Page 14 of Hot Blooded

I scowled at him. “No, this is for my eyes only.”

Vinnie took a step toward me, and Tony moved to block him.

“Enough,” Tom said. “Come on, Elio. You can use my laptop.”

“No,” Vinnie growled. “Not until he tells us what kind of information he has that will make Giacomo roll over for him.”

“There’s no point in trying to use this for blackmail if he knows I already told you and you can use it against him. This only works if I keep the secret.”

Tom looked at Vinnie. “He has a point.”

“So I’m supposed to let him put a drive into our computer that could be doing no telling what to our system, pulling any amount of our data, and then I’m supposed to not look at what he uploads and let him communicate with his father without knowing what they’re talking about. You think I’m stupid?”

I sighed. “All I know is that I have a peaceful solution, but you’re going to have to trust me.”

“Why should I do that? There’s absolutely no reason for me to think you want anything but the worst for my family.”

“What I want is to get free of my father’s control. I don’t hold loyalty to him, I don’t want to be part of his organization. I don’t want to be part of yours. I want to be a free person who directs my own life.”

“That’s not how things work in our world,” Vinnie said.

Tony laid a hand on my shoulder. “He’s right. You’re with us now. You’re going to have to trust me.”

I shook my head. “You want to control me just like they do.”

I expected him to deny it, but he didn’t. “That’s because you’re mine now, mine to protect.”

I wanted to shout that I could protect myself, but unless I got very far away, I really couldn’t do that. Even if I ran to the other side of the globe, how long would it take before my father tracked me down? Was he really going to let me go when I knew his secrets. Was I being naïve? Would my own father put out a hit on me?

Tony looked at Vinnie. “Can Elio and I please have some time? If you’ll let me talk to him, I think we can work this out.”

Vinnie narrowed his eyes. “How do I know you’re not just going to run?”

“Because if we were going to run, we would’ve done that after I killed Billy. I never would have brought him here. Maybe that’s what I should’ve done.”

Vinnie’s face contorted with fury. “You don’t run out on your family. We’d find you and make sure you regretted the betrayal.”

Tony tensed. I wanted to reach for him. I wanted to be able to comfort him the way he had me. This was all so insane. What was I doing here? How had I ended up getting myself even more trapped? If I ran, Tony would be blamed for it. I wouldn’t let that happen.

I wished I had the power to protect us both, but despite being Giacomo Baruchi’s son, I didn’t have any power of my own. In my family, power had to be earned, and all I’d wanted to do was get out. Maybe I should’ve learned all the lethal skills my brothers had, maybe I should have turned myself into a cold-blooded killer. Because now it seemed like I was destined to work for one criminal family or another.

That thought made me wonder about Tom. He didn’t bow down to Vinnie, but I also had a very hard time imagining him taking part in the worst aspects of the family business. He seemed like a natural peacemaker, and he clearly wanted all of us to stay calm. He’d defended me against Vinnie when he didn’t even know me. How did a man like that survive in this world?

“I’d like to talk to Tom on my own,” I said.

“Fuck no,” Vinnie snarled. “If you think I’m leaving you alone with my man for one moment?—”

“Vinnie,” Tom said. “What do you think is going to happen? Elio and I are just going to sit and talk.”

“For all I know he’s going to try to turn you against us.”

“Vincent Trevisani, do you think I care so little about you that a person I just met could turn me against you and your family? If that’s what you think of me, I’m walking out the door right now.”

“You’re not going anywhere.” Vinnie grabbed Tom’s arm and yanked him close so they were nearly nose to nose. Tom didn’t even flinch.

“That’s right, I’m not, because I love you. I thought you trusted me.”

“Fuck, Tom. You know I do.”

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