“It was just some guy,” one of them says.“We thought maybe he was one of your friends or something.”
The heat around Matteo rises alarmingly.I’m still holding his arm, I realize, and I squeeze it gently.“It’s fine.I’m fine.I can handle men like that.Let’s sit and have dinner now.”
He glances at me, and while the angry heat is still there in his eyes, I know it would never burnme.I know it deep in my soul.
“Yes, let’s do that,” he says and waits until I’m seated before taking his own seat.
The bodyguards slip away from our table.
He pours himself a tall glass of the white wine they brought while he was gone and drinks the whole thing in a series of long swallows.
We have the attention of everyone in this restaurant now.They’re not exactly staring at us, but I can feel them looking.Moretti has already left the restaurant.
I take hold of Matteo’s hands as he lays them back on the table.“Put the knife away, now.You did the right thing letting him walk away.”
He narrows his eyes at me.“Did I?Or did I just miss my best chance to kill him?”
“In front of all these witnesses?”I ask.“Sure, you probably could’ve done it.But then the cops would take you away and that would be that.”
He grins.“That innocence… don’t ever change, Goldie.”
I don’t like the condescending tone in his voice, so I release his hands and pick up my own glass of wine.
“Yeah, you probably could get away with killing him here, I get that,” I say.“But the way I see it, I just stopped you from making a huge mistake in another way.Don’t you want an all-out war with this guy?”
He seems surprised, looks at me like he’s seeing me for the first time.
“I thought you were against the war,” he says.“And killing in general.”
“Your world and my world are the same,” I say and lean back.“Sometimes killing is necessary.And some men deserve to die.”
I look deeper into his eyes than I’ve done before.And I see all the pain, all the hurt, but also all the anger and rage.Some doubt, too.
“Wow, Goldie,” he says and leans back in his seat too, studying me as one might study an interesting piece of art.“You’re just full of surprises since we got to LA, aren’t you?”
I blush under that searching gaze, can’t help it.Because it’s too intimate, too deep, too knowing.But luckily, a waiter comes to present the menu to us.I let Matteo choose for us because I didn’t hear any of what was on offer and I’m so hungry that I could eat anything.Or nothing at all.I can’t remember the last time I had a full meal.Maybe that night in Atlantic City, right before I realized that there is no running away from him for me.
“Things are all different now that we’re here,” I say.“You’ve broken up my family and are going to use my father as a pawn in your war.All I can do is keep you alive and hope you’ll show us mercy after you get what you want.”
“Is that why you stopped me killing Dante Moretti?So I’d show you mercy?”
I feel my cheeks heating up and I’m having trouble meeting his eyes.I wish I could just tell him that was the only reason.But I don’t think it was even one of the top reasons.
“What did that guy do to you, anyway?”I ask.
“You mean besides attacking my family and fighting dirty until I was the last man standing?”His eyes flick up to one of the photos on the wall.I follow his gaze and sure enough, he’s looking at the man who looks so much like him it might as well be him.In another life.
“Is that your grandfather or something?”I ask.
“That’s my great-grandfather, Eddo Rovina,” he says.“He’s the one who came out West, trying to escape the curse and make something of himself.He started everything that my father, me, and my brother lost.The curse took a while to take everything from him.I’m just glad he wasn’t alive to see it.But I bet he’s not resting peacefully in his grave.”
“But you’re getting everything back, aren’t you?”
He looks at me, his eyes mirthful and confident.Except for the tiny hint of doubt that perhaps only I can see.“Am I?”
Our soups arrive, the pleasant mushroom aroma reminding me just how hungry I actually am.He doesn’t start eating right away, so I don’t either.
“If Moretti held you prisoner like you’re holding me prisoner, then I completely understand why you want the guy dead,” I say.
