Chapter 13 #2
He swallowed a silent curse. Thoughts like that weren’t going to be helpful.
He focused on his driving. Part of him wanted to put the pedal down and get to Milano as quickly as possible, but another part of him just wanted to enjoy the drive.
It wasn’t often that he drove this route, and normally not by himself.
Even now that he was retired, he had security, and they were never far behind.
He snorted softly. Oh, the irony. The one time he probably could have used his security, he had told them to take some time off. Always the way.
Once again, he reviewed the conversation he’d had with Giuseppe about tonight’s meeting.
Giuseppe had claimed he’d made the connection, so he had completed his participation.
Even though Enzo had personally spoken to the thief, neither of them wanted to divulge too much.
Enzo didn’t blame him. If he were in the other man’s place, he wouldn’t be chatting with the person who had Ernie either.
He had a strong sense the thief was just another intermediary. Too many players involved made Enzo uncomfortable. He didn’t like negotiations when it wasn’t really negotiating with the person involved.
He’d learned the hard way that those could go wrong.
One thing about being part of La Famiglia, dealing directly always brought a better result. In fact, he was rather infamous for it. He had a reputation for being a very slick businessman, and if you didn’t do his deals or went against him, he was known for enforcing punishment as well.
Realistically, he was just a mirror of Jameson Drake, only on the illegal side of things. It didn’t change the business. The same types of rules applied, and he and Jamie discussed them over plenty of drinks.
He didn’t have the money Jamie had… Not many people did, but Enzo was wealthy in his own right.
He’d accumulated more money than he’d ever thought he’d make, and more than he’d ever really spent.
But he figured he would look forward to spending it in his retirement.
Retirement, however, was turning out to be far more boring than he anticipated.
Maybe it was because he’d spent all those years working his way to the top and he’d had to multitask all the time, but he just couldn’t seem to fill his days.
He sighed. That wasn’t true. It was more because he’d grown accustomed to living life on a knife’s edge, and he wasn’t sure what to do now that he didn’t have to, or at least it wasn’t as fine an edge.
He thought back to his last conversation with his former ‘boss.’ What a joke.
Everyone knew it was actually Enzo who ran the Rinaldi family.
He had the former head of the family’s ear and blessing.
Massimo not only liked Enzo but trusted him as well, which is more than could be said for the grandson who took over the family when Massimo decided to get out.
Rocco Rinaldi was a disaster. He was too unpredictable.
too volatile. He had a quick, violent temper and no affinity for patience.
Enzo had planned on getting out when the old man had, but Massimo begged him to stay and help Rocco run things.
Reluctantly, Enzo had agreed and then lasted under six months.
That was all he could take. He’d had nightmares more pleasant than Rocco.
The man was not fit to run the family, and everyone, including his grandfather, knew it.
No amount of guidance Enzo could provide would change that.
Rocco did not fight him on his retirement. As a matter of fact, he was happy to see the back of Enzo. Rocco considered Enzo a threat, which made for a very difficult situation, one Enzo was lucky to escape from with his life.
At least he had the rest of his life to do something else. That’s what he kept telling himself. That’s what Jamie said: try something else, but a legit business. So, he bought wineries. While they were fun, it wasn’t really enough to keep him busy.
It struck him how similar he was to Kathleen as far as being alone in a crowd. In all honesty, he had never thought of himself as lonely, and it wasn’t that he was lonely for female companionship. He had as much of that as he could ever want. What he lacked was friendship. Family. Real family.
Although he had acquaintances and friends within his crime family, they weren’t true friends, and he didn’t trust any of them.
He’d been thinking for a while about maybe moving back to America.
He hadn’t lived there in years and years, but maybe that was the answer.
Build a life over there. He hadn’t really decided.
He glanced at Kathleen. Of course, if he were there, he could spend more time with her.
That thought smacked him out of left field, and he inhaled sharply.
He needed to put the brakes on that train of thought.
Kathleen was the sister of the only man he considered a true friend. Screwing that up was not an option.
He glanced in the rearview mirror and took note once again of a black SUV.
It had been with him for the last five miles.
This wasn’t an overly busy road, but it wasn’t deserted either.
The SUV could easily be going to Milan or any point in the south, just as he was.
But it made him nervous, and he vowed to keep an eye on it.
His primary goal was to keep Kathleen safe, and he was willing to do just about anything to make that happen.