Chapter 3 #2
Venosa men. Which confirmed what I'd already suspected the moment they walked in. Constantine Venosa knew I was here. He knew I'd been here for a month. He knew I'd broken protocol.
Whatever happened next was going to depend entirely on what kind of man he was.
"Please, Signora, have a seat." The tall one gestured to a booth.
I moved slowly, buying myself the seconds I needed to think.
Slid onto the bench. Watched him settle across from me, his eyes steady and unhurried.
The other two men positioned themselves facing the door, their backs to us, which told me the conversation was meant to be private and the door was the concern — not me.
That was marginally reassuring.
"I'm Lorenzo," he said, which I hadn't expected. Names implied a kind of negotiation rather than enforcement. "And you already know why we're here."
I kept my mouth shut, I wasn’t about to offer more information than he needed. Lorenzo looked at me for a moment. “But, that's going to be a conversation for someone above my pay grade." The corner of his mouth moved very slightly. "He'll want to hear it from you directly."
The door opened.
I felt it before I saw it — the shift in the room, the way Lorenzo straightened almost imperceptibly, the way the two men at the door seemed to pull themselves together without visibly moving.
The particular change in atmosphere that happened when the person everyone in the room actually answered to walked in.
I turned.
He was taller than I'd built him in my imagination, which was saying something given that I'd been dreading this moment for a month.
Dark suit, no coat despite the December cold, dark hair, and a face that would have been merely handsome if it weren't for what was happening behind his eyes — a quality of focused intelligence that took in the entire room in one sweep before settling on me with an attention that felt almost physical.
The man looked at me the way a man looked at something he'd been trying to understand from a photograph and was now seeing in three dimensions for the first time.
I looked back at him and thought, with a clarity that was entirely inconvenient, that I had run from the wrong family.
I pushed that thought down and lifted my chin.
"Ms. Avola." His voice was different from Lorenzo's — quieter, more deliberate, the voice of a man who had learned that the right word carried more weight than volume.
He took the seat Lorenzo had vacated without being asked.
Lorenzo moved to stand with the others without being told.
"I think you and I need to have a conversation. "
I was dead. He might as well just put a bullet between my eyes. There was no good outcome from this. Why hadn’t I just gone to some small town in the middle of the country where the mafia wasn’t involved?
Right. There's some type of mafia everywhere, CeCe, you know that. No matter where you are, they will find you. There goes my brain, working overtime again, always stating the obvious.
Folding my hands on the table, I sat up straighter and stared back at him.
“I wasn’t aware. I needed to alert anyone.
That’s no longer my life, and I want this conversation to be over.
” My words were forceful, and I watched amusement fill this man’s eyes as I tried to remove myself from the situation at hand.
“That was very good, but you don’t just remove yourself from the mafia. There are rules and expectations. The expectation for you was to let my family know you were in my city.” He shifted, and I held my breath, waiting for the gun.
It wouldn’t be the first gun I’d had pointed at me, but I hoped it wouldn’t happen again. “Wait, what did you say your name was?” I needed to think, stall whatever this man thought was going to happen.
“My name is Constantine Venosa.”
“Fucking Venosas,” I said without much thought. It was how my father talked about them and, in turn, how I’d come to know them.
“Well, as much as I would like to know what you mean by that, and I assure you, we’ll get to it, I have more important matters to discuss with you, Signora Avola.
But we won’t be doing it here. Your shift is over.
” He looked at me with narrowed eyes that seemed to bore through me and know exactly what I was thinking.
“I will explain to Jacob that you’re leaving and pay him for the income that will be lost without an employee for the day.
” Constantine stood and held out his hand for me.
There was no way I'd be accepting help from him, or leaving this building.
The man who hadn’t blinked the entire time we’d been here pressed the bell on the doorway, signaling Jacob to return. The old man ran down the stairs and stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the four men still in his shop.
“I’m afraid I need to take Signora Avola with me. Here is money to get you through the next few days without her. I will be in touch with her return.” Venosa took a roll of cash out of his pocket and placed it in front of Jacob.
“What did you do, girl?” Jacob asked, staring at the money.
“I have the wrong fucking last name apparently,” I grumbled. Walking to the back, I grabbed my jacket before following the man out the door. There was no running. Both giants flanked me and, even if I wanted to escape, I would end up with a bullet in my back.