Page 40 of From My Past
“Anytime.” I kissed the top of her head. I felt her breathing even out after a few moments of silence and her body relaxed.
I couldn’t fall asleep, I had to get the troops ready and figure out how my father wanted to handle this. I knew how I wanted to handle it, but as Second-In-Command, I still needed to defer judgement to the Skipper.
I just didn’t want to leave this bed.
For the first time, in a very long time, I too felt at peace and whole.
Unfortunately, life especially in the mafia doesn’t work like that. It’s eat or be eaten, be smarter than your competition or die. So, I pulled her in tighter, savored the moment of Talia in my arms and then slid out of bed, replacing my body with one of the pillows.
She looked beautiful. Her long blonde hair wrapped around her like a glow coming from within. Her face was soft and she looked every bit like the girl who stole my heart all those years ago.
My heart clenched as I knew I had to leave her alone but I forced myself to turn away from her and walk out of the bedroom, slowly and quietly closing the door. My forehead rested against the white wood of the door as I pulled myself together.
One deep breath and I turned to the front door, walking with purpose so I could go be the leader I was.
This war was just starting and I was going to fucking win.
* * *
I slammed the door to my office closed after taking a quick shower and changing into my usual black jeans, fitted tee and my motorcycle boots with my black leather jacket over top. Stomping over to my desk; a dark, heavy wooden thing that I barely used if I’m honest, but sometimes its usefulness had its moments. I looked over the piles of paperwork that I refused to touch where in the middle of the desk was one solitary file with ‘Garzino’ labelled across it. At least not all of my men were incompetent.
Before I even opened the file, I pressed the intercom button and waited for Marcellie, the assistant we have for the clan, to pick up.
“It’s a little early for mafia thug business, don’t you think?” Marcellie’s hoarse voice sounded fuzzy through the receiver. She was the kind of lady who smoked a pack of cigarettes a day, every day since I’d known her. And she’d been working for my family since I was a baby.
“Oh, shut it. I know you’re awake, have smoked three cigarettes, and on the clock already, so don’t be harping on me for calling you at 6 in the morning.” I rolled my eyes. “I need you to get Sion and have him here in thirty minutes.”
“That’s asking a lot, boy.” She rasped; muffled coughing sounded from the other end of the receiver. “Fine. Anything else?”
“Not at the moment, you old bat.”
“Love you too.” She said with a wet laugh and hung up the phone.
The very first thing I had to do today was sort out the bullshit with Sion because something wasn’t sitting right.
I opened the file that had surveillance for Luca that I’d ordered once he left our building. I needed to know exactly where he went, who he met up with, what he did, in order to take him down. Inside were pictures of Luca, black and white, zoomed in photos obviously taken from a far-range lens. I had a perfect picture of every moment of his night from when he left to about an hour ago.
Flipping through the pictures, it was mostly as I had expected. Luca was a fucking asshole who had been rejected when he thought that he held all the cards. The first few photos were of him stalking out of the building, pushing bystanders and storming through downtown. He’d gone straight to the bar about a block away, the next few photos were of Luca power drinking and screaming into a cell phone. I was sure that he was going to go to some strip club or go start a fight, but the rest of the photos were of him sitting at the bar, getting sloppier and sloppier the more he drank.
He did hit on some bystanders, even taking one into the bathroom by the looks of it. Thank fuck there are no pictures of that. But he didn’t leave the bar until about four in the morning based on the timestamp at the bottom of the photo. The next one, and the last one, was of Luca unlocking the front door to their apartment.
No. Not theirs. Not anymore.
Talia wouldn’t go back there ever again.
A knock sounded on my office door interrupting my thoughts and Sion walked in. Sion was an older gentleman. He was a short man who took care of his body and even though everyone knew he was greying, Sion continued to color his hair and his beard brown like when he was younger. He had an impressive talent of being able to blend in anywhere, which is what made him such a good investigator.
Except for this time. When I was counting on him.
“You wanted to speak to me, boss?” His old Irish accent came through very strongly and still laced with sleep.
“I do. Come take a seat.” I gestured to the chair in front of my desk. Unlike my dad, my office was really only for show. The walls and bookshelves were bare, I didn’t have a comfortable seating area or personal touches. But in this instance, I don’t think it really mattered.
“How can I help you?”
“I had some questions for you regarding my…outstanding project.” I leaned my elbows over onto my desk and clasped my hands in front of me, looking over them at Sion.
“Yes?” Sion asked, picking an imaginary piece of lint off of his black slacks.
