“Um, duh,” she says, and I cover my mouth with my hand so I don’t laugh at Carlo’s face. “I knew he was gay,” she goes on. “But it’s hard to completely hide your business from a person living with you, especially when they’re looking around for it. I married that asshole so I could help the Family, and I’ll always be mad that I didn’t get a chance.”
Carlo stares at her for a moment, and then says, “Well, okay. One last question. Do you know who added my name to the wedding invitation?”
“Yeah. That was Ray. He was so weird about you; I assumed you’d slept together.”
“Uh,no,” Carlo says forcefully. “No, we didnot. What do you mean, he was weird about me?”
“At first he insisted he didn’t want you there. Then, the day we were sending out the invitations, he wanted you added back to the list. I told him it was too late, but he grabbed your dad’s invite himself and added your name. My mom was a total bitch about it later, said she’d have to rearrange the whole seating plan. But it was no problem,” she adds hastily, as though Carlo might take offense. “I mean, you’d already been placed at your dad’s table before. We just added you back. Everything was kind of a rush, though, you know? The planning had to happen real fast. And on top of that, my mom was determined to make the wedding cake. So she was stressed out and being a total rage beast through the whole thing. Fun times.”
“Youweren’t stressed?” I ask her.
She shrugs. “I didn’t care about the wedding. I cared about the intel I could gatherafterit. My mom still acts like it’s some big tragedy the asshole disappeared. She just wanted to brag to her friends about how her daughter’s wedding happened out at Villa Alessi.”
“Okay,” Carlo says, making another note. “Well, I think we’re done here. Thank you for your candor, Ms. Vicente.”
“You’re welcome, I guess? Now I need to talk to Mr. Fontana alone.”
Carlo’s lips stretch into a thin line, but he gathers up his notes and his laptop with no further comment, goes into the study, and shuts the door.
Sophia turns to me, all seriousness. “I still want to help.”
“You have,” I assure her, although she’s given us next to nothing.
“Not with Ray Gatti’s disappearance,” she says with a dismissive wave of her hand. “I mean, help theFamily. I know how much power you have, Mr. Fontana. Now, my grandpa just laughed when I suggested this to him. You won’t, though. You’re smarter than he is.”
I raise an eyebrow. “How ’bout you cut the flattery and spell it out?”
“I want to join your crew.”
Chapter Thirty
Nick
Iwait for a moment to see if Sophia cracks a smile, laughs,just kidding, but she doesn’t. She looks as serious as she has the whole time Carlo was questioning her. “You—” I begin, and lick my lips. “Ms. Vicente—Sophia—your grandfather must have explained—”
“My grandpa’s a dinosaur. He’s the last of an old, dying breed—him and Snapper Marino. We both know that. But you, Mr. Fontana, I know you can see the possibilities in things. I’m not asking to get made straight away. I know I gotta work my way up. And I know a lot of people won’t like it, me being a woman. But they didn’t like Luca D’Amato much at the start, either. Or you.” She gives me a look from under her lashes to see how I’m taking it. “Give me a chance,” she goes on when I say nothing. “Let me work as an associate for you first of all. I’ll show you I’m tough enough.”
I can see why Vollero laughed. It’s the kind of thing hewouldlaugh at. Me, though, I really am seeing some possibilities here. But I’m also suspicious. Some woman I don’t know all that well, wanting to come work for me all of a sudden? Who’s to say shewasn’treally in love with Gatti, and now she’s looking for revenge, wants to play a double cross, feed intel back to the Giulianos?
I don’t really believe that. The contempt in her voice when she spoke about Gatti would be hard to fake. But I’m not in a position right now to trust new people. I’ve got enough squeezed-out toothpaste to get back into the tube already.
“It’s difficult work,” I hedge. “It ain’t working in a bakery.”
“If I wanted to work in a bakery, I wouldn’t have married that fucker Gatti.”
She’s dead serious about this, her eyes steady and ruthless. Luca saw something in her, some reason to agree to her marriage plans. I’m beginning to see the same. “I’d have to talk to the Boss.”
“Of course.”
“You realize your grandpa will kill me if this goes anywhere?”
For the first time, she smiles, a wicked smile that lights up her eyes. “He’s an old man, Mr. Fontana. Bet you could take him.”
“Don’t be too sure of that,” I snort. I stand and extend my hand. “I’m not making any promises. Understand? But I’ll think it over.”
She smiles that lovely smile again and takes my hand. “Thank you.”
* * *
