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“You don’t need to go. He’s an ass to everyone,” Tommy said, shaking his head.
She smiled and shook her head. “I’ll be in touch.”
Without another word, she left the room. Tommy scowled at Louis, waiting until Sierra was out of earshot before speaking again. “You’re rude to Bella because she’s…” He looked up at Frankie before proceeding cautiously. “She makes it easy. You don’t need to act like that toward Sierra.”
She makes it easy.We all knew it was because she was the definition of a blonde gossip girl. She wasn’t the smartest woman, but she was a looker, which seemed enough for Frankie. Maybe she was more than that, but she’d never shown it to us.
“Sierra works for our enemy. Literally. I’m not going to blindly trust someone who could fuck us over in the long run,” he said without a second thought.
“You need to get over what happened with Johny,” I said, grinding my teeth and walking from the room. “We all miss him, but we’re not letting his loss run our lives.”
He didn’t have enough time to respond before the door slammed closed behind me, ending the conversation. Louis could be skeptical about outside people all he wanted, but he needed to get the stick out of his ass when it came to the people we decided to trust.
I stepped out of the house just in time to watch Sierra’s car pull out of the garage and onto the street. All I wanted was to understand why she hated me so much. She had no idea what I’d given for her to be alive and well. I came so close to escaping this life, and I was only here because I kept her safe and out of the mafia life.
I protected her from so much, but was it possible that there’d been something worse that I hadn’t protected her from—the thing that had given her the scar?
I shook my head. I’d done enough. If she hated me, so be it.
8
SIERRA
I strolled through the local hardware store, looking at the wide selection of all the decorative kitchen essentials. The plumber said he’d be done with the drainage pipes and water lines for the new sink placement within the hour, so I knew I had only that long before I needed to be back. But I couldn’t decide between the modern gold hardware and dainty silver.
Having free reign of the design decisions on a house proved far more taxing than the opposite. Usually, my clients had all their preferences in a spreadsheet, but that wasn’t the case this time. I had creative freedom; if I got it wrong, I knew I’d face hell. Knowing that Virgil was a part of the mob—a big part—made all my decisions feel more real and more pressing. And if I made the wrong decision, would he retaliate?
Dainty silver, I decided. Gold was too bold a move, and silver seemed to be the most common and preferred style of kitchen hardware, especially when combined with gray or white. That made the most sense for a modern kitchen.
But what if he’d hired me because of my previously bold choices in renovations?
I took a deep breath and shook my head, tossing the silver in the cart. On any other project, I would’ve trusted my instincts. I would’ve never been so indecisive about a decision as menial as the style of hardware on kitchen cabinets.
“Oh my goodness,” a woman said from behind me. I turned, looking her up and down uncertainly. I typically did a great job remembering faces and imagined I would’ve recalled hers. Her long blonde hair hung nearly to her waist, and the crop top she wore accentuated her petite figure. “You’re Carlo’s new girl.”
I gaped, unsure of how to respond to those words. I wasnotCarlo’s girl, and I had no idea who this woman was to believe that, especially when I’d been so careful not to be seen in public with him. I was on the clock right now for a man who would not react well to knowing I had affiliations with the Bonanno brothers.
I stepped in closer. “I’m sorry, I don’t think we’ve met,” I told her.
“Shoot, I’m sorry. I always get so ahead of myself. I’m Bella. I’m married to Frankie, and he told me you’re going to be coming around more often because of Carlo. We haven’t had another girl come around for…well, I don’t think ever.”
I remembered the first day I’d met with Frankie and Carlo. They’d mentioned this woman and made it clear not to give any information to her. Looking at her now, I could see the reason. She did look like someone who enjoyed gossip, and I was thankful I hadn’t spat out that Carlo and I weren’t together. So that was the cover story, then.
“Did you come all the way here to meet me?” I asked hesitantly, looking her up and down once again. While I wore stained clothing, caked with drywall mud and sawdust, she looked impeccable. She certainly didn’t look like she belonged in a hardware store. I wondered if she had ever been in a place like this before.
She looked at her feet sheepishly. “Not exactly,” she said, but I could hear the lie for what it was. “I guess I just got excited that Frankie mentioned another woman coming around, and I wanted to know more about you. I know that’s creepy.” She sighed and held up her hands as if to defend herself. “I’m so sorry, I’ll go. I seriously need to stop being so weird to new friends.”
“No.” I stopped her, wrapping a hand around her small wrist and pulling her to a stop. “That’s totally fine. You were excited. I totally understand that. I would have done the same thing.”
My smile was genuine, though I lied. It was odd that she’d decided to come and see me, despite knowing nothing about me or why I would be seen around their home more often. I couldn’t imagine putting myself in a position like this, and I wondered how difficult it was to find me here of all places, especially when I was only running a quick errand. She must have done a lot of digging, but I didn’t bother asking her how she came to find my whereabouts.
“It’s just that Carlo brings you up a lot, and I feel like I know you even though I don’t. I swear I have other friends and I’m not being creepy. It would be nice to be friends with the only other person in the same situation, you know?” She elbowed me lightly as I began making my way to the front of the store. “Most people would have no idea about all the crime stuff.”
I winced. This was the last thing I wanted to discuss. “Well, it’s nice to meet you. I’m sure we’ll be seeing a lot of each other.”Hopefully, I’ll be done with this job quickly enough that befriending her won’t matter.
“I’m sure,” she said, smiling as I laid out all the hardware, screws, and other small pieces I needed for the kitchen on the counter. I paid with my business card and smiled at the cashier as he placed all the goodies in a tall paper bag and sent me on my way. Bella followed. “Listen, I actually came for a reason,” she admitted.
“Oh?” How did I tell her that I was in a hurry—that I had to get back to Virgil’s house as soon as the plumber finished to stay on schedule for the week? I didn’t want to offer additional information if I didn’t need to, so I continued walking, hoping she’d get the point.
