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“Maybe that’s what Maggie was trying to warn you about,” I said.
Cesare’s eyes were even darker than usual while he thought it over. “If it is mob money, we’re already on their shit list.”
“Yeah, but we’ll be a whole lot higher on that list if we actually succeed next time,” Matteo pointed out, and he wasn’t wrong.
“We knew how risky this was when we decided to do it in the first place,” I said.
“But now there are more players involved,” Cesare said.
Matteo nodded. “Including local ones.”
Cesare was unperturbed. “We’re trying to steal a piece of the pie for ourselves. What the hell did you think was going to happen? That the mob would just welcome us with open arms?”
“No one said that.” Matteo finally sat, sprawling out on the couch. “We were just relying on the element of surprise. We would swoop in, shock them and force them to accept us in. Now, that’s gone, so, I can’t help but wonder just what thefuckwe’re going to do next.”
This time, Cesare kept his mouth shut. Rather than responding to him with words, he reached behind his back. Tucking his shirt out of his pants, he produced his pistol. He brandished in the air for a moment and then set it firmly on the coffee table.
“This is what they’ll get.” Confidence had returned to his voice. “This is what they’ll all get, if they stand in our way. We didn’t come this far to quit. Okay—we fucked up that heist. That doesn’t mean we’ll stop trying. The mob knows what we’re trying to pull off? Fine. Let those fuckers come. We’ll make them regret it. We’re doing this. It’s not a matter of if, but when.”
“Once we have our own crew, they’ll be the ones afraid of us,” I added.
Matteo was the last to relent. “It’s not quite that simple, but yeah, okay. I’m still in.” He downed at least half a bottle of beer. “But this means we have to be even more careful from here on out.”
“We will be,” I said, lightly running my hand over the bandages on my chest.
“Fuck yeah, we will be,” Cesare confirmed. Damn, that guy was burning with determination.
Nothing was going to deter him. Nothing and no one at all.
Even mafiosos with a hell of a lot more connections and resources than us. It was true; the organization would see us coming from miles away. We wouldn’t shock anybody, but Cesare was right. We had been waiting for our moment for a long time. No fucking way were we giving up now.
8
PIPER
Why on earthhad I volunteered to cook? Or, rather, I’d been volunteered to cook by Cesare. Perhaps a better question was why I’d given my address to a stranger.
Except he was starting to feel like less of a stranger. Plus, Leo seemed to think the world of Cesare, and that made me feel better about the big guy.
I frowned as I vacuumed. Then there was that other man, Matteo. I’d barely exchanged two sentences with him, so he was still a complete mystery to me. But that was okay. Figuring out two men was enough for the moment. Though Leo had been a lot easier. He was a straightforward guy. He’d made his interest in me very clear, but I hadn’t taken him seriously, since he was a patient. Plus, he seemed like a bit of a natural flirt. Probably he would’ve flirted with any woman who’d shown up in his room.
But Cesare was still a mystery—as was what I was going to feed him. I quickly rejected the idea of Italian food. No way was I going to try to make pasta for a genuine Italian. He’d probably expect the pasta to be homemade or something. I’d only ever made pasta from a box.
Then I briefly thought about serving the leftover steaks, but that seemed tacky, since it was supposed to be yesterday’s meal. Besides, I’d eaten one when I’d gotten home.
In the end, I took the coward’s way out and ordered Chinese food. I tried to make up for it, however, by doing my hair and makeup to the best of my ability again. Zoey was right, it was nice to wear something other than scrubs. And the way Cesare’s dark eyes had gleaned when he’d spotted me yesterday had made it all worthwhile.
For my outfit, I’d thought about keeping it casual, but he seemed to like my dress yesterday, so I dug out another one. This one was a kind of shimmery bronze. It was held up by spaghetti straps and clung to my curves tightly. After I shaved and moisturized my legs, I kept them bare and slid into heels that weren’t quite as high as the ones I’d worn to the first date.
My nerves were a jittery mess by the time Cesare knocked on the door to my place. I pulled my door open, my pulse rising as anticipation grew within me.
Good god, he practically filled the entire door frame. Would I ever get used to the sheer bulk of him? It was like inviting a giant into a tiny apartment.
But the giant hadn’t come empty handed. He had a bottle of wine in one hand and a bouquet of lilies in the other. And the appreciative expression on his face as he took in my dress made all the pampering and prep worthwhile.
“Hi,” I said, my voice practically a squeak. Where the hell was my confidence? Oh yeah, back in the hospital wearing blue scrubs. I didn’t have a lot of it out in the real world.
“Hi,” he spoke in his deep voice. “Nice to see you again.”
