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Confirmation. Someone sneaking you surveillance photos is never a good sign.
Gently, I spilled the contents onto my bed, for some reason afraid to touch the images.
But in reality, I should have been afraid to look at them.
Because in gritty, long lens photography were photos of Paulie fucking a woman. They clearly weren’t commissioned by Paulie, not something that either of them knew was happening, and for a moment, I’m left even more confused than before I had them.
Until I flip one over and see that same thick black penmanship on the back.
Dario’s wife is written in the same dark letters.
My mind moves back to what Johnny told Lilah, about Paulie fucking his Capo’s wife, about her secretly popping birth control despite the fact that Dario wants to build their family.
I think about how my wife told Johnny she couldn’t use that information without proof.
Proof that, apparently, I was given.
Proof that Paulie and two of his men are now staring at.
“Is that you?” I repeat, enunciating like he doesn’t understand.
“Where the fuck did you get this?” he asks, looking to me like I’m the one who took the fucking pictures.
Like I’m at fault here.
“It was fuckin’ given to me by a little birdie. The fact that you’re not denying this shit says a fucking lot.”
“Why would I deny what’s right here?” he asks, and I want to fucking knock him out.
The fact that he shows zero shame, zero remorse for breaking the omertà, for fucking the wife of one of his men?
Just another reason not to let him have power.
“Paulie, is that Kelsey?” Tino asks, his voice low and astonished.
“Who the fuck cares?”
“Uh, Dario’s gonna care,” Gian says. Gian’s a good one, brought on six or seven years ago. He’s single, but when he does date a woman, he treats her well, doesn’t have any goumads.
He values relationships and is always kind and respectful to any of the men’s wives or girlfriends.
The look on his face tells me that seeing this just lost Paulie a shit ton of respect.
“Dario spends too much time worrying about his fuckin’ wife and not enough time worrying about the family,” Paulie says. “Maybe if he finds out his wife is a whore, he’ll shift his priorities.”
“Jesus, man,” Tino says, eyes wide.
“Wives and children are the family, Paulie. We don’t fuck with that shit. We don’t fuck made men’s wives.”
He turns to me and I see the ice there, in his eyes. The look tells me he does not give a shit about family or community. About growth or respect.
He cares about power and what having it can get him.
“Maybe you should mind your own business,” he says, his voice cool.
I shake my head, making it seem like I’m disappointed in him.
Like I care.
