6. Dario
DARIO
I pace around the house for over an hour. The whiskey is calling my name, but with how I’m feeling right now, I’ll probably overdo it.
I can’t stop thinking about Liana, the bruises on her face, those skinned knees. The way she says she’s going to keep living her life.
What does that mean, exactly? I mean, I can’t be a hypocrite. I don’t plan on changing my sex life just because my ex is moving in. I can’t let her back in like that. I can’t fall in love with her again. It would be a disaster.
I’m clearly not sleeping tonight, so I call Giovanni.
“Hey, boss,” he answers.
“Hey. Listen, I need to take care of something. The new security guard I hired, Alan?”
“Yeah?”
“He’s dirty. Stole some jewelry and handbags from a... friend of mine in my apartment complex. Find out who he is, who he hangs with... I want to pay him a visit.”
“Jesus. Is everything okay?”
“Yeah. For now. I just want this taken care of.”
Giovanni pauses. “Taken care of? Over some jewelry and handbags?”
I sigh. Giovanni doesn’t often question me, and when he does it means it’s probably important.
“It’s Liana, Giovanni. They hit her.”
He draws in a sharp breath. ”Alright. I’ll find out and call you back. You want this done tonight?”
“Might as well. Can’t sleep.”
“Alright. And Dario?”
“Yeah, Giovanni?”
“Don’t let her get to you again, okay? You were... you were a mess when she left, frankly, and then after she got pregnant it was even worse—”
“You don’t have to remind me,” I drawl. “I’m being careful. Trust me.”
He hangs up, not asking anything else, and I’m grateful.
Because what if Giovanni’s right? What if she snakes her way under my skin all over again? The thought of it makes my heart race. I can’t go through that again.
I do pour myself three fingers of whiskey while I’m waiting on Giovanni, but I’m only halfway through it when he calls back.
“You know that new place downtown, Avarice?”
“Sure, they just opened last week.”
“Alan’s brother owns it. He and his friends hang out there all the time since they don’t have to pay cover.”
“Isn’t it a strip joint?”
“Sure is.”
“You wanna come with?”
“Of fucking course I do,” he chirps, and I can’t help but laugh.
There are reasons that Giovanni and I have always gotten along, and our love for women is one of them.
“I’ll send you the CCTV footage, see if you recognize anyone besides Alan. I have a feeling he didn’t come up on this with his own.”
“Alright, boss. Send it over.”
I hang up the phone and send over the footage. I finish my drink before he calls me again.
“Jimmy Sidekick,” he says when I answer.
I groan. Jimmy Sidekick is a local who’s done work for both my family and the Gallos. He plays both sides and has a serious gambling addiction. Of course he’s the one who planned this. He’s always owing the biggest loan sharks in town money.
“Come get me. Left my car at the penthouse.”
I hang up again and head outside, waiting for Giovanni. When he pulls up I slide into his car.
“She’s staying here tonight?” Giovanni asks, seeing her sedan outside the garage.
“Don’t ask.”
“Boss—”
“I said don’t ask,” I snap, and Giovanni goes quiet. “I know what I’m doing, Giovanni.”
He takes off out of the driveway and onto the freeway.
Giovanni drives like a bat out of hell. We make it to Avarice and he throws the valet his keys as we pull up. We head inside and the music booms so loudly I can feel the beat all through my body.
The place is filled with beautiful, half-naked women but I have laser vision, catching sight of Alan’s big head in the VIP room.
I nudge Giovanni and we walk back there. The girls see me and I guess something about the look on my face scares them, because they rush out of the room.
“Hey Jimmy,” I say idly, drawing my gun and pointing it at him. Giovanni’s eyes widen but he draws his, too, always having my back.
“D-Dario.... Mr. Conte. What are you doing here?”
"Came looking for your buddy Alan.”
Alan stands, his nose still swollen. "This is the guy I was talking about, Jimmy. He hit me and Brock—”
“Shut the fuck up, Alan,” Jimmy hisses.
“Seems like Alan didn’t do his research when he applied to be my security guy.”
I don’t do the interviews myself, of course, but usually people are aware that the penthouse is owned by the Conte family, that it’s off limits. I guess Alan didn’t get the memo and Jimmy Sidekick used that to his advantage.
