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It’s not like it’s my job to protect her. She had a one night stand and will go back to her dull rich life.
I want to forget her but whenever I try, the memory comes back of that guy dragging her into the van. I know that face from somewhere. I’ve seen him before. But where?
It’ll come back to me. Right now, I’m too angry to think clearly.
I can’t believe she was taken from me. There’s no sign she was ever here beyond the slight scent of her in the bedroom. I grab my phone and give the plate details to my guy at the DMV but of course they were false.
False plates. A guy snatching her who I swear I know from somewhere. Shots fired and that means the police are probably on their way to investigate. I make a call to make sure they don’t investigate too thoroughly when they get here. That’s when I get the message through from my brother.
Father needs to talk to you.
That’s just great. I had my morning mapped out. I was going to spend it finding her and now I can’t. It’s not like I’ve got a lot of leads. All I know is what she looks like.
I consider ignoring the message but things are tough enough at the minute without me pissing off the old man.
He’s in the middle of deciding who gets to be Don once he’s dead. Me or Giovanni. My brother’s been gunning for the role for months and time’s running out for a decision. My father hasn’t got long.
I head out. I know her name. What was it she told that guy last night? Rory. If I had a last name, I could find her in minutes but this is going to take time. I’ll see my father and then get on with the hunt.
I drive over to the family home. It’s always strange coming back here. There’s a strange push and pull to the place. It was where I was brought up, a vast mansion on the edge of the city, set in its own grounds with a lake that I almost drowned in when I was four. I remember it vividly. Giovanni asking me if I wanted to learn to swim, tossing me into the water and laughing as I went under. My father watching, telling me life is sink or swim.
Only when I went under and didn’t come back up did he permit one of the made men to come in and rescue me. I remember laying on the grassy bank coughing and spluttering and him looking down at me while Giovanni grinned over his shoulder. “Sink or swim,” Dad said, a calm smile on his face. “Fight to survive. Next time, no one will rescue you.”
I learned to swim the same month. Mom got me lessons.
I head up the steps into the house. I can hear Giovanni singing in the kitchen, his tuneless voice carrying along the corridor. He’s in a good mood. Is this the day I find out I’m not the next Don? After everything I’ve done for the family, will he really give it to that asshole?
I find my father in the smoking room. He’s got a long cigar on the go, the cherry scented smoke wafting up around him, making him look a lot like a brooding dragon. If he was sitting on a pile of gold instead of a chair, I wouldn’t be surprised.
He looks at me when I come in, his watery eyes blinking slowly.
“Doc told you to stop smoking,” I tell him, taking the seat opposite his.
“If I’m dying, I’m dying happy,” he replies, taking a big drag. “You want one?”
“Early for me.”
“Coffee?”
“I’ll get one in a minute. Giovanni said you wanted to see me.”
“Where’d you go last night?”
“Does it matter?”
“I sent you to collect and you didn’t come home. You get rolled or something?”
“Money’s in the car. I’ll give it to Matteo when we’re done here.”
“Still haven’t answered my question. Where’d you end up?”
“Since when do I have to explain my every movement to you?”
“So you found a girl and took her back to that place you think I don’t know about.”
I’m floored for a moment. I was certain my house on Third was off the books.
He grins at me around the cigar. “I know everything, Nico. You shouldn’t look so surprised. Don’t worry. Giovanni has no clue. It won’t get filled with beer cans and cokeheads.” He coughs, his whole body shaking as he drops the cigar on the Persian rug. I scoop it up before the thing catches light.
