Page 94 of The Woman with the Wallet

“A job you didn’t tell me about?”

“Yeah. I wanted to… get it finished first. Wanted to kick the money up to you, then to Lorenzo from there.”

“But something went sideways.”

“You could say that.”

“Let me guess,” Cosimo said, his gaze landing on Max again. “She’s got something to do with that.”

“I picked his pocket,” Max admitted, making Cosimo’s lips curve up.

“Is that right? Isn’t it just like a Costa woman to start off in this family by causing some kind of trouble?”

I didn’t correct him.

Because the more time I spent with Max, the more sure I was that there was only one end to this.

Her, me, rings on fingers, promises of forever.

“I’m gonna need this story from beginning to end,” Cosimo said.

“It’s not over yet,” I admitted.

“Guessed as much.”

“Well, this is… none of my business,” Venezio said, slapping his hands onto his thighs as he moved to stand. “Chuck, it’s been… twelve hours.”

“It’s only been six,” Chuck said, brows pinching.

“No. No, it hasn’t,” Venezio said with a head shake as he made his way to the door.

My gaze slid to Max, a million things passing silently between us in a second.

“Hey, Chuck. How about we pick out something to order for dinner?” Max asked.

“I’m not hungry.”

“Yes, you are,” she said, grabbing his forearm to drag him off the couch and pull him into the kitchen with her, giving me and Cosimo as much privacy as she could with the open-concept floor plan.

I was aware of her deliberate lack of conversation, likely trying to overhear me as I started in on the whole thing with Cosimo.

He just let me talk, getting out everything I could from the first idea to leaving Gavino at Lil’s place.

“You’ve been busy,” Cosimo concluded.

“Yeah,” I agreed.

“And up until today, you haven’t had any help.”

“Well, Zeno.”

“That doesn’t count,” Cosimo said, shaking his head. “And if it wasn’t for something completely unforeseeable, like a woman picking your pocket for shits and giggles, this job would have been done, and you would have made the Family half to three-quarters of a million dollars.”

“That’s the gist of it, yeah.”

“I always knew you weren’t going to be with me long,” Cosimo said.

“What?” I asked, feeling like the ground was falling out from under me.

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