14. Matteo
Chapter 14
Matteo
The next morning came around and Matteo found himself waking up ten minutes before his alarm was set to go off. This was typical for Matteo. It was as if his body clock had adjusted so well to his early rises that it just knew when to wake up without the need for any kind of noise or notification.
Growing up, Matteo had always preferred an early rise to sleeping in. Perhaps it was because he knew that this was the best time of day to find his father with a moment to spare. Together, the two of them would sometimes go for a sunrise walk around the block together. Matteo would listen intently as his father spoke many wisdoms for surviving life in the mob. Despite his father being a smart, cerebral man, there was one phrase favored by his father that stuck with Matteo all through his life…
“Eyes open. Stay safe. Fire first.”
And as a hitman, these words had proven to be a perfect natural fit for him. This wasn’t to say that Matteo hadn’t come in for more than his fair share of close calls and injuries, but on the whole he felt like he just had that special knack for staying alive in even the most daunting and dangerous of scenarios – and it was in large part down to his father’s sage words of advice.
However back in the present day, Matteo only had his father’s memory. The reality was that he, and only he, was going to keep himself safe and in the land of the living.
Matteo looked across the bed and saw Kyan’s body, perfectly still as he cuddled with his rabbit stuffie. The blackout blinds in Matteo’s bedroom made it difficult to make out any details, but it was more than evident from Kyan’s light snores that he was still fast asleep.
Damn, he’s cute.
And that rabbit ain’t bad either.
But this day ain’t going to wait around for me while I laze in bed…
Careful so as not to wake his snoozing Little, Matteo eased himself out of bed and stood on the polished bedroom floor. Having changed into his dark, silk pajamas, Matteo padded out of the bedroom and made his way quietly and quickly down the stairs and into the kitchen.
‘Fuck. The alarm,’ Matteo cursed, suddenly remembering that he hadn’t turned off the ground floor security system on his way into the kitchen.
Matteo just about managed to bound and leap toward the alarm console to turn it off before the whole house was a blaring cacophony of bleeps, lights, and sirens.
‘Okay, that’s enough morning drama,’ Matteo said, shaking his head as he walked back into the kitchen for a much needed coffee.
As he waited for the coffee machine to work its magic, Matteo picked up his cell phone and decided to let Faustino and Michael know what he was planning for the day. And if everything went to plan, it was looking like it could help the three of them in their quest to rid the Fendi family of Alphonso for good…
MATTEO: Morning. I’m assuming that you two are still asleep. But I won’t be contactable for most of the day, so wanted to keep you up to speed. I’ve made contact with an old ally, someone who I think could help us. It’s a one on one meeting – this is a man who doesn’t do group chats, let’s put it that way. I’ll say more later. Eyes open. Stay safe. Fire first.
Matteo rested his cell phone on the marble work surface and took the first sip from his morning coffee. It was always a moment to savor for Matteo. So little in Matteo’s life was based purely on joy, but the first coffee of the day always felt like a protected sanctuary from the dangers of the world outside his house.
That said, the hallowed morning caffeine hit might not be the only purely joyful aspect of his life as it was shaping up now. Kyan had come into Matteo’s life in the most unlikely of ways but the way things were going it was looking more and more like he was there to stay.
‘Last night…’ Matteo said, the caffeine hitting him just like it always did at 5:00AM each morning. ‘Damn. That was something.’
As a man in his forties, Matteo had been around the block a few times. Being intimate with Kyan was far from his first rodeo. But the truth of the matter was that Matteo had never felt anything like the connection that he had experienced with Kyan the previous night – both during sex, and then also as they unwound and went through the most wholesome bedtime routine with one another.
Kyan was like no other boy that Matteo had met. He was sassy, vulnerable, confident, sexy, and shy. These might have seemed liked contradictory elements, but they perfectly described the puzzle that came together perfectly in the shape of Kyan Coole.
There was one thing that was bugging Matteo, however.
Kyan had touched upon the situation that led to him receiving threats to stop playing poker for big money. And then of course there was the hit that Alphonso Fendi placed on him. There was surely a connection between the two, albeit Matteo knew from experience that only a fool jumped to conclusions ahead of finding concrete evidence.
Matteo couldn’t help but feel that he was missing something and hoped that his meeting later that morning would shed some much needed light on things.
In the meantime, there was the prospect of another coffee, a touch of online research into Kyan’s gambling career, and then making his adorable Little the kind of breakfast that would set him up for the day.
So as Matteo stared off into the distance and allowed the perfectly brewed coffee to course through his veins, he felt a sense of cautious optimism rise inside him. He was far from solving the situation, but Matteo felt sure that he was making progress – and that a breakthrough might be just around the corner…
Fortunately for Matteo, the drive to the city limits to meet his longtime ally wasn’t in the same direction as the Fendi family mansion. While it would have been unlikely that anyone from the family would have spotted him, Matteo was more than happy to have headed in quite literally the opposite direction.
