Family Ties (Morelli Family 4)

Shaking her head, she says, “I know. It’s not that.”

“Then what is it?”

“Nothing.” She manufactures a smile and takes my hand, heading for the steps. “Let’s do this. At least if you are going to murder me, you gave me a good last day.”

She’s joking, but it grates on me because it’s forced. It’s not natural. I don’t know why she stopped having fun, I don’t know what I did to dull her shine, but I want to know so I never do it again. Apparently she would rather sweep it under the rug though. I let her take my hand and I follow her down the stairs, but I still kind of want to prod more.

Chapter Eight

Francesca empties her second drink in twenty minutes, her gaze on the waitress as she heads over to the private little nook we’re in. “One more, please!”

I smile faintly, moving the glass she just put down. “You sure? You seem a little tipsy already.”

“I want to be a lot tipsy.”

I subtly grab my phone, lighting it up and checking the time. I’m not sure we even have time for one more drink, but I’m no more eager than she is to leave. We’re both fucked if we miss our plane though, so I should do the responsible thing and cut her off.

Francesca closes her eyes and sighs peacefully, swaying in her seat. “I love this song.”

I listen for a few seconds, but I don’t recognize it. “What is it?”

“Ed Sheeran.”

That’s a person, not a song, but I wouldn’t know any of his songs by name anyway. It doesn’t really matter.

“We’re gonna have to drink this last one kinda fast,” I say instead.

Wrinkling her nose up with displeasure, she says, “I don’t want to go home. Let’s stay here. Let’s move here.”

“To New York?” I ask, smiling as I lean back in my seat.

“To this bar. To this booth. Let’s just stay here and not leave.”

“I don’t really have that much mobility in my particular line of work. I could maybe move us to the suburbs, but I think this specific booth in Manhattan is slightly outside of what I can make happen.”

She sighs heavily, like I’ve dealt her a death blow. “That makes me sad. Moving here would make me happy.”

It makes me die a little, hearing that. I know she’s just tipsy and having a good time, but it kills me hearing her wish for something I can’t give her.

I mean, I guess I could, technically. Turning down boss once it’s offered to me wouldn’t go over real well though, and it’s not like I’d be out even if I did—I just wouldn’t be the boss. Every way you look at it, it would be a bad call.

I can’t do all that.

She doesn’t mean it anyway.

Taking a sip of my own drink, I tell her, “Nah. New York’s nice to visit, but Chicago’s home.”

“Your home, maybe,” she mutters. “Chicago’s my prison.”

Well, she’s a fun drunk tonight.

“Let’s do hypotheticals,” I suggest. “I’ll start.”

“Hypotheticals?” She raises a dark eyebrow, but nods. “Okay, I’m game.”

“If you could only have a relationship with one member of your family for the rest of your life, who would you choose and why?”

“I’d never hear from anyone else ever again?”

I nod. “That’s right.”

“Hm,” she murmurs, sitting back. “I guess I’d have to go with Vince.”

That surprises me. “The high school kid?”

She nods. “We’re pretty close. The way it is in my family, there are two sides. Either you love Mateo and you’re in his circle, or you don’t really like him that much and you try to keep as much of your life to yourself as humanly possible. Adrian is obviously team Mateo.”

“Adrian’s not really family,” I point out.

She rolls her eyes dismissively. “Sure he is. Not blood, but he’s as much family as I am. Anyway, then you have the rest of us. Cherie, Vince, me, Alec, Joey—we do what we have to and we’re loyal to Mateo because we have to be, but we don’t especially like him. We try to keep him out of our lives, because Mateo is a disaster and he wrecks everything he touches.”

“I don’t know,” I say, shaking my head. “He’s sure built up a pretty good empire for someone who ruins everything he touches.”

“I don’t mean business. He’s good at that kind of stuff. But love and relationships, no. I have nothing to do with his business. I live in the house it pays for, but that’s as far as it goes for me. Whatever havoc he wreaks on the outside world isn’t my problem. Inside the walls of our house, that’s the havoc I care about.”

“Things are pretty calm right now though, right? I haven’t heard anything, at least.”

Nodding pensively, she says, “Yeah, but it makes me nervous. It feels like the calm before another storm.” Bringing her gaze back to me, she asks, “What about you? Which family member would you keep?”