Gio

I’m skeptical.

“Timer doesn’t start until Annie’s in, she opens the door, let’s say we have five minutes from there. Tony can open the safe with the burning bar in three minutes. I need three for the camera, but I can do that while Tony’s at the safe. Let’s say you and Annie have two minutes to collect any valuables and then get back to the safe, as soon as Tony opens it we fill the bags and then we get the hell out of there.”

“It should work, but it’s tight.”

“So we practice.” Charlie shrugs.

“What if we take Annie out of the mix?”

Charlie's face snaps to look at mine. “Seriously?”

“Just tell me, what do you think?”

“It cuts into our time.” Charlie sighs heavily. “We have to cut through the front door, we can but the alarm is going to go off as soon as I touch it, and it's going to take me one-two minutes to get in there. We just don’t have that time. Why would she not be there?”

I exhale. “So you’re saying we need her?”

Charlie inhales sharply. “Yeah, skip. I don’t see how we can do this without her.”

I drum my fingers against the panel of the car door. I’m annoyed, not at Charlie, more so at myself.

I let Annie in.

I know better. I know that there are no happy endings for men like me. I’ve seen time and time again that this life doesn’t bode well for women. They either stand by a man’s side and are hurt repeatedly, killed, or worse. Or, they’re a side piece that will never have a normal life.

Annie is neither of those things.

She is pure, innocent, perfect.

And now, I’m going to drag her down with me.

I want to do right by her, set her free, but she’s in too deep now. I need her, so she’s not going anywhere.

“Is she angry?” Charlie asks. “About her brother?”

“Something like that.” I mumble.

“She’ll get over it, skip.” Charlie is good for giving a positive outlook. While other men in our life would get angry, frustrated, and declare that doom is inevitable. Charlie will point out the rainbow in the distance.

He’s something else.

“She’ll see that it was the right thing to do. I mean, jeez, you kept her brother from getting beat down, or worse. Plus, I mean, they tried to rob you.”

I chuckle. Yeah, that’s what started this whole thing.

“I’m not so sure,” I tell him. “This might be too far for her. I don’t think she really realized what she was getting into.”

She was far too innocent. She asked silly questions, I could only imagine how much she doesn’t know about me, about my business.

This is why men in this world only marry Italian women. It’s easier that way, they know what they're getting into. Annie doesn’t have a clue.

I need to let her go.

Right after this job is done.

911, Dad’s house.

I have a code with my brother. Things go wrong, a lot. It comes with the territory of our business. So, we made a code. If anything is wrong with our family, it’s 911. It’s only to be used for family emergencies, not for business or la famiglia.