After the waitress returns with the drinks, Lucia and Maximo begin to chat amongst themselves as if they're the only ones at the table. I sip my Smirnoff as I listen.
"... you've got to be kidding me, why would Giovanni ever put that piece of shit on security detail?" Lucia asks at one point.
Maximo laughs, the sound boisterous and drawing the attention of the others in the room. "Because he's loyal or some shit like that," he says, shaking his head.
"Loyal, but the worst shot the family has ever seen," Lucia replies.
Giovanni doesn't say anything despite them openly mocking him. He only narrows his eyes before getting up and leaving the table. I watch as he starts to converse with another man who's standing by the dessert table. Lucia and Maximo turn their attention to Vito next, slandering his job. As much as I hate to admit it, they're... entertaining. And I listen to every word they say, trying to get a feel for Lucia.
There's something so mischievous about her, yet it's clear that she's a Costa with the dangerous air she has about her.
Vito scoots his chair back from the table, shaking his head at the two. He holds out a hand to me and I take it, following him over to Giovanni who's chatting with a different group of people now. His arms are folded across his chest and his lips are pulled into a deep frown, but it's nothing out of the usual.
I never would have expected a mafia party to be so damn peaceful.
I linger in the background as Giovanni and Vito continue to make their rounds. Maximo and Lucia are also moving around the room at this point and I notice they're still drawing the attention of most of the room.
"Giovanni," a man says, interrupting Giovanni's current conversation. I look up, finding a tall man with wide shoulders and a gut that his suit can't quite hide. His salt and pepper hair is balding slightly at the sides. He glances at the man Giovanni is conversing with. "Sorry, Bob, if you'll allow me to interrupt." The other man nods, giving a tense smile before moving away.
Vito's relaxed body tenses up beside me.
A familiar man is standing behind the new one and I squint slightly trying to place him. My heart pounds a little quicker in my chest when I realize it's the man I met at the club with Giovanni, Brutus.
"Sheffield." Giovanni's eyes are hard as he looks at the new man. "I was conversing." Even I recognize that Giovanni is being blatantly disrespectful. I edge closer to Vito and his arm comes around my waist. I try not to think too much about the fact that I feel safer with him.
Sheffield's brows pull together and his lips pull into a sneer. "I understand that I let you have a lot of leniency but you have been completely off your shit lately, Giovanni." His gaze moves to me briefly and he points a finger in my face. I recoil away. "You're fucking parading your mistress all around town with no respect for my daughter."
"Well, I don't respect you, your daughter, or anyone else for that matter, so if you don't get your finger out of my brother's mistress' face, I just may blow it the fuck off." Maximo's voice is low and cool as everyone's attention snaps to him. His fingers are wrapped around the handle of his gun which is pointed at Sheffield’s finger. I inhale a deep breath when I realise how close it puts the weapon to my face. Maximo’s face is hard. Lucia stands just behind him, her gaze just as deadly.
Sheffield blinks but his finger quickly moves out of my face. He pulls at the lapel of his suit jacket, opening his mouth before snapping it closed.
Maximo doesn't lower his gun.
The rest of the party has gone silent.
Ah, so this is what a mafia party really looks like after all the pleasantries are out of the way.
I press a little further into Vito’s side.
"Listen, Giovanni," he hedges carefully. "I think-"
A gunshot goes off and I jerk back, my eyes wide and my heart thundering in my chest. I think Maximo has shot Sheffield until I find the man still on his feet, turning around.
A group of men come storming through the entrance, guns blazing.