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“I missed a couple texts. Could you let Auntie Paola know? I need to speak to my uncles.”
She sits up and moves away from me. She figures I need to make this call alone, and I do. I head to my office and shut the door. I dial a three way call and wait for them to answer. When Uncle Massimo answers, I hear Uncle Salvatore in the background. He never answers his phone, but Uncle Massi puts them on speakerphone before he talks.
“What the hell, Gabriele? You nearly get blown up, and you can’t bother to call me or Salvatore.”
“I’m sorry. My priority was getting Sinead away from there.”
Uncle Salvatore’s voice gets louder with each word as he snaps at me.
“And in the hours since then?”
He must have stepped closer to the phone. I know his different tones. This is his scared equals angry tone. It’s different from the truly angry one. I feel guilty now.
“I’m sorry. You’re right. It was rude not to let you know we’re okay. Sinead and I have been talking.”
Which isn’t untrue. We just haven’t talked the entire time. Uncle Massimo harrumphs.
“Talking, huh?”
I don’t answer.
“Gabriele.”
My dad may live in Sicily now, but Uncle Massimo sounds like him. There’s warning in that one word.
“Uncle Massi, we’re together.”
I sigh.
“Shocker.”
I don’t really need his sarcasm right now, but I know he feels the same as Uncle Salvatore. His fear for me has settled into anger.
“I know this is shit timing, and there’s a lot to lose if we’re discovered and she has to step down from representing me. But time won’t change how we feel. You can order me to stop seeing her, but that may be the one order I can’t obey.”
Uncle Salvatore’s voice is unbending steel when he speaks up.
“Can’t or won’t?”
“Both, Uncle Sal.”
“What? Two weeks, and you’re in love?”
“Don’t you always say it took you two minutes to fall in love with Aunt Sylvia? I’d say I’m working at a snail’s pace by our family’s standards.”
“This isn’t the time for your sarcasm, Gabriele. We’ve talked to Pauly. We want to hear what happened from you.”
“Sinead and I met in her office conference room. When we went down to the lobby to head out for lunch, I felt like someone was watching us. I couldn’t spot anyone, but I couldn’t get rid of the feeling. I looked outside for Luigi, but I didn’t see him.”
Just before we got dinner, I got a text from Carmine saying Luigi had broken down in Queens. The electrical system malfunctioned, so the tracker wasn’t working. It made me wonder if someone tampered with it just like the car bomb.
“I called Carmine to see if he knew what happened. He sent Pauly over. Everything looked fine when he pulled up and met us at the door. We walked to the curb, and I still felt watched, but I still saw nothing. Pauly opened the door, and immediately, we both noticed the light wasn’t on. We spun around, both of us protecting Sinead’s back. We ran, but the blast knocked us over. I landed on my back to catch Sinead. Pauly landed on top of her. She’s unharmed. Physically, at least. She’s handling it well today, but it may hit her tomorrow. So, Luigi’s really okay?”
It relieved me to get Carmine’s text, but I felt guilty for not asking about our man. Salvatore’s answer is only partly reassuring.
“Yeah. We don’t know why his personal tracker wasn’t pinging.”
“Do you think he does, but isn’t telling?”
