Plain Jane and the Mafia Beast

“Like that. Treating me as your damn secretary.”

“What else would I treat you as?” he asked.

“I don’t know. Friend, colleague maybe.”

“Daniel, you have all the numbers. I don’t need to stroke your fucking ego right now. It’s the last thing I want to do, got it?”

Daniel rolled his eyes. “So, you seen anything of that chick yet?”

“Chick?”

“You know. Wrong girl, wrong time. She got on the other end of my gun.” He held his thumb and finger up, pretending to have a gun.

“Don’t fucking bring her up.”

“I’ll take that as a no.”

“She’s not part of this world.”

“Is that your hang-up over that shit? This world ain’t so bad.”

“Were you there when the ex-mistress got tortured? Raped? You know her screams.”

“Please, I’ve heard you draw screams out of men that curdle the blood. Besides, that whore acted out of jealousy and got what she deserved. What does that have to do with your plain chick?”

“Don’t bring her up. You keep doing so, I’ll cut your dick off.”

“Fair, but you’ve got to answer my question, and if it’s a good reason, I’ll back off.”

“So long as you figure it’s a good reason.”

“Pretty much.”

“This life is dangerous. You see what’s happening. I’m the kind of guy people go after to kill. To hunt. I’m not going to let someone hurt her because of me.”

“You like her,” Daniel said.

Vincenzo rolled his eyes. “I don’t need to hear this bullshit.”

“Doesn’t take away from the fact that you clearly have feelings for this woman, otherwise you wouldn’t care.”

“When did we become girls talking about this?”

“You know it’s fine to fall in love,” Daniel said.

He looked over at his guard to see Daniel had in fact become serious. “It’s not going to happen.”

“She’s good for you. The few weeks you were taking care of her, you were a lot happier,” Daniel said. “Damn, that is a good burger.” He threw the wrappings in the trashcan next to them.

Climbing behind the wheel, Vincenzo waited for Daniel to get in before taking off.

While he drove, Daniel looked through the pictures again.

“I totally wish I know what the fuck was going on here,” Daniel said. He kept turning the picture around.

“Will you fucking stop that? It’s distracting.”

“Hold up. Pull the fuck over,” Daniel said.

“What?”

“You heard me, pull over.”

Pulling against the side of the road, he glared at him. “We’ve got shit to do.”

“Look at those two pictures,” Daniel said. “Come on, man. I know I take the piss every now and again but come on. I know when I see something, and I see something now.”

Taking the pictures from Daniel, Vincenzo started to look at them. “What?”

“You remember about five weeks ago, Galiza had a secret meeting? Remember? I’m telling you. That church right there is exactly where that meeting was at.”

“You’re positive.”

“So fucking positive right now. I can guarantee that’s where it was at. I swear to you, Vince. This is the place.”

“If that’s the case, whoever knew about this meeting was the person that told the reporter.”

“Yep, so now we need to know everyone that was involved.”

“I’ll talk to Galiza.”

“I know you and I believe this is an inside job, but will he accept that it is?”

“He’s got no choice.”

“Vince, you’re looking at one of his sons. I know he’s an asshole most of the time, but it’s still one of his sons. His flesh and blood.”

“Look, this is going to be a decision he has to make. We can only point him in the right direction.” Vincenzo ran fingers through his hair. “I’ll talk to him.”

“You still want me to set up the meeting with Gabe?”

“Yeah.”

Whichever way this went, there was a huge chance this was going to get really, really ugly.

Pulling away from the curb, he headed back toward the city.

He thought about Arika and what she was doing. He did keep a tab on her even at a distance. In order for him to keep her safe, they couldn’t be together. No matter how much he craved her. Going to her apartment had been a big fucking mistake, something he shouldn’t have done. It had been a long day. At the time he didn’t want to go back home to where the memory of her still lingered. He’d wanted to be selfish and to have her to himself.

Women had come and gone from his life. He used them for a bit of pleasure and walked away.

The last time he was with Arika, he knew he had to walk away, as otherwise he wouldn’t leave her. He didn’t understand these feelings, and keeping her at a distance was the only option. For the first time in his life, he felt for another human being. All of his life, he’d not cared about anyone or anything. He’d done more to end lives.

Arika was the first person he’d ever saved.