“Summer.” A voice I’m all too familiar with calls from behind me.
I turn to face him. “Dad, what are you doing here?” His face is bruised from Enzo beating him in the service station. A small pang of guilt ebbs its way into my heart and all of a sudden, I feel sorry for the man I once looked up to.
“Oh, sweetheart, I had to check you were alright.” He hesitates, not wanting to crowd me.
“Why wouldn’t I be okay?” I look at him confused.
“Richards.” Enzo’s voice cuts the thick air like butter. He stands beside me, his body tense.
“I’ve come to tell you some important information. But not here.” He scans the airport and returns his gaze to me. “I’ll meet you outside.” He nods and strides off.
“Come on.” Enzo grabs our bags and I follow him out the airport exit and down toward the cab rank.
“What do you think this is about? I hope he’s not going to charge you for shooting that guy at the gas station.” I grab a hold of Enzo’s arm.
“Not if he knows what’s good for him,” Enzo says under his breath.
We meet my dad at the end of the cab line. He looks tired, his eyes are circled with dark shadows and he looks as though he hasn’t shaved in weeks. He does not look like the same man that I grew up with.
“Here.” He hands Enzo an envelope. “Open it when you’re driving.”
“What’s this?” Enzo places the envelope under his arm and stares at my dad.
“I’ve been investigating Giovanni Abruzzi, Andrea Barbieri, and Marco De Costa. These three headhunted an operation to take out all your family members so that Giovanni could take over the position at the top. It has been in the plans for years.” My dad pauses to allow Enzo to take in all this information.
“The first two have been dealt with, along with Giovanni’s associate in Italy.” Enzo’s voice is calm, but I know the storm that must be brewing inside him at this moment.
“I know.” My dad’s eyes land on me and I shrink under his gaze.
“What about Marco?” Enzo questions him.
“We’ve left him in your capable hands.” My dad nods in an unsaid agreement.
“Why are you doing all this?” Enzo places his hands in his pockets, waiting for an answer.
“Because my daughter is clearly in love with you and you are important to her. I don’t want to see her get hurt. I’m trying to make up for my mistakes.” He looks at me then, his face says it all. He is sorry.
“What about the guy at the service station?” Enzo’s voice lowers and he glares at my dad.
“He’s not important. He was nobody, already forgotten. You have nothing to worry about. I was wired, Giovanni thought we wanted the same outcome. You, dead.”
“Anything else?” Enzo’s tone is clipped.
“There are photos in that envelope showing the business dealings between Marco and the people who have targeted your businesses. The photos of me are of my private investigations, trying to piece the puzzles together. Look, I don’t condone the way you live your life, but I am prepared to turn a blind eye. For my daughter.”
Enzo glances at me. “Well?” He raises his eyebrows.
I look at my dad and feelings of betrayal and mistrust churn through my heart. “We can try.” I shrug and it is all my dad needed. His whole demeanor changes, like he has found a small spark in him, still burning bright.
“It’s all I’m asking, sweetheart. Before you go, Enzo, I’m sorry to have to tell you this. My investigators discovered that Giovanni and Andrea were the ones who murdered your father.” His face wears a genuine look of sorrow.
Enzo sucks in a deep breath and closes his eyes momentarily. He looks at my dad, not speaking for what feels like an eternity. “Thank you.”
My dad nods in return, reaches out and gives my arm a little squeeze. “I’ll tell your mom you said hello.” He smiles at me and turns on his heel and stalks off.
“Bye dad,” I say after him, but he doesn’t turn around.
***
The drive back to providence is filled with a grim kind of silence. Enzo’s gaze remains on the road, the hard set of his jaw and his furrowed eyebrows make me afraid of what he is plotting. No doubt, thinking about all the ways he can avenge his sister and father, taking it out on the last man standing. We pull up out the front of his apartment building and his dark broody eyes slice to me, no warmth behind them.
“I have some shit to deal with.” He runs his fingers along my thigh, sending goosebumps where he’s touched me.
I stare at him, at his villainous gaze, his eyes are full of savage brutality. A true monster in the flesh. “Okay.” I offer him a smile.
He leans over and brushes his lips along my jaw. “I’ll be late, but make sure that pussy is ready for a pounding because I’m about to carry out one of my most heinous crimes.” His voice vibrates against my over-sensitized skin.
