Wolfe
Francesca didn’t ask me about my meeting with Don Russo. She either forgot or was too distraught to care about anything outside of her own grief. A couple days after that, though, she did take a turn.
After I worked out, I found her in the kitchen, the distinct smell of eggs and bacon in the air. Her back was to me when she flipped the bacon in the pan to cook the other side. A loaf of fresh bread was on the counter, so she must have gone down to the market while I was in the gym.
I stared at her for a while, happy to see her up and about again. I was shirtless and sweaty from my workout, but I walked around the kitchen island and came up behind her. “Smells good.”
She gave a little jerk as if she hadn’t heard me behind her, probably because she was lost in thought. “I made some for you, but if you aren’t hungry, no pressure.”
I smirked as I looked down at her. “Not hungry? Baby, when have I ever not been hungry?”
Her eyes lit up before a little smile moved to her lips, something I hadn’t seen in nearly two weeks. “That’s fair.”
“I’ll set the table.” I grabbed utensils and two mugs of coffee and took a seat at the dining table.
She finished up with the food, serving it onto plates along with a couple slices of bread. She sat across from me and added more salt and pepper to her eggs. “I woke up, and I was just hungry.”
“Good.” And I was happy to eat her cooking again. I’d kind of forgotten how to feed myself because I’d gotten used to our routine where she made dinner every night. I’d been eating out a lot this past week. “You went to the market?”
“Yeah. It was nice to be outside.” She only took a couple bites before she started to push her food around on her plate.
“What’s up, baby?”
“I don’t know… I guess I kinda feel bad for feeling better.”
“You shouldn’t feel bad about that. You can’t live in the shadow of grief forever. Just because you’re up and about doesn’t mean you aren’t still devastated. You can meet the happiest person on the street and not realize they’re on the verge of suicide. Depression is a constantly evolving emotion.”
She played with her food for another moment before she took a bite of her bacon. “I’ve got to kill Leo anyway. I’m not gonna let him get away with this.”
“We won’t.”
“Is that why you went to see Don Russo the other day?”
“Yes.”
“And what was said?”
“I asked for help because I need manpower to accomplish this. He said yes.”
“Good,” she said with a sigh of relief.
“But they want me to help them defeat Icarus in return.”
“Oh.” She stilled when she understood the full stipulation. “How do you feel about that?”
I gave a slight shake of my head. “I know Warren isn’t an easy adversary, so I understand. They’re fighting on two fronts, so them doing this at all is a favor in itself.”
“But what if it takes years to defeat Icarus?”
“Then it takes years.”
She studied me for a moment across the table. “It almost feels like…you’re one of them again.”
“For the short term, I suppose that’s true.”
She stared at me for a while, her shoulders dropping from an invisible weight. “I don’t want this. This is not the situation I wanted us to be in.”
“It’s best not to play that game, baby.”
“I know you don’t want to work with them again.”
I gave a shrug. “When Warren’s men were looking for me, Cosa Nostra could have snitched, but they didn’t. They covered for me like I was still one of them. Don Russo put his money where his mouth is.”
She continued to stare at me.
“I didn’t know who the snitch was, but Leo was the last person I expected. When I look back on everything, I realize it’s pretty obvious. So it’s nice to feel some real loyalty for once.”
She still had some food on her plate, but she set down her fork like she was full or her appetite was gone. “What was obvious?”
“Well, when your father confronted Luigi at his warehouse, it was a setup, and they put a gun to Leo’s head to get your father to comply.
Leo didn’t flinch, showed a stiffer spine than I thought he possessed, and I had a higher opinion of him after that.
But now, I wonder if that whole thing was an act. ”
Her face had already been pale, but now it started to blanch to the color of snow.
“If he originally worked with the Lombardis to overthrow your father, but then I complicated that for him.”
She took in a slow breath and released it as a quick sigh, her eyes wide in horror.
“And then when I killed them, he went to Warren next. That was why Warren confronted us at the wedding. He had the upper hand, and he wanted to gloat—even though we didn’t know what he was gloating about at the time.
But then Warren took one look at you and got sidetracked…
and hit your house unexpectedly. I think Leo didn’t know that was on the agenda. ”
“Leo seemed genuinely horrified when Warren shot my father,” she whispered. “And he did help me escape.”
“I think sometime before I joined the syndicate, your father told him that you were going to take over, and that’s when the seeds of betrayal were planted. He didn’t anticipate how much of a deterrent I would be.”
“It makes me so sad,” she said with a heavy breath. “My father distrusted you all this time, and you were the only one who had his back.” She gave a shake of her head. “You literally saved his life…my life…the vineyard.”
“Until I didn’t.” Because I’d been at her villa when she’d called, and I hadn’t had my weapons or gear to save her.
Her house had been emptied of the guns she’d stored there, and I’d even broken in to Leo’s house but couldn’t find his stash.
So I’d had to drive all the way back to my place and get everything I needed before I could come back to help.
If I’d just been at my house in the first place, it might have been different.
