Chapter Thirty #2
“That doesn’t hurt my feelings at all,” he said, following after me.
“I’m glad it doesn’t.”
“That was sarcasm.”
“I’m afraid I am under the influence; I can’t tell the difference. Minutes ago, the moon was smiling at me,” I said, climbing down the stairs.
“I want to push you,” he said.
“You’d be doing me a favor.”
He groaned.
“Oh, before I forget. Arrange a meeting with Street when the sun is up. I have a job offer for them.”
“Noted.”
The chihuahua painting was lying flat on the board table the next day.
Before the group arrived, I discarded my suit jacket and left just my black button-up with a tie. I had paced the length of the multipurpose space on the casino’s top floor, solely because I was restless.
Casmiro had begrudgingly asked what the matter was with me, but I couldn’t exactly explain to him that my always controlled nerves had gotten the better of me because a certain woman had walked away from me after I kissed her.
So, I just settled for doing what I do best, lighting up a cigar and ignoring him.
The moment Street walked in, my pacing stopped as I blew out the smoke I had drawn in. My gaze zeroed in on the entrance as they filed in.
Something seemed off.
Milk had an anxious and wary look, Dog looked pissed, Upper looked sick, and Elia wore almost the same look as Zahra, completely blank.
Angelo followed behind them, locking the door as they settled like they had the last time they’d been here.
My gaze briefly locked with Zahra’s, but she didn’t give anything away. Instead, it looked like she was staring through a transparent wall.
The silence in the room was deafening until Dog broke it.
“Well, that’s one ugly dog. It’s even uglier in person; how’s that possible?” he remarked, eyeing the painting.
“Angelo said you had an offer for us; we’d like to go straight to the point, please,” Elia voiced.
Casmiro glanced at me, and I could read the question in his mind. What the fuck happened to them.
I walked back to the head of the table, took my seat, and assessed the group. I should have asked Zahra why she left the house last night because whatever it was, it was ruining their typical demeanor.
I searched inside me for the satisfaction of this new development but couldn’t find it, so I chose to ignore it altogether. The matter at hand was more important than their off day.
“I am well aware that you all know about the dealings with the painting. About Arturo Garza’s quest,” I said into the silence, waiting for any of them to chip in with a response, but there was just … silence.
“That’s a shock,” Casmiro muttered, relaxing back on his chair beside me, watching the group with a smile of amusement.
“I’ll take your silence for a yes,” I added. “A lot of men like me are on the hunt for the original painting, and—”
“Why are you on the hunt for it?” Elia asked.
“The gold, why else?”
“Bullshit,” Zahra muttered with a scoff, but she didn’t look at me. Her jaw was locked, and her index finger circled the table, eyes focused on the painting.
“And why would you insinuate that?” I asked, still looking at her.
I expected her to give me her infamous challenging look, but she didn’t even look up once as she said, “Everybody in this room knows that you don’t give a shit about the gold. You have a thousand times the amount it promises to fetch resting in your bank account, Marino.”
Marino?
Discomfort claimed me.
“All right, since we’re going to be working together—”
Her head shot up, eyes locking with mine. “Working together?”
I held her gaze. “Yes, Zahra. I plan to hire you for a job. You and the rest of your team will help me find the original painting.”
Milk’s eyes widened as she looked around the group.
The confused look in Zahra’s eyes quickly changed into a glare. “I’m sorry to break it to you, but we’re already planning to go after it on our own.”
Dog scoffed. “I wonder how that’s gonna work when no one is talking to anyone. Might as well get out there and get fucking killed,” he muttered.
Elia aimed a glare his way. “Maybe shut the fuck up?”
“Me?” Dog sat up. “Oh, you’re asking for a fucking punch because you caused this whole motherfucking bullshit.”
Upper spoke into the tense silence. “Fellas, not here.”
Dog turned to him in his seat. “Don’t even get me started on you, you little shithead.”
“Don’t talk to him like that,” Elia warned.
