“And what if I did?”Alessandro asks, chuckling.“I’m in the area, laying low.I just got in this morning, and by all rights, I should be wiped out, but I’m strangely awake and thought I’d give you a call to see if you’d like to meet up somewhere off the beaten path for a cup of coffee.I still don’t want to show my face around familiar areas.”
“It just so happens I’m in the same boat at the moment.But it’s worth it.”
This time, I have to look out the passenger side window when he squeezes my knee.I’m going to be sick.
“I need to hear all about it.”Alessandro chuckles.“Is there any chance it has to do with that last message you sent me?”
“It might.It just might,” Enzo jokes, grinning broadly, sounding like a man on top of the world.It’s all I can do to keep from screaming.“I’ll meet up with you.I need a pitstop, anyway.What about that diner we used to hit up in Hoboken?”
“Sounds good.I can be there in ninety minutes,” my brother agrees, while I wonder about the message Enzo sent.
Did it have to do with me?
Does he know what Enzo was planning?
Will he help me, or will he look at this as another attack in his personal war against the Santoro family?
Once the call is over, Enzo moves into the far right lane to take the next exit.“It’s almost poetic in a way,” he murmurs while I fight to hold my screams inside as he strokes my leg, inching higher all the time.“The three of us, getting together like we would in the old days.I can’t think of a better way to start the rest of our lives together, Sunshine.”
All I can do is force a smile while praying, as if for the first time in a long time, my brother will do the right thing.
Or else that bomb won’t be the only thing in Dante’s world to explode.
19
DANTE
I’ve never been so nervous in my life.I’ve never had a reason to be.“You had better know what you’re doing,” I grit out.
With a sigh, Alessandro replies, “I do.”
“Are you sure about that?”I counter.“This is my wife we’re talking about.”
“This is my little sister we’re talking about, and she was my sister before she was your wife, so?—”
“Would you both give it a rest?”Luca demands from the back seat.It’s taking everything in him to be in Alessandro’s presence without putting a bullet in the back of his head, and I know that because I would very much like to be the one to pull the trigger after everything he put my family through.
Joining forces is a necessary evil, and a sacrifice I have to be willing to make for Sophia’s sake.
“You think he’ll show?”I ask, and I know it’s not the first time I’ve posed the question, but the alternative to repeating myself is sitting here in silence, letting doubt eat me alive.
“I know he will,” Alessandro assures me, grim but certain.“I’ve never heard him sound so happy.He’ll want to show her off.It means proving he could get around your security.”
I still can’t help but bristle at the thought.“We’ll have to add an item to our protocol… how to handle sudden bombings.”
Alessandro smirks, rolling his eyes before checking the time.“He should be here any minute,” he murmurs, and now I hear tension in his voice.He’s taking this seriously, as he should.He’s a little more anxious than he wants to let on too.
Could he be capable of genuine affection for his sister?I guess anything is possible.Here I am, tearing myself to pieces over this woman when marrying her was the last thing I wanted.
“Tell me the truth,” I urge before he can get out of the car to enter the completely nondescript diner.It could be any diner, anywhere, which makes it a good location for this to go down.The lunch rush has passed by now, not that it matters after my cousin arrived first and kicked everyone out except the staff, meaning there are only a few cars in the lot.
Luca is on the phone with Nico, confirming he and Cesco are in place in the kitchen.I’m sure the staff was thrilled when they found out they were about to play a part in this scheme, but the money that changed hands should make it more than worthwhile.I doubt either of the waitresses currently working their shift sees that much in tips over the course of a month, much less a single afternoon.
Alessandro sighs before turning to me.“What?”
“When you were on the phone, did he seem solid?Level?”I ask.
He seems to take the question seriously instead of firing off a quick, sarcastic remark.“As level as someone who was willing to bomb a compound to steal another man’s wife.That’s the best I can say.Now let me get out of this car and into that diner before he gets here.”