Following on from an hour long drive due in part to bad traffic, Matteo pulled up at the roadside diner and parked his vintage Porsche next to a car he just knew was going to be Steele’s…
‘BMW. Three Series. 1979. Damn, Steele knows how to rock a classic car,’ Matteo said, perusing the BMW’s impeccable paint job and shiny metal rims as he put his cell phone in his pocket and readied himself to meet his old friend and colleague Steele.
Matteo hadn’t seen Steele in person for a year or so. But that wasn’t down to the pair of them falling out or anything sinister. It was simply Steele’s style. Steele was an army veteran who had eventually been recruited into the secret service. But one bad decision later, and he found himself on the run and living day to day with the possibility of being apprehended by the military authorities.
But unfortunately for the authorities, they must have trained Steele too well. With all traces of his old identity now erased, Steele was living free and there was no prospect of that changing any time soon. Steele’s work as a street spy was something he did to earn the money to keep himself hidden for good, and it was work that he did to an impeccable standard too.
Speaking of which, Matteo allowed himself a wry grin.
‘That sonofabitch if probably staring at me right now,’ Matteo muttered.
And true enough, as Matteo looked across to the diner, he could just about make out Steele’s face from behind a pair of Ray-Bans and a trucker hat. Steele was sitting by the window, looking innocuous as ever – which was quite the feat given how tall and broad he was. But Steele always found a way to blend in amongst the crowd.
As Matteo got out of his car and walked over toward the diner’s entrance, his mind flashed back to the moment where he could have killed Kyan. The mere thought of it made Matteo shiver. Knowing what he knew now, Matteo was eternally grateful that he listened to his instincts and didn’t send his wonderful boy to his death.
But how Steele would react to this story remained to be seen…
‘Well hot-diggity-dog,’ Steele said, his southern drawl coming to the fore. ‘Matteo Fendi loses his killer instinct for a boy. He must be something special.’
‘He sure is,’ Matteo smiled, motioning to the server for another round of coffees. ‘Now let me tell you a little more about the situation around him. And then maybe you can tell me what you know about Alphonso…’
Steele nodded and then listened intently as Matteo went into more detail about Kyan’s poker career, the threat to his life, and the possible connection to Alphonso’s financial situation.
‘I’m going to need some time on this,’ Steele said, running his finger over the brim of his coffee cup. ‘I’ve heard plenty of whispers about Alphonso. He’s not the unassailable boss he once was. Well that’s the perception anyhow. And with these Pirlo guys on the come-up, we could be talking about a period of change in the hierarchy.’
‘But do you have anything concrete?’ Matteo asked. ‘Don’t hold out on me. You still owe me for Miami.’
‘Hey, I could have taken those guys,’ Steele laughed. ‘Except they had Uzis and I had… my fists and a pocket knife.’
‘Hey, I actually kind of believe you too,’ Matteo said. ‘Damn, those were some wild times in Miami. Life feels a lot more complex now. But Kyan… he’s worth it.’
‘I hear you,’ Steele nodded, being a Daddy himself he evidently could see how important Kyan was to Matteo.
‘And you?’ Matteo enquired. ‘Still living the single life?’
‘I am,’ Steele answered. ‘But I do have my eyes on a boy. Don’t ask me who. Or where’s from. You know me, I play my cards close to my chest.’
‘The closest,’ Matteo said, knowing that it was utterly pointless in mining the notoriously secretive Steele for any more information on this mystery boy.
Being a fellow Daddy, Matteo was confident that Steele would understand his decision to fight for Kyan rather than obey the mobster code. Steele had done plenty of bad things in his life, just like Matteo. However when it came to Littles, the two of them were very much on the same page…
‘Remember the twins in Miami?’ Matteo said, his mind wandering back to times gone by. ‘Or should I say, the twin spanking ?’
‘I’m not likely to forget that,’ Steele chuckled. ‘I’ll be an old man sitting on the porch and that night will be replaying in my mind. Twins though… damn. We live in a wonderful, wild world. But I know you didn’t come here just to reminisce. You need some real word on Alphonso, his son, and why the hell they really put the hit on Kyan. And don’t worry, brother, I’ll find out for you. You have my word.’
‘I appreciate it,’ Matteo replied, knowing that when Steele committed like this, there was no stopping him.
Matteo and Steele had been through plenty together over the years. From the ups to the downs, and via a few frolics with boys in clubs too, the pair of them had seen it all together.
‘So, are we ordering some pancakes?’ Matteo asked.
‘We sure are,’ Steele replied. ‘And when we’re done with that, I want a race. My BMW against your Porsche. There are some epic backroads around here. Call it payment for my services.’
‘Deal,’ Matteo laughed, fist bumping with Steele. ‘You know I was actually going to pay you cash, right?’
‘Ha! I really screwed myself over with that one,’ Steele said, shaking his head. ‘But seriously, I wouldn’t have accepted a single cent. This is personal for me now. This is my gift to you, and to your boy too.’
Matteo’s heart filled with pride.
To have a man like Steele so resolutely on his side meant the world to him.
All that was left now was to devour some piping hot sweet pancakes and then burn some serious rubber along the twisting, turning upstate roads…