Page 33 of The Boss

“Hey Vanessa, hey Alonso,” I respond.

They both walk into the kitchen. I’m so focused on what I’m doing, I don’t see Vanessa sit next to me until she says something.

“What’s that?” She asks.

“Contracts and financial records of a deal we’re trying to close,” I reply.

“I see,” she says.

I look over to Alonso, and he’s rummaging through the kitchen, probably for food.

“There are leftovers from lunch in the fridge. Drew didn’t eat anything, and he’s downstairs if you want to bring him something,” I say to him.

“Alright,” he replies. He quickly grabs two plates of food and takes them down to the basement.

“I know my brother doesn’t want to tell me anything, but please let me help,” Vanessa says, looking at me with pleading eyes.

“You can help me with this. This Third Street deal is a pain in my ass. The construction company on the other side of the deal is being a problem, and something doesn’t seem right.”

“Was this something Mateo was working on?” She sounds hopeful. If I were in her position, I would be feeling the same way. Doing anything I can to be connected to the man I love while he’s missing.

“Yeah, he was. I was just there to review financials. Your husband can’t do math,” I reply.

She snorts.

“He really can’t,” she laughs.

I give her a stack of papers. “These are all of their recent transactions.”

“Should we have these?” She asks.

“Probably not, but we do because they needed to file certain financial documents with the city when they made the initial deal when they bought the building. We may have asked for copies,” I say.

“Hmm, I’ve learned that sometimes I don’t need to ask too many questions,” she says. Don’t I know that.

“I learned that years ago. Don’t get me wrong, these guys are not as violent as the generations before them, but they will get their hands dirty in other ways,” I say.

“That’s an understatement,” she mumbles.

We spend a few minutes in silence, looking over everything. Something that’s catching my eye is how perfect everything is. There’s no weird transfers of money, no invoices that look off. No purchase orders that didn’t get fulfilled. Everyone makes mistakes, even the most seasoned professionals. I highlight the transactions that seem suspicious, low-cost orders that were much larger in the past. Invoices that were paid so quickly that the ink barely dried when it was sent.

I look at Vanessa and see her staring at the paper in front of her, unmoving.

“Vanessa? How are you really? Gino’s not in the room, so you don’t need to put on a front for him.”

She looks up. “I’m okay. I’m not okay, but I’m living through it. I have to. These babies need me, and I need them. I have no idea when he’s coming back, and the end of my second trimester is kicking my ass.” She clears her throat and places her hand on her stomach.

“There’s nothing I can say that will make you feel better. I know that. But you’ve got a lot of people surrounding and supporting you. Everyone’s looking for him; no one will stop,” I say honestly.

“Mateo would lose his shit if he knew the violence my brother was dealing out right now,” she tells me.

“That’s very true. Mateo probably would’ve locked him in a room to get him to stop,” I know Mateo would do it if he felt Gino was taking something too far.

“We should do that,” she mumbles.

“Do you think he’s being that violent?” I ask.

“No, but from what I overheard Alonso and Ryan talking about, they’re concerned he will become as violent as Dad. Now, I didn’t know Dad’s violence like everyone here, but he was an asshole. I know how much Gino doesn’t want to be like him, but he’s turning into him. Even the secrets he’s been keeping from me when it comes to Mateo’s kidnapping and what everyone is doing to find him. He lets me help on the small stuff, checking in on the guys if they get hurt or if there’s something I can look at to bring a medical perspective to. Like he didn’t have the nerve to tell me you two were dating, I had to pry that out of Alonso,” she says.