36. Antonio
36
ANTONIO
O n Sunday, Enzo and Tatiana show up for our monthly lunch. “So,” Enzo says as he hangs up his jacket. “That was an interesting turn of events on Thursday.”
“What happened?” Tatiana asks, leading the way into the kitchen.
“Antonio came to Casanova,” he replies. “I was chatting with Valentina and her friend Lucia when our friend here stormed in, gave me his best death glare, and dragged Lucia into a private room.”
“Whoa,” Tatiana says. She pours herself a glass of wine, filling it to the brim, and perches on the counter. “That sounds very dramatic. Tell us everything. ”
Both my friends are staring at me with expectant looks on their faces. I drag my hand through my hair.
“What do you want to know? Her name is Lucia. She?—”
“Yes, yes,” Tatiana says with an impatient roll of her eyes. “She’s Venetian, just moved back home after ten years abroad, and she works at the Palazzo Ducale. Tell me something I don’t know.”
I give Enzo an irritated look. “Did you run a background check on her?”
“Of course I did,” he says unrepentantly. “You weren’t acting like yourself. First, you show up at Casanova, which you don’t do because you don’t want anyone to find out that you own it. Second, you scene with a woman at the club, something you’ve never done before. Third, you call Quadri and demand that they stay open for you and take her to dinner there. So, yes, I ran a background check. Stop glaring at me. You’d do the same thing if I were seriously involved with someone.”
He’s right. I wouldn’t stop at a simple background check, either. Since our time on the streets, I’ve watched out for Enzo and Tatiana, and they’ve watched out for me. We’re protective of each other, the three of us. We had to be.
“Fine,” I concede. “Fill your plates, and I’ll answer all your questions over lunch.”
My housekeeper has made sopa coada for lunch. Some recipes call for pigeon, but Agnese’s version is closer to a hearty soup made with beans, vegetables, sausage, and chicken. “Ah, I see Agnese is back,” Enzo says appreciatively as he digs in. “Thank heavens. I was a little nervous about this meal.”
I make a rude gesture in his direction. “I know how to cook.”
“And when was the last time you cooked for someone?” Tatiana prods. “Have you cooked for Lucia? Is it that kind of relationship?”
“Not yet.” A flaw that needs to be rectified. “But I want it to be.”
Enzo looks concerned. “My background check didn’t reveal any previous relationships,” he says. “Plus, she’s only here for a five-month contract. This woman doesn’t commit. I don’t like it.”
“She has her reasons for that.” I set my jaw. “More importantly, it’s none of your business. You’re my family, and I want you both to like Lucia. But I’m going to be with her either way. Your approval isn’t required.”
Enzo pulls out his wallet and hands Tatiana a ten-euro note with a grin. It takes a few seconds for the gesture to sink in.
“Seriously?” I demand. “You were betting on my reaction?”
Tatiana laughs.
“Oh, come on, let us have our fun.” She pats my hand. “Tell us about Lucia. What do you like about her?”
Everything. “She’s not afraid of me,” I reply. “She’s not interested in my money or my influence or what I can do for her. She doesn’t want anything from me. It’s refreshing.” I draw in a breath. “When people see me, they see the head of the mafia. The power, the wealth, and the violence. Not Lucia. She just sees me. ”
And I’ve fallen in love with her.
“You should see the sappy expression on your face,” Enzo says with a wry shake of his head. “It’s a little nauseating. You have it bad, my friend.”
“It’ll be you one day.”
His lips twist. “I very much doubt that. But I am delighted for you. Why didn’t you invite her to join us today?”
I did ask, and she changed the subject. But I’m not going to tell Tatiana and Enzo that. The two of them are already bristling with over-protectiveness.
“She had other plans,” I lie. “Next month.”
“Good.” Tatiana set her glass on the table. “I can’t wait to meet her.”
She’s already gone through her first glass in record time and is midway through her second, and these aren’t small pours. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Tatiana drink during the day, which means something is wrong. I shoot Enzo a questioning look, wondering if he knows what’s bugging her, and he gives me a slight shake of his head.
I’ve learned from experience there’s no point asking her what happened. Tatiana will talk about what’s bothering her when she’s ready and not a second before.
But that’s not going to stop me from asking. “Are you going to tell us what’s wrong?” I demand.
She avoids my gaze and busies herself with her food. “Why do you think something is wrong?”
“You’ve been here for less than thirty minutes, and you’re more than three-quarters of the way through that bottle of wine. You know how nosy Enzo is. If you don’t tell us what’s going on, he might be forced to find out a different way.”
“Fine,” she snaps. “If you must know, I auditioned for a role yesterday.”
“And you didn’t get it?”
“Oh, I got it.” Her voice has a forced calm. “As long as I was willing to suck the director’s cock for the role.” She sighs and pushes her food around her plate. “The sort of thing used to happen all the time when I first started out, but after the last movie, I thought it would get better. But nothing really changes, does it?”
A cold rage fills me. “Who’s the director?”
“And this is why I didn’t say anything. Let it go, Antonio.”
I glance at Enzo. His face is expressionless, but his hands are clenched into fists. He nods slightly when he sees me look at him, and I let myself relax. He’ll take care of it.
* * *
Tatiana leaves right after lunch to catch a flight for a shoot in London. Enzo lingers for a moment longer. “There are more guards out front than normal,” he says. “And that ship blew up in the harbor. What’s going on?”
I consider how much to share. Enzo is the Chief of Police, after all, and I’m definitely on the wrong side of the law. “A high-ranking member of the Gafur OPS approached me a few weeks ago to smuggle weapons through Venice into France. I turned them down, but they don’t seem to know how to take no for an answer. We’re in the process of sorting it out.”
