Page 39 of The Boss

“I’ve told him enough,” he grumbles.

“Enough? Gino, do you hear yourself? Mateo is your lifelong best friend, your brother-in-law, the father to your future nieces or nephews, and you’re what? Trying to deal with it yourself? You know, I thought we moved past the whole secret-keeping and withholding information from everyone, but I guess not.”

I’m done with this conversation, so before he can reply, I get up and leave his office.

I need a minute to breathe because if he keeps this up, no one is going to continue standing by his side. It’s beyond infuriating.

To clear my head, I start walking. Maybe it’s not the best decision with what’s going on, but I grab a jacket for the fall air, and I walk to Vanessa and Mateo’s house.

I enter through the side door and walk through the house. Alonso is sitting at the dining room table and signals with his head to the living room, telling me where Vanessa is.

Walking into the space, she’s sitting on the couch watching TV. She’s got a few months left to go in her pregnancy, and I know she wishes things were different; we all do.

“Hey, can I sit?” I ask.

“Yeah,” she whispers, offering a soft smile.

“Please tell me my brother is not being a complete idiot.”

“Well, not a complete idiot.”

She snorts. “He clearly didn’t get the message when I told him off yesterday. I overheard him talking to Lorenzo, and he still won’t give me much on what’s going on.”

“This isn’t a defense of him, but he’s so used to people questioning his decisions that he doesn’t know what to do when people just want to help,” I say.

“Haven’t you been friends for ten years? Why won’t he tell you things?” she asks.

“When most of us signed up for this, including your husband, Gino promised us the mafia part would go away, and we wouldn’t have to deal with rival families, weapons, dirty money, and drugs. But he’s realizing it’s harder to leave this life than he initially thought.” I pause briefly. “Gino is fiercely protective and doesn’t back down from a fight, but he doesn’t know how to do this fight without his best friend. Mateo has always been the voice of reason for him, and he’s not here this time. I’ve been able to help some, but when you spend your life being a duo like those two are… it’s harder to accomplish things on your own.”She groans. “I can see why he loves you. Which isn’t gross, but he’s my brother, so gross.”

I roll my eyes at her. She always likes to break the tension with a joke.

“Vanessa, he’s trying; I know he is. But he feels like he’s let everyone down,” I say.

“He hasn’t let anyone down,” she whispers.

“We all know that, but he won’t believe that until he sees it.”

We spend the next hour silently watching the reality show that’s playing, and until now, I haven’t checked my phone.

Drew

Got the footage. I got a photo of the guy, so I’m going to see if I can find out who it is.

Gino

I’m sorry, can you please come back? I need to talk to you.

“I should probably get back,” I say. “I can start coming by more when you’re not at Gino’s house, if you want?”

“That would be great.” She smiles back.

She hugs me, and I leave.

I walk back to the house and notice that both Drew's and Ryan’s cars are parked outside.

Walking into the front door, I don’t hear anyone, so I assume they’re either in Gino’s office or the basement.

Then Ryan comes into view as he's walking down the stairs.