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I can’t sit still. Pacing around the big living room somehow makes me feel even more alone.You don’t have to tell meanything, Mia, but a daughter doesn’t run from her father for no good reason.
That’s none of your business,I tell him.
I have to go now. I’ll be back soon with some clothes.
I type out a reply—don’t bother coming back—but then I delete it and put the phone down. There’s nothing to do but sit down and exist with my thoughts. It’s not exactly something I enjoy, but I can’t escape it, either. Dante is a mafia enforcer. Maybe he’s putting a good face on it, telling mesorryrepeatedly, but his nasty side could come out.
Just because I want him on some messed-up level doesn’t mean I know him. I’ve got to remember that. He could have a whole other side. He said it himself. He would’ve killed Vito, even if it hadn’t happened by accident.
CHAPTER 11
Dante
Tony Marino is a big wet-looking motherfucker, grinning like he’s trying to suggest something as we gather around the table. Colt is leaning against the wall, looking big and intimidating, and Luca and Elio seem impassive. They’re all subtly suggesting that this bastard is in charge.
I need to relax. I don’t know anything for sure, only that he would’ve forced her to marry that scumbag.
“So, where’d you get your security degree?” Tony says.
“Uncle Tony—” Luca starts, but Tony cuts in, raising his hand, flashing a gold Rolex. “Seriously, Dante… It’s Dante, yeah, kid?”
I grit my teeth and almost clench my fists. Tony Marino is basically a second Don. The West Coast is a smaller operation than ours, but he’s much, much higher up on the chain than me. “It’s Dante.”
“I want to know. What are your qualifications?”
“I’ve worked for the Marinos since I was seventeen.”
“Hmm. I see. So how is it my good friend Vito is currently a cold sack downtown, on ice, while they try to figure out what the fuck happened, hmm?” He grins, but it’s more like he’s baring his teeth. “My police friends tell me somebody acquired the security footage. Wiped it clean.”
“Why weren’t you there?” Elio says.
Tony snaps his fingers. “Yes, that’s the question. Elio, you always were the smart one. Just ask Leo the Lion. He’ll tell you.”
I’ve got to play this smart. I’ve got to make this man believe, which will be humiliating. I think of Mom in the hospital bed, the wires and the pumps and the bags attached to her. I can do this.
“I went home.”
“Home?”Tony snaps.
“I went into the restaurant, but then Vito came over. He told me to leave.”
“And you just did it?”
This is the important bit. I look down, letting shame touch my features. It’s not always difficult. Sometimes, it feels like I have so much to be ashamed of—so much evil, so many sick grins in the mayhem. “He didn’t leave me much choice.”
Colt looks at me strangely. All these men know how strange this sound coming from me, as if Vito could tell me to do anything, but Tony laughs and claps his hands. “Vito bullied you, did he, kid?”
“I don’t know if I’d use that word.” I grit my teeth. “But he didn’t make it an option. It was stay or fight, and I wasn’t looking for trouble. Hell, it was a date. None of my damn business anyway.”
“And you’re not Navy SEAL, are you, kid? You’re not wiping tapes.”
Luca glances at me, but I play dumb.
Tony sits back, shaking his head. “Then who did it? Who whacked my boy?”
“And where’s Mia?” Luca mutters.
Tony narrows his eyes, almost like he forgot about her. Then he smiles slowly. “Ah, yeah, and her.”
