Down a back hallway, we go. I’m struggling to keep up and pushing back the unwelcome thoughts of a sticky floor, my bound hands and the blindfold when Giacomo knocks on an ordinary-looking door.Another huge, tattooed man answers, but he is no mere bouncer. He has the three-headed wolf on his throat - a Made Man of the Trio.
The room is little more than a broom closet, but he ushers us inside. “You got permission for them?” he asks.
Giacomo puffs out his chest. “I am the son of a captain, and I’ll be running things here someday, Bobo. Open the fucking stairs for us.”
The tattooed giant named Bobo is unfazed. “Is that a ‘yes, I have permission’ or ‘no, I don’t,’ Barzetti?”
“Yes, I have permission,” Giacomo huffs, reminding me of a child on the verge of a tantrum.
I’d be tempted to laugh if I wasn’t so freaked out by Bobo’s next words. “Good. The Beast has the next fight, and I’m not losing a kidney because of some son of a captain.”
“The Beast? Do you mean Dante Morelli?” I gasp, certain I’m doomed.
Bobo either doesn’t hear me or doesn’t consider Giacomo’s company worthy of an answer. He walks us to the back of the broom closet and places his hands against the wall, giving a powerful push. The wall recedes a couple of feet, revealing a stairway leading down like some hidden escape route in an adventure movie.
“Come on, girls. The VIP Room awaits.”
My sister doesn’t hesitate to follow, and I’m not strong enough to drag her away from Giacomo, so I turn on Bobo, boldly glaring up at him. “I am under the protection of Nico Morelli. If we come to harm down there, no one on this planet will save you, your kidney or any other parts you value.Hai capito?"
I can't tell if the giant understands or not because he grins at me like I’m an amusing puppy, so I reach for the stiletto blade.
“Answer me,” I order, pressing it to his throat before he knows what’s happening. I jerk my chin at the stairs where my sister disappeared. “She is precious to me. He is not. Will we be safe?”
He still looks more amused than he should be, but he gives me a subtle bow of his head. Without removing my knife, he lightly touches the three-headed wolf on his throat. “On my honor,signorina, I swear to you that no harm should come to either of you down there tonight.”
Having little choice but to believe him, I tuck the knife away and follow my sister down the narrow steps in the wobbly heels.
Just before Bobo activates the lever to close the wall again though, he adds, “No harm tonight, but you’d be better off avoiding this place and Giacomo altogether in the future, little spitfire.”
19
Nico
“So that’s why your brother didn’t come around for dinner?” my father asks.
“Dante’s rage will pass as it always does. Either in the fighting cage or whatever deviltry he gets into afterwards.”
“You should’ve disposed of the girl quietly instead of letting her go back to Alessio.”
“That’s the very last thing I would’ve done,” I reply, reminding myself the old man will die soon enough without any help from me. “Have you noticed anything strange with Barzetti’s behavior lately?”
“His brother was murdered, and you haven’t named him as your Consigliere yet.”
“Forgive me if I don’t believe he’s all that broken up by his grief. I’m not making him my Consigliere. I don’t even want him as a captain. I certainly don’t want that idiot son of his as one.”
“They make us good money,” Father huffs with disapproval, but it’s been a long time since I was a boy who feared being summoned to this office. Never again will he hold power over me or my siblings. “What about this otherprojectof yours?” he pries. “It’s not taking away from your duties as Capo, I hope. The Trio-”
“It’s amazing how steadfastly the Trio hangs onto its more disgusting traditions, yet casts aside our few honorable ones. We don’t allow trafficking in our cities.”
“No, we just extort and steal and-”
“I’m not claiming to be holier than thou, Father, but I won’t bend on this.”
“You and your soft spot for women. It started when Caterina was born, like you’d been anointed as her goddamn sworn shield or something. Be careful or it will make you a weaker Capo.”
“I’ll be careful, and I’m going to say goodnight now before I add patricide to my many sins.”
After I leave him fuming, I rejoin my mother and the twins in her sitting room.
