“Apparently. But Matteo’s second-in-command, Grimaldi, found out and killed him before he could tell anyone about me. Grimaldi wanted to take over everything, so he put a hit out on me.”
“And that’s why those guys were trying to kill us all yesterday,” I surmised.
Haz nodded. “They tried a few times before and failed. So this time, Grimaldi himself came.”
I couldn’t imagine people trying to kill me over and over again. “And Kieran killed him.”
“Yeah.”
“What about those guys that showed up when we were trying to get Ghost to a doctor?”
Haz brightened. “Those are my uncles.”
My eyes tried to jump out of my skull again. “Those were Salvatores too?”
“They didn’t believe I was their nephew at first. I don’t look like much, but I’m scrappy.”
I nodded.
“But my eyes convinced them. Matteo had different-colored eyes too.”
“Whoa.”
“So now I have three uncles and a big inheritance coming my way.”
“Are you the head of the mafia now?” I asked, grabbing another strawberry.
“They offered, but I told them no way. Kieran just bought the Neon Reef for me. I’m going to be too busy fixing up the store and running it to do anything else.”
“Kieran bought the Neon Reef?” My head was spinning. This was a lot of information.
I mean, just a few days ago, Haz was just my neighbor who worked four jobs and kept to himself. Now he was a mob heir, a boyfriend, and the owner of his own business.
He was like the boy version of Cinderella!
“Did Kieran give you shoes?” I wondered.
“No, but he said the ones I wear are ugly and I need new ones.”
I glanced across the apartment to the door where Haz’s sneakers lay and shrugged. They looked nicer than mine.
“He’s buying me a phone, though.” Haz’s two-colored eyes widened. “With unlimited minutes.”
“This is like peak adulthood,” I professed. “I don’t even have a cell phone.”
“But I called you the other day.” Haz remembered.
“I have a landline. A phone that plugs into the wall in my apartment. I guess that’s what people used before cell phones. I get the line for free because of my upgraded internet for myjob. And I take calls through my computer too, with a headset. But that’s only for work.”
“Does your landline have a long cord like the phones in old movies?”
I nodded. “Were your uncles mad you said no to the job? Are people allowed to say no to the mafia?”
“Uncle Enzo said it was fine and that I was part of the family now. He also said not to call him uncle, but I probably will anyway.”
“Who’s going to be in charge, then, one of your uncles?” I wondered.
Matteo Salvatore had been a force to be reckoned with. He ran Buffalo with an iron fist that not many would rise against. He was involved in some way with every illegal activity in this city. No one did anything without him knowing about it. Especially in the part of town where I lived.