“It’s not your fault, Wolfe.” Her eyes showed her pain and her sincerity, looking at me with the same affection she always possessed. “There’s only one person to blame here—and I want his head on a platter.”
“And I’ll bring it to you.”
I sat on the terrace around the fountain by tall olive trees in planters with red geraniums overflowing from little pots on the brightly colored tile. It was an indoor-outdoor courtyard, a place where you could sit outside without a sniper able to pick you off.
I was there alone for a while before someone joined me.
“Wolfe.” He approached me with a slight smile on his face, his hand outstretched.
I stared at him for a while before I rose to my feet. “Uncle Marco.” I gripped his hand and shook it.
“You look good.”
“I always look good,” I said with a smirk.
“Still the same arrogant son of a bitch, I see.”
“Some things never change.”
He gave another smirk before he sat in one of the other cushioned armchairs. He wore a black bowler hat with a buttoned-up linen shirt and brown jeans. “So, you’re back in the game, huh?”
“I never left the game—just changed teams.”
He gave a slight nod. “You’re on the right team now.”
“It’s a temporary position. When Icarus is gone, so am I.”
He grabbed his pipe and lit up before he got the smoke going. “We’ll see.”
“You don’t believe me.” I cocked my head as I looked at him.
He crossed one ankle on the opposite knee before he looked back at me. He drew in the smoke before he released it as a cloud. “I’ve heard this story a hundred times.”
“What story is that?”
“You fall in love with a pretty girl and think it’s time to settle down.
” He pulled the pipe out of his mouth and let it sit between his pinched fingers, his arm resting on the armrest. “And you fuck and fight and maybe pop out a kid or two, and then the haze fades. The love is still there, but the excitement and addictive rush that she’d replaced from Cosa Nostra ends.
And then you chase it once more. So you end up back here, a little older and a little wiser, back to the life you swore you’d leave behind. It happens every time.”
I stared at him, my fingers curled into a fist and tucked under my chin.
“This isn’t a job you do. It’s who you are. And you’ll always be Cosa Nostra.”
I watched him breathe in the smoke from his pipe as the water continued to splash the tiles of the fountain. It sounded like a waterfall in the background. “I’m going to avenge Don Mancini and return the syndicate to its rightful owner. And then I’ll serve her in whatever way she wishes.”
“And even if all of this works out for you, do you want your woman in that kind of position?”
I nearly took his words as an insult. “I would never let anything happen to her.”
He gave a shrug. “You probably said the same thing about her father, and he got a bullet in the brain.”
Now, that one really did feel like an insult. Like I was the one who’d failed him, when he’d failed to heed my warnings. No matter how I proved myself to him, his perception was always steeped in doubt.
“But if you stay with Cosa Nostra, she can live in the most beautiful city of Palermo with the protection of the largest organization on the island. Raise a couple kids, have dinner ready for you when you get home. Can’t do that and run a syndicate at the same time.”
I smirked because of the ridiculousness.
“You have no idea what she’s capable of.
” When I’d pulled over on the side of the road, she was dragging a dead body out of the car, one of the two men she’d slashed to death with her knife.
She could handle any weapon and land her shots even when she was terrified.
There was nothing my woman couldn’t do, and with me at her side, even the sky wasn’t the limit.
At that moment, Don Russo joined us and took a seat. “Looks like Icarus is trying to interfere with production.”
“How?” I asked.
“Dispatched his men to Colombia.”
I smirked. “He’s in way over his head.”
“Hope so,” Don Russo said. “If not, we can change suppliers. But it’ll cost twice as much.”
“Then we raise the price,” Uncle Marco said. “Problem solved. We’re already the biggest supplier on the island.”
“And then our customers will start buying from the Skull King,” I said. “Which is exactly what he wants.” I tapped my finger against my temple. “Not as dumb as he looks.”
Don Russo stared at me before he shifted his gaze back to Uncle Marco.
A silent conversation seemed to pass between them.
“I tried calling Leo,” I said. “Call doesn’t go through. He either blocked me, or he’s got a new phone.”
“If Warren suspects Leo’s had a change of heart, he’ll keep him on a tight leash,” Don Russo said. “If he was a rat in the first place, he can be a rat again. Despite being helpful to Warren, he also squandered his credibility.”
Don Mancini had been right to call his own son an idiot, and Francesca had been wrong to disagree. “Then I need to get that rat working for me. Problem is, I can’t get a hold of him. I need you to find him for me.”
Don Russo gave a nod. “Consider it done.”
“Are we going to have lunch?” Uncle Marco asked. “I’m starving,” he said as he held his pipe between his fingertips.
“You’re always starving,” Don Russo said as he shook his head slightly. “Even though you eat like a pig.”
“Wolfe, would you like to join us?” Uncle Marco asked. “We would love to have you.”
I should get home and be with Francesca, but something made me want to stay. The old feeling of camaraderie, of friendship…I didn’t know. “Only if I get to pick where we go.”
Uncle Marco grinned. “Done.”