by Naomi West
She was finishing up a late breakfast, and her eyes wandered up from her plate to meet mine. They were the deep sapphire of a night sky and somehow bigger than usual. I had to blink to keep myself from getting lost in them. In a pair of shorts and one of my shirts, with her hair piled on top of her head in a messy bun, she was the definitive picture of sexy.
Alexis set down her fork. “What do I do if something happens to you?”
“What?” I choked down a laugh. “Nothing is going to happen to me. I’m what happens to other people.”
“Yes, mostly,” she agreed. “But what if you go out there and you don’t come back? How am I supposed to know? What do I do? Where can I go that I’ll be safe?” Her arms were folded across her chest as though she was holding herself together.
“We don’t need to worry about that. Everything is going just fine, and you’re going to be fine.” I thought about it for a moment. “Is this about your trip with Jianna? Did something happen that I need to know about?”
She shrugged. “I was honest with her when it benefitted me, and everything I said was in keeping with what you and I discussed. But she suspects me, Lorenzo. She doesn’t think I’m good enough for you. She’s not as bad as Piero, but I can tell that she doesn’t believe all of it.”
What could I do? “I’m sure you’re right. Nobody in a crime family is going to trust someone completely. But if it comes to a point of anyone doing anything about it, I’ll know. I’ve been with them long enough that I know how it all works. You don’t have anything to worry about.”
“Still,” she countered. “What do I do if something happens to you? I’ve been relying on you to protect me, but at some point, that won’t be the case anymore. I don’t know how long you plan on keeping up this scheme, but it would be nice to have a backup plan.”
“Where is all this coming from? You never thought about it before.” I needed to get out the door, but I couldn’t leave her like this. She looked so pale. “Listen. Maybe when I get back we can work on something. I’ll teach you how to use a gun and arrange a new life for you on the other side of the country. It’ll be fine.” I swept out the door.
Taking the stairs instead of the elevator, I fumed over her words. Alexis had every right to question me on such things. We had been living together for almost two weeks. While that wasn’t a very long time for anyone else, it was an eternity in our respective positions. We had been thrown together by fate and some strange force that didn’t allow me to do the job I had been sent to do. Even though things weren’t as tense as they had been for the first couple of days, I was by all rights still her captor.
But why did she have to ask about when she would be leaving? I had never really established a definitive timeline. I just knew that she had to be my girlfriend as far as Matteo and the others were concerned and that we would have to carry on our theatrics until the time was right. If I “broke up” with her too soon, it would only make them wonder about her more. Yet, if she stayed too long, she wouldn’t be able to get away any more than I would.
I thundered down the stairs to my car, that much angrier with myself for offering to do something as stupid as teaching her how to use a weapon. I had no guarantee that she wouldn’t turn around and use it on me. And I wasn’t ready to make arrangements for her to leave. It was still too risky, and I hadn’t decided where she would go yet.
I tried to put it all out of my mind as I headed to Matteo’s house, but it proved harder in practice. Alexis was the only thing I could think about anymore.
Jianna herself met me at the door. “Lorenzo, come into the kitchen for a cup of coffee.”
“I’d love to, but it sounds as though I ought to get to Matteo right away. He seemed concerned.”
“Nonsense.” She took my arm and led me down the long hallway. “There’s always time for a cup of coffee, and even Matteo would agree. Come, sit down for a minute.” She placed me at the old oak kitchen table and turned to the coffee pot.
“It sounds like you and Alexis had a nice time the other day.” I wasn’t sure at all that this was true, but it seemed like the right thing to say.
“She’s a nice girl. Perhaps even a little too nice. Considering her rough past, I would think she would have more problems than she does.” Jianna put a steaming mug in front of me and sat down with one of her own. “Why don’t you tell me what her real story is?”
I leaned back in surprise, wondering just what the two women had talked about. “What do you mean?”
“The more I find out about her, the less I’m sure I believe it. I don’t want you to think you have to cover for her. If she’s just some random girl you met in a bar, then so be it. You don’t have to make the story sound better for our sake.”
The coffee was strong and I reached for the sugar dispenser in the middle of the table. “I’m not following you.”
“Where did she really come from, Lorenzo? What’s her real story? Is she actually trying to get away from a crazy ex, or is there something else shameful in her past?”
“I’ve already told you. I knew her a long time ago, but I never really had the chance to get close to her. When we met again at the club, it was like kismet. I could tell she was in trouble, and after a while, she told me about her ex. I couldn’t just leave her there and I didn’t want to.” My eyes drifted out the window as I imagined an entirely different scenario than the way Alexis and I had actually met. “I wanted to protect her and the best way to do that was to bring her home with me. I know that if her ex tries to come after her again, I can do something about it.”
Jianna pressed her lips together. “Sometimes I think your heart is too big to belong to a hitman, Lorenzo. But if you swear to me this is true, then I’ll believe you. I just don’t want you getting hurt.”
