Page 50 of Mafiosa
‘Yeah,’ he said, smirking at me. ‘Eighteen automatics plus ammunition. Let’s see your uncle survive an assault from one of these.’
Before, a comment like that would have shocked me – scared me, even – but it barely registered now. The idea was as commonplace as the guns themselves.
He picked up a gun and hefted it into the crook of his arm, moving his shoulders around to get comfortable. Beside him, Dom and Gino were doing the same. ‘It’ll be heavier when loaded,’ said Dom, aiming his gun at me. ‘You think you can handle that, Sophie?’
Nic grabbed another gun from the bag and handed it to me, nodding at me to take it. I picked it up – it was heavy, even without the ammunition.
‘Relax your shoulders and grip it,’ said Nic, still watching me intently. ‘Here, like this. Look.’
He held the gun lower, at his chest, one hand on the front handle that jutted out almost parallel to the back handle, which he tucked into his ribcage, his elbow pulled back to make it fit. He directed it at Gino.
‘Say hello to my little friend!’ he said, before making athud-thud-thudsound at him. Gino pretended to clutch at his heart and fall over. I had seen Gino like that before – only with real blood gushing down his shirt, his face as white as snow. Now, he was giggling in that high-pitched voice of hisand writhing around on the floor, and I couldn’t help but find it strange how much he had distanced himself from the time he almost died. And yet, I was here, too, holding a machine gun to my chest and practising my aim in a puddle of assassins on a hundred-year-old marble crest that stood for blood and honour. And I don’t really know why, but I was laughing too.
Nic stopped faux-shooting and turned back to me, his smile as wide as I had ever seen it. There was something infectious about his excitement. I wanted to feel like that. I wanted to smile like that.
‘See?’ he said, still laughing a little. ‘Easy as that.’
I adjusted the gun as Nic had done, trying to push away the faint unease inside me. ‘Like this?’ I asked, swivelling to see if the gun was snug enough with movement. It was a little cumbersome.
‘Exactly,’ said Nic, winking at me. ‘You’re a natural with it. I knew you would be.’ Though I knew it shouldn’t, his approval made me smile.
Dom leant towards me, his pungent aftershave mixing with the faint whiff of hair gel that always emanated from him. ‘Maybe with this gun, the next time you shoot to kill, you’ll actually pull the trigger.’
Gino sat up. ‘What?’ he said, blinking at me and then at Dom. ‘What’s that supposed to mean?’
Nic thumped Dom in the side of his head. ‘Io non ci scherzerei tanto, fratello!’
‘Calmati,’ said Dom, returning a jab to Nic’s right arm. ‘It’s a joke.’
‘I don’t get it,’ said Gino, still glancing between us.
I glowered at Dom. ‘A bad joke.’
‘A dangerous joke,’ cautioned Nic.
Dom shrugged. ‘She should have thought of that before she—’
‘Dom!’ I shouted, casting a wary glance at Gino. He didn’t know about my cowardice at The Sicilian Kiss, but the way Dom was dangling it in front of him, he was about to. And that would be one more chink in the secret, and one more step towards my eviction. Or worse. ‘Seriously, shut up!’
Dom raised his palms to me. ‘Calm down, tetchy. I’m just kidding around.’
‘What’s going on down here?’ Felice descended the stairs, his loafers padding softly on the stone floors, his grin fixed perfectly in place. Even now he was back to his old impeccably-turned-out self, I would never forget the version of Felice that had cornered me in that alcove, the manic look in his eyes, the thirst in his voice when he spoke to Paulie about Angelo. I would never forget how deeply he despised his role in the family, or how little respect he had for Valentino. He was more dangerous to me now than ever, and no amount of forced pleasantries or blithe indifference on his part was going to change that. ‘A special delivery, and no one thought to call me?’
‘We were picking our favourites,’ said Gino, twirling his own choice in front of him. ‘Didn’t want to get stuck with any duds.’
Felice arched a brow. ‘A delivery this precious from New York is unlikely to have any duds,Giorgio, and if the Di Salvos heard you say as much, they’d have your tongue cut out before lunchtime.’
‘Calm down, Felice.’ Nic was examining a longer, thinner gun now, which had a little tripod stand.
Felice hunkered down and took a gun for himself. I didn’t fail to notice the look of disdain he offered to the one sitting in my lap. It was probably the one he wanted. I clutched it harder, indicating just how sure my choice now was.
Elena swept through the hall a moment later, her pixie-like nose upturned at our huddle. ‘What a mess you all make sitting there like vagabonds,’ she said, eyeing the weapons over Dom’s shoulders. ‘Can’t we act like adults and place these elsewhere?’ She frowned at me. ‘And shouldn’t you be in school, girl?’
‘Valentino wants her chaperoned to and from school,’ said Dom, without looking up at his mother. ‘I’ll get around to it once I’ve chosen my favourite.’
‘Boys and their silly toys.’ Elena rolled her eyes and sashayed off into the kitchen, her heels clacking on the ground as she went, her voice fading. ‘And the Lord gave me five of them.La vita sa essere terribilmente ingiusta…’
‘So she doesn’t want a gun, then,’ I surmised.
