Page 5 of The Boss

When I woke up, he was sleeping peacefully beside me, and it hit me how much this wasn’t how I wanted this to go. I wanted our first time to not have the backdrop of his father’s funeral. So I left, and I regret it. I should have talked to him; I should have told him how much I wanted it, but I didn’t because fear outweighed reason.

Within a month of Antonio’s death, I moved in after being convinced by the rest of the group it would be a good idea. And within six months, I was helping Gino redesign certain rooms in the house.

“Jules.” He hasn’t called me that in private in two years.

“Yes,” I respond.

“I need your help.”

“My help with what?” I ask, turning around. I find him directly behind me, and I step back until my back is flush against the counter.

“Helping me sort all this shit out,” he says. “How did they do this? Why did they do this? How am I supposed to face my sister and tell her the man she loves, her husband, may never come back?”

“Gino, it's been five days, not a year, so you don’t need to tell Vanessa anything like that. But I can help you with the other stuff, so where do you want me to start?”

“I know you’ve gained a lot of knowledge working for my father and me for a decade now. I need someone I can run ideas by and help me stay sane. Like we used to.”

“Uhm.” He’s closer to me now. Too close, almost. Close enough to breathe in the woodsy scent of him.

“You don’t really have a choice, but I thought I’d ask.” He gives me a sly smile that most women would fawn over. I’d like to admit I don’t, but that feeling deep in my stomach is stirring.

The feeling that stirred ten years ago when I met him in college.

“Okay.” I huff a laugh back.

“Great.” He smiles brightly.

“What are you two doing?” A voice calls, and someone clears their throat.

Gino and I jump apart.

Drew does all the tech stuff. Some would say hacking, but we prefer a more legal approach to the conversation. He met us in college, during late-night studying in the library. Most of the guys who work with Gino now are friends from college or childhood.

When Antonio died, a lot of people didn’t like the direction Gino wanted to head in and left to join other families. Some Gino even let get out without having to settle anything.

“N-Nothing,” Gino responds.

Real convincing.

“Okay then,” he says as he takes a step closer. “So, I looked into the raid at the cafe a little bit, and there’s nothing outside of what we can already see. They clearly drugged Mateo and then moved him into a van, then drove off.” He pauses. “The only thing that’s noticeable is it’s just Lorenzo and a few of his guys, so either they came up with this plan on the spot or not everyone is in the know about it.”

“What do you mean?” Gino asks.

“If the entire Russo family knew about this plan, they would have had a lot more men around, but there aren’t; it’s just some of the goons. And Salvo looks surprised when Mateo falls over, which leads me to believe he wasn’t ‘in the know.’”

“What the fuck, why would he do this? This doesn’t make any sense!” Gino yells. “We need to get our asses there and get them to release him.”

“I don’t know if that’s a great idea. We don’t know where he is, and if they feel like we’re on their tail, they could cut their losses and kill him,” Drew says.

“Drew’s right, Gino,” I mutter.

“I know. Fuck. We don’t tell Vanessa yet; I don’t want her even more stressed than she is.” He looks at us both pointedly.

“I’m going to keep running over more information, but I wanted to tell you the second I finished reviewing the footage,” Drew explains before leaving.

Gino stands with his thoughts for a minute, unmoving, then walks out of the room, mumbling, “I’ll be in my office.”

With the kitchen free, I cook breakfast and pile up a plate for Gino. Before I take it, I check in with Drew, telling him to help himself.