Francesca
I texted my father and told him I would return to my position. The only response I got back was a thumbs-up emoji. Wolfe and I moved our stuff back to his home in Caltanissetta, and I drove to work and parked in the parking lot like nothing had happened.
The week I’d spent with Wolfe in paradise had given me distance from what had happened the last time I was living at the vineyard.
I’d killed more guys than I could count.
The adrenaline seemed to block it all out.
But the summer sunshine in beautiful Palermo made me forget the violence that had nearly sucked out my soul.
I walked into my father’s villa like I had so many times in the past, but now, this felt like a whole new season of life. I felt like a completely different person. I shared looks with people on the way and headed to my office on the second floor.
The renovation seemed to be almost complete because when I passed my old office, it just needed a new coat of paint and for the paintings to be returned to the walls.
I walked into the extra room where I’d set up my temporary office and found all my things scattered, as if my father had gone through it all and tried to make sense of it.
I saw a notepad with a long list of bullet points, all with question marks.
I opened my laptop and my notes and was immediately overrun with backed-up orders, emails full of complaints about shipping issues, submission forms from new clients, detailed reports from our internal winery inspection, so many things…
“Cristo.” My father had either steered the ship into rocks or let it crash on its own.
It was as if he didn’t know how the business worked at all.
He was completely reliant on me. When I got back into the arms side of things, that appeared to be more in order because my father was directly involved in that area.
But that was still chaos. And if he didn’t keep up with it, it would be easy to forget payments from partners, and they would assume my father was stupid or weak.
I felt momentarily overwhelmed when I looked at it all. I sat there and took a deep breath as I rubbed my temple. I already had a migraine just thinking about all the work I’d have to do to reorganize all this.
A text popped up from Wolfe. You doing okay, baby?
Yeah, I’m fine. Everything’s a mess…
No surprise there.
I should ask for a raise.
Do it. Know your worth.
I put my phone aside and got to work.
I’d been at the desk for a couple of hours when Leo came by.
He stopped in the doorway and stared at me in momentary disbelief.
I stared back.
“What are you doing here?” he finally blurted as he approached my desk.
“Cleaning up this pile of horseshit. That’s what I’m doing.”
“What’s wrong with it?” he snapped.
“What’s wrong with it? Did you do all of this?”
“I had everything under control—”
“No, you didn’t. I saw your thirty-five bullet-point note of utter confusion.”
A flash of annoyance moved across his face and then stayed in place. “I asked what you’re doing here.”
“Working.” I held up the stack of papers I’d spent the last hour reorganizing. “We’re behind on payments and shipments, and it’s only been a week. What did you do exactly? Come in here and shuffle everything like a deck of cards?”
I knew he was really mad when his face tinted red. “Did Dad ask you to come back?”
“Yes.”
The color stayed in his face, but his eyes flicked away. His nostrils flared like a bull’s and I was the red flag. “Asshole only gave me a week.”
“Don’t take it personally,” I said. “This is a really shitty job most of the time. You’re better off being in the field and handling the drop-offs and collections.”
He continued to look furious, like I wasn’t even there.
“What happened with Wolfe?”
“Dad wouldn’t change his mind.”
“Then why are you here?”
“Because this business is mine. Dad says he accepts that I’m with Wolfe…he just doesn’t accept him.”
“But he’s a rat—”
“He’s not the rat, and you fucking know it.”
He stilled on the other side of my desk, his angry eyes meeting mine.
“It seemed like you liked him.”
“I did. Until I realized he was a liar.”
“He’s not. The only reason I’m alive is because of him.”
“Unless he’s the one who sent Warren—”
“You don’t believe that either. There’s no way anyone could possibly believe that.”
Leo held my gaze for a moment before he looked away. He took a step back from the desk and released an angry sigh. “If you really believe that, then it’s pretty fucked up that you came back. So Wolfe just sits at home while you work for the people who hate him?”
I didn’t take the bait. “The rat will get caught sooner or later, and everyone will know Wolfe is innocent. Just a matter of time…”
A heavy silence passed between us as he stared at me.
He looked angry again, more like furious.
“Dad says you’re the smart one, but you’re a goddamn idiot if you believe Wolfe is innocent.
He leaves Cosa Nostra and comes to us out of nowhere.
Seduces the boss’s daughter just to humiliate his new employer.
Learns our trade just when the Skull King comes to monopolize the powder market.
Too much of a coincidence, but you still believe him because he’s a pretty man who gives you good dick. Pathetic.”
It was obvious he and my father had spoken about this because they seemed to parrot each other perfectly. I wasn’t sure if my father was the one influencing my brother, or if it was the other way around. “I guess time will tell.”