Page 94 of Deception

“They’ll keep it up, same as always. If we don’t return, they’ll pass the duty along to Ava and her husband.”

The comment is offhanded but it really makes me wonder.

Will I ever see this place again? Do I ever want to after what happened here?

Either way, I want the best for my people. Vincenzo and his family have always been loyal. Knowing they will be safe, far away from danger and living a peaceful life gives me some sense of closure on this farewell.

Our trip down the mountain is quiet, Isabella staring out the window, my brother silent and brooding. Time passes in a weird, abstract sort of way.

On the train.

At the airport.

We keep to a strict schedule, avoiding major stations and slipping around customs. The benefits of a bottomless bank account and decades of padding the right pockets.

The plane ride back to the States is one of the longest I can ever remember, sitting in the same cabin as Isabella.

We may as well be on opposite sides of the planet.

Part of me wants to scream at her, demand answers. Another wants to never see her again. Only a small part of me considers throwing her out of the plane over the Atlantic.

Adriano is resting, his headphones notched in his ears.

Isabella’s sleeping in her seat across the aisle, facing back toward me, but out of earshot.

“Why? I need a reasonable answer. But you can’t give me one, can you? Like a cheating spouse. You just did it. You just acted without concern for how it might hurt me.” The words are barely audible to my own ears above the hum of the engines.

Once I had a chance to look into her life, her reasoning was clear.

In addition to being Giorgio’s sister, she's an investigative reporter. An aspiring one anyway, working for a tabloid in Rome.

This could have been her big break.

All at my expense.

I don’t even begrudge her the ideal of revenge, of thinking I killed her brother and wanting to bring me down for it. It’s something I can empathize with all too well.

But the ambition of using that to propel her career?

Disgusting.

I can't bring myself to tell her what really happened to Giorgio. Not yet.

The wound is still too fresh, and I want her tosuffer. To languish, not only wondering what I know—the mystery dangling in front of her nose—but also to wonder what I’m going to do to her for betraying me.

Let her think that I killed him. Let her worry that he wasn’t who she thought he was.

The first lights of a city twinkle down below as I look out the window into the darkness.

Under any other circumstances, I enjoy flying, long trips.

But all I have to look forward to when we arrive is more meetings. Planning.

At least at the end of that I get to fight. Lead my men to battle. Assuming Adriano doesn’t try to keep me locked up at the compound.

He can fucking try.

Spending time back in the old country did me one big favor. It solidified my familial ties. Generations of men like me, seeing their families through hard times. Through wars.

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