18. Noah #2
I grab a bottle of water on the table to try and rehydrate after all the booze I drank tonight. The champagne kicked my ass. I’m not used to the bubbly stuff, and it made me a little lightheaded. I need clear thoughts to have this conversation.
“He saved me from the apartment explosion. We were… out on a date and when we returned, the building blew up—like I said, an accident because Mrs. Crowley’s gas oven broke and was leaking, and she lit a cigarette.
May she rest in peace.” I do the sign of the cross to drive my point.
“Lance found me, treated my wounds. I was underneath debris. Who knows how long I would have been there before someone found me?”
Not entirely the truth but close enough.
“You told me you were fine,” my father growls.
“I was! I am. I’m just saying he was there for me!
” I’m digging myself into a deeper grave.
I should stop talking about me being injured.
“Anyway, yes, Lance is QBM but Babbo, think about it. If I marry into their organization, then we can work together. We can unite and have majority control over the city. Together we can take down the Lords.”
He puffs on his cigar and rubs his chin as he considers my words.
“The Empire will never work with the enemy.”
“What makes them the enemy?”
“When you’re the most powerful mafia in the city, everyone else is insignificant. Uniting with QBM will show weakness.”
“Or our combined forces will show even more power and the Lords will be no match to a united front.” I sigh, knowing he will never agree to this. Still, I have to try. “Besides, didn’t you invite Elias Carter tonight? What was your plan with that?”
His eyes jerk up to mine. “What? I didn’t invite that lowlife asshole.”
I open my mouth, then clamp it shut.
Okay, I suppose I didn’t get an answer from Elias when I asked if my father invited him. He got distracted when I revealed I'm Gio Lenetti’s daughter.
Then who invited him? How did he get in?
“I don’t like this plan, mio angelo. This man could be playing you. How do you know he didn’t seek you out to get close to me?”
“He lived in the building before I moved in. Babbo, look, this is real. Like it or not. Either you’re on board or Lance and I will run off together and elope, and you’ll never see me again.”
“You think you can go anywhere without me having eyes on you?”
My stomach drops and my heart thumps rapidly against my chest. I’ve always known he’s kept tabs on me. Still, hearing him say it infuriates me.
What did he see?
If he knows about me being a contract killer, why hasn’t he said something about it? Or utilize my skills? Or stop me from killing because every hit I accept puts my life in danger? Maybe he knew that if he forced me to return home, dragged me back against my will, I’d hate him forever.
And I’m all he has left in this world, so he lets me think I have my independence.
“Babbo… I came back because I’m ready to start learning about the Empire so I can take over some day.”
My father’s face brightens with shock... and pride. It’s the words he’s been waiting to hear for years.
“Tell me you are not joking.”
I ease my pressure on Del’s wound—and hope he doesn’t bleed out in the next five minutes—and stand to walk to where my father sits. I lean over and hug his head. “I’m not joking. These last few months with Lance have opened my eyes. I want a future and that includes leading the Empire.”
My father grumbles at the mention of Del being the one to open my eyes, but his excitement over me learning the job is overshadowing his apprehension.
“At least agree to a meeting with Elias. Just you, me, him, and Lance. No guards, no guns–”
“There will always be guns.”
“Fine, then no shooting those guns and no violence. A civil meeting. Elias is doing good things with the QBM. He runs that organization smoothly and effectively. He has connections, Babbo, maybe even more than you.”
He scoffs and before he can respond, the door opens. A woman with a medical bag enters, and I point at Del. She rushes to him and gets right to work.
He looks so innocent right now while passed out.
I love watching him sleep. It’s not often I wake before Del, but when I do, I perch my head on my palm and watch his eyes flutter from whatever he’s dreaming about.
The first night we fell asleep together, a nightmare woke him up.
I can’t imagine what he went through being forced to kill his mother.
The second night we fell asleep together, he slept through the morning.
Now that I think about it, my own nightmares are few and far between now that I have him by my side every night.
“You really do love him. I can see it. Your mother looked at me the same way,” my father says, his voice soft and sincere.
I want to ask him about that night again. I want to tell him that we’re investigating her death and the murders of the other mafia families on Christmas Eve. But what if he’s responsible? I don’t want to tip him off and have him come after us or try to destroy any remaining evidence.
So, until then, Del and I have our way in. We’ll get access to the Empire and, hopefully, track down information that could lead us to answers.
“I do love him,” I say and walk back to my seat next to my puppet. He’s slowly coming out of it. I hold his hand while the woman takes the bullet out and stitches him up.
I want to say that my confession of love is a lie, but if I’m honest with myself… I think I’m falling hard for this man. I can see myself loving him, and it’s a feeling I’ve never had with anyone.
Still, it seems too soon, and my gut is telling me not to trust him just yet.
What if my father is right and Del is playing an angle? Why was Elias here tonight if he wasn’t invited? Something’s not adding up, and I’m going to be a paranoid bitch until I find out the truth.