“Maybe if I were in the powder business, but I’m not anymore.” Now I worked for Vincenzo Mancini and their wine and arms operation, and I cared more about protecting this business than risking the people I wanted to protect. I started to make different moves than I had in the past, thinking about Francesca’s safety before everything else. “But the Skull King has an enormous operation in Florence and Rome, and everything I hear about Icarus tells me he’s not someone you want to cross. We drop the powder line and focus on our main enterprise. That’s the smart move.”
“After defeating the Lombardis, it seems like a waste.”
I slowly shook my head. “Not worth it, Don. And trust me, assholes will be coming for us. They’ll try to take this business from you just because the Skull King isn’t interested in it.You have a unique opportunity to monopolize an industry that everyone wants a cut of. You can still run the tomato factory the way you run the winery. There’s still a lot of money to be made—and you have Frankie to operate that on your behalf.” I wanted to keep Francesca in the safe zones, handling food and wine products with business partners who were upstanding citizens. Her father wanted her to run this someday, but now was definitely not the time. We had to get this plane through the turbulence that was about to drop us from the sky. “We stay out of their way. We let Icarus focus on the big players, like Cosa Nostra and the others. And we watch our backs.”
His eyes had wandered elsewhere as he thought about all I said, slowly rubbing his palms together. He eventually relaxed back into the couch, arms crossed over his chest, eyes lost in consternation.
“How did you know I was there?” I needed to know if he was tailing me, because if he was, then he either knew I was seeing Frankie…or he was very close to figuring that out.
His eyes moved back to mine. “You aren’t the only one who knows people, Wolfe.”
I held his confident stare and searched for an answer to a question I couldn’t ask. But I didn’t see the rage I expected to find—the evidence that he knew I was sleeping with his daughter. Because if he did, he probably would have already pulled a gun on me. “I know it’s a difficult time right now, but we need to rebuild. We need more men. We need more security. Be prepared to watch friends turn into enemies. Be one step ahead of everyone.”
We sat together at the dinner table. Francesca had another gourmet meal waiting for me when I got home, and we enjoyed it together over a bottle of wine. Now I wondered if I should have rented my place instead of bought it. Francesca’s villa was a lot smaller than my homes, but there was a coziness that my residences lacked.
Or maybe she was the coziness.
“Something on your mind?” she asked as she stabbed her fork into a sun-dried tomato. “You’re quiet.”
“There’s a lot on my mind.”
She moved her pasta around with her fork as she looked at me. “Want to talk about it?”
I didn’t want to worry her. “I spoke to your father today. He knew I met with Cosa Nostra.”
She spun a small amount of pasta on her fork then placed it in her mouth. “Was he angry?”
“Initially. But I told him what happened. I’d planned on it anyway before he confronted me. I was impressed that he knew. Respect him for having that information.” I grabbed the wineglass and took a drink.
“He’s a smart guy.”
“Yeah, I know where you get it from. You’re a lot alike.”
“I don’t know abouta lot.”
“He asked me why I growled at Alessandro.” I couldn’t hold back the grin that stretched across my face.
She immediately stopped eating and actually dropped her fork on her plate. “Cristo, are you serious? What did you say?”
“The truth—he was bothering you, and I didn’t like it.”
“Shit, do you think he knows?”
“Nah,” I said. “That would have been the perfect time to shoot me, so…”
She gave a slight shake as she looked at me across the table. “You acting like a maniac could have gotten us caught.”
“Then too bad I wasn’t a bigger maniac.” I smirked, knowing that would get her worked up even more.
Her eyes flashed in a sparkle of pure pissed-off-ness.
Cristo, she was beautiful. “He made it sound like that was somewhat arranged.”
“What was somewhat arranged?”
“That meeting with Alessandro.”
Both of her eyebrows jumped high up her face. “My father would never set me up in a million years.”
