Page 58 of Black Widow's Kiss

“To take a shot at you? Why would I try to shoot you?” he asked confused.

“Maybe you were ordered to,” Dante suggested.

Matteo stared at Dante not answering.

“Pa didn’t ask me to take you out,” he replied soberly.

Sensing that there was more to his story like I did, Dante asked, “What did he ask you to do?”

Matteo looked down unable to maintain eye contact with either of us.

“Ya know, you shouldn’t have cut Pa out like you do. He doesn’t like it.”

“What did he ask you to do, Matteo?”

“He didn’t ask me to do anything,” he said still not looking up.

“Fuckin’ talk to me, Matteo,” Dante demanded. “What aren’t you telling me?”

“It just that, Pa’s been asking if I would treat the business like you do.”

“What does that mean?”

“You know Pa. He doesn’t like change. He’s been doing things the same way since he was born. You came in, made all of these changes, and blocked him out. He wants back in.”

“He wants to know who you would back if he pushed me out.”

“More like, if you were out of the picture. He asked me how I would run things.”

“You think he’s gonna make a move against me,” Dante clarified.

Matteo looked at his brother. “I think he already has.”

“How’s that?” Dante asked laser-focused.

“Uncle Vinny’s back.”

Dante slowly fell into his chair hearing the news. I looked between the two of them trying to figure out what was going on.

“Who’s Uncle Vinny?”

Matteo replied, “He’s our father’s brother. Legend has it that he once made a move against our father for the business and my father exiled him for it. He’s been asking to return to the states for thirty years and our father wouldn’t let him.”

“And you think that your father letting him come back has to do with him making a move against Dante?” I clarified.

Matteo looked at Dante for confirmation. “Why would he change his mind now after thirty years?”

“Why are you telling me this? You could’ve held this back,” Dante asked Matteo.

“I’m telling you because you’re my brother. You’ve always had my back. I want you to know that I have yours. We’re family. There’s nothing that will come between us no matter how tight their ass is.”

Dante turned his attention to me for my response. For once, I didn’t know what to say.

Matteo was telling Dante that I shouldn’t matter.Did Dante believe that? Did I matter to him or was I just a diversion? Maybe all of my makeup had tricked him into believing that he was with a woman and it was just a matter of time before he realized what I was.

With a scared waiter approaching the table soon afterwards, Dante didn’t address what Matteo had suggested. Instead, we ordered Italian pasta and wine, and pretended Matteo hadn’t said anything he had.

Droning on about a tattoo artist he had heard about in Los Angeles, Matteo had a hard time looking me in theeyes.After dinner when Dante headed to the bathroom, Matteo turned to me.

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