Wes gave me a firm nod and I left him.
I hurried back to Jia, hoping she was still asleep. I’d been away a little longer than I’d hoped to be.
The minute I stepped into my apartment something felt off. The presence felt off, as in non-existent.
When I got to my bedroom I realized why.
It was because she’d left.
* * *
I would have left well enough alone if I knew she was okay. But that was the thing. I didn’t know. She wasn’t answering her phone and that just panicked me more.
Last night we didn’t really go into too much specifics. Giovanni took her car so I guessed either Frankie who was placed to watch her had given her a lift to my place or she’d gotten a taxi.
I thought she would have done the same to leave.
I just wished she hadn’t left.
Frankie was outside her house in his truck. When I parked I could see him watching something on the little screen in front of him. Looked like a game.
Getting closer I saw it was football. I’d forgotten it was the height of the football season. He was watching a rerun and eating popcorn.
He saw me the second I walked up to the truck and rolled his window down.
“Hey man, what’s up?” he asked.
“Did Jia come back here?”
“Yeah. Less than an hour ago.”
“Cool,” I answered and made a move to go but he jumped out of his truck and stopped me.
“Xander…” He looked at me and blinked several times.
I focused on him and tried to cool down. Realistically I just wanted to go see Jia and make sure she was okay. I didn’t want to talk to anyone else.
“Yes.”
“Look, kid,” he began, and paused to look me over.
“What?” I knew he was about to launch into a lecture. Although he’d never lectured me before.
“Kid…” He called Vinny kid too, although he was only a year younger than him. It was because he was the oldest of the knights at forty-six. That made him my senior by ten years so him calling me kid was something I couldn’t dispute, especially since I was kind of acting like a boy obsessing over a girl.
“I gotta admit at first you got under my skin because I didn’t understand why the boss made you skip the hoops we jumped through, but you’re down to earth and we get on. If we didn’t there’s no way in fuck I’d put my damn neck on the line for you two. But there’s a line. There’s a limit. She told me what’s going on and I have to reign it in and tell you to watch your ass.”
“I just want to talk to her,” I replied.
“I know, and I can see you’re real sweet on her, and truthfully she needs that, but this is a whole other territory. You have to be careful because he will kill you. When it comes down to it Giovanni will always go for what suits him best, he’ll sacrifice his best people to make sure that happens. What suits him best is always what’s best for her. He won’t give a shit how good you are. He won’t care. It’s the way of la famiglia, and the way ofLa Cosa Nostra. The way of the mafia. So watch your back. Do whatever you need to do and get back to your job.”
It was funny, three people had spoken to me in the space of hours about her and he was the person who reached me the most.
“Thank you. I will.”
I turned and continued my pursuit into the house.
The last time I came here I knocked on the door because I figured it was more civilized and polite. I’d seen the way the guys just walked in and out of her home and I didn’t like it. Most women wouldn’t have liked that one bit.
