He moved forward and wrapped me in a hug, and I held on because it felt like the earth was tilting under my feet. I still looked the same on the outside, but I wasn’t.
Nothing would ever be the same again.
Twenty
I met with Marco and Lorenzo and a few other lesser associates in one of the VIP rooms of the club on Wednesday as scheduled. It wasn’t the same room that they’d brought me and Carly to but a bigger one, more glitzed out. Today’s drink of choice was whiskey, and our lunch was catered by the usual assortment of waitresses.
But this meal was different from all the others. I could feel the subtle charge in the air, and the smiles the men flashed each other seemed particularly sly.
Today, the plan was moving forward, and I was ready. Whatever they brought to me, I’d turn back around on them. The fight was nine days away, and I needed to make my move soon.
Now that I had even less to lose.
Lorenzo leaned back in his chair and smoothed his tie. “Giovanni, how is training coming?”
It was getting harder and harder to sit there and smile, to pretend as if I actually liked these people. As if I didn’t resent them for ruining everything good in my life, not once but twice.
Fucking twice.
“Good. I’m putting in long hours at the gym, which is why I was surprised to get the word about a midday meeting.” I wiped my mouth with my napkin and set it aside. I didn’t have much appetite today anyway. “But Marco said it was important, and I knew it must be if you were taking time from your busy schedule.”
“Indeed.” Lorenzo leaned forward and motioned to one of the servers waiting at the ready. She hustled over to pour him a fresh whiskey, and obligingly allowed him to feel up her ass as she turned away from the table. “And winning, it is assured?”
“Of course.” That was the one thing I didn’t have to think about. I was no better than a robot, created to fight. I did it well, because I had no other purpose.
“Buono, buono. That’s what I hoped to hear.” He glanced at Marco, and a silent signal passed between them. Marco snapped his fingers, and the servers in the room scattered like cockroaches under the glare of an overhead light. The door closed behind them.
Under the table, the fingers I’d been tapping against my thigh stilled.
“Giovanni, what we’d like to discuss with you is extremely privileged information. We are entrusting you with this mission because we feel you’re capable of more. A low level man of honor position doesn’t befit you, son.” Lorenzo’s smile was kindly, but his eyes were like coal black daggers. The one that rested against my heart had a duller blade. “We’d like to see you advance, faster than some might consider average. But then a w
orld class fighter should be accorded certain benefits, should he not?”
Marco set his bulky forearms on the table and shifted forward, taking up the spiel. “You are full-blooded Italian, and an asset to our organization. If you are willing to show one last proof of your loyalty, and assuming you pull it off successfully, we’d like you to step up.”
I’d been waiting for this. I knew either they’d proffer some speech about how quickly I could ascend the ranks, or they’d insist I demonstrate my loyalty on a grander scale than what had happened with Carly. Either way, they’d ask me to do something that would dirty my hands to the point that there wouldn’t be a way to walk away clean.
Thus far, I’d stayed firmly in the gray zone. I’d roughed up some guys on their command, ones that had skipped out on debts or pinched more product than they were allotted. I’d shaken down another couple guys, taking their cash and turning it over to Marco, the caporegime. Enough to send me up if I got nabbed, but not enough that I’d do more than three to five. That was about to change, if they got their way.
I was going to make sure they didn’t.
“You know I’ll do whatever is asked of me. Haven’t I so far?”
“You have, but some of your tasks have been less…arduous than others.” He exchanged a smile with Lorenzo that let me know they were thinking about Carly.
The other two associates at the table tittered, proving our night in the back room had been well discussed. For all I knew, the bastards had even taped it for their further amusement.
I fought to calm the muscle in my jaw that always ticked when I was pissed. My emotions were one of the few things I could control.
Rash emotions led to sloppy thoughts, and sloppy thoughts led to getting blown out behind the wheel of your truck. I’d seen that happen to enough of the guys around the old neighborhood.
Not that Emilia had even been given that courtesy. Her death hadn’t been so quick.
I’d give Roberto one more bullet to the brain for that alone.
Under the table, my hands fisted. “Whatever the task, I’ve completed it as requested.”
“That you have. You will make a formidable soldier for the Andrettis, and we are eager to bring you aboard in a larger capacity than you’re in now. You will be accorded everything you deserve. All of the money and women you can ever imagine. And if you choose to partake…” Marco mimed doing a line, and the other two associates chuckled and kicked back with cigars.