9. Matti
Matti
A s soon as the elevator door shuts behind Siena, Vin stands and moves out from behind his desk with a sigh. “I know you’re here somewhere. Why don’t you just come out already and—”
Before he can finish, I’m slamming into him, tackling him to the ground. The impact drives a grunt out of him, and he pushes back, trying to twist free. I take advantage of the space and drive my fist into his jaw.
“Fuck!” Vin yells, his legs coiling as he flips us over.
The momentum sends us rolling, but I manage to keep it going, shifting our weight so I end up back on top.
My knees dig into his ribs, pinning him down, but he recovers quickly and lands a punch to my gut.
The force knocks me off, and we scramble to our feet, facing each other like we’re in the octagon waiting for the next round.
“I wasn’t trying to fuck your girl, asshole,” he grunts through gritted teeth.
“Then why the fuck didn’t you tell me she contacted you?” My voice is a snarl. I’m ready to rip his fucking head off. “Why the FUCK would you set up a meeting with her when you know I’ve been staying away from her to protect her from us? And WHY did you tell her to take her FUCKING CLOTHES OFF?”
I’m ready to lunge at him again, my adrenaline too strong to care what his excuse is. But Vin stands his ground, hands still up in defense, his expression more frustrated than angry.
“I know you fucking track her, remember? I’m not keeping any fucking secrets,” he bites out.
“Texting isn’t secure, and at least here I know there are no cameras or anyone following her.
And I was joking about the clothes. She was about to leave, and I needed to find out what she was trying to do.
I knew that would piss her off and get her talking, and I wanted to make sure that she wasn’t trying to fuck with you, brother. You’re already fucked up enough.”
The words land like cold water, cooling me off by degrees. My shoulders sag, and I drop my hands, letting out a sharp breath.
He’s not wrong. He knows that I’ve been tracking her every move, living in those apps to make sure she’s safe. And he did tell her—in his blunt, brutal way—that he only agreed to meet her to make sure she wasn’t fucking me over.
Vin’s like me in that regard; he doesn’t lie.
“Why did you say you’d consider helping her?” I ask, quieter but no less strained. “You’re keeping her attached to us. You know she’s going to come back around, and next time, if Aurelio’s here, she could get hurt.”
Vin lowers his hands slightly and gestures for me to sit on one of the couches. “I was going to tell you what she wanted, find out what you wanted me to do.” He eyes me warily. “You good? ”
I sit heavily on the couch with my elbows on my knees, thrusting my hands through my hair. “Fuck, no. I’m not good. I just need to know that she’s safe, and every fucking body, including you and her, is working against me.”
Vin sighs and settles in the chair behind his desk. “I’m not working against you, man. You know I’d never do that. I’m fucking worried about you, though, bro. Your girl’s got you basically unhinged right now. I’ve never seen you like this.”
“She’s not my girl,” I mumble, wishing it weren’t true.
She thinks I wasn’t serious about her and that I killed her sister.
Both are what I wanted her to think, but it cut me in half to hear her say it to Vin today.
“But I need you to shut her down. Contact her, make sure she doesn’t come back here again, tell her that she needs to drop all this shit with Emily’s phone. ”
Vin nods. “I can do that. One question, though.”
I look up at him, guarded, already knowing what he’s going to ask me. “It doesn’t matter if I did it or not. She thinks I did, and that’s all that’s important.”
“So you don’t want her connecting with Valentina because you don’t want Siena to find something that would incriminate you, or because you don’t want her finding out that you fucked Valentina?” Vin sits back, watching me closely.
“I don’t give a shit if she knows I fucked Valentina a lifetime ago. I haven’t fucked anyone but Siena since I met her.” I haven’t even jerked off to anyone but Siena.
He raises his eyebrows at that. “Okay, so then you don’t want her to find something that incriminates you.”
I shake my head and sit back on the couch. “I’m not at all worried about her finding anything that incriminates me.”
Vin furrows his brow, thinking. “I don’t know that Aurelio would stay angry for long if he found out that you planted the bomb that killed Mikey,” he says slowly.
“He lied to us about ordering the hit. He’s been telling everyone else the same thing to save face, but the truth is that he has no fucking clue who did it.
It’s driving him crazy. If you did it, he could claim that he was the one who told you to do it. ”
“How does it help him save face? A boss taking out one of his own guys is enough to get him killed.”
