Page 40 of Mafia Star

“Shh. It’s all right. They didn’t find anyone, but I’ll talk to them in a bit.”

“Shouldn’t we get to work? You made it sound like you didn’t want to be here long today.”

“I’m not done holding you, cuore.”

That sorta sounds like heart in French. Who am I to argue? I’m feeling calmer every moment he’s holding me. Finding he has a gun freaked me out after being followed. Now I find it reassuring. And honestly, not that surprising now that I’m not terrified of being attacked or kidnapped. But it leaves me thinking about something I never planned to bring up with him because we’re supposed to be friends with benefits. I sit up, but I don’t try to get off his lap.

“Chelle confided something in me when she slept at my place before the wedding. It’s something I’m certain you already know.”

I watch him, and his expression grows wary.

“She told me about our family’s ties to the O’Rourkes. Marco, I already knew. I’ll tell you how if you want, but is your family the same as theirs? Tell me the truth. Are you in the mob?”

“No.”

I start to pull away. I knew the answer. I just wanted to hear it from him, but he’s lying to me.

“Wait, Beth. Stop. The mob is the Irish. The O’Rourkes. The Russians are the bratva, and that’s the Kutsenkos along with their Andreyev family. The Diazes are the Colombian Cartel. My family are the Italians. We are the Mafia with a capital M. Cosa Nostra to be exact. Mob and mafia are tossed around interchangeably, but in our world, we know who’s who. We aren’t the same.”

Aren’t the same? I’m pretty sure they’re a fuck ton alike.

“Are you saying that if I hear about those countries in reference to American organized crime, those are the families you’re talking about?”

“Yes. Technically, we’re Sicilian. But no one on this side of the Atlantic seems to get the difference. That’s not the hill we die on.”

That does nothing to reassure me when I know he has a gun strapped to his back. I once called them The Big Four when I mentioned them all at the reception. Apparently, I wasn’t so far off.

“Chelle told me about our family history with the O’Rourkes. I never told her or anyone else that I already knew. I’m the same age as you and Dillan, but I dated Shane for nearly a year in high school without anyone knowing. I went to a Christmas party with my grandparents when I was a junior, and he was a sophomore. We hit it off, and I didn’t know about his family. We dated for two months before I noticed how secretive he got about stuff. I mentioned his family offhand one day to my parents, and they clammed up. I tried to a dig a little with my grandmother, and she warned me to stay away from the little reprobates. Neither of us lied about it, but neither of us did anything to draw attention to our relationship. But I broke up with him about ten months in because he got into some big fight at a party, but he wouldn’t tell me why.”

“I know exactly what party you’re talking about, and I know exactly how badly he got beaten up.”

Oh, shit.

“You do?”

“I do.”

We stare at each other for a long time, then I finally say it.

“You did it, didn’t you?”

“Most of it. Misha finished what I started.”

“Misha? He was there?”

“Beth, my life is so far past fucked-up I don’t even know what to call it.”

He closes his eyes and tilts his head back. I don’t know what to do since I think he’s going to shut down. But a moment later, he looks at me.

“The four families all lived close enough in Queens that we were zoned for the same high school. We used to play little league and peewee sports together. One night in high school, we all wound up at a party together. Usually, we steered clear and had our own sets of friends. But that night, Juan and Pablo’s cousins insulted Maria when she stuck up for a friend who had a crush on one of the Tres J’s. One of the three called Maria a bitch, and I overheard him. When Luca and Matteo saw me rush Javier, they came over. Maria knew to get out of the way and pulled her friend out, too. Pablo and Juan, along with their other cousin Alejandro, came to help the Tres J’s. Carmine and Gabriele heard the noise and us yelling in Italian to one another. Once they joined in, the O’Rourkes decided to stir the shit up even more by egging us on. Pasha asked Maria what happened, and she told him. That family has absolutely no tolerance for anyone mistreating women. They jumped in to defend Maria, which only pissed my brothers, cousins, and me off because they said we couldn’t defend her properly. Long story short, it turned into a melee when the O’Rourkes did more than just shit talk because Luca accidentally punched Cormac instead of Niko. People fled, and Maria got out of there with her friend. Shots were fired, and knives stabbed and slashed. It was bad.”

“You have an old scar near your right kidney. It’s round and sort of puckered.”

“Yeah. That was courtesy of Alejandro. Fucker shot me from behind.”

I sit dumbfounded. What the hell do I say to that? We’re the same age, so he was sixteen when that happened.

“Wait. What were Carmine and Gabriele doing there? They were only fourteen.”

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