My father addressed my brother without looking at him. “Leo?”
He gave a shrug.
I stared at my brother and hoped he would say what I wanted to hear.
Leo gave a puff on the cigar and let the smoke escape his mouth. “He’s an asshole with an attitude that needs to be knocked down a peg,but…”
Yes,but.
“I don’t think he’s bullshitting us.” Leo brought the cigar to his lips again and took another drag before he released the cloud of smoke. “He doesn’t seem to realize shit is getting bad for us, and he would be a good person to have in our corner in times like these.”
“Not if we don’t trust him,” my father said.
“Trust is earned over time and trials,” Elio said. “In that regard, Wolfe is no different from our other guys. And my sources tell me that the falling-out with Cosa Nostra is true. I’ve heard it in many different places.”
“Then it sounds like I’m the odd man out here.” My father turned to me. “Frankie?”
He put me on the spot, and I still felt hot from the flames Wolfe had brought into the room. I did my best to remain still and stoic, to not offer a clue about the attraction that nearly gave me third-degree burns. “I agree with Leo. People are starting to misinterpret our integrity for weakness. We need new blood to maintain our position. His falling-out with Cosa Nostra could be the perfect opportunity for us to strengthen our ranks.” I felt winded by what I’d said, but I forced my words to come out slow and normal…though it felt abnormal as I did it.
Leo stared at me, smoke coming out of his nostrils as he held the cigar between his fingertips.
My father stared across the room for a while before he shifted his eyes to Elio.
“I think we have more to gain than we have to lose,” Elio said. “I’ve heard multiple accounts that Wolfe gets the job done…violently.”
6
WOLFE
I was at my villa in Palermo, sitting on the patio looking at the Mediterranean with a cigar in my mouth, when Salvatore called. It was morning, so I’d just finished the mulberry granita and the brioche my housemaid prepared for me.
It’d been three days since my meeting with Don Mancini. I picked up the phone and blurted, “What’d the don say?”
“Sounds like he didn’t care for you.”
“Tough crowd.”
“But the others said you should be considered.”
Was Frankie one of them? I smirked when I thought of her. That woman was even more beautiful up close. Heremerald eyes weren’t full of shyness and trepidation. She looked like a woman who knew her own mind. She wouldn’t have been there if her opinion didn’t matter, and I was pleased to know I’d made an impression on her. “Now what?”
“Don Mancini wants to meet with you again.”
“To offer me the job?”
“Honestly, I don’t know. I’m not at that tier.”
I took a puff before I put down the cigar. “When?”
“This afternoon.”
“Alright, I’ll be there.”
In the afternoon, I pulled up to the gate of Mancini Vineyards in my blacked-out Range Rover, dust kicking up from the tires. It was early spring, but summer decided to come early and overshadow the first months of the year.
They seemed to know I was coming because the gate opened at my approach. As I had with Salvatore, I parked my vehicle in the parking lot away from the buildings. My Range Rover was a special edition Autobiography, so it set me back two hundred thousand euros,so Don Mancini would quickly realize I spoke the truth when I said I didn’t need money.
I walked back to the main pathway between the buildings and approached the large villa with flowers growing in pots everywhere. The grounds were beautiful, like they were maintained every day by a crew dedicated to the property.
