“I didn’t want to bother you, Silas, but I really need your help this time. A few tens of thousands, practically nothing for you.”
“I told you over the phone that’s not going to be possible,” I tell him slowly.
“Come on, man!” He rakes a hand through his hair, and I can see it on him plain as day. Despair. Fear. “I can’t go back to New York empty-handed.”
“Still no.”
“You piece of shit!” His voice cracks on the last word, loud enough to bounce off the walls, and I feel Amalia go rigid behind me.
That’s it.
I take my glasses off, and with one last look at him, my hand closes around the front of his sweater. Silvio isn’t a large man at five foot ten, but I learned a long time ago not to underestimate anyone. I know he’s carrying at the back of his waistband, but he won’t use it. Alessio would have him buried if the man whomanages the paperwork for all his companies got shot. In terms of value, I rank above Silvio, and he knows it.
“If you ever set foot in this city again, I will make sure Alessio handles the situation permanently.”
He knows what permanently means. He knows I’m not making a joke.
“You work for us,bastardo,” he spits through his teeth, and only because I feel Amalia’s hand on my back do I just push him instead.
“Don’t be astronzo,Silvio. Disappear.”
He stares at me like he’d like to close his hands around my throat, but apparently the two neurons he has left make the right call, and he goes.
When I turn back to Amalia, her face is full of worry.
“Who was that man?”
“An idiot who hasn’t grasped that I don’t work for him,” I answer honestly, though I know that’s not enough for her.
I guide her back to the living room and gesture for her to sit. I take a moment to consider how much to tell her, how far I can trust that she’ll understand. Because trust is not a subject I do well in.
I think about all the lies I could tell her, but something like ash settles on my tongue, and I can’t make any of them come out.
I’m already hiding Karina and Seb. I can give her this much.
“Silvio is part of the Italian mafia. Technically, I work for his boss, Alessio Conti. I manage his paperwork so that, financially speaking, his companies don’t attract attention.”
When her eyes go wide, something cracks open in my chest, not quite pain, but close enough to it. As I let it sink, I realise it’s fear. Not fear of what she might do with the information, but fear that her image of me is about to change.
Still, I gave her a piece of truth. It’s the least I owe her.
My hands aren’t literally bloodstained, but they’re not clean either. I could shoot someone, and I don’t know how much conscience I’d have left afterward.
“Is it dangerous for you?”
She stands and brings her hands to the base of my neck, and just like that, I’m calm again.
“If it becomes dangerous, if your life is ever at risk, promise me you’ll walk away.”
“I can take care of myself, Amalia.”
“I know you can. But being capable of defending yourself doesn’t mean you have to accept danger just because you can handle it. The man from earlier didn’t look at peace with your answer.”
“The man from earlier doesn’t matter anymore.”
She watches me for a few seconds then draws in a breath.
“I sometimes do a few small illegal tasks forseñorGustav, my high school teacher, in exchange for money.” Her eyes go wide as she rushes to add, “I don’t cross certain lines, I swear on Newton’s name!”
