by Leah Wilde
“Seriously, come on, let’s go,” Fiona said, leaning down to speak directly in his face like a drill sergeant. “What, you’re just going to give up? That’s it? We finally get a shred of evidence against your mom and your brother and you’re willing to throw in the towel?”
“It’s not like that,” Vince said defensively, even though he knew that she wasn’t stretching the truth very far.
“Then tell me what it’s like,” Fiona said, calling his bluff.
Vince sighed deeply and rubbed his forehead, willing the pounding in his head to fade away, to no avail. “Look, I buried my dad today, and then two seconds later, my mother and brother stole the company out from under me. Just like that.” He snapped his fingers to show how quickly things happened. “There was nothing I could. It’s like you said earlier. There are too many enforcers, too many people whose loyalties are aligned with my mother. Otherwise she never would’ve been able to kill this many people,” he said, gesturing to the papers on the ground beside him.
“We have to try,” Fiona insisted, leaning down to pick up the papers. “We can’t just give up.”
“Why not?” Vince asked, even though he had a feeling he already knew the answer. It’s because of Paulie, he thought. Because of his legacy. Because of what the Romano family used to stand for. Loyalty. Honor. Respect. All of that deserves to be defended.
But Fiona surprised him by shrugging. “For your own goddamn piece of mind,” she said. “You have to fight this, otherwise you’re going to feel like your life got taken away from you, and you didn’t do anything to stop it. You’ll never be able to live with yourself if you don’t come with me right now.”
Vince looked up into Fiona’s shining, brilliant, honest eyes, and he knew that she was telling the truth. All his life, he’d been searching for the control that he felt he’d never naturally had. He’d been compensating for what he felt he was missing, exerting power in a safe way to prove to himself that he wasn’t weak. But now there was a real opportunity to show what he was made of, and he was cowering like a little boy. “How do you know we’re not just going to get killed?” he muttered.
Fiona surprised him again, this time by shrugging in a nonchalant manner. “I don’t. Now come on, come with me. If I’m going to get whacked, I’d rather it not be alone.”
Maybe because she was so flippant about it, maybe because he could sense the thread of fear in her eyes, maybe because she was just so damn beautiful that he would do anything she said—he got up and followed her out of the warehouse.
“What do we do now?” Vince asked as they headed back towards her apartment.
“First, we sleep,” Fiona said. “We’re going to need our strength if we’re going to do this.”
“Do what?” Vince asked.
“Go to war,” Fiona said simply, filling Vince with a calm confidence that he’d thought he’d lost forever.
Right, he said to himself as he followed Fiona back to her apartment, back to her blissfully soothing bed. I can do this. I have to do this. I have to be strong.
Chapter Twenty-Three
The next morning, the plan came together all at once, popping into Vince’s head as soon as he woke up, still clutching onto Fiona even in his sleep. “Fiona,” he whispered softly, wanting to wake her up as gently as possible. “Fiona, I know what to do.”
“Hmm?” she murmured as she blinked her way awake. “What?”
“To get my mother and Guido,” he explained. “We can’t go to the cops or the feds or anyone right now, not without proof. So, we have to get some.”
“But how?” Fiona asked groggily, wiping her eyes in an attempt to shake the tiredness out of her head.
Vince smiled down at her, overwhelmed by how goddamn cute she was. He loved seeing her like this, bare of make-up, totally relaxed. It was so comforting, seeing her in her natural habitat. He wanted to make a habit of it, but he didn’t want to push too hard. He didn’t want to come on too strong and scare her away. “I have to set a meeting with Guido and my mother,” he explained, tentatively reaching out to rub the side of Fiona’s head, brushing her hair out of the way gently. Her eyes slid shut for a moment, soothed by Vince’s careful touch, but then they snapped back open as his words sunk in.
“Isn’t that dangerous, though?” she asked, a sense of urgency to her voice as she straightened up next to him, finally waking all the way up. Vince felt a little sad about that. He’d love to watch her sleep or talk groggily for hours if he could.
“Yes, probably,” Vince said, admitting the truth rather than lying to her for the sake of convenience. “There’ll be some danger, but I don’t think they’ll hurt me.”
Fiona sighed and shook her head. “You didn’t hear your mother when she threatened me. She meant business, Vince.”
“She’s always like that,” Vince argued, even though he couldn’t make the pit of fear at the bottom of his stomach go away very easily. “But if she wanted to kill me, she’s had plenty of opportunity thus far to make it happen already. She doesn’t want to do it if she can avoid it. So I’m just going to meet with her and pretend that everything is okay. She’ll probably be relieved that I’m not pissed at her for deposing me.”
Fiona’s brow furrowed as she considered Vince’s proposition. “So, you make her let her guard down and then…?”
“I get her to admit what she’s done, while secretly taping her. The feds have been pulling that shit for years, getting a guy in the organization to flip for them and then wiring him up so they can collect evidence to put us away. I figure it’s about time we appropriate their tools for ourselves.”
