Prologue IV Constantine
Prologue IV
Constantine
I arrived at the restaurant and stepped onto the patio.
The small tables were covered in white tablecloths, little vases that held a single rose.
It had a slight view of the ocean over the cliff, the sea sparkling in the sunshine.
The motorbikes and vans were audible from the other side of the restaurant, the city bustling with people coming and going.
Tommaso was already there, his men spread out among the other tables, enjoying their cappuccinos. The other guests in the restaurant didn’t have a clue that they dined among Cosa Nostra.
Tommaso had ordered his coffee, and he sat with his legs crossed, his suspenders visible because his jacket hung on the back of his chair.
I came to the table and gripped his hand before I gave him a nod.
He smiled up at me. “Constantine, sit.”
Took a seat across from him and relaxed in the chair.
“You look like you need an espresso.”
“A double.”
He chuckled, then slightly raised his hand to get the attention of the waiter. “A double espresso for my friend here.”
We sat in silence until the waiter brought the little cup on the saucer. Then he returned to his job handling the other tables. I knew Tommaso owned the place, so everyone jumped to be of service to him. I wasn’t sure if they knew he was the head of the mob, but I thought it was pretty obvious.
“Giovanni told me how you handled that deal last night. Impressed—as always.”
We were supposed to make an exchange with a dealer last night. We’d already agreed on the amount, but my intuition told me it was a setup. When we got there, the product had been swapped with a fake, and they had snipers on the roofs.
But I had snipers on their snipers, and once they were taken out, I snapped all of their necks.
“I’ve worked with Harold for many, many years. Never expected him to go back on his word like that. How did you know?”
I gave a humble shrug. “I’ve always been good at reading people.”
“And when did your intuition pick up on his treachery?”
“A couple weeks ago,” I said. “I was doing a drop with Alfonso, and I spotted him across the street at Leonardo’s.”
His eyes narrowed. “We’re his dealer.”
“Exactly. I think Leonardo suggested to cut the middleman out of the deal, and then that planted an idea in his mind . . . a ridiculous one. It was just a hunch without sufficient evidence, but I never give people the benefit of the doubt. I trust my instincts—always.”
He gave a nod. “If your intuition were a racehorse, I’d put my money on it.”
I grabbed the little espresso and took a drink. “Thank you, Tommaso.”
He took another drink of his cappuccino before he got the attention of the waiter. “Let’s eat. I’m starving.” The waiter was there in a flash. “I’ll have the catch of the day—extra lemon.”
I handed over the menu without looking at it. “I’ll have the same.”
“Would you like that cleaned?” the waiter asked.
“No,” I said.
Tommaso gave a nod in approval. “He’ll clean it for both of us.” When the waiter walked away, he said, “I like a man who can prepare his own food.”
“That’s what a life in the restaurant business will do to you.”
“How’s your family?”
“Good. My ma was happy I came up for a visit.” I’d been in Palermo for two years now, and I knew it was the right move for me.
A new city with new people, a chance for me to be something other than a cook and a fisherman.
My mother never asked me to come back, never complained about losing me at the restaurant, and let me find my own path in life.
Isabella and I could finally be in the same room together.
I’d moved on, and I got the impression she had as well.
“Does she know what you do down here?”
I gave a shrug. “I’ve never outright said it, but she’s a smart woman.”
“She must be made of something stronger to allow both of her sons to get mixed up with Cosa Nostra.”
“I think raising twin boys has made her realize there’s only so much she can do.”
He chuckled. “Smart woman.”
“Yeah.” I missed her. Missed everyone in Taormina. This place felt like home, but not in the way Taormina did.
“So does your mother know that Edric has joined the Skull King in Florence?”
I gave a slight shake of my head. “I highly doubt it. Not that she would know who that is . . . or what it means.”
“Between you and me, I’m glad Edric moved on to other things. He was always a stubborn hothead. But you . . . you’re easy. Think with your brain instead of your ego. If you say you’re going to do something, you do it. Simple as that.”
