19. Wolfe
WOLFE
We left the restaurant before our entrées arrived, and we walked home together without saying a word. She hooked her arm through mine and stayed close to me on the journey.
I liked it when she touched me like that. Even when I was silently seething in rage, she still had that effect on me. It was a short walk home, and we went straight upstairs to the top level of the house.
She went into the kitchen and opened the fridge. “I can whip up some spaghetti with meat sauce.”
I didn’t have an appetite, but if I really skipped dinner, I’d probably be hungry in the middle of the night and it would affect my workout in the morning. I needed that fuel to lift heavy and maintain my strength. “Sure.”
She took off her dress so she wouldn’t get it dirty and put on an apron she’d bought the other day when we were shopping.
That was all she wore, with her panties on underneath.
Normally, the sight of her cooking for me in nothing but a thong with that little bright-blue apron would make me bend her over the counter, but my mood was way too sour.
She cooked the ground beef in the pan and made the sauce from the fresh tomatoes sitting on the counter because she’d done it so many times. She added seasonings and garlic and made the kitchen smell heavenly.
I sat on the barstool across the counter and watched her. “I know it’s not my fault, but I’m sorry our evening was ruined.” She’d agreed to live in Palermo with me, and I was probably the happiest I’d ever been—and then that all went to shit.
“There will be plenty of other evenings, Wolfe.” She turned to me while she cooked and gave me an affectionate expression with her eyes before she continued to prepare dinner. The noodles boiled in the pot, and the meat mixed with the sauce.
I watched her cook in silence, observed her in her element. She drained the noodles and then mixed them with the sauce before she sprinkled fresh basil on top. She carried the two plates to the dining table.
The second I looked at the plate with fresh cheese grated on top, I was hungry again.
I sat across from her, and we ate in silence for a while. “Maybe you should open your own restaurant here. It’d be the most popular spot in town.”
She shook her head. “Cooking is my love language—and I only want to cook for you.”
I was grumpy and pissed off, and she made me melt like fucking butter. It made me feel like I had a piece of her that no one else had ever had.
“And if I cooked for a living, I’d probably start to hate it.”
“Other people would cook your recipes. You would just oversee it.”
She shook her head. “I don’t want to work. I cared about the winery because it was a family thing. I still have my nursing license, so I could do that. But I don’t want to do that either.”
It meant the world to me that she just let me take care of her.
That she didn’t try to work out of principle or attempt to offer me money for her part of the mortgage or whatever nonsense.
I interpreted that as a testament to how serious we were.
That she believed this would last forever, that we would marry so she didn’t need to make a plan for her life, that she trusted me to be there for her in every way.
It meant the fucking world.
“Maybe later down the road, but not right now.”
The second I tasted her spaghetti, my appetite kicked in even more and I started to devour it.
Her eyes flicked up to mine. “If that’s okay…”
I smirked as I spun my fork in the pasta, arms on the table. “Absolutely, baby.”
“I guess we should have talked about this before, but it all happened so fast.”
“I don’t think a conversation is necessary.”
“Well, I kinda just assumed I would live with you, and I never actually asked.”
“You don’t need to ask.” I looked at her head on. “I love that you didn’t ask.”
Her eyes gently switched back and forth between mine.
“When I suggested we live here in Palermo, you thought I meant separately?” I teased.
“Well…no.”
“You think I want to marry you but don’t want to live with you?”
She hesitated. “There’s still a lot of time between that and actually marrying—”
“Let me save us both some time.” I set down my fork. “I want you to live with me. I don’t want you to work. I want us to be together like this forever. Alright? Anything else I can clarify?”
Her eyes flicked back and forth between mine again, and a noticeable softness entered her gaze. “No.”
“Good.” I focused on my dinner again.
A long silence stretched between us, and I’d give anything to know her thoughts. If she was still thinking about our future or if her thoughts had moved on to other things. She served herself a much smaller portion than mine, chunks of tomatoes visible in the sauce.
I knew the subject of her thoughts when she spoke.
“Do you want to talk about what happened?” She spun her fork in her noodles while her eyes remained down.
“No, but it sounds like you do.”
Her eyes flicked back up to mine. “I obviously don’t know Don Russo, but he seemed genuine to me.”
“Oh, I’m sure he’s genuine.”
“And you aren’t receptive at all?”
“He’s genuine because he needs me to deal with Icarus. He didn’t feel my absence because I left a gaping hole in his heart.”
She gave a slight nod. “But he asked for your friendship, not your employment.”
“I don’t believe that.”
She was quiet for a while as she considered what to say. “People make mistakes. And when they do, it doesn’t mean—”
“You weren’t there. You didn’t hear the shit he said to me. I know you mean well, baby. But you don’t understand.”
She was quiet again, turning her attention to her food. “I think the reason you’re so hostile is because…he really hurt you.”
I rejected her words. “I don’t get hurt.”