“I won’t,” I promised, but I knew that might be a lie as well.
Matteo was waiting in the sunroom on the back of the house. He was slumped in a wingback chair and had one foot up on a small stool. His tie hung loosely around his neck and he hadn’t shaved. Piero sat nearby, ever present, scowling at the screen of a laptop.
“How are things going, boss?” I asked as I made myself comfortable on the sofa. “Are things staying quiet?”
“No,” Piero answered for him. “It seems that a lower member of the Calzoni clan by the name of Marco is rallying the remains of Frankie’s men around him.” He glanced at me for only a second before returning to his computer.
“We expected this,” I reasoned. “Frankie had no sons and his highest-ranking capos all died with him. I don’t imagine that this Marco will last long or make it very far.” I watched Matteo, expecting him to nod, smile, and agree with me like he always did. But his dark eyes seemed dead inside and I couldn’t be sure he had even heard me.
“That’s not a very safe assumption,” Piero countered. “There’s no telling what this guy is capable of. Just because he wasn’t at Frankie’s party doesn’t mean he can’t get a new business set up and going. Someone must step into Calzoni’s place, after all. If we know who it is, then we should eliminate him before he has a chance to make any progress. That will send out a message to anyone else who has ideas about making it big.”
I scratched at my beard, wishing Piero would just go jump off a cliff and leave the rest of us to take care of things. “I can see that, but it takes time to plan a hit. There’s a lot of surveillance to be done if it’s going to go off without any problems. Even if I were to start today, I wouldn’t want to make an attempt for at least a week.”
“I never said you would be the one doing the work, first of all.” Piero was looking at me now, pure hatred in his eyes. “And it doesn’t seem right to me that you are so unwilling to get rid of our enemies. What, you took out Frankie, and now you just think you’re done? There’s always work to do and you should know that.”
I turned to Matteo, hoping I could shut Piero out of this conversation. “Where are the others? What does Vettoria think of this plan?”
&n
bsp; Matteo shook his head. “I haven’t called any of them. It’s just the three of us for now. Lorenzo, I have this sneaking suspicion that someone will betray me. Someone close to me will see the chance to make it on his own now that Calzoni is out of the picture. As much as I would like to think that there is only enough room in this city for one crime family, we all know the truth. There will always be someone else trying to get a piece of the pie."
“But who would do such a thing?” I asked. “Matteo, I’ve only known your men to be fiercely loyal to you for the last ten years. And surely it would make more sense for someone to attempt a rise to power while Calzoni was still around. That way, you would be concentrating on Frankie and not the new guy.”
“In some ways, yes,” Matteo agreed. “But Calzoni would be after him too. There is only one enemy right now, making a safer haven for those who are power-hungry. And let’s face it, Lorenzo—this wouldn’t be the first time, would it?”
He had often told me, once he had brought me into his mansion and was raising me as his own, of the man who had betrayed him. As his best friend and confidante, Matteo had trusted him explicitly. He never saw it coming when a hit was put out on him, and it was only the faithfulness of Matteo’s other men that had kept him alive. The idea of it had continued to haunt Matteo.
“It’s simple,” Piero interrupted. “We put out a hit on Marco Calzoni. Then we can get back to building luxury apartment complexes and buying fancy boats. Lord knows I could use a day out in the sun.”
“Like I said, we’d have to be careful about it.” I wasn’t interested in the job, but I knew it was a solid bet that Matteo would give it to me. He needed someone he could trust, and someone who knew what they were doing. “If what you say about Marco is true, then he knows exactly what happened to Frankie. He’ll expect the same thing to happen to him, and he’ll probably have guards all over the place. It’ll be tricky.”
“How do we know it isn’t you?” Piero challenged. “You got an awful lot of money for offing Frankie—plenty of money to hire goons to pose as a new group under the Calzoni flag. You’re the one introducing new people into our family and pretending it’s all innocent. I should start having someone strip you of your weapons at the door.”
“Piero! We talked about this! Leave the matter alone. I trust Lorenzo. If he trusts Alexis, then I do as well.” Matteo was still slouched in his chair, but his face was slowly becoming more animated.
“But—”
“No. Now stop making a fool of yourself.” Matteo turned back to me. “Let’s come to a compromise. Piero, put some surveillance out on Marco Calzoni. See what he’s really up to and if he’s a threat. Report everything you find to Lorenzo and myself, and then we’ll make our decision from there.”
“Why should there be any decision to make?” Piero’s eyes were wide. “We eliminate people left and right just for accidentally getting in the way. This shouldn’t be any different or require any more thought.”
Matteo held up his hand, palm out. “Calm down, Piero. As the years have gone by, I’ve come to realize that there is something to be said for slow decisions. We can take quick action later, but it would be wise to gather all the information we can get.”
