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“Maybe they’re finally sending us a real Capo to lead this ragtag bunch of misfits,” Van teases, trying to lighten the mood.
“Very funny,” I reply with a forced chuckle. But I walk out the back door before answering the phone. “It’s Soldano.”
“The Maestra wants to see you. Now.” Giancarlo Barone’s tone brooks no argument.
“Did she say what about?” I ask, trying to keep my voice level. If Anna-Vittoria’s sending for me so abruptly, it can only mean trouble. We have a regular meeting each week that she could talk to me at, if it wasn’t something urgent. And given the crew’s track record lately, I’d like a heads up from the Baron if I need to brace myself.
But I might as well have saved my breath.
“What kind of man do you think that I am, Soldano, that I would discuss Family business over the phone? Don’t keep the Maestra waiting.” He ends the call.
I hang up too, my mood soured. What kind of man do I think he is? A slimy weasel. I don’t like Barone, or any men who act like they know it all, which is basically the Baron’s calling card.
“Everything alright?” Pony asks as soon as I re-enter the house.
“All good,” I say, forcing a smile to sell the lie. “Just got called in for a meeting. Tank, Jazz, Pony, Rook—you go on now and follow up on that shipment. Van, Giddy, Nico and Honeybee can keep working on things here. I’ll be back later.”
“Sure thing, Cap,” Pony says, though I can tell he doesn’t quite believe me.
“Take care of yourselves at the docks,” I add. “If the Bernardis make trouble, don’t be heroes. We’ll go back stronger. Van, you’re on point here while I’m gone.”
“Ten-four, Cap,” Van replies at once, but the worry in his eyes is unmistakable.
Hell, I’m worried, too. Whatever this meeting with Anna-Vittoria is about, it’s not a social visit. My crew is working on something big. Somethingimportant. If the Maestra wants to see me, and it’s not bad news, maybe she’ll have the extra funds I asked for.
Or maybe she’s calling it all off. It’s a big play, after all. One that we can’t afford to fuck up.
One thatIcan’t afford to fuck up.
At twenty-eight, I’m the youngest Capo in the Espositos, not just right now butever, and I can’t help feeling like there are a bunch of people who don’t think Iearnedmy position.
I have a lot to prove.
* * *
Before I know it, the Villa rises up before me, and even after all these years, the sight of it still stuns. It sure is a change from the rundown house in the Valley where my crew and I spend our days. The front door ofthatplace could get taken down with a hard kick. But we chose the Lair for its location and because the neighbors know how to look the other way.
By contrast, at the Villa, stone pillars hold an iron gate, pillars carved with mythical creatures that seem to come alive, silently judging those who dare enter the domain of the Esposito Family. I pull up at the guard house, but security waves me through after a glance in the window at me.
I’m expected.
What is this about? I make my way up the winding drive, turning it over in my mind. But whatever it is, I need to stay calm. Keep my head. Prove to Anna-Vittoria that I’m the right man for this job, that I deserve the chance she’s given me.
That my age doesn’t make me a liability.
The house guards take me straight on in too, faces expressionless behind their dark sunglasses. And then I’m escorted to the sitting room, but I stop dead as soon as I enter, surprised to see a man I’ve never seen before waiting there too.
Damn.
Daddy as hell.
Salt-and-pepper hair slicked back from a face that speaks of hard-won experience. His dark eyes hold an intensity that pierces through me as he glances up. He seems…out of place here. Not because of how he’s dressed—impeccable dark suit, white shirt open at the collar—but because he’s so completely unknown.
Unknowable, maybe? There’s a stillness to him that unsettles me.
Those dark brown eyes have me pinned in place. I feel a responding pull in my gut, but I don’t look away; I stare straight back at him. He gives me a nod but he doesn’t say anything.
Friend or foe? Hard to tell.