Zahra sat up, turning to Elia with wide eyes as she clapped her hands together once, shooting him a mock appreciative smile. “Wow, you’re one to talk about how to talk to him.”
Surprisingly, Elia leveled her with a glare. “I wasn’t fucking talking to you.”
A gasp left Zahra, and she gritted out, “Somebody fucking hold me because I’m about to punch a motherfucker in the face.”
“Before you do that,” I cut in, blowing out my smoke calmly, pressing the lit cigar to the ashtray beside me. “I was wondering if maybe we can all return to the matter at hand; that would be splendid.”
Silence fell on them, but I could still see withheld anger from Dog, Zahra, and Elia while Milk and Upper sat there in utter discomfort.
“It was getting good,” Casmiro said, straightening his suit, leaning on the table, and joining his hands together.
“But yes, the matter at hand is important. I don’t know what you and your crew were thinking, Zahra, but if I remember correctly, you are under Marino’s command, so even if you wanted to hunt for the original on your own, it wouldn’t be possible. You answer to us.”
“We’re not going on a suicide mission unless we know why you want the painting so bad,” Zahra said.
I released a breath, weighing my options before coming to a decision. I motioned to Angelo to explain.
“There are very important flash drives kept with the gold,” Angelo informed. “These flash drives contain intel regarding some of the wealthiest men in and out of this business.”
Elia perked up. “By intel you mean…”
“Self-incriminating.”
Dog whistled. “Well, ain’t that something.”
“What’s in it for us?” Zahra asked this time.
“The gold,” Angelo responded.
Zahra shook her head. “Oh no, we’ll get the gold, I know that. But you’re hiring us for this … what do we get out of it?” She directed the question to me, and everyone waited for my response.
There was always a catch with this woman.
Smart.
“All right.” I bit my tongue hard before I let my next words through. “You get your freedom—all of you. If you find the painting, get the gold and the flash drives. You’re free.”
Dog spoke up. “Now, that’s a fucking deal.”
Zahra still looked skeptical, like she was thinking it through.
After a while, she shook her head. “I say yes to the freedom, but … I want something more. Apparently, we’re not the only ones hunting for this painting.
We might be good, but some people have been looking for this thing longer than we have.
We might get one-upped; we might lose our lives,” she said.
“She has a point,” Upper said.
Zahra leveled me with a stern professional stare. “A hundred million dollars, and we’ll consider helping you find those flash drives.”
I frowned. “You already get the gold.”
“We’re risking our lives on a ‘maybe we’ll find the original painting and get the gold.’ It’s not certain. The payment guarantees that even if we don’t find the gold, we’re not risking our lives for nothing.” She turned to her group. “Is that all right with everyone?”
“That’s perfect,” Milk said.
“I’m game,” Dog agreed.
Upper shrugged. “It’s better than five thousand dollars.”
Elia looked like he couldn’t care less.
“So”—Zahra looked back at me—“do we have a deal, Marino?”
“This is ridiculous.” Casmiro’s voice was soaked with disbelief. “They’re in no position to be cutting deals. We already agree to grant them their freedom; that’s quite enough, in my opinion,” he said when he realized I was actually thinking about it.
“I agree with Casmiro,” Angelo said.
Their freedom was inevitable.
The money was nothing. I wouldn’t need it where I was going. This all would be nothing if I found those flash drives. Casmiro didn’t know that.
After a few minutes of pondering, I sat up straighter, clearing my throat. “We have a deal, Zahra.”
“Are you fucking kidding me,” Casmiro hissed, relaxing back in the chair with a look of annoyance.
Zahra gave a curt nod. “I would like that to be stated in a certified contract to avoid future misinterpretations.”
“As you wish.”
Casmiro shot me a bewildered look, leaning towards me while he said quietly, “Tell me there’s an explanation for this.”
“Have you ever known me to do things without reason, Casmiro?”
He shook his head.
“Good. We’ll talk at length later. For now, trust me.”
He sneaked a look at Angelo, who shrugged.
“Fine.”
I turned my attention back to the group.
