Page 85 of Day Shift

“Well, it had better never happen again.” I said this in jest, but it came out with a sharper edge than I’d intended.

“Oh, my God, don’t be so butthurt. We’re obviously past that already.” She moved the box with the dresses to the coffee table, walked over to the kitchen counter, and grabbed her phone. When she returned to the sofa, she tossed me her phone and sat next to me. “How about you enter your contact info and anyone else’s you can think of?”

Glancing down at the unlocked phone, I hesitated. “Do you think this thing could be hijacked by your uncle…what was his name, Luca?”

Angel’s eyebrows scrunched as she cocked her head. “Hmm, I doubt it. But Nik, on the other hand, he’d definitely be the type to do something like that.”

“Then maybe I shouldn’t put my information into it?”

“Honestly, Conan, knowing Nik, if he wanted to know your number, he’d find it. He’s a born-and-bred Volkovi Notchi. I just wish I knew what he was thinking.”

She was right. If these mafia types wanted someone’s number, they had their ways to find it. I entered my number, as well as Atticus’s and Braxton’s, and handed it back to her. She stared at the phone and frowned.

“I should have already called Aunt Elena. I’m sure Uncle Luca told her I stopped by his office yesterday, and she’d expect that I would call her right away. I just don’t want to talk to her. Ugh.”

“I wouldn’t worry about your aunt,” I said. “She knows how to reach you. Where’s Luca’s office again? And why did you go there first thing?”

“It’s in Tribeca,” Angel replied. “It’s a beautiful building. You’d be surprised by how many ventures Uncle Luca’s involved in. Most of them are legitimate and make good covers for the illegal stuff. Not that I know much about the details. As a girl, I spent most of my time at boarding school, and then, when I was off at college, I lived in a dorm. I was never close to my family except for my brother Nik, and I only saw him once or twice a year. During holidays, I would see my aunt and uncle, but my family would always send me away to camps or summer internships when I got older.”

“That must have been hard on a twelve-year-old girl,” I said. Shaking my head, I tried to piece together what I’d learned about her past. “So, Luca is an intimidating underboss who signed a contract basically selling you to a man, yet he was always warm to you? That’s nuts.”

She chewed on the corner of her mouth, taking a minute before she replied. “It’s hard to explain my relationship with Luca. He’s always good to me, but in a more formal way. He likes the fact that I look him in the eye and speak to him without pretenses though. As a kid, I used to ask him a lot of questions and talk his ear off every holiday. I had no idea he was a stone-cold killer. It wasn’t until after college that I started connecting the dots about who the Genovese family really was.”

Angel explained how she’d uncovered details about the Genoveses and other New York mafia families after she started working at one of the Kennedy University libraries. She’d learned a lot about their history but not much about the modern-day family.

“You see, arranged marriages are very common among mafia families, dating back to the beginning of the organization’s history, when Italian immigrants, especially from Sicily, arrived in the United States. They brought their traditions and criminal organizations with them.”

“But marriage contracts aren’t legal in our country,” I said. “Why would anyone go along with something that’s practically human trafficking? I don’t get it.” I still couldn’t believe she lived in a world where this kind of thing seemed so commonplace.

“They may not be legal, but they are definitely enforceable by mob justice. You see, mafia contracts and disputes are governed by the Commission, which formed after the Castellammarese War consolidated power among the American families.” She paused to gather her thoughts. “I was always raised to live as a daughter of the mafia. I never questioned it, because it was all I’d ever known. That is, until I wrapped a car around a tree and had some sense knocked into me.”

I frowned. “Don’t joke about that. You could have died. But I’m glad you were brought to me for care, because you changed my life.”

Angel’s eyes softened, and she reached for my hand. “You’ve changed mine too, Conan. Thank you. You’ll never know how grateful I am for everything you’ve done for me. You’ve been my rock through all of this.”

I leaned over and kissed the top of her head. The more I learned about her, the more impressed I was by her toughness.

Just then, the intercom rang again. Angel pushed off the sofa and went to answer it.

It was Braxton with all our luggage.

“Great timing,” Angel said. “Welcome to my place. Let’s get you settled and then head to the club.”

Braxton nodded, taking in his surroundings as he walked in. “Good to see you, Angel. Thanks for letting me crash at your place.”

“No problem. Sorry for the awful circumstances. I never imagined you two would come after me. It’s good to have you here though, even if it kills me knowing it’s putting you in danger.”

“Don’t worry about it, hun,” he said. “We did the same for Samantha. If you can’t stand up for what matters, then you’re not much of a man. It’s always been just us. We might give each other hell, but if anyone comes after one of us, they’re taking on all of us.”

“You Thorin brothers are something else. You’ve got your own brotherhood. Kind of like a mafia family without all the…illegal shit.” Angel smiled and showed Braxton to his room as I took my bag to her room and changed clothes.

When I came back downstairs, they were chatting in the kitchen. I joined them and leaned against the counter next to Angel. “You ready to get to the club and figure out how to deal with all this crazy-ass bullshit?”

She smirked. “I’m sure all my guys will figure it out.”

I mimicked her, “All your guys, huh? You need more girlfriends and fewer men in your life.”

She rolled her eyes dramatically, shooting back, “Jealous much?”

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