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“Huh… you may be on to something. I still don’t think the overall plan – Mezzasalma killing the Agrellas and trying to frame us for the murders – could have been done without Fausto pulling the strings, but you may be right about Venice. It was a huge tactical error, which could indicate Aurelio decided to take things into his own hands.”
“What do you mean, ‘tactical error’?”
“Fausto turned the Five Families against us by framing us for the Agrellas’ murders – so why send a bunch of mercenaries into Venice? And not enough to finish the job? It was a complete fuck-up on their part, and they’ve squandered whatever advantage they had by framing us in the first place.”
“So you think Aurelio’s behind Venice?”
“Quite possibly. I’ll have to think about it more, but good insight on your part.”
“Thanks.”
“Anything else I can do for you?”
“No, I’m good.”
“Alright. Be safe, brother.”
“You, too.”
And then I hung up.
It dawned on me that this was the first time in my entire life that I’d been shut off from communication with my family.
Sure, there had been times when I’d been away from home and unable to phone in…
But I’d always had at least one of my brothers with me.
The times I’d spent alone at my cabin had been by choice… and I was just a short car drive away from being able to call anyone I wanted.
This was different. This was forced separation, and there was no one to count on but myself.
For the first time in many years, I felt very much alone.
33
When we returned to the house, I unloaded the cans and tins of food on the counter and got my backpack out of the closet. It was designed to hold a tent and sleeping bag, which I wouldn’t be carrying, so there would be plenty of room for the food. I also arranged a pile of odds and ends to take along: a lighter to start fires, a can opener, and a corkscrew for any bottles of wine we might find.
Lucia came out of the bathroom sporting her new tattoo on her right shoulder, right along her collarbone. The scorpion was done in a tribal style, so it was really more of a collection of black lines resembling claws and a curved tail with a stinger.
That wasn’t what I was looking at, though.
She’d come out of the bathroom topless with her arm across her chest – just like last night when she got into bed.
But now, in the daylight, I got a much better view of the swelling tops of her breasts.
And… well… that view provoked a reaction.
Let’s just say I was glad I was standing behind the kitchen counter.
“Do you like it?” she asked gleefully, sweeping her long hair out of the way so her shoulder was entirely bare.
“They’re very nice,” I muttered.
She narrowed her eyes. “‘They’re’?”
“It,” I quickly said. “It’s very nice.”
She gave me a smug smile. “You like other things, too, huh?”