“From your interactions, I believe there are issues that need to be solved amongst your group. I am not hiring a bunch of children who can’t air out their disputes and separate them from their work; I’m hiring the people who stole from me and claimed to be shadows of Italy.
You’re dismissed in hopes that I’m not making a mistake.
When I have news for you, you’ll be informed. ”
Elia was the first to shoot up from his seat, walking out like the room was on fire. Dog followed suit with a curse.
“Zahra, will you stay back a minute, please?” I said, gesturing to Casmiro and Angelo to excuse us.
The question in Casmiro’s eyes was evident, but he didn’t ask it. Angelo, though, shot me a familiar look, the one he had worn when he told me not to trust her.
Zahra stood up but did not attempt to leave.
I got to my feet when everyone left, and it was just us two.
“What is this about?” she asked, crossing her arms against her chest. “Do you want to add something to the contract?” She eyed me suspiciously.
“It is unrelated to work,” I said, walking to her.
When I got close, she raised her chin, locking her jaw—determination in those stubborn eyes.
I leaned on the table before her, a foot’s distance between us.
Mirroring her actions by crossing my arms, I watched her swallow, her eyes glazing over momentarily.
“Did you tell my brother? Is that why there’s animosity between you both?”
Mock confusion brought down her brows. “What are you talking about? Tell Devil what?”
Annoyance prickled in me, but I tamped it down. “Do not pretend you don’t know what I’m talking about.”
“Maybe you just need to be specific.”
She stared me down, and I honestly did not want to waste more time on this. “The rooftop, last night.”
Mock realization filled her eyes. “Oh, that. What’s there to tell? It was nothing.”
“I beg to differ. We need to talk about it.”
She sighed, dropping her hands. “There’s nothing to talk about, Marino—”
“Stop. Stop calling me that.” My annoyance and irritation flared as I cut her off.
“It’s your name.”
“That’s not what you call me.”
She shrugged. “Well, get used to it, Marino.”
I frowned. Not many things threw me off guard, but her attitude right then was answering all the questions that had been taunting my mind.
“What happened?” I asked in Spanish carefully; you might have even thought there was a genuine softness to my voice—maybe there was.
Zahra’s eyes widened, showing that she hadn’t expected me to ask. But she collected herself quickly, and I saw how she locked her shoulders, raising her guard.
“Whatever happened is none of your business,” she responded in English.
“Like I said,” she continued, “there is nothing to talk about, and honestly, I’m in a very terrible mood right now, and I can’t dissect whatever happened on that rooftop or why the fuck you would want to talk about it, but get this, we were high out of our minds, okay?
It was a fucked-up night, filled with raging hormones, and we shared a stupid fucking kiss and tried to get each other off until we were interrupted; thank God for that. ”
It was silent for what seemed like a long minute. I had nothing to say. No—my mouth felt too dry, and I had the strongest urge to drink water.
She shifted on her feet. “So, if you’d excuse me, I’d like to go back to that house and pretend like the people I call family don’t exist until I have to work with them again.”
I tried to find thoughts, but they were very silent at the moment, so I just swallowed, nodded, looked away from her, and motioned to the door as I said, “Of course.”
She hesitated to leave for a bit, and when I looked back at her, I caught what seemed like regret in her eyes.
She sighed. “Listen, Elio—”
“You’ve cleared up my concerns. You can leave now.”
She let out a shaky breath before nodding. “Okay…” Her eyes searched mine for a few seconds, and then she turned on her heel and left the space, closing the door behind her and subjecting me to silence.
I stood staring at the closed door.
For how long, I had no idea.
But finally, after so long, I had one thought.
No—one affirmation.
I had wasted valuable time asking questions I should have seen the answers to up front, and I should probably have punished myself for how useless the last ten hours had been and for losing control like that on the rooftop.
But I knew I would also be wasting my time punishing myself, so I’d learn the lesson from this experience instead.
It was a “stupid fucking kiss.” Therefore, it was something I’d never repeat.
Probably for as long as I breathed.