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“Every day on the hour. So, like, twelve times.”
“Angelo,” I groaned, “that’s way too much.”
“Don’t women want the man to fight for them? Fight for their love?” He turned to look at me with such confusion and pain that I wanted to cry. He didn’t deserve this.
“Yes,” I said softly, “when there’s a chance the relationship can be mended. Noemi isn’t after the same things you are.”
“What, you think she’s after a man with more money…” His voice trailed off, and he suddenly sat a little straighter and his face turned red. “Wait, what?”
I followed his line of sight, and my mouth dropped open. There was Noemi, arm in arm with the underboss of the Coppola syndicate, Theodore. We stared as he leaned down and kissed her cheek.
“Oh, my God,” I muttered and pushed my hands down on his shoulders as he went to jump up to go after them. “No, Angelo, you can’t. Theodore isn’t someone you want to get tangled up with.”
“You know his family met up with ours last week, right?” He tried to move again, but I was ready.
“Huh?” I held up a hand to stop him. “Why in the world would our family meet up with the Coppolas? They never let us go near them. Ever.”
“My guess would be they want to chat about their money. They launder it through Papa’s insurance accounts.”
“Papa isn’t doing that.” Our father was a shark in the business world, but he would never be so stupid as to make a deal like that.
“No?” He looked me dead in the eye. “They came to some kind of an agreement years ago. I remember because there was a handshake and some drinks afterward.” He let out a long breath. “Or maybe Papa couldn’t cook the books anymore, and it came time to pay out the Coppolas and there wasn’t any money to give.”
I stepped back, completely confused on what he was talking about.
“I’m not following.”
“You really didn’t know?” He shook his head like he was surprised I didn’t know such a dirty secret about our family.
“Is this the face of someone who knows what the hell you’re talking about?” I pointed at my face with both index fingers.
“Papa hasn’t been making the bills since you were thirteen, Elenora. He made a deal with the Don to launder their money through the company in exchange for keeping Papa’s doors open. Problem is that deal came with a cost, and now it’s time to pay up, and the last I saw, we didn’t have near what the payment was.”
“That doesn’t make sense. I saw the books. We’re fine.”
“No, you saw the cooked books, my dear sister.” I shook my head trying to follow. “Honestly, I know you didn’t know about it. He did it for us. He doesn’t actually know I know either. His pride is too big for me to burst that bubble. However, now,” he rubbed his face, “it’s collection time, and I wonder what that will entail.”
I sank back onto the stool and joined in on his blank stare at the happy couple. We both learned something new today. My papa lied to me, and my brother’s heart just got crushed to dust for the second time in two months. How could he be dating her?
The patio door opened, and Francesco pulled me from my unhappy memory.
“Let me guess.” I set my teacup on the table. “You were summoned?”
“We have a possible lead on Mariano. I need to check it out.” He gathered his keys off the desk, ignoring my tone.
“Well, whenfamilycalls…” I let all my unhappiness drip from my tongue, then waved him off. He caught my hand, holding it tightly.
“Hate is such an ugly look on you.”
I looked away, not liking how raw I felt with him. We had so much history that it was easier to hate him than to continue to love him.
“Weren’t you leaving?”
“One of these days it will be the last time,” he muttered as he left, slamming the door behind him.
Instantly, I remembered the last time he raced out of a room like that and let my mind go spiraling back to when that hateful day landed at my feet.
“Mama? I’m here.” I burst through the front door with an armful of the flowers from the garden that she had insisted I pick. Something about how tonight had to be perfect.
