As soon as the girls walk away, Carmine and Luca sit down. They’ve each got a glass of wine, and Luca has a plate full of linguini. He digs in, talking and eating at the same time.
“You’re a lucky man,” Luca says.
“Thanks for coming out here,” I reply, knowing that he had to drive at least three hours to attend the ceremony.
“No problem,” he says. “Anything for my cousin.”
“Let’s step outside,” Carmine suggests, pulling three cigars out of his pocket.
“Hang on,” Luca bargains, slurping up the last of his noodles.
As soon as he finishes, we move to the front of the restaurant, leaving the comfort of the place behind. It’s a little chilly outside, but nothing I can’t handle. There’s a group of men sitting at a table out front. They’re playing cards and shouting at each other. I recognize a few of them as people I saw at the ceremony.
Carmine shakes hands, tossing out compliments before introducing me. “This is the newest member of our family,” he says jovially.
“Hey, America!” one man calls in heavily accented English.
“Hey, Italy,” I shout back.
I feel young again. This is like old times, when I had fewer responsibilities and all the time in the world to shoot the breeze with my friends. Carmine leads us down the block so we can talk privately. He hands out the cigars, and we pass around a lighter.
I take the first few puffs to get the cigar started. It tastes expensive, and I know Carmine has spared no expense. Then we get down to business, looking for all the world like a groomand two family members discussing sports or maybe family. In reality, we’re talking business.
“So, tell us about the trouble your wife’s been having,” Luca says.
I already shared the fact that this marriage happened so quickly in order to bring Marlena into the fold. But I haven’t given Luca any of the specifics. “You know the Andretti family?” I ask.
Luca nods. “I’m acquainted.”
“We’ve had some trouble in America,” I disclose, without adding any details.
They understand. In our line of work, the less you know, the better.
“And that’s who you think has her brother?” Luca guesses.
“That’s my educated guess,” I confirm. “Carlo Andretti has been out to get me since I took over the family ten years ago. He has a mole in my organization.”
“How do you know that?” Carmine wonders.
“It’s a hunch,” I say. “But we were talking about that just a few days before Brandon was kidnapped. Then I learn who Marlena really is and suddenly her brother goes missing? It’s too big of a coincidence.”
“You think someone in your organization is working for Andretti?” Luca asks.
“I would bet good money on it,” I reply, thinking about my closed-door meetings with Marcello and Giovanni. They both said that Andretti was trying to poach my men. Hell, I beat one kid up because I suspected he was involved. I can’t be sure who,but that’s the only thing that makes sense. Someone close to me is feeding information to Andretti. And I’ve got to find out who.
“I’m going back to the States tomorrow,” I say. “We’ve been gone long enough.”
“I’m coming with you,” Luca says.
I study him for a moment, wondering if he has a visa. But then, I suppose, it doesn’t matter. We’re not regular Joes. We can get our hands on anything we need.
“Thank you,” I say.
“I can send a few of my men along for the ride,” Carmine offers.
I shake my head. I have plenty of manpower. That’s not the problem. I don’t want to have to babysit a bunch of men who are unfamiliar with American ways. But Carmine puts his foot down.
“Take them,” he says. “They’re all anxious to see what life is like over there anyway.”
