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The air shifts in the car, and Sinead feels it. She continues to watch me, but I give her arm a squeeze before I stroke it. Luca, Carmine, and Matteo are all married, and all call their wivespiccolina. It’s not something any of them said before they were with the women they fell in love with, and I sure as shit have called no one that. They get I’m not just looking for a good fuck.
“I need to call Marta again.”
“Not yet. When we get to Auntie Paola’s, Carmine’s going to go through the hotel security footage. We need to know who did this. Then we can plan better. She means well and cares about you, but Marta’s suggestions won’t keep you safe. We need to decide what happens next so you can convince her to go along with it.”
Sinead sighs with acceptance, and I’m glad I don’t have to convince her as well as Marta. It shows me how deeply she trusts me already, and I want to do nothing that might ruin it. Protecting her is the most important responsibility I’ve ever had. It rests on me like I’m Atlas, bearing the weight of the heavens on my shoulder because I hate knowing I’m the reason she needs the protection. Someone else is doing this, but she wouldn’t be in the situation at all if she weren’t representing me. But I like knowing I’m the one safeguarding her. I like knowing I have the final say. It calms me.
When we arrive at Auntie Paola’s, Carmine’s mom is at work. He goes into her study and sets up his laptop. The other guys raid the kitchen. I take Sinead into the living room where I’m ready to sit beside her, but at the last minute, pull her onto my lap. She curls into me, and I stroke her hair.
“Who could have gotten in there so fast, Gabe? I was just assigned the room.”
“When the woman from your office made the reservation, someone was ready. Or they found out right afterward. Either way, they hacked the system to assign you that room just like we got the surrounding rooms. Carmine texted me just before they arrived. All three were actually vacant, so no one had to move.”
“So they had at least an hour or two head start to get in there and bug it.”
“Yes.”
“Do you sweep every hotel room where you stay?”
“If someone makes a reservation ahead of time, yes. If we walk in and request a room, then we just sweep it for anyone who might be lurking.”
“Isn’t it exhausting to be anxious all the time?”
“It’s just the opposite. At least for me, anyway. I don’t let myself worry until there is a reason to, but checking everything out calms me. It’s reassuring that I was right not to worry.”
“But you live in a constant heightened sense of alert.”
“I suppose. I only remember being a kid and not knowing these things then, at some point, just knowing to be vigilant. I remember learning how to be, but I don’t remember when it just became a part of me.”
“Are all—”
I can practically hear the gears grinding in her mind as she tries to figure out how to word whatever she’s about to say.
“—men like you like this?”
“Men like me? As in criminals or Mafiosos specifically?”
She freezes. She didn’t want to come out and say it outright, and she doesn’t like that I did.
“No, little one, they are not. That’s why they’re in prison or dead.”
I feel her hand clench my shirt, and I’m uncertain she realizes she did that again.
“Then I’m glad you are exactly who you are, Gabe.”
“Thank you.”
I try to lighten things by grinning when her gaze meets mine, but she doesn’t see any levity in this, and I can’t blame her. If I weren’t trying to make her feel better, I wouldn’t either. This isn’t the time to swap childhood stories or chat about fun times in college. So we remain quiet, both lost in our thoughts until Carmine comes in with his laptop. He sits on the edge of the coffee table— only because his mom isn’t home to yell at him —and turns his computer toward us.
“They turned off the feed on the floor. The best we can see are two people getting off the elevator in what looks like coveralls. Then it goes dead.”
He plays the video, and it’s what he said. Two figures step off the elevator, and before they turn toward Sinead’s room, the screen goes black. Carmine advances it until the feed goes live again, and it’s the back of them getting into the elevator. He toggles to something else, and it’s the inside of the elevator. They have hats on, heads down, gloves on, and no way for the cameras to capture anything identifying. They’re pros. They’re doing just what we would.
He toggles again, and we see the lobby. It’s a time lap video, showing these two approaching the elevator with hats pulled low and chins tucked. We watch people moving around the lobby and getting on and off the elevator. Then we see the pair exiting the elevators. The video shifts to another camera angle, and we can see a partial profile as one looks up to open the hotel’s main door. Then it jumps to another feed and them getting into a van that’s parked right out front.
“I’m running the tags right now, but you know it's going to come up legit now and stolen within the hour or fakes already.”
Carmine’s grim expression shifts to Sinead and eases. He doesn’t want to scare her any more than she is by what we’ve already seen. She sits up and moves to a spot beside me.
