“That’s fucking rich, given—”
“Yes. He’ll come to the table eventually, whether he likes it or not. I just need to find the right leverage. But more worrisome to me is that Tara Donovan has had some trouble in Boston.”
“The kind of trouble we’re facing?”
He nods slowly. “She had a man doing time, some guy called Shanahan. He took the fall for that incident in Boston, the one Vitali and the priest were involved in.” Incident is putting it mildly. The Irish Freedom Fighters undertook a paramilitary, front-line attack on the Donovan Family home, and nearly took out Donovan herself from all accounts I’ve heard. “Anyway,” Luca continues, “this Shanahan’s been assassinated by the IFF. It was bloody, by all accounts. Intended as a message.”
I scratch the back of my neck. “Not good,” I offer.
“You’ve been inside,” Luca says, watching me. “Would this have been an easy thing for them to pull off?”
I don’t like where this conversation is going. “Hard to say.”
“Indulge me.”
I shift in the leather armchair and try to make myself useful. “It depends if he’d built an alliance, or had ready-made allies waiting in there for him. Me, I got lucky. I was under Morelli protection, though I didn’t know it.”
Luca takes it in, and I can see his mind working. “It worries me that the IFF could get to him so easily. They had no known associates in Shanahan’s wing.”
“It’s not hard to find mercenaries inside.”
“What motivates that type of man? In your opinion.”
“Money. Clout. Or just something interesting to do for the day. You got no idea how fucking boring it can be in the joint.”
“Alright. Well, I’ll be discussing the matter further with Tara this evening. I’ll keep you in the loop if anything further comes up.” He puts down his coffee. “Okay, Fontana. What’s so important that I couldn’t finish breakfast with my husband?”
I clear my throat involuntarily. “Here’s the thing,” I start, and I really wish I’d thought through better what I was going to say to him. Carlo suggested I prepare some talking points and I laughed at him. Doesn’t seem so funny now, not with those cold eyes staring me down. “You know how you’ve been, uh. Encouraging me to see someone…”
“Yes.”
I can glean no information at all from his tone. It’s completely neutral. This was a bad fucking idea, but no others are coming to me, except telling him about the contents of that video. And that seems like an even worse idea right now.
“Well,” I hedge, and then say, “I’ve sort of been doing that. Seeing someone.”
Luca gives a puzzled half-smile and tilts his head. “This is important, no doubt, and I’m glad to hear it. But what made you rush over this morning to tell me?”
“It’s Bianchi,” I blurt out. “Carlo,” I add, as though in any circle of hell I might have meant the senior member of the firm.
The smile shrinks, disappears. “Ah.” He puts a finger up to his lips, pressed against them as he thinks, as though reminding himself not to speak in haste. “Is that why he was here so early as well? You’ve been spending nights together?”
“Yeah. You know he had some trouble the other day, someone broke into his place—”
“I’m aware. Yes.”
Luca does not look thrilled. I’m not sure what I expected, exactly. A congratulations, maybe? But the somber look on his face isdefinitelynot what I expected. Even when Angelo Messina turned out to be fucking a Fed, Luca wasn’tquietabout it. “Nick,” he begins gently, and that’s when I know I’m fucked, when it’sNickand notFontana. “How long has this been going on?”
“Not, uh. Not long.”
At that, he looks more relaxed. “Okay. So if I asked you to cool it, you could? There aren’t—there aren’t too manyfeelingsinvolved yet?”
Of course not. I open my mouth to tell him that, but what comes out instead is: “I really fucking like him.”
His face screws up. “Ah, shit. Listen—” He moves forward in his seat, leaning in, and so I do the same, mirroring his body language like it might change any of what’s about to happen. Because I might not know the specifics, but I know I’m not going to like it. “Nick, I’m sorry about this. And I’m glad you’re getting out there, dating. I just wish it wasn’t Carlo Bianchi.”
“But he’s safe.”
Luca knows what I mean right away. “Yeah. Sure, he’ssafe. But he’s too important as our lawyer right now. I need him ready and available to defend any of us whenever necessary. And I can’t lose you, Nick, not even just for a night in the lock up while your bail gets sorted out. You hear what I’m saying? I need you available. I can’t risk anything that might get in the way of that. Find someone else to warm your bed.”
