Page 145 of The Beast Who Begged Me

“I hear you made some new friends in Queens,” Luca says, settling down opposite me. “It was your move, I think.”

“That’s right.”

The game is almost exactly as we left it. My white pieces are still holding their positions, the captured ones arranged neatly along the table’s edge. Someone has dusted around them. But Luca has moved forward his queen.

I study the pieces. It takes a moment to remember what I intended to do next. I’d been watching his bishop, waiting for an opportunity to bring my knight forward.

But nothing on the board requires me to do anything rash.

Luca sits back, content to let me think. I used to find that patience infuriating. He could afford it. He had the house, the men, the money. The power. I was living on borrowed time and borrowed safety, afraid of what every move would cost me.

I intended to turn his hospitality into a weapon. I was like Jesse Foster, in a way. Suspicious. Expecting later demands for favors granted. And as single-minded as Damiano Orsini in the pursuit of what I considered justice.

I meant to learn everything. Who came and went, who knew what, where the guards stood at what times. I planned to accept Luca’s protection until I no longer needed it, then make him regret inviting a Clemenza through his doors.

The white king is where I left it. For a moment, I see the ring hanging around its crown again, remember reaching for it while watching Luca’s face, waiting to hear the conditions.

I look down at my hand. The ouroboros fits me now in a way it didn’t then. I still notice its weight, but I no longer need to keep checking that it’s there.

“Did you solve the code that was in your ring?” Luca asks casually.

I look up. “You knew about that?”

“Yes.”

“And still gave me the ring back?”

“I figured it was Clemenza business. I have enough of my own to be worrying about.”

“I did solve it,” I say after a moment. “Eventually.”

From deep in the house, Finch laughs. He has a distinctive laugh, to put it politely. Luca’s eyes lift toward the open door, and he smiles. He’s not wearing the Morelli ring today. Only his wedding band.

I return my attention to the board.

I keep thinking about my father on that kitchen floor, holding the man he loved as that man died. Nonno Lou wanted him to watch. Twenty-one years later, Dami and I are still living with the consequences of that evil.

I thought being born might have made all of this my fault. But Dad wanted out because he loved me. He wanted to give me a better life, and Nonno Lou was the one who decided what that would cost him.

And I’ve been calling it my duty to avenge Nonno Lou. My father wanted to get me beyond that bastard’s reach, but I’m still letting him choose my enemies.

Dami was able to walk away from the man who killed his father, take my hand, and tell me he was happy. So I know what move to make. The same one I forced a retired mobster into just a few hours ago. I reach for my king and tip it onto its side. It makes a small, solid sound against the board.

“I resign.”

Luca looks at the fallen piece. “You have a strong position, Cal. There’s no real reason to concede.”

“I know.”

His gaze comes back to my face. “You’ve spent quite some time defending it,” Luca observes.

“I’ve been learning from Dami,” I say. “How to let things go.”

He glances at my ring, then gives a small nod. “Very well,” he says. “We’ll leave the game there.”

He reaches across the table. Our handshake is firm and brief.

He begins gathering up the captured pieces. I pick up the ones nearest me and pass them across, and we put the board in order. I lift the white knight and look at it for a moment before fitting it into its square.