“Who is he?” Alan asks obnoxiously. “Just some rich guy?”
“He’s a mob boss, Alan, you idiot!” Jimmy yells, and Alan’s face goes even paler.
“I uh. I didn’t—” he starts.
“You hit her,” I say in a low tone, pointing my gun at Alan. “Were you the one that hit her?”
“She scratched the hell out of my arm—” he starts, but I don’t care to hear any of his excuses. I shoot him in the head, my silencer muffling the gunshot.
Jimmy screams but the music is so loud I don’t think anyone hears.
Alan’s friend, the one I’d tackled to the ground, draws his gun, but I shoot him in the throat before he can fire it. He drops it, clapping his hand over the wound. Blood sprays between his fingers.
Giovanni curses and shoots Jimmy in the chest. Jimmy gasps and wheezes for air as it goes silent in the room, the music turned off suddenly.
“Now the fucking cops are going to show up,” Giovanni says irritably, but I don’t care. I put my gun back in my pants.
“Let’s get out of here before they do.” Giovanni and I slip out the back. Giovanni screams at the valet for his car and they rush to get it as sirens break the silence outside.
It’s nearly daylight by the time Giovanni drives me back to the penthouse and my car, and he’s furious with me.
“You can’t just kill people in public like that, Dario. You know better. You let me handle shit like that.”
“It had to be done,” I say flatly.
“This is all because it was her, isn’t it?”
“What are you talking about?” My shoulders go stiff.
“It was because they hurt her. God, Dario, are you ever going to get over her?”
“I am over her,” I insist. “But they have no right robbing and hitting women. It’s against the code. Or have you forgotten?”
Giovanni lets out a long breath. “Of course I haven’t forgotten. But there’s a right way to do things, and the wrong way.”
“I’m the don, not you.”
Giovanni sets his mouth in a hard line. “Sorry, boss.”
His words come out in a mumble but I know he’s right. I lost my head. I should have planned how to kill Alan and Jimmy and the other guy, shouldn’t have snapped like that.
“I’ll keep you in the loop next time,” I promise. It’s as close to an apology as I can give.
Giovanni relaxes slightly. “Alright. Get some rest, boss.”
I nod although I doubt I’ll sleep, not after everything that happened tonight.
Daylight is breaking through the windows when I make it upstairs, and as I step into the hallway the sound of soft sobs comes through the air.
I look down to see Liana’s little boy standing there, shrinking back as he sees me.
“It’s alright,” I say in a soft, low voice, approaching him slowly. I crouch down to his level, looking into his eyes—gray, just like hers.
“Something happened,” he says, his voice cracking. “My mama got hurt and I—”
“Did you see your mama get hurt?”
“Maybe I dreamed it,” he mumbles, his thumb hovering around his mouth like he wants to suck it. Must be a recently broken habit.
“I fixed your mama up,” I promise him.
He looks up at me curiously, hesitantly.
“Do you want to see her? Make sure she’s okay?”
He nods. “I woke up and didn’t know where I was.”
“Can I pick you up?” I ask, walking closer, and he looks up at me warily.
“Mama says not to talk to strangers.”
“I’m not a stranger,” I assure him. “My name is Dario and I’m an old friend of your mom’s.”
“You are?”
“Cross my heart and hope to die.”
He slowly gives me the once-over, his gray eyes wary and so much like hers it makes my heart ache. Then he slowly lifts his arms.
I scoop him up into my arms, carrying him towards his mother’s room. I creak open the door and he peeks his head in.
“She’s sleeping,” he says, something like hope in his voice. “Mama doesn’t sleep much lately. Doesn’t eat much, either.”
I grit my teeth. “I’m going to make sure you both sleep and eat well. And that no one hurts her or you ever again. Alright, little man?”
“You promise?” he asks, a slight lisp at the end of his words and I smile at him, my heart doing a flip in my chest.
“I promise.”
I slowly let him down and he runs to the bed, climbing into it and under her arm.
Liana snorts awake, just barely, long enough to wrap her arms around him and pull him close.
Sonny nuzzles against her chest and in moments, he’s snoring.
I watch them for a long moment, longer than I should.
Whoever Sonny’s father is should be burning in hell for abandoning them.
He had no idea how good he had it.