I gulp down air, trying to not get turned on by him and what awaits me. I turn my head and kiss his lips, lips filled with tension and fury, and climb out of the car. He speeds off down the main road, weaving through traffic like a lunatic, chasing his revenge.
“Please be careful,” I say after him as his car disappears around a corner and make my way into the apartment building with a lump in my throat the size of a golf ball.
I call Amber, and Emma, to come over to have a movie marathon, hoping to get my mind off what Enzo and the rest of them are doing. I pace the apartment waiting for their arrival when finally, the buzzer alarms me.
“The party is here,” Amber waves a bottle of champagne at the screen.
My mood is instantly lifted. I buzz them in and wait for them at the door.
“We missed you,” Emma launches into my arms once out of the lift.
“I miss you girls.” We group hug before we make our way to the kitchen to find champagne flutes.
Amber searches all the cupboards and looks at me in defeat. “We have to use tumblers. My cousin has no class.” She pouts.
“What are we watching?” I call after them as they make their way to the media room and grab packets of crisps and a tub of dip.
“I say we have a Harry Potter marathon,” Amber settles into the plush lounge.
“Sounds good to me. Summer?” Emma calls out.
“I’m happy with whatever.” I place the food on the table and squeeze in next to them.
“So how was Italy?” Emma opens the champagne and pours us each a glass.
“It was good.” My eyes flick to Amber, wondering if she knows what went down.
“You know, I know.” Emma states, as Amber hands me my glass and lifts her eyebrow at me.
“Know what?” I feign innocence.
“About your mafia boss boyfriend and his fucking hot cousins.” She holds up her glass to salute.
My mouth drops open, my eyes darting from Emma to Amber, and back.
“Dante has a big mouth when he’s intoxicated.” She winks like the information is no big deal.
“How much have you two been hanging out?”
“Oh, nearly every day and night.” Amber chimes in.
“Emma.” I grin at her and waggle my eyebrows.
“I’m not allowed to speak about it in front of Amber because she threatened to throw up on me. But all I’m going to say is, Dante, is damn fine.” She clinks our glasses and throws her drink back.
“You’re okay with all this, though?” I look at her, not sure what I’m expecting her answer to be.
“Hey, I’m staying out of it.” She holds her hands up. “Ignorance is bliss.”
“Hear, hear,” Amber agrees.
“Maybe I need to adopt that mantra,” I say more to myself than them.
We spend the evening watching Harry Potter while drinking and ordering take out. I check the clock so often, it feels as though time is standing still and Enzo is never going to return. I can barely concentrate on the movie and notice it’s one in the morning. The girls left after the fourt
h movie and I’ve been sitting on high alert for over an hour now.
I decide to take a shower and climb into bed when the clock strikes three. Only to wake to my alarm and an empty bed. My heart lurches in my chest and the feeling of dread creeps its way in, as much as I try to stop it. I send a simple innocent message to Enzo and get ready to make my way to campus in an uber.
I manage to get to class on time and find Jake mulling around at the sign-in sheet. “Hey, Jake.” I try to sound upbeat.
“Hey, you’re back.” He wraps an arm around me and gives me a friendly hug. He seems distracted, not his usual cheerful self.
“Unfortunately. It was nice not having to get up early and come to class.” I sign my name and start to head to our usual seats. “Are you coming?”
“Yes.” He looks out the door and then back at the sign-in sheet before he follows me.
“Are you alright?” I take my seat.
He sinks heavily into his chair and a sigh forms on his lips. “Mitch hasn’t been in contact with me since early yesterday. Do you know anything?” He worries.
I bite my lip, hesitant to say anything. “Enzo hasn’t messaged me since he dropped me off at his place either.” We look at each other in desperation and concern.
“Maybe they’re all, you know…busy.” He shrugs off his statement like it’s nothing concerning.
“Maybe,” I whisper as the professor stalks in and begins his lecture on 17th-century art and design.
The lecture drags on and I fidget in my seat, anxious to get out of there. Jake follows me outside, watching me intently as I check my phone. Nothing.
“No text?” He dips his head and jams his hands in his bag to grab his phone out.
“No, you?” I stare at my phone.
“Nothing.”
“Want to get a coffee?” I ask, hoping to fill in some time.
“I can’t, I have to get to my next class. Let me know if you hear anything.” He nods and saunters off toward the lecture halls.
Me: Hey Ambs, have you heard from your fam yet?
Amber: Not yet. Everyone has been MIA. Including my dad.
