Chapter 38
Alessandro
6 Days Until The Wedding
G eno, Marco, and I are in my office as Geno rants about his random obsession with Claire, the young woman we met at my bachelor party. I can’t get the vision out of my head of how I spoke to Luci while Marco and Geno bicker in front of me. Her tears threatened to fall down her face at how I dismissed her.
Marco’s sitting in his usual spot, tablet in hand as he swipes through Claire’s information, going back and forth with Geno. “Claire can be gone tomorrow. We found a family member.”
“We found a cousin. As you can see, her parents died last year, and she ran away after that. Her cousin and uncle work for the FBI. We have to be careful with this. We won’t contact her yet.”
“She can’t stay here forever, Geno. We have connections with local PD. They have to have some sort of connection to someone in DC. I mean shit, why not ask Enzo? He would know someone.”
“First, we’ll get through this wedding, then call Claire’s cousin. One thing, then the other. In the meantime, we need to talk about Luciana. What’s wrong with you two?” I avoid eye contact with Geno as his hard face turns to Marco. “Has he been like this the whole time?”
Marco leans back on the sofa, his usual stance of arms behind his head and right ankle crossed over his opposite knee. His cocky smile spread across his face makes me wish I didn’t care about him.
“Oh, this is how it’s been since we picked her up. They have these sweet moments, ones I can only assume come after a good fuck, if you ask me. Then the next, she’s freaking out about wanting to leave or he’s yelling at her. It’s the circle of life. I’m telling you Geno, the man here is pussy whipped. That’s the only way he could be sweet after they fight. He’s threatened to shoot me several times over things that have happened with her.” The two men in my office, the people closest to me, laugh at my expense.
I stand, slamming my gun on the desk, and pointing it directly at Marco. “Do you want it to become less of a threat?”
“Voi due avete finito? We’ll stop laughing at your expense and you will treat Luciana better. Si?” Geno loathes when I respond with a head nod.
Marco’s phone dings as his face turns from neutral to interested in whatever pops up on his screen. “Well gentiluomini, I’ve got to go. Have a wonderful night of whatever and I’ll see you two tomorrow.” By the strides in his walk, I know he’s getting laid. As long as it’s not gonorrhea Gabby, I don’t care who he sleeps with.
“I’m done sounding like a broken record. You solve things with Luciana before Saturday. I will not spend the rest of my life listening to you two go hot and cold.”
“You mean the rest of our lives.”
“No. You two will live longer than I will. Hopefully. After that, you two will be the only ones to listen to you two fight. Now fix it.” Geno walks off, most likely into the kitchen for a drink and I head upstairs into my bedroom, hoping to see Luci, but find our bed empty. I hunt through all her typical spaces in the house, coming up empty. Knowing it’s the only way I’d find her, I swallow my pride as I go back to my office, clicking to view the cameras. When I find her, she’s lying on the floor in the spare bedroom.
Enzo is standing outside of the room when I approach. Logically, I know this is what Geno was talking about by my intensity toward Luci and my reaction to others’ comments about her.
“Why the fuck is Luci in there?”
“She was upset earlier and wanted to be in here. You put me in charge of making sure she’s okay. Remember?” I’m annoyed at him, but only because he’s right.
“I put you in charge of making sure she doesn’t run off! You can’t keep her from me. She’s mine!” I almost press my finger on the scanner and stop, contemplating if opening the door is in my best interest. Barging in won’t help my case.
“Luci! Let me open up the fucking door! Is this about earlier in the office?” I give time for her to respond before slamming my palms into the door in frustration. “Fine, stay in there, but remember, you’re mine. You can’t stay in there forever.”
Immediately, I storm off, regretting the way I handled this. I blackout as I make my way downstairs, past Geno, grab an unopened bottle of whiskey, and walk away, chugging it like it’s water.
Geno’s eyes widen with shock on his face and anger in his eyes. “Cosa fai? Sei pazzo?”
“Si!” The walk to my bedroom is a long one filled with rage about how tonight laid out and premature regret for tomorrow after I finish this bottle. I pass out on the bathroom floor to have a convenient place to get sick when my stomach decides to give into the liquor.
After a night of up and down, I wake, shades down and covered in a blanket, the largest hangover I could imagine radiating through my head. I may be more hungover than Marco’s last birthday when we needed connections to get us out of jail the next morning. Neither of us still knows what happened, but my favorite knife is still missing and Marco has a massive scar on his leg, probably caused by my knife.
Both Monday and Tuesday are silent, since Luci is most likely trying to avoid me on purpose. I catch a glance at her Wednesday morning as El arrives with her wedding dress for a fitting as I was finishing up with mine. I tried to approach her but get shooed away by El, claiming I couldn’t be near her or the dress until Saturday.
“She’ll forgive me. She has to.” I’m not sure if I’m whispering to myself, the universe, or God, but someone needs to listen. The statement has to be true. She’s mine and her resentment toward me can’t stop that.