to a daily routine that didn’t include Alessandro. Getting out of bed took active concentration. I had to count to ten to inspire myself to do simple things like kick my feet out over the edge of the bed or toss my blankets to the side. I put my feet into my slippers, but I stood there for five minutes pulling my feet in and out because I thought that I was wearing them wrong, and when I pulled on my morning robe to shield my barely dressed body from my brother, I put it on inside out first. After feeling properly dressed and ready to walk out into the hallway, I first plopped back down onto my bed and sat there staring at nothing for ten minutes. I kept rubbing my stomach, still not quite able to grasp the fact that there was a little life in there. I could already feel myself developing a connection to the baby and tried to cut myself off. Aborting was the right thing to do. A child didn’t belong in a world ruled by the Varassos.
I eventually convinced myself to get up and make my way out into the main part of my apartment. The door to my guest room was still closed, and even if it wasn’t enough indicator that Ricky was still asleep, the fact that stucco was falling from the ceiling at the sound of his snoring would do it. I’d gotten used to the way he could tear a room apart with his snoring sometime when we were kids. He had sinus problems already, but then when we were teenagers, he’d taken a kickball straight to the face, jamming the bridge of his nose and breaking a bone in his eye socket. It only went downhill from there, as his ability to snore from his nose damn near stopped, and eventually, my mom had to have his room made soundproof. Even in her giant manor, it didn’t matter what room you were in. If Ricky was asleep, you could hear it. I was already drumming up ideas for apology gifts for my neighbors once he was gone. If they didn’t complain to my landlord every single day he was here, they deserved a Nobel prize.
I pulled out my can of untouched-for-a-month coffee and carried it over to my coffee pot. The last cup of coffee I’d brewed for myself was done in the morning on the day I left for Philly. It seemed like no one there ever wanted me to get coffee for myself. Ricky would bring it to me every morning when we were both at my mom’s house, and Alessandro would bring it to me when I was staying at his place. Even Molly and the kids brought me a cup or two, as payment for playtime, of course. I grinned, thinking about the days I spent at the Varasso estate. As bad as things had gone with Luca, I didn’t regret staying there. It was nice to get to know Alessandro’s family, the people he was so deathly loyal to. I could only hope that I could find something else like that someday. Something less intense with far less risk involved, but the loyalty wouldn’t be so bad. If only Alessandro had that for me and not a family that wanted him to do unacceptable things, we could have made it. I never got the chance to tell him, but I thought we were soulmates, too. Guess that ship had sailed now.
I pulled out all of Ricky’s favorite breakfast foods and lined them up on my speckled marble counter. Back in Philly, he could get whatever breakfast he wanted at the drop of a hat. He didn’t have to pay for it, and he didn’t have to go get it. It was magic for as involved as he was in it. He snapped his fingers and, boom, there it was.
He had been a bacon eater since birth. He liked it crispy and a little burnt with eggs or some other such substance to dip it in. He could put away multiple cups of coffee in a single sitting, but I knew him well enough to know that he actually really preferred orange juice in the morning. He liked cold beverages better in general, but he was a juice guy. Always had been. I poured a glass of orange juice and started cooking his bacon and eggs in a pan, and pretty soon, the guest bedroom door opened with my twin trudging out.
He rubbed his eyes with a huge yawn. “Smells good.” He took a seat at my kitchen island with all of his hair still a rat’s nest
of curls atop his head.
“Bacon and eggs,” I replied, lifting the glass of orange juice and handing it over. “Should be done in about five minutes.”
He grabbed the orange juice and took out half the glass in one gulp. “Yum. I haven’t had orange juice in a long time.”
“Late nights making you rely on the coffee, huh?” I asked.
“No,” he replied, obviously lying. “So, how’d you sleep?”
“Weird,” I said. “I’m a stomach sleeper, but I felt odd sleeping that way given the circumstances, so I was trying to lay on my side or my back. Every time I started to roll around to my stomach, I would snap awake and turn back to my back.”
“I’m sorry,” he replied. “I slept like a rock.”
“I know,” I responded through gritted teeth. “You’re paying for my deposit when I get kicked out.”
Ricky chuckled. “Maybe that’s why I’m still single.”
“Oh, do you think that could be it?” I giggled.
Ricky’s expression turned somber. “How are you feeling about today?”
I dumped Ricky’s food onto a plate and slid it over to him. “Scared. Sad.”
“Sad?” Ricky repeated. “You’re sad?”