Page 65 of Cavaliere

MATTEO

“Isee Wren hasn’t killed your ass yet,” Cain’s disappointed voice greets me as I enter the clubhouse.

Alessio snickers behind me. “It’s coming. I give it six months. Gio’s giving it a year. He said he sees himself in Wren and just knows she will want to toy with her victim before striking the deadly blow.”

I whip around, glaring at Alessio as the whole club bursts out laughing. “You guys seriously bet on this?”

“I’d like in on this.” Cain laughs as he slaps me on the back. “Come on. Let’s talk in my office.”

“It was too good of a bet to pass up. I like money. Especially easy money.” Gio shrugs before following Cain, leaving me just standing here, staring at their backs.

“I just like taking Gio’s money.” Alessio gives me a look that says, “What are you gonna do?” as he also shrugs. “It’s fun taking Gio’s money. Watching Wren turn your world upside down is just a bonus.”

“We’re done with this conversation,” I grunt. “No more fucking bets on my love life.”

“Considering this is the first time I’ve ever heard you say ‘love life,’ there will definitely be more bets.” Alessio laughs as he trails off the other guys.

“Why do I keep these idiots around?” I look up at the ceiling for a moment before following them in.

Alessio, Gio, and Wiz are leaning against the back wall, with Cain taking his seat at the desk, leaving an open chair across from him for me. Cain takes his time pouring each of us a glass of whiskey and cutting cigars.

“Alright, spit it out. I want to know what you saw,” I say, taking the cigar from Cain’s extended hand. The act of smoking cigars is an art. Some use lighters, but I prefer to use old-school matches. I bring the cigar to my lips as I flip open my suit jacket, taking out a matchbook from the interior breast pocket. That smooth, satisfying sound the book makes as the match swipes across the striker relaxes my soul. Taking a long drag of the Cuban, I relax back in my seat. The first puff always hits the best. It cuts deep into your soul and soothes all in one. I’ll feel more at ease once I figure out who the fuck tried to kill me and Wren by association.

Cain taps his cigar on the edge of the ashtray, watching the chunk of ash softly land. “After finding out Wren was… your Wren,” I snicker at Cain’s obvious distaste for our relationship, “I had Wiz do some more digging.”

“Digging around where?” Gio asks as he puffs on the cigar that’s hanging from the corner of his mouth. “I pulled Christos Galanis from a few cameras on some buildings near Wren’s apartment building the day she and Matteo were shot at, but I haven’t seen him since.”

“He must have found some blind spots because Wiz hacked those same ones and could only see the ass of his car. Fucking dumbass wasn’t even smart enough to use fake plates.” Cain shakes his head as he opens the top drawer of the desk, pulling out the photos of the car and tossing them in front of me.

I take a long sip of my whiskey, grabbing a photo to quickly glance over before I pass it over to Alessio. My mind is running in a million different directions. Christos has to be the one behind trying to kill me, but why? He wouldn’t be going after Wren the way he has been if he didn’t know that she was the one who helped me. “Has he been out here at all?”

Cain takes a long drag. “Nope. At least not from what we can see from our feed. You think he’s the one who cut your brakes?”

“I feel like everything is pointing toward that. You know Wren isn’t the type to go out of her way and make friends. Have you ever seen him at DD’s?” I’ll put a bullet between this motherfucker's eyes if I find out this is all because he tried some shit with Wren, and she didn’t want it, and now he’s retaliating like the coward he is.

Cain’s eyebrows shoot up. “Are you fucking kidding me? Absolutely not. That piece of shit knows he’s not allowed in anything of ours.”

“So basically, I fucked Wren.” I hate that I dragged her into this, but I can’t bring myself to actually be sorry. As fucked up as it is, me almost dying and her getting the shit beat out of her is what kept her in my life.

“In more ways than one,” Gio snickers as he rips the photo out of Alessio’s hand.

“Ugh.” Cain makes a noise of disgust. “I do not want to fucking picture that, man. It’s bad enough I caught them in my fucking breakroom.”

“What happened in the breakroom?” Gio asks, looking all too eager to have something else to give me shit about.

Cain starts to open his mouth, but I cut him off, shooting him a glare, “Nothing.”

“Secrets don’t make friends,” Gio pouts.

“We’re not friends. If we weren’t brothers, I would have taken your ass out a long time ago.” Gio has always been a pest. A pest that loves to push every last button.

“Catch me if you can, bitch,” Gio taunts, making me roll my eyes and turn back to Cain.

“If you ever want to get out from under this dickwad, we’d love to have you in the club,” Cain joins in. The fact that Gio looks like he’s actually considering this bullshit offer is just adding fuel to the fire.

“Absolutely fucking not,” I snap. “Can we please get back to the actual issue here? I’m really fucking close to storming into Nicholas’ and shooting every single one of them if I don’t figure out what’s going on.” I watch as the joking expressions on their faces quickly morph into the rage I’m feeling.

“Sorry, boss.” Gio straightens against the wall as he takes a drag of his cigar. “You know you’re stuck with me for life. I’m a ride-or-die motherfucker.”