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I’m impressed that he can be so casual in a situation like this, but he’s standing firmly behind Rossi, too. He isn’t risking his own life.
My eyes go to Vanessa. She’s crying, makeup smeared down her cheeks, and openly trembling.
“Vanessa, it’s a pleasure to meet you. Although I wish it were under better circumstances,” I say to her.
She stares at me, uncomprehending. I don’t know what part of this is so difficult to understand, but I suppose my cordial tone is a bit counter to the situation as a whole. “I’m not going to say it’s a pleasure to meet you, because it’s not,” she bites out, showing just a bit of the spark Lucia always has.
“I suppose it isn’t.” I turn my attention back to Rossi and Giulio. It hasn’t escaped my attention that Rossi’s hands are touching a bit more of Vanessa than they need to. Perhaps his interest in Vanessa is a bit more personal, rather than simply practical. Angelo had mentioned something to that extent too.
“We’re at an impasse here,” Giulio says. “As long as we’ve got her, you can’t risk shooting us. Well, you could, if you gave no fucks about her. But I think she’s got some value to you, huh.” He smirks and leans forward, resting an arm on Rossi’s shoulder. “My old man said you didn’t appreciate Lucia when you had her, but I’m starting to think he got it all wrong.”
Rossi nods. “Guerra was very… familiar with Lucia as well. Not like I would have expected from somebody who had never interacted with her before.”
I incline my head at them, acknowledging their deductions. “Angelo did grow attached to her. That was why he even took you up on your offer. Which makes me wonder… Why did you offer in the first place? Angelo is unpredictable and not easily kept in line, and certainly there was no guarantee that he would be loyal to Pavone.”
“My reasons are my own,” Rossi says mildly, his hand lightly stroking Vanessa’s waist as he continues to hold her to him.
“Fair enough, I suppose,” I reply. I wouldn’t have answered that question, either. “I will personally ensure your safety if you release Vanessa to me.”
Rossi slowly shakes his head. “No.”
This definitely goes beyond him wanting to have a meat shield to try to use to get out of here. Make no mistake: he’s willing to use her that way, but that clearly isn’t all he wants to get out of her.
“I see.”
Vanessa squirms against Rossi, clearly trying to pull away from him, but his grasp on her is firm. “Let me go!” she says.
He’s clearly as unimpressed with her struggles as I am, but the little touch of fire to her insistence makes me smile. I don’t know much about Lucia’s sister, but I can tell she’s no fragile flower.
“Vanessa, cupcake,” Giulio says, “You really want to go with Victor fucking Corvi? I’m pretty sure he just shot up the entire church. His attack dog murdered your father. And look what he did to Miguel!”
She looks torn, and it’s enough to make me realize Lucia probably didn’t tell her of any potential rescue plans. Why she kept her sister out of the loop, I’m not entirely certain, though I can’t say I think it’s a bad thing—or I wouldn’t have, until now, when it’s clear she’s reluctant to go with me. “You’re no better than him,” she mutters. “You—you and Damien and yourfather…”
Giulio smiles brightly at her. “Nah, fuck my old man. He’s not gonna recover from this. Allies dead, everybody thinks he set them up…” He starts laughing then. “That was actually fucking brilliant, Corvi.”
“Thank you. I did think it was inspired.” After a beat, I add, “If you have no intention of supporting your father…?”
“Oh, no, I’m not supporting him. I’m taking over at home. But that doesn’t mean we’re allies.” Giulio pats Rossi on the back. “Come on, let’s get out of here. I think Corvi’s going to have his hands full chasing after my old man.”
Giulio points to the parking lot, and I risk turning around to see what he’s gesturing at. I’m just in time to catch Angelo speeding after a car on his motorcycle.
I look back to Giulio. “Angelo can handle Pavone Senior. If you hand over Vanessa, you can be on your way and disappear before anybody realizes you abandoned your father.”
Giulio sighs loudly. “Give it a break.” He reaches into his pocket, and I immediately draw out my gun to aim it at him. Giulio smirks. “Chill, man, it’s just a knife.” He raises the knife… and places it against Vanessa’s neck. “So, I’d really like to keep Vanessa. She’s pretty, I can think of a few uses for her cunt, and you gotta admit she’s great leverage. But if you don’t back the fuck off right now, I will slice her neck before any of you can pull the trigger. Got it?”
Vanessa’s eyes are wide and desperate, and she looks pleadingly at me—choosing her side, clearly, though now it’s too late for me to do anything about it. I should’ve pulled the trigger the moment I drew my gun, before he had a chance to make the situation even more precarious. Careless of me.
“I understand,” I tell him, lowering the gun. “But this is far from the end of this conversation.”
Rossi snorts. “I told Emilio he should have dropped Bellini as soon as you took Lucia. I knew this would be a lot more trouble than it was worth.”
“Meh, you knew my old man would never listen. Which, win-win for us, right?” Giulio takes Vanessa’s arm, knife still against her throat, and starts moving toward the parking lot. “Nice chatting with you, Corvi! I hope the next time I see you, there’s a bullet through your chest.”
“Let them go,” I say into the mic to my team, looking directly at Giulio.
I won’t be the one taking a bullet the next time we see each other.
31
