Page 58 of The Enforcer

24Alfonso

I hearthe front door open. Slow, cautious steps through the kitchen. By the time those steps head toward my room, I’m out of bed, brass knuckles on my fingers, waiting.

I could have gotten a gun, but that’s too impersonal for me.

The knuckles are for Zoe. If I were here alone, I would have left them off, so I could feel every blow and make it last, but I don’t want to wake Zoe up.

The steps slow as they get close. I’m waiting behind the door, arms raised, ready.

I don’t expect the knock. “Buffoon,” Nicola whispers, the door inching open. “Are you awake?”

I drop my arms with a sigh and wrench the door open.

Nicola jumps back with a yelp and then a laugh.

“Be quiet,” I tell him, grabbing his shoulder and leading him outside the way he came.

“Where is your fiancée?” he asks, teasing me.

It’s nice outside, and the grass is cool on my feet. The sky is the kind of clear blue that I sometimes miss while I’m in Naples, even though it’s the same sky, really.

“Separate bedrooms already?” Nicola asks, still laughing.

“Why are you here?” I deflect.

“My favorite brother is back home. Why shouldn’t I come see him?” he says.

I sigh. “I’m not that stupid. What do you need?”

He looks side to side and then steps closer. “What are you and Zoe doing today?”

“Why?”

“Answer the question.”

I shrug, “Nothing. Why?”

“I need to sail back to Capri to pick up…a package.”

I curse him. “What have you gotten yourself into?”

“I could ask you the same question. Shall I?”

We stare at one another as we so often did as children. We could be here for hours. “What do you need us to do?”

“I just need you two to come to Capri with me and spend the night.”

“Spend the night?”

“I have a friend who owns a hotel. It’s beautiful. You’ll enjoy yourself, have a little holiday, and then tomorrow morning I’ll bring you back. That’s it.”

“Nicola,” I bark, much louder than I planned.

He holds his hands up and backs away. “Before you bite my head off and tell me no, consider that it is much harder to get to Capri than Positano, and you can slow down whoever you’re hiding her from.” I shake my head. “And if you’re in Capri, then mamma cannot come down here and start planning your wedding.”

I stare at him while I think this over, but he knows that he has convinced me. The last thing I want is to have to explain to my mother and Dario why Zoe won’t be converting to Catholicism.

The front door opens, and I turn around to find Zoe in that same sheer robe from last night. My mouth goes dry, and every muscle in my body hardens.

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