“You did?”He’s quiet for a moment, likely switching over to check his email.“Oh, there it is.Looks like we’re all set—minus the personnel.”
Normally, such a new advance for our business would delight me.We’re growing.It’s wonderful.But now, I can’t muster up much excitement.“I’ll have Mendoza start recruiting.”
“Sounds great,” he says.“We’ll need the usual.A couple of receptionists, a small unit to stay local, and another unit for distance missions.Even if they come straight out of the military, we’ll need to train them up, so we might want to get Fletch out here.How’s his German?”
“I can’t remember.”
He pauses.“Damiano, you’re barely talking.What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”Everything.
He laughs.“Let me guess.Drama with your ex-wife?”
“She ambushed me and Madison.”
He lets out a low whistle.“I bet this happened before you had a chance to warn Madison about Alessia?Even though I told you this was going to happen?”
“Yes, you told me so.You win, okay?I don’t want to fight about this.”I stop at a traffic light, mindlessly watching as cross-traffic whizzes by.
“I shouldn’t help you,” he says, “but you’re so fucking pathetic.”
“You think you can help?”My brain lights up with anger and I have to refrain from switching to Italian.“None of this would have happened if you hadn’t fucked off to Europe at the first sign of feelings.”
“I’m not afraid of feelings in general, asshole,” he says in a tight voice.“I told you, Madison is off-limits.”
“Only because you are getting in your own way.”
“No, it’s because you ignore boundaries.We could?—”
It happens in pieces.The light turns green.I start across the intersection.
Blue sky, the loud drone of a truck’s horn.
The crunching of metal on metal.
A half-second delay.
Then pain.
Then darkness.
5
SETH
Idon’t like that Damiano’s call dropped so suddenly, but maybe he’s just pissed off that I’m right and he’s wrong.
Our attorneys have gotten everything set up as far as the business aspects.We’re still waiting on the formalization and acceptance of everything, but in the meantime, I give Cassidy Fletcher a call.
He picks up after the second ring.“Boss.How’s it going in Germany?”
“Great.How’s your German?”
“Toll.”
I pause.“Does that mean good or bad?”
“It means it’s good.”
