Page 94 of Mafia Don's Secret Twins

“Sal?” Johnny’s eyes go wide. “Dude. I want to get the fuck outta here. I was never meant for this shit. Do you understand? This is some bullshit that I don’t fuckin’ know…”

“That’s fine,” I interrupt. “I don’t fuckin’ need you.”

Johnny’s face falls. It feels like I just kicked a goddamn puppy.

I clench my fist and pull back from the wall.Johnny’s not built for shit like this. His family has been out of the thick of things for so long, he’s good at support or recon, but this?

“I don’t want you to get hurt,” I say, clarifying my earlier statement. The sight of Johnny’s usually happy-go-lucky face, crushed by my words, haunts me for some reason.

“I mean, I know what I signed up for…”

“You fuckin’ don’t!” I yell at him.

Johnny’s face locks onto mine.

“You have no fuckin’ clue. What you saw out there? That’s who Benicio Souza is. It’s who he’s always been. He doesn’t fuck around with shit, Johnny. I know you’re a second son and all that, and that you thought maybe, just maybe, you’d have some kind of pull out here, but you fuckin’ don’t. Do you understand? This is not a world that you can just fool around in. Your dad and uncles were connected. They were in. But the world that they were connected in doesn’t fuckin’ exist anymore. And, above all that, Benicio Souza is fuckin'insane,” I hiss, close to his face.

Johnny looks like he’s going to cry.

I shut my eyes.Fuck me.

Opening them, I look Johnny up and down. “If you don’t want to be here, then fuckin’ don’t. You wanted to help me, and Marco asked you to. Whatever that is, it’s a fuckin’ favor. You don’t have to be here, Spinoli. You fuckin’ don’t. But if you want Marco to extract you, have him send me Sal instead.”

I don’t know when it will be my turn to interrogate the potential traitors. I have no fuckin’ clue.

But I can’t get Johnny into this further if he doesn't want to be here.

Johnny sighs, looking away. “I want to work for whoever is coming out of this. Either you, or Marco, or whoever the fuck it is. Hell, I’d win this myself if I didn’t think you’d kill me for bein’ with your girl.”

“I would,” I say.

I’m dead fuckin’ serious.

Shaking his head, Johnny looks away. “That shit that we saw in the courtyard… that’s fuckin’ scary, man.”

I know. “That level of violence is how Benicio Souza will always operate. He’s always going to be one mean motherfucker, man. If you work for him, you have to constantly be looking for those guns to be aimed at your head.”

“And you’re willing to go through all that for this girl?”

“Yes.”

There’s no hesitation. There’s no doubt. I will always come for Marisol. It doesn’t matter if she’s on the other side of the fuckin’ world.

I will always come for her. No matter where she is or who has her.

The only thing that could make me stop is if she clearly, beyond a shadow of a doubt, told me she didn’t want me.

Doubt skates through me again. Marisol made it clear that she didn’t think we knew each other enough for it to matter.

You need to change that.

My eyes snap to him. “What time is it?”

“One-fifteen.Why?”

I nod, pushing off from the wall. “I’ll be here this evening. Whatever you decide, Johnny, I support you. If you talk to Marco, then tell him I fuckin’ need Sal.”

I don’t wait to see what Johnny says. I turn, opening my door and slamming it behind me.

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