Chapter 39
DAMIANO
The next morning, I call Strike Ferraro, who’s as excited as always, which makes me uneasy. And then things get worse, because I get an unexpected visitor.
Sebastiano Conti is knocking at my front door, looking impatiently into the camera.
He’s alone. That’s the first thing I check; I can’t see anyone else with him or waiting on the street.
That means he’s probably not here to bring me in, because as big as Seb is, there’s no telling which of us would win in a fight.
So I let the security door up and invite him in.
“Orsini,” he greets me. He looks tired. Actually, he looks exhausted. There are smudges under his eyes, and he looks like he’s been sleeping in snatches. I know how he feels.
“Let’s go to the study,” I say carefully, because I’m not sure where Caligula is and I’m not sure I want them meeting just yet.
Because I’m not sure why, exactly, Seb is here.
“I won’t be long,” he says, which doesn’t give me any more information.
“You want some coffee?” I ask. “You look like you could use it.”
For the first time, he gives a small smile. “I could use a fucking gallon of it, brother,” he admits.
I pause to use the intercom, telling Rosa to bring some coffee up to the study, and lead him up the stairs. The study is on the second floor, and I don’t use it much—only with men I completely trust. In practice, that means Sebastiano Conti is the only man who’s ever been in here with me.
Rosa delivers the coffee, which he takes with a smile of thanks that dies as the door closes behind her. “Big Gee won’t budge. He wants the Clemenza kid turned over to the Bratva. He says the Clemenzas are finished, and he’s not gonna burn an alliance with the Russians over some dead Family.”
I haven’t touched my coffee yet, because I had a feeling this was what he came here to say, and what I tell him next is probably going to end in a fight between us.
“There’s no version of this that ends with me handing Caligula over,” I tell him. “I’ll speak to Big Gee myself if I—”
“Don’t go fucking near him,” Seb snaps. He holds up a hand at the expression on my face. “For your own safety, Orsini. He’s not happy, and he’s not going to accept a no.”
“It ain’t happening,” I tell him. “If he wants Caligula—if you want Caligula—you’ll have to come through me.”
“You want to kill him yourself?”
This is it. This is where I really pick my side. “No,” I say. “I don’t plan to kill him. I plan to protect him. And I plan to help him.”
Because I know what this Clemenza Loyalist meeting is really about. And I’m okay with it.
Seb takes a sip of the coffee while I sit there on a knife-edge, and then he puts the cup down and sighs, “Gotta say, I’m relieved to hear you say that.”
“You are?” I ask, confused. Any other time in my life when I’ve said no to something the Boss wants—hell, even tried to negotiate a little—Sebastiano Conti has been there to remind me that my job is to say yes every time.
“Look, what’s going on?” I follow up, leaning forward in the chair.
“Since when the fuck do the Giulianos team up with Russians?”
“Since Big Gee decided he wants D’Amato gone,” Seb says grimly. “I mean, you heard that part, right? That’s what’s driving him.”
“Maybe, but he’s fucking crazy if he thinks the Bratva won’t turn on him as soon as they’ve used him up.”
“I told him that,” Seb says heavily. “He won’t hear it. I push any harder, there’s gonna be a problem.” He looks at me with those tired eyes. “And you’re gonna have a problem, Orsini. If you don’t back down, Big Gee will come for you. You understand what I’m saying?”
“I do. And it don’t make any difference.”
Seb gives a pained smile. “You’ve changed your tune,” he observes.
“Not gonna lie, I prefer this song. I actually came here to make you give the Clemenza to me.” He holds up his hand as I half rise from my seat in outrage.
“I was going to put him somewhere safe—maybe out in Vegas, maybe in LA. And hell, those would be safer places for him right now. If we work together, we can get him out of the city—”
“He won’t go,” I say. “He won’t go, Seb. He’s got some plan to get his Family back together—he’s got stars in his eyes, and nothing I did put them out. Nothing you do will either. So maybe you focus on what you can do, which is persuade your brother to simmer down.”
