Page 81 of Revere: A Legacy Novel

“You couldn’t let me know they were planning something, asshole?”

Andino Marcello looked up from the papers on his desk. He didn’t look the least bit surprised to see Cross standing there in his business. Cross didn’t even enter the man’s office, but that was only because the pit bull sitting beside the desk looked like he was going to take a pound out of Cross’s ass.

“I beg your pardon?”

“Marcello enforcers. Following me. Cornering me in my territory. Ring any damn bells for you?”

“Not really,” Andino said. “But hey, Marcello men are vicious, Cross. You made a scene with Dante, and nobody wants to take that shit lying down. I’m surprised even one man in the family let you walk around this long without some kind of action, to be honest.”

“Fuck you all,” Cross uttered.

Andino shrugged. “I’m just saying.”

“Listen, you make sure that shit never happens again.”

“I don’t even know what happened in the first place.”

Cross took great effort to hide his irritations from others, but it was getting damn hard lately. “I told you. A group of Marcello enforcers cornered me in my territory coming out of a meet with some of my guys. Mind you, this was after they tailed me for days. Add in the fact Calisto got a personal warning from Dante for me to stay the hell away from Catherine, and I don’t think those fools came up with this idea on their own. They weren’t the brightest fucking bunch.”

“I mean, I can’t really help you, Cross,” Andino said after a long while. “None of us are supposed to be working with you, or any Donati man, for that matter. I’m not going to go around sending out warnings, and raising somebody’s alarm bells. I need my guns run.”

“Holy shit, your fucking guns,” Cross groaned. “I am going to get those guns down the Gulf regardless, you piece of shit. But I won’t be able to if one of those assholes puts me in a grave.”

The dog beside the desk growled.

Cross straightened a bit on the spot.

“Hush, Snaps,” Andino murmured. Then, he looked to Cross again. “Maybe you should heed the warnings, and stay away from my cousin.”

“Maybe you all should mind your business.”

“You have a death wish.”

“They’ve said that about me for my whole life. I am still here. Somebody better make sure what happens yesterday doesn’t ever happen again, or none of you will like what I do.”

Andino frowned. “I’ll see what I can do.”

“Good.”

Cross turned to leave.

Andino’s voice stopped him. “Next time, don’t rush my office without knocking first. I was kind enough to stop Snaps today from reacting how he’s been trained—I will not be kind again.”

Noted.

Cross scrubbed a hand over his jaw, and figured he needed a shave. The three-day stubble itched along his palm. He barely even heard the elevator ding as it opened to let him into the hallway for his penthouse.

He supposed he should be happy that after his chat with Andino a week earlier shit had calmed down a bit.

A bit didn’t mean entirely, though.

He still found men tailing him sometimes.

Marcello people eating in his regular haunts.

A Marcello Capo at Zeke’s club.

Another warning to Calisto over the phone.