Fiona nodded slowly, quiet for a minute before she finally said, “It’s a good plan. I like it.”
“Okay, I’ll call my mom and set a meeting up,” Vince said, swinging his legs over the side of Fiona’s bed and reaching for his phone on the bedside table.
“What should I do?” Fiona asked, getting up along with Vince.
“Wait here,” Vince said, wincing inside when he saw how Fiona’s face fell in disappointment. “I can’t bring you with me, Fiona. You know that.”
“Yeah, I guess I do,” Fiona admitted, sighing deeply and nodding in agreement. “There’s no way she’d trust you enough to talk about the hits she’s arranged if I’m there, that’s for sure. So, you have to go alone.” She hugged herself, wrapping her arms around her torso tightly, and Vince’s heart fell in his chest, just seeing how scared she was.
“Hey,” he said, stepping closer to her so he could wrap his arms around her and make her look directly into his eyes. “It’s going to be okay. I promise.”
“How do you know?” Fiona asked nervously.
“Because it’s my family,” Vince replied. “They’re fucked-up and awful and maybe even evil, but I know them. I know how they’ll react to things. My mom is going to open up and tell me the truth, if only just to brag about it. She’s always been complaining about how she doesn’t get enough credit for helping Dad to run the organization. Once I get her to relax and have a few glasses of wine with me, she’ll open right up. It’ll be easy, I swear.”
“But you’ll be walking into a lion’s den,” Fiona argued, staring up at him with worry etched all over her face.
“That’s true,” Vince agreed. “But you’ve forgotten something. I’m a lion, too.”
That made Fiona crack a smile, her face lighting up a little as she smirked up at Vince. “Yeah. That’s right, isn’t it? You are.” She leaned in to kiss him, gently brushing their lips together. Vince tried to deepen the kiss, reaching behind Fiona to grab at her ass, but she pulled away a second later, putting a hand on his chest to keep him at bay. “Tangerine,” she said.
“All right, all right,” Vince said, holding his hands up in defeat. “Not now. We’ve got business to do.”
“You have business to do,” Fiona said with a sheepish smile. “I’ve got to stay at home with my dad, who’s probably wondering what the hell is going on.”
&n
bsp; Vince nodded and stepped closer again, just to press their foreheads together this time. “Okay. I’ll be back soon, I promise. As soon as I can.”
“You text me as soon as you get something incriminating on your mother, okay?” Fiona said, dropping a soft kiss on both of Vince’s cheeks before letting him step away.
“All right. See you soon,” Vince said as he exited her bedroom, leaving her house without looking back, even though he knew Fiona was following him to the door. He couldn’t let himself look at her again, otherwise temptation might get the better of him and cause him to fall back into bed with her. Later, he promised himself as he walked to a central area around a bus stop about a half mile away from Fiona’s apartment and then dialed his mother’s phone number.
“Victoria Romano speaking,” his mother said into his ear as soon as she answered the call.
“Ma, hi, it’s me,” Vince said, wanting to sound as casual as possible.
“Oh. Hello, dear,” his mother said after a short pause. She sounded a little stiff and awkward, like she wasn’t expecting to hear from Vince so soon.
“So how are you holding up?” Vince asked. He didn’t want to let on that he was at all upset about the events of the day before, so he kept his tone light but a little concerned and interested, like he was really invested in his mother’s peace of mind.
“Oh, fine, dear, I’m fine,” his mother said.
“That’s good,” Vince said. “I know it can be tough, you know, since you’ve been so busy ever since Dad passed.”
“Yes, well, I suppose it’s all catching up to me now,” his mother said, sighing deeply. You fucking bitch, Vince thought to himself, his jaw tightening painfully as anger washed over him. You’re not actually upset. You fucking killed him.
“I just wanted to see if there’s anything I can do for you, since you’re going through so much,” Vince said, grimacing at the words that were leaving his mouth.
“Oh, nothing, dear. You know me. I can take care of myself,” Mama Romano replied. Yeah, you sure fucking do take care of yourself, don’t you? Vince thought to himself bitterly.
“Well, let’s meet up,” Vince said. “Maybe in a couple hours, if you’re available. I don’t have anything on the docket today, and I’d love to see you and catch up. We haven’t really had a chance to talk since I came back.”
There was a slight pause in which all Vince could hear was the low, shallow sound of his mother’s breathing. Did she know what he was doing? Did she suspect him? Finally, she made a little “Mm” sound, and Vince could hear the unmistakable sound of her long fingernails tapping on a hard surface. His heart froze in his chest, and he looked around in every direction around the bus stop to make sure that nobody was watching him, waiting for an order from his mother to carry out a hit. But he couldn’t see anything suspicious or out of the ordinary. You got this, he said to himself. It’s just your mother. You can manipulate your mother. You have the control. You can do this.
“I really need to see you,” he said to his mom, still trying to keep his tone light so that he didn’t seem too desperate. “I just miss being around my family, you know? I need to check in with you to recharge.”
