CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE: ENZO
“Wegotthebodies taken out. Doc knows a medical examiner who can run the dna under the table, even though we already know they were Ramos,” I tell Giovanni, keeping my posture tight as I stand across from him. “After he’s done, he’ll get the bodies discreetly cremated.”
Giovanni’s jaw only twitches with tension as he looks up at me. I’ve seen him pissed off before, but this seems to be on an entirely different level. There’s something more than a little untamed to him, as if he’s a ticking time bomb set to go off at any moment.
And I sure as shit don’t want to be here when it happens.
“We found the two missing guards stuffed in a broom closet with their throats slit,” I tell him. “It’s how they managed to get in, impersonating them. I noticed that there was something off when Winter kept looking from them to me,” I tell him.
I almost apologize for the mistake, but it's not my fault. I’m not in charge of club security and technically I don’t even work there.
When I’m at the club, the only safety concern I have is Winter. And I made sure that I got her out of harms way as soon as I noticed it.
And it doesn't sit right with me that someone got to her still. But she’s well and alive.
She’s still breathing.
A weird feeling enters my chest, one similar to when I saw Vito pick up a dazed Winter at the club. It made me request he keep me updated on her condition and now… it makes me want to go and check up on her.
I shift slightly and Giovanni’s eyes draw to the movement, but he doesn’t say anything.
Giovanni remains silent and I rack my brain, trying to figure out what else he could possibly be waiting for.
We’re left in complete silence. Until the office door opens and for one of the only times in my life, I’m happy to see Vito walk in.
If anyone can tame Giovanni and his bad moods, it’s him.
Vito pulls up short as he looks at Giovanni, and I watch his lips twitch to the side slightly before his face goes completely blank. I can tell he’s already trying to fix this. It’s what he’s best at after all.
“Giovanni,” he says shortly and that tells me all I need to know.
Giovanni’s head snaps up and he peers at Vito for a moment before he turns his gaze to me. “Dismissed,” he says shortly.
I nod and my gaze meets Vito’s very briefly. He inclines his head to the side slightly and I nod at him.
I don’t like Vito.
Most days, I don’t like Giovanni. But I take my job as his guard seriously. Serious enough that I risk my life every day. And I know where my loyalties lie. And while I don’t like him most days, I hold more respect for him than anybody else, except Maximo. So, I can’t help but to feel discomfort in moments like this when I can tell he’s on the edge.
Because even the most calculating people can make mistakes when they let anger cloud their judgment.
I leave the office without another word, hopeful that Vito will be able to take care of the situation quickly. The guards who were left have already had a bullet placed in their head. If he continues to be angry for much longer, Givoanni will seek out more targets.
At this rate, the only people left in the family will be Gio himself, Vito, Maximo, and maybe me.
My feet move of their own accord, heading to a familiar place.
I don’t knock before I open Maximo’s office door.
I step inside, taking in the way he’s perched in the seat behind his desk.
If I thought Giovanni was about to go off, Maximo already has.
When the man is sitting down, actually thinking, then someone’s impending doom is near and there’s nothing anyone can do about it.
But the least I can do is try.
I close the door behind me, locking it.