His expression sharpens. “You’re not involved in this weapons smuggling business? At all?”
“Guns are messy,” I reply. “Even though Gafur swears the weapons are going somewhere else, they have a way of ending up where they don’t belong. I don’t want that to happen in Venice.”
“Thank fuck for that,” he says. “The entire thing is a powder keg, and it’s going to explode at any moment. I don’t want you to be anywhere near it.”
I frown. “It’s on your radar?”
“Yes, but not the Russian angle. The DIA has been building a case against Salvatore Verratti for months. They’re almost ready to make an arrest.” His expression turns grim. “Be careful, Antonio. Verratti is broke and desperate for his partnership with the Russians to work. If you’re standing in the way of that, you’re setting yourself up as his target.”
“We’re keeping our eyes open.”
He isn’t reassured. “It might be easy to spot the Russians,” he continues. “But Verratti’s men can blend in better, and Bergamo is only a few hours away. Again, be careful. Don’t underestimate this risk. Until the DIA arrests Verratti and dismantles his organization, you are in danger, and so is everybody else around you. Your people, their families. Everyone is a target.”
Enzo is a very rare thing: an honest cop. I’m very well aware that our friendship puts him in ethical dilemmas from time to time. We usually don’t share information, but he’s gone out on a limb to warn me about this, which means the situation is much more serious than I thought. “Thank you.”
I need to act. We’ve been lucky the last week; no one else has gotten hurt. But Enzo is reminding me that I can’t let my focus wander. This is just the calm before the storm.
I call Dante as soon as Enzo leaves. “Is Angelica still with you?”
“No, I just dropped her off at her mother’s. Why?”
“I need everyone here for an emergency meeting. Joao, Tomas, and Leo. And bring Valentina in as well.”
“Valentina too?” he asks sharply. “Okay. Her neighbor can watch Angelica for a few hours.”
“No.” I don’t think Verratti would stoop to attacking a child, but I won’t take any chances. “Bring Angelica too.”
Dante digests the implications of that, and his voice turns grim. “Yes, Padrino.”
Twenty minutes later, I stare at the five people assembled in my office. My top lieutenants: the people I trust in a crisis. “I got a confidential tip,” I tell them. I word things carefully—I don’t want Enzo to get in trouble. “This situation with Gafur and Verratti is going to come to a head in a couple of weeks. We need to be more careful, but we’re already stretched thin. And so, until this matter is resolved, everyone stays in Giudecca.”
I turn to Valentina. She’s the only one in my inner circle who doesn’t live nearby. Her apartment is in Dorsoduro, a difficult neighborhood to secure. Too many university buildings, too many students. “Valentina, you’ll have to move. You and Angelica can stay?—”
Dante leans forward. “They’ll stay with me.”
I was going to suggest that Valentina and Angelica stay with me, but nobody will protect them better than my second-in-command. I glance at Valentina. “Does that work for you?”
Her face is expressionless. “Yes, Padrino.”
“Leo, nobody goes anywhere alone.”
“I’ll see to it,” my security chief replies calmly.
“Good. That’s it, everyone. Keep your eyes open, stay vigilant, and don’t take any chances. Leo, hang on for a minute. I need a word.”
The room clears out until it’s just Leo and me. “Lucia Petrucci lives in Castello. How safe is she?”
He frowns. “We upgraded her building security yesterday when we fixed her elevator. But there are other complications. The ski instructor downstairs rents his unit to tourists when he’s not at home. It’s empty right now, but a couple from Germany will arrive next week, and the week after that, a family from Canada. Same with the building across the street. Half the units there are tourist rentals, with a stream of new people coming and going. It’s a nightmare.” He gives me a questioning look. “Could she move in with you for the time being?”
Lucia in my house, in my bed. Waking up next to me every morning, her glorious hair spread out in a riotous tangle over my pillowcases, her eyes sleepy, her body soft and warm. For a brief insane second, I want it so badly that it clouds my judgment, and I’m tempted, so tempted, to order her to live with me. It is for her own safety, after all.
But then, common sense reasserts itself. Just last night, Lucia invited me to dinner. She’s scared and cautious, but she’s slowly letting me into her life. Her trust is fragile, and if I move too quickly, I could ruin everything. “Can you protect her where she is?”
He doesn’t answer. Instead, his face clenches with determination. “Padrino, may I speak freely?”
“Yes, of course.”
He takes a few moments to formulate his words. “Once upon a time, I used to believe that I could have it all,” he says finally. “I thought that I could work in the Mafia and have a family as well. But then my wife died in a mafia war because of me, and I learned differently. We live in a harsh and unforgiving world, Padrino, and our loved ones are targets. I say this to you as a friend. If you care about Lucia Petrucci, you will let her go. You will march into Casanova tonight, find another woman, and scene with her. And you will do the same thing tomorrow night and the night after until everybody has forgotten Lucia Petrucci’s name.”
Scene with another woman when I’m in love with Lucia? Is Leo out of his fucking mind?
“That’s never going to happen,” I say flatly.
Leo hears the frost in my voice. “If you want me to apologize for overstepping,” he says, “I will. But that doesn’t change anything. You know what I’m saying is right. The only reason Lucia is in danger is because of you.”
He’s right. If I truly wanted to protect Lucia, I should do exactly what he says. I should walk away from her.
But I can’t. Now that I’ve fallen in love with her, I’m not strong enough to give her up.
“Rent all the units in her building,” I order instead. “Buy every building in her neighborhood if that’s what it takes to secure them. I don’t care about the cost. Put your best people on her, Leo. Whatever it takes, keep her safe.”