Vin shrugs. “It’s better than admitting that someone was able to get to one of your men and get away with it. Because as of right now, that’s the story, and he’s been on a fucking rampage ever since. Unless—”
“I didn’t fucking do it,” I snap. “I would never take out a guy on your crew without talking to you about it first. You should know me better than that.”
Vin holds up his hands in surrender. “I thought I did. But I’ve never seen this version of you before, and here we are. If it was a mistake or if you thought—”
“I fucking said I didn’t do it! And I could give a fuck if Aurelio tells people I did or not. I’m fucking out, done with the family, until he’s gone, and that’s final.”
I’ve stayed away from Aurelio since the night he kidnapped Siena. I can’t be in the same room with him without killing him. My friendship with Vin is the only thing stopping me from tracking that fuck down and ending his life, but if I were to see him in person, that friendship wouldn’t be enough.
Vin’s face flushes red as he clenches his fists, his voice rising. “So, what then? You’re a fucking free agent now? No family?”
He’s as stressed as I am about this situation with Aurelio, but for very different reasons. On top of that, Tommy and I haven’t been around to help him figure out the best way to handle it .
I shake my head. “I’m a part of your family. Always. But I’ll never put in another job for that man.”
Vin watches me with an expression I can’t read. “But you’ll do work for me?”
“Without question. You know that.”
“Alright then. I have a job for you. Your job is to go home, eat something, and get a good night’s sleep. Rest for the next couple of days. Then come out with me this weekend.”
“No,” I say, standing up. This conversation is over.
“You just said you’d do a job for me.”
“This is not a job. This is a thinly veiled attempt to get me laid, and I’m not interested.”
I head for the door, and Vin stops me. “You just asked me to do you a favor.”
“Are you extorting me?” I ask, turning back toward him, my brow furrowed.
“I prefer to think of it more like a quid pro quo situation.” Vin smirks at me.
“I’ll make sure Siena shuts down this business with the phone and keep her far from Valentina.
I just need you to put your time with her in the past and move on.
We’ve got some big moves coming up, and I need you ready to go. ”
“And you think that means getting wasted and sticking my dick in some random.”
“It’s a start,” he says, his lowering his voice.
“Listen, I love you, man, but you’re fucked up.
You can’t be in this shitty mental place if we’re going to neutralize the old man.
You can’t. We’re about to do the Luminous job, and Tommy is going to need us when he tracks down his girl.
I need you sharp, not….” He waves his hand, indicating all of me.
“I don’t get how alcohol and sex add up to me being ‘ sharp,’” I clip.
“Olivia has been blowing my shit up about this party she and Eleanor have been putting together for this weekend. It’s in your building, your fucking house, for Christ’s sake. You have no excuse not to show.”
I know he made good on his threat to stage a pop-up club at Dragovari Tower, because Olivia has been texting me constantly about it.
“Construction just wrapped up on the penthouse, and I need to—”
“Come on, man. Just a couple drinks. A night out. Some decompression. I need it. Tommy needs it. God knows you need it. Can we just keep it at that?”
“And you’ll shut this thing down with Siena? Before then?”
“As long as you’ll keep your word and show up, yes.”
“I always keep my word.”
I just wish I could have kept my word to Siena, kept her safe. If this is all I have to do to enlist Vin’s full cooperation in getting her to give up this quest to connect with Valentina and disconnect from our world entirely, I’ll do it.
As I head back to the elevator, Vin calls out from the office. “I’ll have some food sent over. Real food, not fucking breakfast.”
I chuckle, knowing that that means piles of gnocchi, steaks, rosso bucco, and risotto. “Fuck you.”
“No, not fuck me, brother, but I’ll make sure you’re hooked up on that front this weekend, too.”
I can hear him laughing as I step into the elevator. He’s an asshole, but I feel better than I have in weeks. I hate it that Siena reached out to Vin and not me, but it shows that she hates me as much as she needs to in order to keep her far away from me and safe.
I have no intention of fucking anyone this weekend, but I’ll have a drink or two as long as Vin stops me from hunting down Siena if I get too drunk to stop myself.
In the meantime, I’m resolved to take care of myself for a change and focus more on setting up the Luminous job and preparing to be the underboss of the new Demonio family with Vin at the helm.
Then the elevator doors open into the parking garage, and all my resolve evaporates.