I’d started as a low-level henchman when Tommaso first brought me on, but I quickly proved my worth because I learned fast. Showed my value and my loyalty.
When our enemies put hits on us, I never took off.
I always stood my ground with those who wouldn’t betray Tommaso, and that got me promoted to the top of the organization almost overnight.
I even took a shot for Tommaso once, and luckily, it was just a bullet graze.
“You’re one of us. He was always . . . temporary.”
I never said anything bad about my brother, even when he deserved it, but I didn’t get upset when people voiced their poor opinions. To be fair, Edric earned each and every one of them. “I haven’t seen him in a while.”
“Well, I have work for you in Florence, so maybe you should stop by and check in.”
“Yeah? Haven’t been there in a while.” Tommaso deployed me to lots of places—Florence, Rome, Milan, Athens, Paris—all to be his personal liaison when a conversation was important enough but he couldn’t be there himself.
All on his dime, so it was a free trip for me.
Not that I needed any handouts anymore. My pockets were lined with cash these days.
“You think you’ll settle down someday?”
The question was so random and unexpected, all I could do was stare.
“You know, take a wife.” He pulled a cigar out of his front pocket and lit up.
“I don’t know. Not really on my mind.” Not even in the slightest. And not because Isabella broke my heart, but because I simply lacked the desire. I was just riding the waves of life at the moment, not sure where they would take me.
“You don’t want kids and all that?”
“I don’t think beyond tomorrow, if I’m honest. Why?”
“Well, I think you would be a good match for my daughter, Aurora.”
Both of my eyebrows shot up in shock and disgust. “Isn’t she like seventeen?”
“Jesus, not now,” he said. “But in like ten years. You’ll be almost thirty-five, and she’ll be twenty-five.
A good time for a man to settle down. I want my daughter to be with a man, you know.
Not a hotheaded fuckboy. Someone who’s not afraid to do the shit everyone’s too scared to do.
Someone who will take a bullet for her.”
I didn’t let my reaction get the best of me, understanding he’d just paid me an immense compliment. The boss thought I was good enough for his daughter, thought I was good enough to be his son-in-law. “We’ll see if I’m alive in ten years first.”
Tommaso chuckled, and I successfully averted that awkward crisis. “I think you will, Constantine.”
It had taken me a long time to get over Isabella.
It wasn’t until we’d been broken up for eight months that I’d slept with someone for the first time.
The heartbreak was hard to carry, because she was the only woman I’d ever loved and I’d really thought she’d be my wife.
It wasn’t something you just brushed off like it meant nothing.
But as time went on, it got easier . . .
and easier. There’d been a lot of different women in my life at that point.
Sex had become transactional. Hard to imagine ever feeling that way ever again, and I suspected I probably never would.
The waiter brought our dishes a moment later, and I cleaned one fish and placed it in front of Tommaso before I cleaned mine. Then we began to eat.
“I’m worried Edric is gonna get himself killed over there.
” I said it more to myself than to Tommaso.
A confession that kept me up into the night sometimes.
Cosa Nostra might be a gang of criminals, but they were also a family, a big family business that ran a lot of operations.
But their crimes didn’t really have any victims. But the Skull King . . . whole different enterprise.
“You should be worried.” Tommaso never minced words with me.
That was one of the reasons I liked him.
“All I ever hear is the Skull King’s a psychopath.
” He cut into his fish, which was soaked in spices and butter and lemon.
“It’s the reason we don’t do business in Florence—even if it’s outside his jurisdiction.
We’ve already got so much shit on our plate that we don’t need his bullshit.
I’m all about striking fear into your subordinates and your enemies, but he strikes fear into everyone for just being alive. ”
“Edric hasn’t said any of that.”
“He’s probably never in the room with him. A foot soldier.”
“Said it was a big pay advance.”
“The Skull Kings have a much bigger territory, so even a foot soldier might have more opportunities there. For his sake, I hope he doesn’t move too much. I would tell you to talk him out of it, but now that he’s in . . . I don’t think he can ever get out.”