“I understand that, darling,” his mother said. “All right. I’m free for the early afternoon if you want to get together for lunch and chat. You can come to the compound and we’ll—”
“Come to the penthouse,” Vince interjected, wanting to arrange the meeting on his territory. It would be safer that way. He felt pretty confident that his servants, at the very least, were still loyal to him. His mother couldn’t pull off a hit on his own property. “You need to get away from the compound from a bit. I’m sure you have Guido and everybody else in your hair 24/7. I’ll have Yuri make you a nice lunch, and you can just relax and let my servants take care of you. Wouldn’t that be nice?”
Again, his mother was silent for an excruciatingly tense moment. Vince’s heart pounded against his ribcage, his body fighting off the urge to tremble as he awaited his mother’s response. Finally, she made another sound deep in her throat and said, “All right. That sounds lovely. Thank you, Vincent. I appreciate you reaching out to me after what happened yesterday. I know that couldn’t have been easy for you.”
“No, it’s fine,” Vince rushed to say. “Really, I’d rather let Guido take care of all the hard bullshit and have an easier time of it myself. You know what I mean?”
“Well, after being at the helm of things for three decades, I can certainly understand the appeal of a less hectic lifestyle, yes,” Mama Romano said. “I’ll be over at your penthouse in an hour, dear. Is that all right?”
“Yes, yes, that sounds great. I’ll see you then,” Vince said, hanging up before his mother could make any demands on the type of food served for lunch. He knew she always had to control everything but not today. Today he was going to take back the power. Today he was going to win.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Fiona flipped over the piece of French toast in her frying pan, focusing on creating a relatively healthy brunch for her father, who had been nice enough to wear headphones all night long while she fucked Vince. In reality, though, her whole body was shaking a little bit, vibrating with energy that seemed to hum inside her blood cells, screaming at her to jump into action. But what could she do? Vince was taking care of everything, and there was no way Fiona could get involved and help him out without messing everything up. As far as Mama Romano was concerned, Fiona was permanently out of the picture. They needed the Romano matriarch to trust Vince if they were going to gather enough evidence to take control back from her and Guido.
But still, it was driving Fiona crazy, sitting here doing nothing. There was no way she could clear her mind of worry, not when Vince was in the belly of the beast, surrounded by people who’d be perfectly willing to have him killed if he posed the slightest problem.
Her phone dinged a moment later, tearing her out of her anxious thoughts. She flipped the last piece of French toast out of the frying pan and switched off the stove before reaching into her pocket to look at her phone. It was a text from Vince, telling her that his mother had just arrived at the penthouse and that “all systems were go,” signaling to Fiona that he was taping the conversation with Mrs. Romano. Good, Fiona thought, forcing herself to breathe a sigh of relief. Everything was going according to plan so far. Everything’s going to be okay, she told herself as she slapped some maple syrup and fruit on the plate piled with French toast and walked over to her dad’s bedroom to surprise him.
She’d just dropped the food off with her dad, who was still listening to music with his eyes closed in his bedroom, when she heard a light knock at the front door of the apartment. That’s weird, Fiona thought as she walked to the main entrance hallway, just off to the side of the kitchen. They almost never got targeted by salesmen, and Vince was all the way across town.
Fiona opened the door to reveal…Guido, standing there in a sharp suit with a bright, beaming smile on his face. “Hey, there, dollbaby,” Guido said, pushing Fiona aside slightly as he forced his way into the apartment. Fiona was so caught off-guard that she just stood there, watching with her jaw dropped open as Guido inspected the living room and kitchen area of her apartment.
“What are you doing here?” Fiona asked, struggling to keep her voice steady even as her heart began to pound in her throat.
“Just wanted to check in on my favorite girl,” Guido said, turning back around to face her, that vomit-inducing smile still plastered across his face. “How have you been holding up since you quit?”
“Fantastic,” Fiona said in a deadpan tone of voice, walking back over to the front door and opening it wider to wordlessly tell Guido to get the hell out of her apartment.
“Well, aren’t you going to offer me something to drink?” Guido said, raising his eyebrows and wrinkling up his forehead in mock-surprise, as if he was utterly shocked that she wasn’t happy to see him.
“I don’t have anything to say to
you,” Fiona said, gesturing for him to walk back out the door. Guido’s smile dropped then, and he stared at her with something cold and hard and mean in his eyes, but Fiona didn’t look away. She couldn’t show any sign of weakness, not now.
“That’s not very hospitable,” Guido said, stepping a little closer to Fiona. She inhaled deeply, steeling herself as well as she could as Guido approached her, stopping only a few inches away from her. “You know, without me you probably couldn’t even afford this shitty place.”
“I think you mean without Paulie,” Fiona said pointedly. “But he’s gone now, and I don’t work for you anymore. So get out.”
“Hmm,” Guido said, clicking his tongue from behind his teeth in impatience. “You’re being very rude to me. I’ll have to think of a way to reprimand you.”
“Get. The. Hell. Out,” Fiona said again, narrowing her eyes in an attempt to show Guido that she wasn’t afraid of him.