46. VIN
VIN
Matti stands, and Siena glares at me. “The Irish have been making moves.”
I grunt, pulling out my phone and texting Rossi.
Do not forget what
I said: I need an
update on Sophie
and baby every
fucking day. Every.
Fucking. Day.
As I said, that’s entirely
unnecessary for a
healthy woman in
early pregnancy, but
if she will allow me,
I will begin tomorrow
morning.
Your reports come
to me first.
Matti is talking when I slide the phone back in my pocket.
“The Irish hit the distribution point in Red Hook again plus they attacked our guys twice in Carroll Gardens. All told, they got three of ours and lost two of theirs. They’re moving on the docks, too. Not aggressively yet, but they’re establishing presence.”
My mind is zipping through calculations as he talks. Red Hook is more than a few blocks from the Arsenal and Carroll Gardens, so Sophie and baby shouldn’t be impacted. But the docks? She goes to a fish market down there once a week.
I pull out my phone and text her.
Don’t go to the
fish market by
the docks again
until I tell you
it’s clear. Irish
have too big
a presence there
for it to be safe.
I stare at the text for a second before I send it. Telling her to do something risks her bratting and doing the opposite just to spite me. But I have to trust she’ll put the health of the baby first.
Matti pauses, and I look up.
“Is there more?” I ask.
There is. I match every location he mentions against my mental map of her daily routines and text different guards, telling them to post up accordingly so that she’s protected.
“So what do you want us to do about it?” Matti asks.
“You know my answer to that.”
Matti nods. “But Sophie isn’t here.”
I grind my teeth. No fucking shit she’s not here. “I’m going to bed.”
“Hold on.” Siena crosses the room and blocks my way before I have time to turn around.
From the look on her face, I already know what this conversation is going to be about, and it’s not a conversation I want to fucking have.
“So Matti told you that Sophie’s pregnant,” I say. I give him a flat look.
He shrugs one shoulder. “I don’t keep secrets from my wife.”
“That makes you a security risk, fucker.”
“It makes me a married man,” he says, with zero apology.
Siena cuts in before I can respond. “I haven’t said anything to Sophie.
I’m not going to say anything to Sophie.
She’ll tell me when she’s ready and that’s her right.
” She pauses. “But I do have a few fucking things to say to you: what are you going to do about this? Are you going to step up? Are you going to be there for her and for this baby? Or are you going to be an asshole? Again?”
Jesus fucking Christ. The last thing I want to do is get into the details of my last conversation with Sophie.
I still can’t even fully process what the fuck happened.
She wants to have my kid, but she doesn’t want me.
She stands by me at the funeral and fucks me for 12 hours straight but won’t sleep here, won’t stay with me where it’s safe. It’s a mindfuck.
And then on top of that, the whole weird Mistress Sophie shit when there’s not a dominant bone in her body, all to prove a point that I don’t even get.
What does she want from me? I offered her everything, I even offered to walk away from my position as boss if she wanted.
I have said the word ‘please’ more to Sophie than I’ve said to everyone in my life combined.
What does she fucking want? Does she want me to let her peg me? Is that what it takes?
I text Sophie:
Tonight’s conversation
isn’t over, by the way.
“Vin, this is important.” Siena swats at my hand, and I raise my eyebrows at her. “Get off your fucking phone, dude. There’s nothing more important than the mother of your child.”
One thing we agree on.
“Siena, she doesn’t want me around.”
Siena breathes deeply through her nose like she’s barely able to control her temper. “She told you she was pregnant, then she told you to leave. That’s it? That was the whole conversation?”
“The conversation was longer than that. There were… negotiations.”
“And?”
“And I wasn’t in a position to give her exactly what she wanted.” Getting ass fucked is not on my bucket list, but I have zero interest in discussing that with Siena.
The look on Siena’s face could melt steel.
“Vin, you are the boss of a crime family. You have run this city for years. You are one of the most powerful men in this country.” She pauses. “And yet somehow you are still such a fucking idiot.”
I glance in Matti’s direction, but he says nothing. Fucking asshole.
“She wants you,” Siena says. “She is in love with you. She has been in love with you ever since she met you, God only knows why. And she needs you to show up for her.”
“I am showing up, Siena.”
She shakes her head. “Not just in the ways that are easy for you, not just the protection and the money and the grand gestures. In the ways that are hard.” She holds my gaze. “I don’t care what she asked you for, Vin. Whatever it is, she is now the mother of your child. Give her what she wants.”
As if on cue, my phone buzzes with a text from Sophie.
I was going to go
the other market
anyway. The fish
there smells like
low tide.
Go to sleep, Vin.
I stare at the phone for a minute. Fucking go to sleep. Like that’s possible.
Matti clears his throat. “You alright, Vin?’
I scowl at him. “We’re at war, Matteo. What do you want from me?”
He rolls his eyes at me. “We’ve been at war before. I’ve never seen you like this.”
I text Sophie back:
Not until I know
you’re asleep.
Fuck it. I told her I was never going to be away from her again and I meant it. I head back to my bedroom and throw some things in a bag, and walk back through the living room.
“If you guys need a ride, I’m headed back to the city but I’m leaving right now.”
I ignore the smug smile on Siena’s face.