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“Slack?Slack?That’s all Gino’s ever had, and look what he did with it,” Aldo wheezes. “Now, come on, let’s get this over with. Castellani—what do you want to know?”
I lean in. “I want to know everythingyouknow, Don Bernardi. I’d like to open up your brain and trace all those delicious memories.” Leo makes a sharp movement that I catch from the corner of my eye, but I ignore him. “But for now, I just want to know what happened the day before my mother’s murder. Let’s start there. Tell me about that meeting at Redwood Manor.”
“That? It was just another business meeting. We weren’t the only Family there. There was some disagreement with PacSyn about territorial borders, and your father, Ciro, may he rest in peace, was trying to broker an agreement. Disputes make business bad for all of us—that’s why, when you’re Don Castellani, Julian, I want to make sure we work in harmony.”
I give a tight smile. “Well, I’ll look forward to that. Go on.”
Aldo shrugs. “I was there with Mario Brunello, because he was my Capo down at the port, where we’d had some trouble with PacSyn. The more things change, eh? Brunello was a good man. Dependable. Your brother did wrong when he sent that Vegas hitman after him a few weeks back.” He wags a finger at me.
“I’ll make sure Sandro and Jack both regret it,” I say, trying not to sound impatient. “Go on.”
Aldo takes a drink, stretching it out, enjoying my avid attention. “Well, now, let me think. Your father had his men showing us around. Ciro liked to show off. His money, his house, his wife…” He looks up, as if recalling the memory. “Silvano Rizzo offered to show us the hedge maze. Rizzo and Brunello knew each other, see. Worked the docks regularly, so they had a mutual respect.”
“Did you see the fishpond with the fountain?” I ask. “It’s right next to the maze.”
“Sure, I guess. Stupid fucking thing. Your father had no taste, Julian, God rest his soul. But this was the daybeforeyour mother died,” he stresses. “I wasn’t there the day it happened.”
“Did you see her? At the pond?”
“At the pond? I don’t think so. But I saw her now and then that day. She was a good hostess, and a beautiful woman. Your father was rightly proud of her. Now, Roxanne, she coulda learned a thing or two from your mother, but…” He sighs. “But I never spoke to Caroline much, you understand. Just hellos and goodbyes. I was focused on business that day, Julian. Same as you should be.”
I lean back in my chair, tapping my fingers on the armrest. “And that’s it? That’s all you have to say?”
“Like I keep telling you,” he says with an almost-grin, “I wasn’t there the day she drowned.”
* * *
As Leo escorts me down to the street later on, I murmur, “Was Gino trying to channel Brando inStreetcarwith that terrible performance?”
“Quiet,” Leo snaps. He looks more troubled than he really should. His father has spilled all the information he has, and I’m not sure if it was worth all the bother, but at least we’ve passed the hurdle of today.
Leo pulls me down the street. “I’m gonna walk you a block over then call you a cab.”
I pull away. “Leo, Iknowyou’d rather come home with me. Why don’t you?”
He looks up and down the street and then pulls me into a nearby, unlit laneway. “Listen,” he says firmly, in a tone I know presages trouble. It’s the same tone Jack uses on me sometimes, when I’ve done or said something he thinks is wrong. “You need to go home and get over—“ He breaks off, searching for a word. “Forget about me. About this, whatever this was that we were doing.”
“What?”
“You heard me.”
I step closer to him. “You want me to forget you literally had your fist in my ass last night? Fine. But there are things you said to me that I will never for—“
He grabs me by the shoulders and shakes me. “Listen to me! Tonight just showed me again why this was a dumb idea from the start. It’sdangerous, Julian. Dad ain’t fucking around—and neither is your brother.”
“Sandro?Sandro’sgot you running scared?” I shrug his hands off. “Don’t tell me the Bernardi Lion is just a pussycat after all.”
He reaches up to clutch his head, like it pains him again. “It’s not just Sandro, you dumbass, even though, yeah, he made it pretty damn clear I needed to disappear once tonight was done. But mywhole fucking Familyhates you! You don’t realize how much of a threat they are to you!”
I laugh at that. I can’t help it. “A threat? You Bernardis are as threatening as a pack of Chihuahuas, Leo. I’m sorry, but it’s true.” Oops, wrong thing to say. “Look, I appreciate you looking out for me,” I add quickly, “but if you’renotaround to protect me from your Family, then isn’t that even more dangerous?”
He makes a growling noise, rubbing his face in his hands. “Julian.”
No one has ever said my name like that before.
No one has ever looked at me like he’s looking at me.
The anguish in his eyes is almost enough to make me take a step back. But I lean in instead, grabbing at his jacket lapels, the same damn dinner jacketIhad made for him. “You said I belonged to you. You made mebelieveit, Leo.”
