Page 1 of Cold

ChapterOne

VITO

I staredat Amadeo in disbelief. No, he hadn't just said what I thought he did. As he sat behind the desk in his office, I stood behind my chair and gripped it so tightly the leather creaked. He plucked a tissue from the box in front of him and wiped away a bit of blood on his lip before he looked up at me again.

"Did you hear me, Uncle Vito?"

"I thought I did, but I'm pretty sure I must have had a damn stroke," I said as I pushed a finger into my ear and slid it back out. "Try again. Must have been blood in my ears."

Gabriele grinned as he stood beside Amadeo. He hadn't even bothered to get cleaned up. Sitting on the couch off to the side, I gazed over at Romare. His face was buried in his cat, only his big, gray eyes peeking over the fur. He stroked it gently, and if I stared too long, he completely covered his face with it.

"Uncle Vito-" Ama started.

"No," I growled. "Hell. No. Do you think I want to be a babysitter? I don't even have my own children, kid. And that's for a reason. Scumbags like me shouldn't have damn offspring and I'm not going to be responsible for all of," I peered at Romare and frowned, "all of that."

Amadeo laced his fingers together and peered at me. "It's not a request. We know Romare."

"Yeah, we grew up with him," Gabriele chipped in. "Our summers in Sicily were spent with him and his mother. He always went back to California once the summer was over and we came home."

"Okay," I said as I leaned forward. "What does that have to do with me?"

Amadeo sighed. "Romare was stolen when he was sixteen. We looked everywhere for him, so did Dad. But we could never find him. Apparently, he was with the Russians all that time. Look at him; he's..." He trailed over as his gaze flickered over to Romare then back to me again. "Fragile. And in danger. I don't trust anyone else to keep him safe."

I pressed my fingers against my temple and rubbed. "No, I can't. I have things to do, Ama. You have me cleaning up shit all over the city and I can't add babysitter onto that workload. How would he be safe with me while I'm working?"

"You won't be working," Amadeo said. "This is your only priority now." He glanced at Gabriele. "Take Romare into the office next door and stay with him."

"You got it, boss," he said as he pushed off of the wall. "Come on, Romare. Let's catch up."

I watched them walk to the door. But as soon as it was open, Romare stared back at me and pursed his lips. He looked like he wanted to say something, but he shook his head, turned around, and left with Gabriele.

"Uncle Vito, he's in a lot of pain. And he could use someone to take care of him. I can't do that right now, not with everything on my plate. Besides, I think he's taken a liking to you."

I frowned. "I don't give a damn. I've done a lot for this family, but this?"

"He was closely connected to the Russians," Amadeo cut in. "Romare might know something. And if you're with him all day, you might have a chance of obtaining that information. We need it, Vito. I'm tired of people getting hurt while I do nothing."

I clenched my jaw so hard it felt like my teeth would snap. What he was asking of me was ridiculous. I could go out and fight, kill, and gather information with the best of them. But caring for someone? That was something I'd never been good at. People never got close to me. I didn't let them.

"Ama, if there's something else I could do-"

"There's nothing," Amadeo snarled, his face contorting. "I helped save your life, remember? Dad let you live after what you did. The only thing you should be doing is saying yes. You've done it all these years, don't start fucking me over now. It would be easy to correct my mistake of allowing you to breathe."

I stared at Amadeo. Damn, he looks like my brother. Vincenzo and Amadeo were exactly alike. The older Ama grew, the more he turned into his father. My stomach clenched as I straightened up and adjusted my clothes.

He was right, I couldn't turn down a request. I'd swore to Vincenzo that I would let Amadeo run things and would be loyal to him until the very end. But sometimes I wanted to smack the kid and tell them to fuck off and leave me alone.

"How long?" I asked as I stared at my nephew.

"For as long as it takes. This Sergei has to have a last name; maybe Romare will remember what it is. If not, he could still have other valuable information." He sighed. "And I feel bad for him. No one should have to suffer the way he did all these years. He needs you, Vito." Amadeo's gaze softened. "I need you."

The anger that had been boiling in my gut disappeared. At the end of the day, Amadeo was still my nephew. He might drive me crazy, but we were family. And that meant a hell of a lot to me.

"Fine," I said. "I'll see what the boy knows, but don't hold your breath. That brain is probably a scrambled mess after spending all that time with the Russians."

"Maybe so, but I can't leave him to someone else," he said. "He knows us. Right now he's standoff-ish and scared, but he'll come around if he's close to the family. And if he's with you then you can bring him around whenever he wants to visit."

"Anyone could do that," I pointed out.

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