She looked like she didn’t believe me at all. “They were your family your whole life. They were there when you lost your mother. I know I would be devastated—”
“I don’t appreciate being analyzed—”
“And I don’t appreciate your guard,” she said. “Because you can put up a front with everyone else, but you don’t need to put one up with me.”
I rested my fork on the edge of my plate before I stared at her, my hands coming together and my fingers interlocking.
I was torn. I didn’t appreciate her forwardness, but I respected it at the same time. I’d tried to cut her off, but she wouldn’t have it. Irritating…but sexy at the same time.
She held my stare with equal ferocity. “I’m not encouraging you to return to Cosa Nostra. But not everything needs to be permanent. Not everything needs to be irrevocable. Sometimes people fuck up, and that’s okay.”
“You don’t know what they did,” I said calmly. “If you did, I don’t think Don Russo would pull at your heartstrings.”
“What did he do?”
I’d never told her because I wasn’t a snitch.
Wouldn’t rat out Cosa Nostra even though I’d lost my respect for them.
But she’d left her father’s employ, and even if she hadn’t, I trusted her to keep this to herself.
“Business had taken a couple hits, and to compensate for those losses, Don Russo came up with this brilliant idea…”
She listened, still wearing the apron that barely covered her body. She abandoned her food and only focused on me.
“That we would traffic young women and force them to work in our brothels. The girls don’t get paid, and we keep all the proceeds.”
She didn’t overtly react, but a sadness entered her gaze.
“He did hurt me. He knew how I would feel about it, and he tried to manipulate me into accepting it anyway. It hurt to know that I worked with men who would do that to innocent people. It hurt me that he knew how my mother had been treated, and he just disregarded it. He was like a father to me. He’s literally known me since I was a kid.
Watched me lose my mother and then my father.
Watched me lose everything.” I stared her down like she was the one who’d hurt me because these memories made me seethe. “And he did it anyway.”
Her eyes flicked back and forth between mine as she listened. She swallowed.
“People make mistakes—but this is not a mistake. This is a crime against humanity. And he only disbanded it when he needed something from me…or because his business went under because I made sure it went under.”
“How did you make it go under?”
“I told everyone I knew that if I ever found out they went there, I’d kill them.”
She continued to stare at me.
“Maybe he’s being sincere. Maybe he’s not. It doesn’t matter. I don’t give a shit.”
She gave a slight nod.
“So don’t let that asshole manipulate you,” I said.
“Because that’s all he’s doing. I’m sure he regrets it all.
It was a stupid business venture, disgusting and inhumane.
And I know criminals like me don’t have the best morals, but no person wants to pay to rape someone…
except the evil kind. And there are so few of those out there, it all blew up in his face.
He lost money, then Icarus showed up, and Don Russo was forced to acknowledge how badly he fucked up.
I’m sure it humbled him. I’m sure it opened his eyes to his faults.
I’m sure he and everyone else started to see the consequences of that decision and he lost authority.
And I’m sure he realized that he’d lost a lieutenant who would have bled himself dry for him and the rest of Cosa Nostra. It’s a shame…really.”
She continued to watch me.
“But I don’t think we can ever come back from that. It’s done.”
“I admire your principles.”
“It’s the only principle I have. I kill assholes and rob them blind and hang them from trees and carve out their guts.
I don’t have a conscience, and I sleep well every night.
But I’m an old-fashioned criminal like your father.
I don’t involve innocent people in my business.
If they’re in the wrong place at the wrong time, I always let them go.
And I think it’s despicable to harm women and children.
Other men will come for someone’s family, but that’s never been my style. ”
“It’s because God is in your heart.”
He smirked. “No one’s in my heart except for you. I’m sure when my time comes, I’m going straight to the boss downstairs. But that’s fine. I’ve earned that. I’ll probably have a better time down there anyway.”
She continued to stare at me with the same seriousness, analyzing my expression and searching for the emotions under the surface.
But my rivers didn’t run that deep. Neither did the roots from my lungs. And my heart lay in a shallow grave.
I pushed aside my plate then leaned farther over the table toward her before I lowered my arms across the surface. My fingers were in reach, so I gently touched her fingertips, feeling the tiny spark between us when we came into contact.
“Now I understand why you chose to work for my father, even though it’s a major step down for you.”
“More like a major step up,” I said. “He would never stoop that low, so I consider him to be the superior boss. I think he needs to be sterner in his operations and a lot more proactive in his negotiations, but he’s an honest man doing honest work.
Despite the way our business relationship ended, I still respect the way he does business. ”
She gave a slow nod, the sadness drifting into her expression.
“Both of our pasts are behind us now,” I said. “I’m excited for what lies ahead.”
The sadness remained for a moment longer, slowly dissipating as she let my words sink into her flesh. “I hope one day we can be a family again.”
I knew Don Mancini had made a grave mistake when he dismissed me.
But he’d also made a grave mistake with Francesca too, which was unfortunate because I knew he truly loved her.
He’d lost sight of that behind his enormous ego, but that love was still there.
“I have no doubt, Francesca. But it’ll just take some time. ”