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“…Lars?”
“Yes?”
“Why were you the one to take me back home?”
I didn’t want to say, The man you’re breaking up with told me to.
So I said, “I volunteered.”
It was a little white lie. If Dario hadn’t asked me, I absolutely would have volunteered. Once I’d gotten over my shock, that is.
“Why?” she asked.
I had to come up with a reason, but I didn’t have to think long: the best excuse was the God’s honest truth.
“Somebody’s out there trying to kill Dario and his brothers. They’re a target. I’m not.”
“I don’t think that’s true,” she said softly.
For a second, I was surprised. I thought she knew I wasn’t being completely truthful –
And then I realized that she meant the part about my not being a target.
“Well… it’s true they think of me like family… but the fact of the matter is, I’m not as tactically important as any of them. I’m just the muscle. The enforcer, if you will.”
I found it amusing to describe myself in a role I hadn’t even wanted.
It was easier that way, though. Simpler.
“Plus,” I added, putting aside any false modesty, “I’m better in a firefight than any of them. Dario, Adriano, and Massimo are good, but I’m the best.”
“You wouldn’t… be taking me out into the country at night… to tie up loose ends, would you?” she asked in a freaked-out tone of voice.
…tie up loose ends…?
Suddenly, I realized what she meant.
I stared at her in shock –
Then looked back at the road as I burst out laughing. “You thought I was driving you somewhere to KILL YOU?!”
“Well, I mean – that’s what you do, isn’t it?”
“No!”
A little voice in the back of my head started rattling off names. Umberto Fumagalli… Hans Solberg… Jan van der Linden, if you’d gotten the chance…
“I mean, I kill when I have to, but I do it to protect the family!” I protested. I knew I sounded like I was trying to justify myself. “Plus, I would never kill women or children – you know that!”
She looked at me timidly. “What about the man in the café?”
“Umberto Fumagalli was an enforcer for the Oldanis – a rival family that wants to kill Dario and his brothers so they can take over their territory!”
“So… he basically had the same job as you?”
Ouch.
“Yes – except I do it out of necessity. From what I’ve heard, Fumagalli enjoyed his work a little too much, if you get my meaning.”