“Very well. I’ll put men on it right away.” He slammed his computer shut and began to get up.
“Just a minute.” Matteo set only the lightest fingertip on his son’s sleeve, but it stopped him instantly. “I want you to do it yourself.”
“What?” Piero studied his father’s face as though he had lost his mind. “I have other things to do—other phone calls to make.”
“You agree that I should worry about this situation?” Matteo challenged.
“Well, yes, but—”
“Then there’s no reason you can’t do a little bit of spying for me. Just make sure you document everything—and I mean everything—so that I can get a full, detailed report. It isn’t as though you have anything else going on right now.”
Piero sighed, no arguments left for him. “Yes, sir.”
When our miniature meeting was finally released for the day and I drove home in my black Lexus, I realized something: I would have to get Alex away from the Morettis as soon as possible.
Chapter Twelve
Alexis
“I need to get out of here.” I paced the apartment, beginning to behave like Lorenzo when he was frantic. “I need a walk in the park, or a picnic, or something. I can’t stand this anymore.” I had been staring at these same walls for far too long. The few outings that Lorenzo had let me go on with him were always short and stressful. Though I no longer thought of him as my captor, I certainly felt like a prisoner.
Lorenzo glanced up at me, those dark eyes watching me carefully through his thick fringe of lashes. “You know that isn’t possible.” His voice was calm and patient. He had spread an old towel out over the coffee table and decorated it with numerous gun parts. He seemed to know exactly how to take his weapons apart and put them back together again, but they looked like nothing more than random metal bits to me. These guns were part of his job, but it was clear that he enjoyed keeping them clean and in good repair. His work seemed to soothe him, but it only agitated me more. The place stunk of gun cleaner, a pungent smell somewhat like rubbing alcohol.
It only made me all the more desperate to get out of there. “Well, I need it to be possible! I’m not a homebody. I’ve got to get out and do something!” For the first time, I felt myself getting truly angry with him. My anger would have been justified at any other time: when he had kidnapped me, forced me to stay with him and pretend to be his girlfriend, or even when he had ruined my first big gig back at the Calzoni mansion. He was trying to keep me safe, and I knew that, but it didn’t make me feel any better.
He shrugged, not letting my rage get to him. “If you can wait a couple of hours, we can probably go out for dinner later.” Lorenzo sprayed more cleaner on a small mechanism and rubbed it gently with a cloth.
I slammed my hand down on the corner of the coffee table to get his attention. He needed to know I was serious. A tiny spring bounced and rolled off the table. He retrieved it, polished it, and returned it to its place. “Dinner isn’t good enough! We always go out to dinner and it’s the same thing every time. We can only go to certain restaurants, you insist on sitting with your back to the corner, and we’re only there long enough to gobble down our meals and leave. I’m not even allowed to go to the bathroom!” I knew I should have enjoyed some of the places we had been. After all, I never would have been able to afford them on my own. But having a rich date who didn’t mind spending his money wasn’t all that exciting when we couldn’t stick around long enough to even enjoy dessert.
With a sigh, Lorenzo set down his cleaning rag. “Alexis, calm down. You’re going to make the neighbors press their ears to the walls just so they can hear us argue.”
“Good!” I shouted. “Let them hear me! See if I give a shit!” I had yet to meet any of the neighbors, which I’m sure was by Lorenzo’s design, and I had a good feeling they would have heard all sorts of weird things from this apartment had they paid attention.
“You’ll give a shit,” he replied calmly, “when someone figures out our little scheme. You’ll give a shit when Matteo—or whoever he sends here—busts down that door and shoots us both in the forehead. Trust me, you’ll give a shit then.”
“But can’t we at least just go for a walk? I don’t need to go shopping or to eat or anything like that. I just want to get out and smell the fresh air for a while. You can come with me and you can bring all the toys you want.” I gestured helplessly at the parts on the table.
“It isn’t a matter of how many guns I bring.” He was staying patient, even though he’d explained all this to me before. “It’s a matter of being able to watch our backs. If we’re out on the street for any decent period of time, I have no way of knowing who might be watching us or following us. And I’m sure they are watching. That’s how life works when you’re in
the business I am.” He looked down the barrel of a gun before running a long brush down it. “Just crossing the hall to get the elevator and go down the parking garage is a potential hazard.”
“You’re in the business of taking risks, right?” I challenged. I leaned forward, knowing that my cleavage was nicely exposed. I was willing to use any tactics necessary to get out of this damn apartment. “Then come and take a risk with me. Live a little bit, Lorenzo. I’m dying in here, and nothing’s going to happen. I mean, it hasn’t happened yet. If someone was going to kill me, wouldn’t they have done it already?” Only a week ago, I had been terrified of what might happen with the Morettis. Now, I was too aggravated to care. Let them shoot me if it just meant I didn’t have to be miserable anymore.