Me: is this bad?
Amber: my mom doesn’t seem to think so. Do you want to come over and hang out with me?
Me: Thanks, but I might just go back to Enzo’s place, he might be there.
Amber: k xx
Me: xx
The nervous energy bubbling inside me has me reeling, I can’t get the feeling out of my head that something bad has happened. I chew my fingernail and wait for my Uber to pick me up and take me back to the apartment, where I hope Enzo is waiting.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Enzo
It’s midday and I’ve been awake for who fucking knows how long now, probably two straight days, including the flight home from Italy. My eyeballs burn from exhaustion and my brain is a cloudy fog of consciousness, barely functioning at this stage. Luca brings me another strong coffee, the steaming aroma a nice welcome to mask the smells of burning flesh.
“Thanks, dude. Fuck, I think I could fall asleep standing up,” I yawn.
“It’s been a long-ass night, who knew the fucker could withstand so much. It even made my stomach curl at one point.” Dante stands beside me, cradling his fifth coffee just from this morning.
“We only recruit the best.” Luca shrugs and his gaze zeroed in on the flames in the incinerator.
“I think we’ll have to be a bit more selective from now on.” I raise my mug in salute to the dead fucker, now a burning pile of ashes. “To Marco.”
“Blood in. Death out, fucker,” Dante smirks at the incinerator.
“I still can’t believe the bullshit they had fabricated and would have got away with, if not for your little piece of ass.” Luca holds his hand up to high five me.
I give him a death stare and he lowers his hand.
“Too soon?” He shrugs his shoulders. “But fucking Christ, that girl of yours needs to go in the Russo hall of fame. She grew some considerable sized balls to hold a gun up to Giovanni and the other two.” Luca nods in approval.
“That’s not something you come across, not even in our recruits,” Dante agrees.
“While we’re here having a heart to heart at our lunchtime barbecue, can you please tell me why you text us to abort the killing of Richards?” Luca eyes me suspiciously. “Did you grow a heart or something?”
“Fuck off.” I shove him in the arm.
“Please explain.” Luca eyeballs me.
“He followed us as we drove to the airport and approached me at the service station. I told him to back off or I’d kill his precious daughter.” I take a sip of my coffee.
“Ha, that’s gold, and he believed you?” Dante laughs.
“He was investigating Giovanni, Andrea, and Marco, pretending to work with them, against me. Giovanni thought he had a mutual hatred for me. So, I’m kind of glad I called it off. I don’t think Summer would forgive me for killing her dad.”
“Get fucked. Shit, lucky we didn’t off him. I suppose Giovanni has been behind all the shit over the past few months then?” Luca contemplates the new information.
“Seems like it.”
“Wish we could have been there to watch you slice Andrea’s throat, would have been so fucking gratifying.”
“It was.” I nod in agreeance.
I hear footsteps approaching behind us and turn to see Mitch with bags of McDonald's.
“I’ve brought lunch, fuckers,” he grins and holds up the paper bags.
“I love you with all my heart.” Luca grabs him by the cheeks and plants a kiss on his lips.
Mitch hits him in the face with one of the bags. “Do you have to?” He chuckles.
“Hey, Enzo, Jake said Summer’s worried about you.” Mitch winks at me.
“Aww, why isn’t anyone worried about me.” Luca pouts.
“Because you’re dipping your dick into the ice queen.” I flip him off.
Shit. I was so wrapped up in getting revenge and enjoying torturing Marco, that I completely forgot about Summer waiting for me at my apartment, most probably worried sick by now.
“Mitch, think you can do me a favor?” I grab out my phone.
“Sure, what do you need?” He gives the bags of food to Dante.
“Think you can find a gold penny pendant somewhere?”
“Fucking pussy whipped,” Luca hollers at me.
I flip him the finger as I follow Mitch up to the house. “I’ve got a meeting with the New York mob in five minutes, so, if you can get the pendant to me within the hour, that would be great.”
“On it.” Mitch heads toward his car.
Who the fuck am I? This whole relationship thing is strange and unchartered territory. The old Enzo would have rather put his balls on the chopping block than buy a woman gifts and flowers. Luca is right, I am so fucking pussy whipped and I’m about to lose more of my ruthless status with what I have planned to apologize to Summer.
Me: I’m alive
Vicious Enzo: A College Bully Romance (Verona Academy Book 2) Page 16