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“Clearly everyone in this house has lost their motherfucking minds. Maximo, while it may have been funny, you shouldn’t have tripped, Enzo. You know Winter is injury prone.” She points to me, still on the ground, using the gun as a pointer. “She could have fucking ended up with another concussion with her luck. Enzo, you know Maximo is childish, you shouldn’t have let him bait you into a fight.” She points to where his lip is bleeding, like Maximo got in a good hit. Lastly, she turns her gaze on Vito. “And you, Bianchi, how can you not break up two idiots?Fanculo!” She shakes her head. “Next time, I may just aim at the scuffle and whoever gets a bullet, just gets one.”
She sighs, turning and offering me a hand up, her gun still in the other hand. She pulls me to my feet with so much strength I go stumbling.
“Now, everyone is going to go their own way for the night and maybe we’ll all wake up with better sense in the morning.” She flips the safety on her gun before reholstering it. She swipes the pills and water from me. “And maybe my other cousin will have enough sense to change his mind on who’s going to the meet.”
CHAPTER NINE: WINTER
Giovanni doesn’t change his mind.
He’s been sober for two days now, but he’s made it clear that he’s still sticking with his original decision.
He also made it clear that if there’s another tussle in the house, he’s going to punish everyone. I’m guessing Vito was the one who told him what happened.
I look over at him now. We’re on the way to the meet, which is at one of the houses that Maddox apparently owns.
His hands are tight on the steering wheel, his lips pursed and his brows lowered. I think this may be the first time I’ve ever seen him drive.
“Do you make a habit of getting drunk when everything is already going to shit?” I ask him, testing to see where his limits are today.
When he gives me a glare, I know he doesn’t have time for my bullshit.
However, seeing him drunk had been both worrying and entertaining. So, I stare at the side of his head, wondering if he’ll crack.
I’m surprised when he does.
“I don’t get drunk often,” he says after a moment.
I almost leave the conversation there, but I change my mind.
I want to continue to press and pick while I feel emboldened enough to do so.
There’s a couple of things behind this new change of attitude. For starters, Giovanni hasn’t attempted to kill or choke me in weeks. His tolerance seems to be higher when it comes to my questions, and the usual hate that burns in his eyes seems to have dimmed a bit.
Plus, it’s clear that we’re in the endgame of whatever this is now, and all previous rules have been thrown out the window.
“Then what made you get drunk the other day?”
“You.” He doesn’t spare me a glance or offer any further explanation.
Well then.
Neither of us say another word for the rest of the drive.
When we pull up to the building, nerves instantly take over.
There’s nothing to worry about, Winter, it’ll all go smoothly.
That’s what Lucia had told me before we left the house and maybe I would have believed her if it weren’t for the tension in her shoulders as she’d said the words. The other night she thought it was entertaining when Giovanni had revealed I’d be the one accompanying him. But clearly that had only been because she thought he’d change his mind the next day.
Since he didn't, her views on it seem to have changed.
And that has me more worried than anything.
Even Maximo had seemed on edge before we’d left the house. He’d been pacing by the stairs, shooting looks outside as if he were considering stealing Giovanni’s car and going to the meet himself. For the first time in weeks, his tension had nothing to do with Enzo.
But there shouldn’t be any drama, Giovanni kept insisting in a dry tone.
However, I don’t understand how he’s possibly going to gethiswar started if there isn’t any drama tonight. That’s the sole purpose of this meeting after all, for Giovanni to find out if Maddox is aware of where he stands with him.
