Page 78 of The Mafia's Surprise Gift

“You are right. Family is important, so I did a little digging and reached out to some old contacts for anything we missed, anything that would explain Russians in the town or the attack on Mary.”

I didn’t like where this was going.

“The man you killed? The one who murdered your father?” Vito sucked in a deep breath. “He is the brother of the woman the Pakhan’s son is in love with. He’s hunting you, Rocco, and I would suspect after seeing you with Mae and Zack, he knows exactly how to hurt you.”

“Fuck.” I stood abruptly, sending the chair rolling back against the window. “Have you confirmed this?”

The last thing I needed was to act on a rumor and start another war.

“Yes. I reached out to the Pakhan for confirmation and he offered his deepest apologies. It seems that when he noticed his son was missing, he discovered the same details I had just found, and he has been trying to regain a leash on the boy. He’s a loose cannon, a liability to all the Russians are working toward.”

“That motherfucker.” I snatched up my keys and stormed out of the room, calling for Jian at the top of my lungs. “Do they know where he’s staying?”

“They have an idea and gave me an address.”

“I’m going to fucking kill him.”

“I thought as much,” Vito replied. “I expressed such intent to the Pakhan, and he did not seem surprised. If I had to guess, his son has been an unruly thorn for longer than anyone would be willing to deal with. I would advise you to tread carefully?—”

“Bullshit.”

“But I know you won’t. Be careful, Rocco. We don’t need another war.”

“They should have thought of that before losing control of their fucking dog.” I ended the call and yelled for Jian again as I hurriedly dialed Dino’s number.

“Boss?” Jian came sprinting down the stairs, his shirt half open and his hair damp.

“The Russians who are here? It’s the Pakhan’s fucking son. The rat I killed? His girlfriend’s brother.”

“Holy shit,” Jian breathed out. “And they just forget to tell us?”

“Some secret so that there’d be no accusations of special treatment, I guess,” I remarked, then I stopped suddenly in the hall.

The call to Dino was ringing out.

There was no answer.

33

MAE

“Just like those Summer Time blues, oh, baby…”

I sang to myself as I moved around the kitchen, keeping one eye on the chicken cutlets frying in the pan and another on the sweet sauce bubbling away in the pot. Four plates were laid out on the counter, but I wasn’t sure whether I should serve dinner to Dino or not. The last we’d spoken, he was more interested in making sure we stayed safe than joining us for dinner.

In the end, I placed the fourth plate away and pulled out a small Tupperware box instead. If he insisted on staying out there, then he could at least still eat from this.

“Smells amazing,” Mom said as she poked her head into the kitchen. “Zack is just out of the bath, so I’ll send him down once he’s all dried and sorted.”

“Alright.” I turned my back on her briefly to check on the sauce. “Did he say if he wanted hoops or loops?” I asked, eyeing the two cans of pasta I’d left on the second counter. We’d be having some potatoes, but Zack had insisted on pasta.

“Hoops.” Mom chuckled. “Just like you were when you were little.”

“I guess we’re a hoopy family, huh?”

As we laughed, the sharp screech of the doorbell rattled through the air and I jumped slightly. “I hate it when they use the doorbell,” I muttered. “Can you get that? It’s probably Dino not wanting to piss in the flower bed again.”

“For which I am grateful!” Mom threw up one hand, then grasped at her cardigan and pulled it closed over her chest. “No problem.”

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