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I perk up around a mouthful of delicious lemony bread. “Anthony is here?”
He went M.I.A. for a bit there. My brother isn’t always a stickler for the rules, but I’m usually much more likely to disappear without updating anyone in the family for days.
“No, he left already. But he talked to your father for hours. Smelled up the whole house, I swear.” Ella turns away from cutting the bread and wags a finger at me. “Don’t youdareget any of that on the white carpets, Roberto Giovanni—I just had them cleaned. Oh, and your father is waiting in the study for you.”
I laugh, thanking her for the bread as I slip through the brightly lit house and up the stairs to knock on the study door. My father calls out to come in, and I saunter into the room with a critical eye.
As I suspected, Gabriella’s homey touch has worked its way into here, too, but to a much lesser extent. My father would be content with gray walls, a steel desk, and a pot to piss in. As it is, there are lacy white curtains in the window, framed pictures on one wall, and cushioned chairs that I can’t imagine he picked out.
“Ciao, caro papà,”I greet—hello, dear dad.I opt to stand and lean against a wall. Wouldn’t want Ella going after me for getting bloodstains and dirt on her perfectly cozy little office chairs.
My father is the opposite of his chipper lover. He has steely dark eyes, a thin set to his lips, and dresses in black and nothing else. Even the silver in his hair is particular, only streaking along the sides and not touching the crown of his smoothed-back dark hair.
He zones in on my shirt immediately. “I see Marcus left out key details of how you spent your time today. Tell me this isn’t the result of yetanotherunnecessary fight.”
“Not unnecessary. Pretty sure they got the message loud and clear.”
“Roberto,” he sighs in frustration. “When will you stop acting like some street-level enforcer biting at the bit? You’re going to be a Don soon. It’s time you start having more control like the other underbosses in the Giovanni family, you know?”
I snort, rolling my eyes as I dust some dirt off the sleeve rolled up to my elbow. “Sure, they havelotsof control. Oodles of it. But do they have any fun? Do you think any of them enjoy what they do? Nope. It’s like being captain of a baseball team wrapped in bubble wrap with not an ounce of swinging experience. Only…that sounds like something I’d watch for shits and giggles. My point is that Giovanni assets are starting to be encroached on. The fear factor is gone.”
“Ragazzo,” he begins—boyin Italian. “If it was Anthony in your shoes, he would be—“
“You gotta stop comparing me to Anthony and the cousins and the others in our family,papà,” I shake my head. “You know I get things handled when I need to. I just do it the way I see fit. You can’t really complain about the results, can you?”
My father examines me for a long moment, fingers tapping on the paper-filled desk before him. Finally, he shrugs one shoulder in something like agreement. “It’s true. You have a way of handling things unlike the others, and you get results. You think differently, Roberto, and it’s why I’m assigning you something completely new.”
I raise my eyebrows. This was unexpected. I hadn’t known why he called me to meet with him in person, but I won’t complain about a new assignment. Routine underboss duties have seemed especially boring since I returned from meeting with associates in California nearly a week ago.
I’ve beenverydistracted for the last few days, ever since an intriguing woman with fierce green eyes brought me to my knees in a dark hall and threatened me. I sigh at the memory of the Don’s daughter. It just keeps popping back up, and it’s getting fucking annoying. I’ve got enough here in Chicago to entertain me. I shouldn’t keep lingering onher.
“Define ‘completely different,’” I prompt.
“There is a substance, a drug—“
Ah. “So not different at all, then. I’ve worked that circuit before, too,vecchio uomo.Not interested.”
Vecchio uomo—"old man.” It’s a teasing term for my father, although he still looks considerably young for his age.
My father’s gaze sharpens, and he stands, rounds the desk, and faces me. We’re about the same height, and I Don’t easily get nervous about a man’s fighting chance when he’s practically a senior, but I admit that my father could probably hold his own in any brawl on the Chicago streets today.
“This is different, Roberto, and youwillbe interested. It’s not an ordinary drug, thisVitalen.And our source’s motivations for getting it out to the public are far from anything you’ve seen before. This is all very hush-hush,ragazzo,more than anything you’ve had a hand in before. I debated with Anthony for hours this morning about whether or not you should be involved at all.”
I raise a brow. “You threw in that last part just to bait me, huh? Fine. I’ll bite. ThisVitalen, what’s so different about it? And where was Anthony the last few days? Does this have something to do with him going M.I.A.?”
My father nods and lowers his voice even further, stepping up beside me as we both turn to look out his study’s window, which gives a sprawling view of Oak Park. “Anthony was kidnapped by the Illuminati,” he says quietly.
“You’re shitting me. What do you mean, theykidnappedhim? What’s the Illuminati doing getting mixed up with drugs, anyhow? I thought they were a secret society all about enlightenment and pulling strings to overthrow world powers or some shit.”
“If you can’t take this seriously, Roberto, then take your leave because Anthony was my first choice. He’s the one who insisted you have the bestdispositionfor this.” He sounds genuinely doubtful about Anthony’s vote of confidence in me.
I tip my head as I watch an old lady bike past on the street below us. “Okay, fine. So they’re the suppliers?”
“Yes.”
“But they’re not just in it for the money.”
“Not according to Anthony,” he confirms. “Your brother was insistent that their claims aboutVitalen,though he was initially skeptical of them, show real promise. He’s been in an undisclosed location with them for the last few days by choice to verify all their claims, and now he’s connected to them to get the ball rolling.”
