Bay #2
I fall quiet for a moment, not sure why Ennio is telling me all this.
He turns toward me, his black eyes drifting over my face.
"Some things have been bothering me ever since Snow said that everything connected to Sun being held captive would resolve itself in a few days. It lines up with something else…"
"Wait, do you think Summer will make it happen?"
Ennio takes a deeper breath.
Silence falls; I simply wait.
"I don’t know, maybe. I’ve got a suspicion something serious is about to happen.
Anzo is planning an assassination. The dates align with Snow’s dates.
" Ennio says it reluctantly, pressing his lips together.
He very rarely talks to me about internal mafia matters, our arrangement is entirely different.
"And you’re planning to be involved?"
"I have a few ideas on how to mess with it, so that could open a path for me to—"
He trails off, but his eyes keep moving over my face with such sharp focus it feels like he’s tracing a knife tip across my skin.
Well, I’m not mafia, and he probably senses he can’t fully trust me. But I can figure out the rest on my own.
If Anzo slips up, then what? Who takes over the mafia?
The logical successor is Rocco. The only Ferro brother I’ve never met, the oldest of them in the family.
I’ve never sparred with him, he has a different trainer, apparently he and Gurco can’t stand each other.
Ennio scrubs his chin lightly, deep in thought. He’s one of those people who are nearly impossible to unnerve, like a block of cold ice stripped of any obvious emotion, but today there’s something different in him, a subtle under-the-surface frustration.
"What is going on, Ennio?"
His puts his hands on the steering wheel and move his fingers lightly, tapping against its edge as if playing a melody on a loop.
His profile is sharply outlined against the dark background.
"All these years, I never collected the first debt you owe me," he says suddenly.
I raise my brows a little. In the twelve years we’ve known each other, Ennio has never brought it up, this is the only time.
I tense my jaw slightly, then say,
"Tell me what it is, Ennio, and I’ll pay it back."
"You know I always think and plan far ahead. This whole assassination thing won’t end well for Anzo, it’s too big of a deal. I’m not going to give you details about what’s happening, but I have reasons to believe he’ll be out of power soon."
A moment of silence passes.
So I was right with my conclusions.
"Looks like changes are coming."
"I think so, if my instincts are right, and my… intelligence network. Unfortunately, second in line for power is Rocco."
I clear my throat, giving him a long look.
"Unfortunately."
Again, Ennio taps his fingers against the edge of the steering wheel once, twice, three times, as if organizing his thoughts.
"The problem is, I have to be patient. I can’t make my move right away.
The entire branch of our family on Vincenzo’s side is on good terms with Rocco.
They don’t love him, but they will definitely support his candidacy.
There’s no chance I will be chosen as the next capo as long as Rocco is alive. "
Ennio slowly turns toward me.
I know what he’s going to say before he says it.
"You’ll repay your debt if you kill Rocco."
I stare at him for a moment. Despite all his disgust for Rocco, Ennio has spent his entire adult life as an active member of the mafia, handling the legal side of their business like investments and real estate development.
Even though his work was on the books, he still functioned within the mafia structure, and he showed a tolerable level of loyalty toward Anzo himself, even if he sabotaged Rocco. I know Ennio owes Anzo a lot; Anzo was the one who pulled him out of the circumstances of his tragic childhood.
Killing Rocco, who is Anzo’s right hand, would be a risky power move on his side as long as Anzo is alive, but what if he’s out of the picture?
Our eyes meet.
Ennio’s hatred for Rocco runs very deep because this guy weaponizes rape. I can’t say I don’t understand him.
For that reason Ennio has been sabotaging him whenever he can for years, trying to weaken his position in the eyes of the soldati. Rocco is the one overseeing the brothels belonging to the Ferro family. But that’s not the whole extent of his sabotage.
If Rocco’s men start with extortion and intimidation, it can sometimes end badly for bystanders, for the families of the businessmen being threatened, and it’s one of my jobs to make sure innocent people don’t suffer for it.
