Chapter 2 Falco
FALCO
“Let me see.” The Paramatti family doctor taps my bare arm and flicks the pen in his other hand upward. “Lift both of them.”
I obey.
Fighting through pain during a medical examination is easy. Familiar.
Countless doctors have spent countless hours tending to and cataloging the patchwork of scars decorating my body, each one a memory I’d much rather forget.
Life’s cruel trick is that I remember every single one.
“Any tightness?” His cool hand presses against my left flank.
I bite hard on the inside of my cheek, fighting the instinctual urge to recoil. “No.”
“Would you tell me if there was?”
“No.”
The doctor huffs out a soft, humorless laugh. “As expected. Though I fail to see how anyone here thinks they can do their job effectively by lying to me. I tend to keep those people off duty for much longer.”
“I don’t work around here.”
“Oh?” The doctor’s hand slides closer to the healing bullet wound on my back. “I wouldn’t be tending to you if you didn’t.”
I don’t reply. No need to give out unnecessary information.
Technically, I don’t work around here because my work for the Paramatti takes place outside the estate.
I’m just an enforcer working for a lieutenant who works for a general who works for Don Guido Paramatti. The trail is long and thus it’s nothing.
I do my work. I go home. That’s it.
“It’s a debt, that’s all.”
After pressing around my healing wounds, the doctor steps back and scribbles something down on the notepad near him. “A hefty debt, some might say. Taking a bullet for the Don’s only daughter is a significant act.”
“Anyone would have done the same. It’s what they’re paid for.
” I’ve told myself that every night in the week since the shoot-out at the restaurant, when sleep escapes me and all I can think about is the panic on her tear-streaked face and the way her red hair cascaded down around her shoulders in sweeping waves.
It’s all I see.
Her terror-filled, wide green eyes. Her plump, red lips open in shock. Tears streaking her mascara down her face.
Every time I close my eyes, it’s all I see. The pain of being shot is an afterthought when compared to what I saw from her in that moment.
“Would they?” The doctor sucks on his teeth.
“You’re healing well. Something you’re used to hearing, I’m sure.
Continue taking the antibiotics and exercise with caution.
If you’re experiencing any tightness, then one wrong move could rip your stitches.
You’re lucky the bullet didn’t hit anything important. ”
“They never do.”
The doctor chuckles. “Well, for a man who seems completely bored of this whole situation, you’re free to go, but you need to make a stop upstairs before you leave.”
I slide off the gurney and grab my black t-shirt from the chair. “Upstairs?”
“Mhm.” The doctor pulls off his gloves with a sharp snap. “The Don wants to see you.”
I’m in trouble.
I have to be.
Don Guido wouldn’t ever spare a thought for an enforcer like me unless I’d done something really terrible.
I saw him once after the shooting where he thanked me, in not so many words, for saving his daughter.
He told me I would receive the best care and that was it.
Situation resolved.
So why does he want to see me?
After leaving the medical wing inside the east wing of the Paramatti Estate, I take the giant central staircase up three floors to the Don’s office.
Not a single guard stops me, but they all watch me like a hawk while I ascend, and two follow me from the top of the staircase and down the corridor toward the gigantic double mahogany doors at the end.
As I walk, I run through everything I’ve done these past few weeks.
Interrupting the family dinner is a huge mistake, everyone knows that, but my lieutenant had his phone off and without his go-ahead, we wouldn’t have been able to organize seventy-three crates of product in time to meet the ship before it left.
At the time, a reprimand for interrupting dinner felt like a safer risk than losing my life over missing a delivery that large.
Did I make the wrong choice?
I reach the door and lift my fist to knock, but before I can make contact with the wood another guard darts out of the side hallway and knocks for me.
Several seconds pass, then a loud voice booms from inside. “Enter.”
The guard opens the door for me and waves me through without saying a word.
Keeping my chin up, I stride past glass cabinets filled with detailed, ornate items worth more than my life, a carved marble statue of a naked Greek woman, and several bookcases heaving with volumes that look like they haven’t been opened in decades.
Don Guido Paramatti sits behind a desk almost as wide as the office, resting against a backdrop of three large bay windows overlooking the extensive gardens and woodland surrounding the estate.
At a glance, it’s a foolish place for such a powerful man to sit, but I respect it.
The glass is surely enforced to an extreme standard, and he’s showing the world and his enemies that he’s untouchable.
