“Me too,” Caleb agrees, “and if that’s with Leo, so what? Dad has been fucking someone else, so why shouldn’t you?”
I probably shouldn’t be proud, but I am.
“I like Leo,” Joshua says. “He’s a good guy and a good made man.”
“He’s not going to tell me what to do,” Caleb says, sending me a warning look. “But if he’s cool, then I’m cool.”
I look at Caleb’s bloodshot eyes, remembering we have another issue to deal with too. An issue Gino still knows nothing about. “We need to talk about the drugs.”
His entire demeanor changes. His eyes blaze, and his shoulders stiffen. “Don’t make a big deal out of something that isn’t, Mom.”
“Don’t lie,” Joshua says. “You know it’s getting out of control.”
“Like you know you’re whipped, a pussy, and a rat?” Caleb retorts.
“Mama was worried sick!” Joshua leans across the table, pleading with his eyes. “What was I supposed to do? Say nothing when I didn’t know if you were over with those assholes killing yourself?”
“You are always so dramatic.” Caleb rolls his eyes again, and I don’t like his nonchalance.
“You are going to see a counselor,” I say. “As soon as I have spoken to your father, I’m arranging an appointment for you.”
“Don’t tell him.” Fear spreads across Caleb’s face. “He will beat me bloody if he finds out.”
Air punches from my lungs. “I can’t keep it from him, Caleb, but he’s not going to touch you. I won’t let him.”
“No offense, Mom, but you have no clue how things are handled. When he finds out I’ve been taking shit, he’s going to go crazy on my ass.”
“Why do you do it?”
He shrugs, averting his eyes. “Everyone does it.”
“So, this doesn’t have to do with what you overheard? About Juliet?”
His jaw clenches, but he doesn’t speak, and I don’t think there is much point in pushing him right now. It’s been a tiring day for all of us. “We will talk about this again, but promise me one thing. Promise me you won’t touch any more drugs.”
Caleb looks me in the eye as he says. “I promise.”
I’m pretty sure my son just lied to my face, and he was very convincing doing it.
47
Leo
“Are Nat and the boys okay?” I ask the following morning as I enter Ben’s office at the CH building.
“Like I told you last night on the phone, they are fine. Your guy changed the locks, and I stayed over at Nat’s place just in case Gino showed up. It was good. We talked for hours. They are going to move into my penthouse next week. I have movers going over there today to start packing up their stuff. My building is more secure and you’re there. Until then, they are staying at my house. I don’t trust Accardi not to try something.” He puts down his pen, eyeballing me. “Sit.”
I sink onto a chair, eyeballing him back. “Spit it out.”
“It wasn’t her fault.”
“I know that.”
“I can’t believe you took her virginity and neither of you said a word to me.”
“Fuck off, Ben. That had nothing to do with you, and you know it. It was between Natalia and me.”
“Until you knocked her up,” he snaps.