He shakes his head slowly. “I told you. He won’t listen. And I don’t know what’s going to happen next, but I can’t let Big Gee make an alliance with the Bratva. It would be the end of the Family.”
If I needed proof that I’m living in a completely different reality, I’ve just had it. I’ve never heard Seb talk like this. Open dissent? If another man even hinted at it, he’d shove their head through the wall.
“What are you saying?” I ask him, because I want to be sure.
He just shakes his head again. “It doesn’t matter what I’m saying, Orsini. You’re not gonna be part of it. You’ve got one job right now, which is to keep that kid safe.”
“But you know I’ve always got your back, Seb. You can call on me any time.”
He looks troubled. His talk has gone too close to the edge, and I can see him pulling back from it, the way a man steps back from a cliff he didn’t mean to walk so near.
“I should go,” he says, and gets to his feet.
He puts out his hand. “Whatever happens, Orsini, I want you to know it’s been an honor working with you. ”
I take his hand and shake it, though I don’t like what he’s saying. I don’t like the implications. “Whatever else he is, Big Gee is your brother. He’s got some wild ideas right now, but he’ll get over it. You’ll find a way to bring him around. You always do.”
Seb turns to leave the room. I follow him down to the foyer, where he takes his jacket from the rack and pulls it on.
“Thank Rosa for the coffee, will you?” he asks.
“Feel like I could go another twenty rounds now.” Before I can open the door to show him out, we hear footsteps coming down the stairs.
It’s Caligula. And from the look on his face, I suspect he’s been waiting for his chance.
He’s coming down from the second floor, unhurried, dressed in dark pants and a white shirt with the sleeves rolled to his elbows.
His hair is pushed back. His face is calm.
He looks every cent of the ten million I paid for him—and more.
He’s not a prince. I don’t know why I ever called him that.
He’s always been a king.
He descends the last few stairs and walks right up to Seb. Doesn’t hesitate, just crosses the foyer and extends his hand.
“I don’t believe we’ve been properly introduced,” he says. His voice is warm but formal. “I’m the new Don Clemenza.”
Seb looks at him. Then, briefly, at me.
And then he takes Caligula’s hand and shakes it. “Sebastiano Conti,” he says. “It’s an honor to meet you, Don Clemenza. Maybe once your Family gets properly established again, you and I could sit down and talk business.”
Caligula inclines his head. Just a fraction. “I’ve always heard Sebastiano Conti was an honorable man. I’m pleased to see the reputation was earned.”
There’s just the smallest change in Seb’s manner, and I’m pretty sure I only catch it because I’ve known him so long. Something in that line about honor really hit him.
Caligula Clemenza, snake to the last. But this time, I’m glad to see his manipulations at work. I think Seb needed to hear it. Needed to remember who he really is. If there’s anyone in this world who can persuade Big Gee to take the better path, it’s Seb.
“Dami,” Caligula says, turning his eyes on me now. “When you’re finished, come and see me.”
I watch Caligula go back upstairs, and when I turn back to Seb, I find he’s watching me. I see the expression on his face changing in real time—surprise first, and then a softening of understanding.
And then my stomach clutches, because I’ve never seen Sebastiano Conti look at me with pity.
“Oh,” Seb says. “Is that how it is?”
“Is that how what is?”
He puts a hand on my shoulder and says, more gently than I’ve ever heard him, “You keep him safe in the days to come, Orsini. Don’t forget, now. You made a promise to me.”
Now I really am confused. “Of course I will. And you know I’m your man, Seb.”
We really are in new territory, because Seb doesn’t growl at me and remind me I should be Big Gee’s man. He just slaps my shoulder and turns to leave. The cold air rushes in when he opens the door, and the last I see of him is his back as he waves to me and steps out into the dusk.
I give a shiver, but not from the cold. I have to fight the instinct to run out and pull him back, make him stay here in the house so I can protect him, just like I’m protecting everyone else under my roof.
I force myself to close the door instead.
If Sebastiano Conti can’t look after himself, who the fuck can?