“He called for you,” he mutters.
I don’t like that. All of twelve people in the world have my cell phone number, and as the head of our family Johnny is one of them. Why did Johnny call Pop when he could have called me? “What does he want?”
A shrug of his shoulders. “His daughter, he’s having problems with her.”
“Why is he calling me about problems with his daughter?” It’s only as I think hard, I remember Johnny has one. Johnny had a son from his wife who got capped when he was only twenty-three. The daughter is from Conti’s mistress. When the mistress died he sent the girl overseas to a boarding school in Italy. “I had no idea she was even stateside.”
Interesting, his eyes slide away from mine. “The girl, her name is Regina. She turned twenty-two last month. She came back to the States two years ago when Johnny got sick. Johnny had to beg her to come, she didn’t want to leave university. She’s book smart, got into a good school, University of Turin.”
He rolls his eyes. “Not so street-smart, though. She thinks she’s in love. Problem is the guy is a scumbag posing as a white knight. Regina won’t listen to reason.”
“Why does he need me? Conti wants the guy on ice or something? I don’t get why I have to go all the way to New York to do it when he has a half dozen guys who could handle it.”
The hit man thing is a movie myth. Everyone did their part when it came to killing, usually the person who could get closest to the hit. If the hit wasn’t someone in the family, then it would fall to whoever in the crew’s turn it was or would do the job best.
Pop shrugs again. It doesn’t fool me for a minute.
“What? Don’t fuck with me, Pop. It’s a good thing you don’t sit down at the tables anymore, you are shit for a poker face.”
His smile is sly. “He thinks you might be able to sort her out without making the guy dead. If she knows Johnny wacked the guy, she’ll never forgive him. They already got problems—she doesn’t want anything to do with family business or Johnny now that he’s not dying. Until she met the guy she was talking about going back to Italy.”
I don’t blame the girl for not wanting anything to do with family business, especially if she didn’t grow up in the life. When it comes to Johnny, he’s old-school. It doesn’t matter what she wants, she’s his daughter, she’ll do what he says. There was talk just before his son died of Johnny trying to make a marriage happen to a capo’s daughter, even though his son wanted to marry the girl he’d been with since he was eighteen. I have no idea what the hell Johnny thinks I can do. At the same time, it’s not for me to question my Don.
“When does he want me there?”
“Today.”
Fuck.
“The quicker you handle it the quicker you can be back.”
“When’s the next flight to New York?”
“I booked you already in business class, the flight leaves in an hour and a half.”
“Fine, you want anything from New York?” I ask as I text Everett I’m ready to go. He responds he’s less than a minute away.
“Come back with a wife, we’ll make that my birthday present.”
Shit.
He laughs. “You forget every year. I would be more surprised if you remembered.”
“My bad, considering how old you are now we need to celebrate every one like it’s your last.” Pop is only fifty-six today. Yeah, he had his kids when he was still a kid himself. My bitch of a mother set him up, to get out of an engagement to a capo twice her age. As far as Pop is concerned, he has no regrets, he would do it all over again to get his sons.
If it weren’t for the silver streaks in his hair and beard, no one would be able to guess he’s that old. He looks like he’s maybe forty-five, he works out every day same as I do although he goes a little heavier on the weights. I prefer the leaner muscle of a baseball player to being built like a linebacker like Pop. To me a mass of muscle is a stereotype of the mafia I’m not interested in perpetuating.
Shaking his head. “Enzo thinks he’s having a surprise party, he’s using the pasta making as a cover. It’s fine.”
“Why the fuck didn’t they say anything to me?” No one said anything, Chloe and Enzo just came into the club for dinner last week.
“Because you don’t keep secrets from me, even good ones like a surprise party.”
“True. All right, I’m not coming back with a wife. I’ll get you something better.”
2
Regina