He gives me tips on when and where Rocco plans to go with his men, and I help them get out of it alive.
Those ops weakened Rocco’s position to some extent, but because of his sociopathic personality, he still has a certain influence over the soldati.
Vincenzo doesn’t have the guts to say no; he’s too old now and too cautious, so he simply tolerates it.
Ennio and Luca are considered not ‘classic’ enough, brutal mafiosos, which… is a problem.
"Are you sure you’ve thought this through?" I ask the question cautiously.
"Hmmm. Have I thought it through? I’ll put it this way, ever since Anzo took me into his home, my plan was to take over the role of capo.
What held me back was my… gratitude toward him for saving me.
But if Anzo disappears from the picture, the only one left for me to remove is Rocco.
Luca doesn’t want to be capo, that I know for sure. "
I take a deeper breath, really not wanting to say this out loud, but finally I do.
"There’s another problem, Ennio. I know what you’re like, but to outside people you’re still an omega, and yes, your family accepted a beta as capo once, but an omega is a different set of issues…"
Ennio slowly turns his head toward me. His black eyes seem to darken even more, if that’s even possible.
"The mafia may be a relatively backward patriarchal structure, but at the end of the day it’s also a business, and I’m a very good businessman, omega or not.
People know I could run all of this in a way that would keep us safe and competitive, especially with the Russians moving so aggressively.
And of course, I would use Luca’s help, he did the exact same job for Anzo and Anzo has even fewer tools for managing alphas or sensing their scent or moods than I do. "
I’m quiet for a moment.
"Honestly, if you had Luca on your side it might actually work, you’d run the whole thing and he’d be your underboss."
Ennio nods.
He takes a deeper breath and grips the steering wheel harder.
"All of this is, for now, just in the planning phase. Still, what I said stands. You’ve never repaid that debt, Bay, and this is what I may need from you in the next few months."
I nod with a sober look.
"If you decide this is a job for me, Ennio, then I’ll do it.
Getting rid of Rocco will give me a great deal of satisfaction.
" I hesitate and add, "However, I would rather not do it within the next two days, I have a concert on a college campus then," I send him a crooked smile.
Ennio sometimes forgets that I have a day job.
Playing vigilante slash hitman is… my after-hours thing, of course, besides being a singer.
After all these years I’ve built a solid, stable position, a fanbase, I have steady gigs. I’m invited to festivals, I have local concerts, Eric always keeps me busy without overwhelming me. Everything runs smoothly and I make good money.
Ennio rolls his eyes, "It’s all very fluid now, I don’t have a date for you. It may take some time after the whole assassination thing resolves itself before you can make a move."
He leans back against the headrest.
The silence creeps into the car.
It’s parked in the lot of the housing complex where I live whenever I’m in the city. I’ve had an apartment here for many years. I couldn’t handle the logistics of my concerts living only on my parents’ property, but I always go back to my tiny house as often as I can.
This is also the place where Ennio usually drops me off after our ops.
I take the silence as a sign the conversation is over, place my hand on the door handle, and say,
"Let me know when you need me for another job."
I step out of the car and head into the building where my apartment is located.
It’s on the side that faces the neighborhood of single-family houses where Alex’s house is, and from my window, I can see his place about six hundred fifty feet away, half hidden behind arborvitae.
I catch the faint square of his window on the upper floor, the blinds drawn, but I know Alex is home.
My heart tightens a little.
The academic year is only just beginning at the college where he works.
On Tuesday, during orientation day, I’ll be performing there, and I’m curious whether Alex will be somewhere in the crowd watching me from afar.
I fix my eyes on the pale light seeping through the blinds.
I close my eyes.
Alex…
I turn his name over in my mind, my heart pierced by a wave of love so vast that nothing else inside me exists.
Alex, I miss you so much. You are my greatest dream, my only love.