Gabriel
All at once, I was slapped with a reminder of what I was doing. I checked my watch, and it was a minute past two.
“Fuck,” I hissed. Stacy had completely made me forget everything but her.
I ran back to the restaurant and threw back the door. I stepped in, trying to catch my breath and scanned the restaurant. The tables were all packed, and I couldn’t make out any sign of Anthony Carducci. He wasn’t a small man, known as The Beast in our circles for standing at six-foot-two and weighing three hundred pounds. If he was inside, I would see him, for sure.
I was about to pick up my phone and try to figure out how to get in touch with him when the hostess looked up at me. “Hello, sir. You wouldn’t happen to be Mr. Varasso?”
My skin crawled at the question. “I am.”
“I have a message from Mr. Carducci.” She reached under her stack of menus and handed me a napkin that had a message scrawled messily across it in pen.
I do not like to be kept waiting, Mr. Varasso.
Consider this matter resolved.
I crumpled the napkin in my hand. I fucked up, big time. Luca was going to come and do it. He wouldn’t have gotten distracted by heaven on legs, and he would have walked into the restaurant, sat down, and secured our alliance with the Carduccis. It was probably in my best interest to just make a run for it. I had enough money in my name alone, my father had always seen to it in case my brothers weren’t willing to share. I could use some Varasso contacts before word spread, change my name, and move to Mexico. If Carducci didn’t put a hit out on me for wasting his time, Luca was definitely going to. The Carduccis were our one chance for a little padding against the Binachis, and now, because I couldn’t keep my eyes in my skull, I’d ruined that chance.
I walked out of the restaurant and started for my car when I noticed someone leaning against it. There, with one leg tossed over the other, his arms folded around his chest, and his hair cut almost down to a buzz, was Marco. I actually smiled when I saw him, the same way he smiled back at me. It’d only taken twenty years, but I was finally making nice with my brothers, and that felt good. At least, until Luca put me through a woodchipper for fucking up the Carducci deal.
I greeted Marco with a brotherly clap of our hands. “What the hell are you doing here?”
Marco scoffed. “Are you kidding? After that call with you and Sandro, it was obvious I had to come do some damage control.”
“How’d you find me?” I asked.
Marco waved his phone through the air. “Locator.”
“Weren’t we supposed to disable it?” We’d discovered the year prior that a breach in our locator system was what led to the leak of information that the Binachis used to start stalking Marco and his family, even with them in Witness Protection. “It’s not safe.”
“I got my own and transferred you guys codes. Just the three of you and Kelly.” He slid his phone back into his pocket. “After all that shit went down last year, I couldn’t sleep while knowing I had no way to keep an eye on you.”
I was more relieved than I was skeptical. If the network was contained, the risk was gone, and it was nice to see Marco one last time before Luca murdered me. I looked over my shoulder at the restaurant where I was supposed to meet Carducci. I still had a reservation, and I may as well take my final meal. “Wanna get a bite?”
Marco hunched his brow. “That place looks packed.”
“I have a reservation.”
That didn’t ease Marco’s confusion. “Weren’t you leaving?”
“Look, do you want food or not, Varasso? Fuck. What’s with the fifth degree?”
Marco held up his hands with wide eyes. “My bad, damn.”
I did not like that. Luca had always been the most like my dad until Alessandro snapped. The closer I got to being like him, the closer I got to being like my dad. “Sorry. I’m just stressed out. I fucked up things with this girl. I’ll explain inside.”
“Oh, women. They are the bane, aren’t they?” Marco said, leading the way. “Yet, we happily eat out of the palms of their hands.”
“It’d be easier if they were uglier,” I grumbled, “or less perfect.”
Marco let out a loud laugh as I pulled the door open. “Ain’t that the fucking truth?”
A waitress led us to the table in the back that had been reserved for Anthony Carducci and me, left us some menus and glasses of water, and then walked away. I hadn’t realized that I’d dropped my hands to my head until Marco was saying something.
“This is all over a girl, or are you as stressed as Luca?” he asked.
“Yes,” I replied. “I fucked up, Marco.”