Page 26 of Gardener for the Mafia

He sighs. “It’s just that you seem happier than I’ve ever seen you, boss. These past few days, it’s like all the work you’ve put in over the years has finally paid off. I’m happy for you. That’s all.”

“Thank you, old friend,” I say. “But let’s not get too damn emotional.”

He chuckles. “Of course not. What’ve you two got planned for today?”

I feel something unusual flip around in my belly, as though I’m not the most feared, respected man in the city, as though I don’t have billions to my name and hundreds of thriving legitimate businesses.

But that’s what Lena does to me.

All my life, I’ve lived as a savage conqueror, moving from battle to battle, never stopping long enough to know what it’s like to just be a man.

But now I do.

I’m Lena’s man and she’s my woman, and the thing doing fucking cartwheels in my belly might be nerves.

“We’re doing something important and momentous,” I say.

Matteo nods with a slight smile. “I think I can guess,” he says. “So all I’ll say is good luck, boss.”

We pull up outside Lena’s skyscraper, where I’ve been spending most of my time since the afternoon in the hotel suite a few days ago.

Last night, my queen even convinced me to bring my guitar to the room and strum for her as she sang, her voice so much more beautiful than my playing could ever be.

“It’s been a long time,” I told her. “I used to play as a teenager, but then business took over, and I became monomaniacal in claiming what was mine.”

She tilted her head at me, sassiness made flesh, her hair cascading around her shoulders like Eve herself.

“You’re good with your hands. I’m sure you’ll be fine.”

She was right. I was able to take up the instrument almost as though I’d never put it down, moving my fingers across the strings as her angelic voice filled the apartment.

But I know that without her I wouldn’t have been able to play. It was only the motivation of hearing her voice rise higher and sweeter that gave me the ability to coax a tune from the instrument.

Now, I peer across the street to see that Lena is standing outside the apartment building, crouching under the force of a man, a man who is fucking shouting at her.

Behind him, five men stand, all with their chests puffed up and their hands hanging at their sides, fists clenched, as though they’re trying to look intimidating when really they just look pathetic.

“What the fuck?” I growl, gripping the door handle so hard I almost snap it. “These motherfuckers just made a big, big mistake.”

“You need help, boss?” Matteo says, going for the door.

I snort. “The day I can’t handle a pack of pathetic worms is the day I step down as Don of this Family. I’ll handle it.”

I push open the car door and swagger across the street, the man’s voice getting louder the closer I get. He’s around my height with the sort of bloated muscles men only get from injecting chemicals into their veins. All of his entourage is the same, swollen with the easy route to a muscular physique.

The man yelling has thin blonde hair and is wearing a tight fitting letterman jacket.

“Now you’re living all high and mighty,” he’s saying, “you should chuck your old pal David a little bit of cash, Lena. Come on, don’t be so fucking selfish.”

David.

The bastard who tricked her and threw her in the lake, who humiliated her.

“What the fuck is going on here?” I snarl, marching right over to them.

Lena glances at me, tears in her eyes and a fierce set to her lips. I can tell just by looking at her – because I can read her, always – that she’s already put up one hell of a verbal defensive against this prick. But even fierce flames like Lena’s can get buried under the weight of all that swollen aggression.

“Nothing’s going on,” David says, glancing at me. “So just be on your way, old man.”

“Old man?” Lena snaps, laughing mockingly. “He’s more fit and capable than any of you little runts. He’s ten times the man you’ll ever be, David.”

“Wow, look at this,” David sniggers. “The little naked slut grew some teeth.”

“Apologize,” I say flatly.

“What?” David mutters, glancing at me with a curled lip. “I didn’t even realize you were still here, grandpa.”

“Apologize or I’m going to break your fucking nose and make you apologize.”

“You hear this, fellas?” David snickers, glancing behind him at his cackle of hyenas. He turns back to me. “It’s all of us against you. Why don’t you do the smart thing and be on your way?”

I sigh darkly, and then reach forward and take Lena by the hip. I guide her behind me and then walk right up to David, his eyes as wide as plates and his tongue making coked out movements across his teeth.

---