I stop a foot away from his desk, my hands clasped together at the small of my back and my stance wide but respectful.
“Sir.”
Guido doesn’t look up at first.
He’s engrossed in something on his computer monitor.
The reflection in the glass is warped, like trying to read something written on stone at the bottom of a flowing river.
Yet another subtle precaution Guido uses.
A few clicks and he faces me with both hands on the desk. “You’re Falco Tierney, correct?”
“Yes, sir.”
“You saved my daughter’s life.”
“Just doing my job, sir.”
“Ah.” Guido lifts one hand, pointing at me. “But it wasn’t your job.”
“No, sir. My apologies if I overstepped, sir.”
Guido’s jaw moves back and forth, sending his beard twitching as if he’s searching for something stuck in his back teeth. “They tell me you have a military background.”
“Yes, sir.”
“How long?”
“Almost two decades.”
Guido whistles softly. “I served some time myself. My father thought it would toughen me up. Two decades. That’s impressive. You’ve got some balls.”
My tongue lifts to the top of my mouth while he speaks, and I direct the tip over each tooth in turn. Back and forth I weave, waiting for the inevitable reprimand.
“If I took you down to the dungeon, how long would it take for me to get all the details of your tours?”
“You wouldn’t, sir.”
“I wouldn’t?” Guido rises from his chair. “You wouldn’t tell me what I demand to know?”
Our eyes meet. “No, sir.”
“Everyone has a limit.”
“Death is my limit, sir.”
Guido suddenly laughs and sits back down. “I spoke to your lieutenant. He told me you were the best enforcer he’s had these past three years because you’re like a robot. You wake up, you do your job, and you go to bed. There’s nothing else.”
“No, sir. Nothing else.”
“And yet you threw yourself in front of my daughter. Why?”
For the first time, I hesitate. I have no strong reason to offer why I did what I did. I saw her and I helped her. That’s all there is to it.
“Your lieutenant made it clear when I got my position with him that nothing and no one is more important than the survival of the Paramatti family. I saw a situation going south, and I intervened.”
“That’s it? That’s the only reason?”
I nod.
“You military types… I can never work you out. It’s like they burn all the humanity out of you. I’ve fought my fair share of battles, but I still maintain my soul. But you?” His eyes narrow. “Where is your soul?”
No answer comes. Whatever’s left of my soul is probably in the street of the last country I served in, discarded in the dirt.
“I’ll speak plainly.” Guido rests his elbow on the desk and interlocks his fingers.
“What happened last week should never have happened. It’s the closest someone has gotten to my family in a few years.
When I find out who, I will not stop until I have erased part of their existence.
” Anger licks at his words. “But it’s put me in a precarious position, and I need someone to keep an eye on my daughter.
An eye that will not wander. An eye that will not hesitate to lay down their life to protect her, do you understand me? ”
I do. I’m being promoted from enforcer to personal bodyguard. Slowly, I nod.
“I need her safe. She is my daughter and my heir; do you understand? I need you to be her shadow, her confidant, and her protector until I sort this situation and bring the culprit down. I can’t spare anyone else, and, given your actions and history, you’re more than qualified.”
“If that’s what you need, sir, then I’m happy to.”
Guide rises. “Then swear it. Swear your loyalty to me, the Don of the Paramatti Empire. Swear you will serve my interests and my interests alone. You will protect my daughter from everything and anything that tries to harm her, from any wandering eye that threatens to soil and ruin her, and even from herself. You work for me. You are loyal to me, understand? Her protection is your only task, and I don’t care how she complains or tries to sway you. Swear it.”
“I swear on my life and my duty that I will protect your daughter to the extent of my capabilities, to a standard you dictate. Nothing and no one will override those orders. My loyalty and my life is yours, Guido Paramatti.”
“Stray but even a little and I will have you executed. If any harm comes to her, I will have you executed. Her life is yours to protect, and your life is now in her hands. Do you understand?”
“Yes, sir.” Ultimately, it makes no difference to me in the end.
A job is a job.
Swearing loyalty to a mafia don is no different from swearing allegiance to a flag and country that sent me into hell for nearly two decades. My life is meaningless.
I’m just here to exist until my time is up.
“Good.” Guido sighs deeply as if a weight has suddenly faded from his shoulders. “You should go and introduce yourself.”
“Understood. Thank you, sir.”
“Mhm.” He waves me away and returns to his computer as I take my leave.