26. Wolfe #2
I didn’t want to lie to her, but I also didn’t want to tell her the truth.
Her eyes found mine when I didn’t answer.
“Do you really want to know, or do you want me to make you feel better?”
Her eyes immediately flicked away, and she got off my lap.
“That answers my question.” She crossed her arms over her chest and stood a few feet from me, which was unlike her.
So much had happened in the last few hours, and we’d barely had a second to talk.
She looked out the window into the gardens outside.
“It was a close shot. I’ve never been shot at that range before.”
She continued to look outside.
“It depends on where he was hit.”
She absent-mindedly rubbed one of her arms like she was cold.
“It’s okay to be sad, Francesca.”
She slowly turned to look at me, her eyes carrying a mound of grief. “I’d be dead right now if it weren’t for him.”
I didn’t want to think about that possibility, but I gave a nod to acknowledge what Leo had done.
“He didn’t have to do that.”
He’d really fucked up with his dad, but his family loyalty had been renewed by that loss.
I didn’t believe in second chances, but I did believe in redemption.
If her dad could have witnessed what had just happened, it would pull at even his heartstrings.
“I have to finish up some stuff here, but you should go to the hospital.”
Her arms tightened over her chest.
“That way, you’ll be there when he gets out of surgery.”
“If he gets out of surgery…”
“There’s hope. He’s made it this far.” He’d survived the ride to the hospital, and if he’d died during the operation, Elio would have informed Francesca by now.
So there was hope…however slim. He might survive but be in a coma for the rest of his life.
That had happened to one of the guys from Cosa Nostra a few years ago—until his family pulled the plug.
“Can you come with me?” she whispered, afraid to ask when I was the last person she should be afraid to ask anything.
I rose to my feet and drew close. “I will after I finish up a couple things around here.”
“Icarus is dead,” she said. “What else is there?”
I hoped this was the end, but I wasn’t convinced. “It’s easy to forget that Icarus was a lieutenant, not the boss.”
Realization came into her gaze before she took a breath. “I thought this was over.”
“It’s never over—at least in this business.”
“You think the Skull King will be a problem?”
“I don’t know. Depends on how stubborn he is. If he’s business-minded, he’ll cut his losses and focus on something more profitable. But if he’s an asshole, he might try to burn this place to the ground out of spite.”
“If Icarus failed, it’s silly for him to believe he would succeed.”
“Perhaps. Depends on his perspective.”
She was quiet for a while as she thought through all of this. “Your obligation was to help Cosa Nostra defeat Icarus. You’ve done that—so your job is complete. We can go back to our lives.”
“Yeah, I suppose.”
“You suppose?” she asked gently.
I inhaled a slow breath. “I don’t know, I guess I feel protective of them.” I should feel nothing after they’d turned their backs on me, but seeing Icarus threaten Don Russo’s family and destroy the place I’d called home hit me hard.
Her eyes flicked back and forth between mine. “I said if you wanted to come back, we could do that.”
“I don’t want to come back,” I said immediately. “I guess I just want to know they’re okay before I move on. You know, like a parent who wants to make sure their kid gets settled at university before they head back home.”
She continued to stare at me. “I think a part of you will always be Cosa Nostra.”
My feelings toward them were layered and complicated, but there was definitely an undertone of affection that burned in my heart. “Yeah, maybe. At least we always have allies if we ever need them in the future.”
“I hope it doesn’t come to that anytime soon. I can’t believe I have to fix the house a third time.”
I released a quiet chuckle. “They say third time’s the charm, right?”
“In this case, I hope so.” She dropped her arms and moved into me, wrapping her arms around me and resting her head against my chest.
I held her, my chin resting on her head.
She took a slow breath before she let me go. “I’m going to head over.”
“I’ll come by when I’m done.”
“Okay.” She gave me a weak smile before she turned away and started to leave.
“Baby?”
“Hmm?” She turned back to me.
“Love you.” My nose was broken and I had a cut in my back that would take weeks to heal, but nothing hurt more than watching her walk away.
The love I had for her in my heart was so deep, it actually pained me.
I had something I never wanted to lose, and that somehow felt riskier than all the battles and fights I’d survived.
Her eyes smiled as she looked at me. “Love you too.”
“How’s Rosaria?” I asked when I sat across from Don Russo on the couch in his office.
“Pretty shaken up,” he said. “Took the girls with her. She went to stay with her sister.”
“You’re in the doghouse, then, huh?” I asked with a slight cringe.
His cigar rested between his limp fingertips while his arm was propped on his knee. “I told her nothing would ever happen to her or the girls.”
“Nothing did.”
“But not because of me.” He stared at the burning cigar for a moment before he looked at me again. “It was because of you and Francesca…and Leo.”
“Either way, it all worked out okay.”
He brought the cigar to his lips and took a drag before he released a heavy cloud. “She said it’s either them or Cosa Nostra. I have to decide.”
“I think that’s a little unfair.”
“Really?” he asked with slight bewilderment. “They were almost hanged.”
“Almost. And they’ve gone their entire lives without a single instance of danger. You’ve done a remarkable job keeping them safe, Don Russo. Pretty phenomenal in this line of work.”
He took another puff of the cigar. “She won’t change her mind.”
“It’s been a couple hours. Maybe in a couple weeks, she’ll come around.”
He released a quiet scoff. “You don’t know my wife, Wolfe. When she decides something, that’s it.”
“Then what are you going to do?”
He’d barely released the smoke before he took another puff then smashed it into the black ashtray in the center of the table. “My family means everything to me, Wolfe. Cosa Nostra has been my life, but they’re my world.”
I nodded in understanding.
“I’ve done this a long time, and within the blink of an eye, I became an old man. It’s time to move on anyway.”
“You aren’t an old man. Fifty is the new thirty-five.”
He released a quiet chuckle as he shook his head. “Trust me, when you turn fifty, you won’t feel that way.”
“I think you’re being a little dramatic.”
He ignored what I said and gave me a hard stare.