“I noticed that the old man likes that Rafaelle guy a lot.”
Angelo nods as though he’s heard this before.“Yes, Rafaelle Santi.He was the son’s second and is the most logical choice to take over after Codelli.He’s even offered the guy his oldest daughter in marriage.But from what I hear, Rafaelle feels like he let the family down by failing to save the old man’s son.So he’s in no hurry to step up.And there’s no one else that’s been groomed for the position.”
I drink some of my club soda to stop myself from saying too much, too fast.Or show the rage the idea of Goldie marrying Rafaelle brought up.
“But from all that, I’m thinking the Codelli’s should be easy to overturn,” I say.
Angelo nods.“We snatch up the daughters and they’re pretty much done.”
“So when do we snatch them?”I ask, getting another sharp look from Nico.
I wish he’d tell me why this Angelo guy scares him so much.Because he strikes me as a pretty easy-going guy if you ignore his cigar-smoking intensity and slow way of speaking.
“We’re moving in exactly one week,” Angelo says.“That’s why I called you here today.To ask if you will be ready.”
“I can be ready tonight,” I say and Nico cringes.But Angelo chuckles.
“You have a lot of confidence in yourself.”
“I know what I’m doing.”
That’s a bit of a stretch.But I know Goldie will do whatever I ask her to right now and go wherever I tell her to.Might not last.But for the moment, she’s all mine.
“What are we doing with them?”I ask.“Sending them abroad?”
“Might be best to just kill them all,” Angelo says, and I wasn’t ready for the gut punch the words brought.I’m having trouble taking a full breath.
Angelo is looking at me very closely, and I’m sure he knows all about my reaction and the reasons for it even better than I do.
“All of them?”I ask.“I understand the old man has to go.Maybe Rafaelle.But the women?”
Angelo continues to just look at me, while Nico looks like he’s pretending not to be here.
“You have a problem with that,” Angelo says.It’s not a question.It’s a statement of fact.And I don’t think my brain has ever worked so hard or so fast.
I’m never letting him kill Gianna.
I’m not letting him kill her sisters or her mother either.
It’s not the kind of blood you can ever wash from your hands.
But if I speak up now, I’m not getting out of this house alive.
“I wouldn’t say it’s a problem as such… I’m just not used to women paying that kind of price in wars,” I say.“But if that’s part of your new way of doing things, I won’t get in your way.”
I raise my hands as I lean back in my seat, trying to show surrender or whatever the fuck I’m doing.Truth is, I don’t know how much of what I just said I believe.Maybe all of it.Maybe none.I just know I’ll do whatever it takes to save Goldie’s life.
Angelo keeps his steady gaze on me.His cold, murderous gaze.In a few moments, it probably won’t matter what I know or believe.I just hope he won’t want to mess up his fancy leather armchairs with my blood.That he’ll take me out back before he kills me.That I might still get a tiny chance to run.Like I should’ve run the first night Nico brought me here.
Angelo stubs out his cigar, a thick plume of smoke rising from the crystal ashtray because he didn’t do a good job.
“It would be cleaner to just cut off all the heads,” he says.“But you’re right.Women shouldn’t have to pay for what the men have done.”
I hope my sigh of relief isn’t plainly obvious, but it probably is.
He stands up and goes behind his desk.“Leave now.I have to think.But be ready for my call.”
Nico practically runs from the room, but I follow more slowly.Angelo doesn’t look at either of us as we exit.
