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I laugh. “I guess he followed his dreams, then.”
She gives me a shrewd look. “Don’t let Dante fool you. He’s tough, sure, but he has the biggest heart of anyone I know.” She pauses. “He’ll do anything to protect the ones he loves. Just like Enzo.”
She sighs, looking sad for a moment before she pushes a plate of Italian sausage at me. “Now, the meat. Protein is good for the baby.”
The rest of the day goes by as slow as molasses as I wait to hear something, anything, from Dante. I notice Alberto checking his phone.
“Is everything okay?” I ask, and he nods his head easily, smiling at me.
Alberto’s a sweet guy, even if he can’t communicate that well. He carries around a pen and paper usually, and he scribbles something down for me.
I squint at the paper.Everything’s fine,it reads.
But there’s something on his face that makes me suspicious. I’ve been around the famiglia for a long time, and I consider myself pretty good at reading people who don’t like to be read.
So, when Alberto gets up to use the bathroom, I sneak over to look at his phone. It’s locked, but there’s a text notification that I can read.
We’re putting off breaking the hourglass.
I stare at it for a long time, swallowing hard. Wiseguys speak in code, and I’m pretty well-versed in deciphering it after a lifetime as my father’s daughter.
It takes me a moment, though, because it’s just such a shock to my system.
The hourglass is my father’s insignia. He’s used it since he was a kid, has a tattoo of it on his right shoulder blade, a tipped over hourglass with sand pouring out of it.
When I asked him about it as a kid, he’d chuckled.
“It reminds me, carissima,” he told me.
“Reminds you of what, Papa?” I’d asked, fascinated as we sat on the edge of the pool, looking at the ink etched into his skin.
“Reminds me that time is always running out.”
Time is certainly running out for him now. My husband is on a mission to kill my father.
27
DANTE
Leo’s bouncing around in the backseat while Nico drives, humming. They’re both happy to be out of the house, happy to be doing this job.
“This is just a rehearsal for the real show,” Leo says.
It feels like there’s a knot in my throat. Leo’s been on my ass to get the job done when it comes to Luca, and I know that I’ve had chances to do it that I haven’t taken. I still curse to myself when I think about how close I came the other day at dinner. I can’t seem to get myself to do it, worried about Mia.
But there’s no way I’m going to tell Leo that.
“Should be fun,” Nico comments. “It’s been a while.” He cracks his knuckles as we pull up a half a mile from the Gallo mansion. Rumor has it that Vincenzo’s brother, Romeo, is out for my blood, and I’m not about to allow them to take a shot at me.
He’s taken over for Vincenzo since he’s gone missing. They’re so sure that it’s me that they’re not targeting Luca, which is good because if Luca goes, I want to be the one to kill him. No matter what’s going on with my feelings for Mia, I still dream about looking him in the face, getting him to admit he killed my father.
I missed my chance before, but I won’t do that again.
We all exit the car and Nico pops the trunk. Leo nearly dives into it, excited to get to the weapons. He takes out a rifle and a bowie knife while Nico picks out just a handgun. I’ve got my gun in my spine holster and I pick up another handgun, just to be safe, and a pocketful of ammo.
“There’s likely at least five of them in the house, all Gallo blood. Then there’ll be guards outside,” Nico explains.
“I don’t care if there’s a hundred of them,” Leo says, cocking his rifle.
