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“Serafina.” He leans toward me, putting both palms flat on the desk. “Antony D’Agostino does not love you. He cannot love you.”
I bark out a laugh, even though his words hurt. “And you think that dinner the other night was full of lovesick suitors? Are you seriously trying to claim that you are one of them?”
His jaw stiffens. “Yes, the men your father brought there to vie for your hand were there because of who you are, who your family is. But Antony D’Agostino is a ruthless man, even among ruthless men. He is dangerous. He will make your life a living hell. He likely has already tried.”
My smile fades in spite of myself. “What do you mean?”
“Your father’s men have not found the person who made the attempt on his life yet, correct?”
I say nothing, unwilling to give Giovanni any information. But he continues anyway.
“If you were trying to hide in plain sight, Sera, what better place to do so than beside the daughter of the man you had tried to kill?”
My blood chills in my veins. Giovanni is staring at me so intently that I can hardly resist the urge to look away. “That makes no sense, Gio. Why would he try to kill my father when he was hoping to make an alliance that would cement the connection between our two families?” Antony’s own reasoning echoes in my words, and as I hear them, I can also hear the faint note of uncertainty in them.
“Because he had no intention of marrying you,” Giovanni says, shaking his head. “But now that his attempt failed, maybe securing his engagement to you seems like the best course of action. After all, he will be closer than ever to Carmine Mucci now. The better to try again, perhaps.”
“What?” I whisper.
“You’re in danger, Sera. Or at least, your father is.”
My mind is reeling. One half of it is screaming at me that Giovanni is untrustworthy, and that he is just saying all of this to hurt me. Besides, this engagement isn’t even real, so Gio truly has no idea what he’s even talking about.
But the other half is whispering that maybe he’s right. Maybe my distrust of Antony at the beginning was the correct instinct.Could it be that he’s just a charming manipulator, who figured out an ingenious way to get our family to let our guards down?
The uncertainty must register on my face, because Giovanni stands up straight, and with an indulgent smile starts to move around the desk. “You need a friend right now, Sera. A confidant. Someone on the inside who can be your eyes and ears.” He moves to put a gentle hand on my shoulder. “I can be that person for you.”
I stiffen at his touch, and a flash of clarity hits me. I know Giovanni. I know who he is and what he’s capable of. And one thing I know he is not capable of is kindness.
This is a trap. An attempt to get me to be suspicious of Antony, and to trust him. And whatever Antony turns out to be, I know with certainty that I can never trust Giovanni.
“Thank you for your time, Giovanni,” I say stiffly. Detaching his hand from my shoulder, I move around the desk and toward the door. “I appreciate your concern. I’ve got a lot of work to do today, so I’ll have someone show you out.” I open the door and nod at the guard, who is still waiting out in the hallway. “Mr. Vincenzi will be leaving now.”
Giovanni’s face is frozen into an angry grimace as he stares at the two of us. He lets out a deep breath and gives me a nod as he walks up to me to take his leave.
“The offer stands, Sera,” he says in a tight voice. “You may find that you’ll want to take me up on it soon. Be careful. And remember that I was the one who warned you.”
16
SERA
Long after Giovanni has left, his words keep coming back to me, even as I try to push them away.
Antony D’Agostino is not the person you think he is.
Antony D’Agostino is a ruthless man, even among ruthless men. He is dangerous. He will make your life a living hell. He likely has already tried.
The more I think about what Giovanni said, the more I realize I somehow just don’t believe them. Giovanni Vincenzi is the last person in the world I would trust to tell me anything. The person he presented himself to be today is absolutely the opposite of everything I have ever seen him to be. Why would he come here to warn me, except for a reason that benefits him? It makes no sense.
Antony, on the other hand, has been kind, respectful, and helpful to me from the first moment I met him. He has been entirely consistent, too. I’ve never seen a glimpse of anything else that would make me believe he is anything but sincere.
But am I just thinking this way because I dislike Giovanni so much? And because I have grown to like Antony a great deal? Irealize that I don’twantto believe Giovanni. And that might be a dangerous lapse in judgment.
In the end, though, I need to stop thinking about all this because I have work to do. I’ve never been so thankful for the distraction. The order of the day is to work on getting ready to pay tribute to Luca Pagano. Every month, each capo owes seventy percent of what his crew makes to the Boss. Daddy told me on the phone that he’s spoken to all the men I need to go collect money from, and made sure they know they’re supposed to give his cut of their earnings to me.
There’s just one slight thing that we didn’t talk about on the phone. Daddy is under the impression that I’m taking Antony with me.
But I just can’t make that sacrifice. It’s true that Antony has been a friend and an ally the past few days. But he’s also not a Mucci. And after my conversation with Giovanni, right now I just don’t want to face him until I get my head right about it. So instead, I’m taking my father’s enforcer, Stan, who’s also serving as my driver. Stan’s one of Daddy’s old guard. Just a few years younger than my father, he’s been part of the Mucci crew for as long as I can remember. He’s waiting outside in one of our cars when I get to the front door. He steps out of the car, opens the rear driver’s side door for me, and gives me a brief, impassive nod as he shuts the door behind me once I’m in.
