His eyes were unreadable, but he gave a short nod. “Aidan.” And then he turned and put his arm around my shoulders. “Keep your head down, A.”
I was surprised by the sudden nickname, but didn’t have time to do more than nod before he led me away from the car. He stuck close to me as we crossed the street to the townhouse, where two house guards were on duty and looking up and down the street, as alert as Teo. They hustled us into the house, and then closed and locked the door behind us.
It was over in seconds, but it had felt to me as though simply crossing the street had taken forever. “Boss!” Teo called down the hallway as I took off my overcoat and hung it up on the rack near the door. “Boss?”
We heard footsteps overhead and then Finch appeared at the top of the staircase, half-dressed and frowning. “Aidan? What—”
“I just got your text, Vitali,” Luca D’Amato’s voice carried through from behind him. “The priest is alright?”
“Yes, Boss,” Teo called back, and then he and Finch added in chorus, “Not a priest.”
“Close enough,” Luca replied. He appeared behind Finch clad in a red satin robe that he was still tying shut, and I realized that we had interrupted them mid…
I hurriedly averted my eyes. “I’m fine,” I told the coat rack.
“He’s not fine,” Teo said, as Finch and Luca both descended the stairs. Finch, shirtless, was buttoning up his jeans. For once, though, he didn’t make any jokes about the situation.
“What’s going on?” Finch asked.
“That’s what we’re about to find out,” Luca said to him gently. “Baby bird, why don’t you make us all some drinks?”
Teo lifted up his hands. “Aidan wanted to speak to you two alone, Boss.”
“I see.” Luca turned his ice-chip eyes onto me and raised one eyebrow.
“I’ll wait, if you like,” Teo said to me. “I can take you home afterwards—if that’s what the Boss decides should happen.”
There was something in me that wanted to stop Teo, to make him sit with me while I told the whole tale, but I took a deep breath instead and tried to collect myself. I didn’t know how much Teo knew about the Sam Fuscone situation, and I didn’t want to speak out of turn in front of him. I looked helplessly at Finch, who looked in turn at Luca. They sometimes seemed capable of communicating without words, and this was one of those times.
Luca gave Teo a nod. “Go wait in the kitchen.”
I watched as Teo made his way down the hall, and bit my tongue to stop myself calling him back. At the end he turned, paused, and looked back at me, before he disappeared into the kitchen.
“What the hell is going on?” Finch asked in a low voice as he pulled me into the living room. “Wait, let me liquor you up first.” He sat me on the couch and splashed a too-generous amount of whiskey into a glass. I wasn’t much of a drinker, but that night, I needed it.
Luca arranged himself in a large wing-backed chair near the fireplace, crossing his legs. Even in a red satin robe, the man looked dangerous. Finch, who had what looked like enthusiastic hickeys blooming around his nipples, pushed the glass into my hand. “Drink,” he said.
“Yes, drink,” Luca added in his silky-but-gravelly voice. “And then tell me what’s so important that you’ve interrupted my personal time with my husband.”
My teeth were already chattering on the glass, and at that, I just about bit through it. That was the thing about the Morelli Don. You could never quite tell when he was seriously threatening you. It was generally best, I’d heard through the grapevine, to assume that he always was.
But Finch glared at him. “Cut it out, Luca. He’s already scared enough, can’t you see that?”
The whiskey, combined with the fear, went straight to my head. “I think God is punishing me for what happened to Sam Fuscone,” I blurted out.
Finch and Luca, who looked as though they’d been about to start a silent argument, both twisted their heads to look at me. “Punishingyou?” Finch asked, puzzled. “But you had nothing to do with…what happened.”
“No, but I held my tongue about it,” I said, and I finished the whole glass of whiskey before I spoke again. “And now I think it’s come back again to haunt us all,” I hacked out afterwards, my throat and belly on fire. A comforting fire, though. One that seemed to unfreeze my insides.
“What are you talking about?” Finch demanded.
Luca uncrossed his legs and sat forward in the seat. “Aidan,” he said, “I think you’d better explain exactly what happened. We only left you there less than an hour ago. What happened between now and then?”
And so I told them.
Finch, who was still holding the whiskey decanter, set it down heavily on the bar cart. His face was thunderous. “Who themotherfuck,” he said, “would dare attackmy best friend?”
Luca was still thinking over what I’d said. “You’re sure he was from Boston?”
