The kitchen table wasn’t large enough for everyone, so the cousins pulled in dining room chairs. The family sat like sardines in a tiny aluminum can. Gabriel loved Angelo’s family simply because they were intact. They fought all the time. Someone was always giving someone the silent treatment. Even so, the family stuck together, no matter what.
Gabriel shot Angelo a smile. His friend was a lucky man.
My father’s dead. My mother ran off years ago, and I’m being run out of town by my brothers.
When they finished eating, Gabriel expressed his condolences to the group before Angelo walked him out.
“Whatever you need, brother,” Angelo said. “You want me to stay and help you take out the Bratva? You want me to go back to Italy with you? You need me to check on the businesses back home, you got it. Because of you, I have a good life. I got money. I could give my nonno a respectable funeral. I got a house here and a beautiful villa on the coast.”
Gabriel extended his hand. “I’ll let you know.”
“Sorry about my sister.”
“She knows what she wants and she goes after it,” Gabriel said. “I respect that.”
“She’s been gunning for you since we were kids. I mean, c’mon man, take a fuckin’ hint.”
Gabriel chuffed out a laugh as he made his way to his sports car, parked on the street. A quick glance around before he eased in and drove away.
He didn’t know what the Bratva knew. Maybe they thought they’d killed him. Maybe they were watching from the shadows. As he jumped on the main road, he was more determined than ever to find these hoodlums and take them out.
It would send a strong message that would make its way back to Italy. Gabriel Santini ran from no one. And he sure as hell wasn’t running now.
Bring it on motherfuckers.
Bring. It. On.
6
GOODBYE GABRIEL
HALSTON
At five past nine in the morning, Halston stood in the spacious lobby of the Russian Embassy with twenty other new employees. Most were huddled in groups of three or four. The cacophony of voices filled the two-story space. Though she’d been told to speak English, everyone was chatting in Russian.
On purpose, Halston waited alone. She offered a polite smile and “good mornings” to anyone with whom she made eye contact, but that was the extent of it.
Earlier, in her hotel suite, she’d dressed in a brown suit, pulled her hair into her signature Minka bun and long bangs. With her brown contacts in place, she’d slid on her James Bond eyewear and left.
While getting ready, Evangeline had texted her.
Good luck today. Anything I can do for you?
Thanks! All good
She’d swung by the low-rent furnished apartment near the embassy to check out the place she was supposed to call home.
What a shithole.
She’d lived like this in Russia.
Not anymore.
But she had an address to provide, should anyone ask. Otherwise, she’d say nothing to anyone. Flying under the radar worked best.
Always had.
As she glanced around the pristine embassy lobby, her thoughts flashed back to her late-night fun with Gabriel Santini. A smile tugged at the corners of her mouth.
