Page 40 of Tease

“That no one was meant to die that day. It wasn’t meant to go off when they were in the car. And when it did… it was…” he faltered, and his face went pale. “Well, I was never the same after seeing it.”

No one was meant to die. Then why had they? What had gone wrong?

“Why was it even planted?”

“I don’t know. They didn’t tell me anything. Just set me to watch the car… the big man did.”

“Gennaro or Orsino?”

“Gennaro, it was on his orders. Orsino planted the bomb, and I watched for it, so he could be far enough away and not be implicated. We were coordinating it over the phone, and it was supposed to go off before they got in. I think it was faulty or something because it didn’t. Orsino kept pressing the button, but it just failed. Or we thought it had.” Vince rubbed his face with both hands. “They got in the car with those two kids, but the other one… he ran off and then boom, the whole fucking thing went up. I’d never seen anything like it.”

The picture he painted made me sick to my stomach. The horror in his voice said it all.

“It was an accident. I swear it. Neither of us meant to kill that family. It was meant to scare them, I think… I don’t know. Like I said, they didn’t tell me why we were there. It was all very hush-hush. Just the three of us.”

Vince shook his head, dropping his hands from his face.

“Your father didn’t take it very well. He was distraught. And me? Well, I would have been on the chopping block for sure if he hadn’t helped me, you know, to cover up what we’d done. I don’t know what happened between Orsino and Gennaro after that, but it was bad. Real bad.”

He looked between the two of us.

“That’s all I know, I swear it. I was at the bottom of the ladder, you know, they don’t tell you anything.”

That’s all we needed to know. To have it confirmed, my family had been involved in the bombing. Of course, I wanted to know why it had happened, but I didn’t think Vince knew.

“I believe you,” Arlo said, “I know how it works in thefamiglia.”

He looked over at me to see if I wanted to add anything. I shook my head. Honestly, I’d heard enough. I didn’t want Vince to go into further detail about the bombing itself. I’d already read it in the police case files.

“You’refamiglia?”

Arlo nodded. He might not be involved directly in the mafia as he worked for Zayn, but he was part of the Villetti family. Didn’t matter if he wasn’t a Villetti himself, he’d sworn his life to one.

“You’re not going to tell anyone you found me, right? I’m not involved in that life no more.”

“That’s not what we came here for. Gennaro is dead. You have nothing to fear from me.”

We didn’t want to disrupt this man’s life. All we wanted was the truth so we could connect the dots.

“I see. I didn’t know he died. I don’t keep up with that life.”

I reached out and grabbed the cup of tea Vince had made, taking a sip. Arlo did the same. We didn’t want to reject his hospitality. No one spoke for a few minutes. At this point, I just wanted to leave. I felt for Vince, I really did, but the turmoil inside me was threatening to burst out. I wasn’t keen on getting emotional in front of someone I didn’t know.

Arlo looked over at me, his expression turning concerned when he took in my face. I had a harder time hiding my emotions from him, the more I became comfortable in his presence.

“Well, we shouldn’t take up any more of your time, Vince,” Arlo said, turning back to the man we’d come to see. “I need to get Rina back to London, anyway.”

“Oh, it’s no trouble at all. I understand why you came. I hope what I’ve told you helps.”

Arlo took my mug and set it on the coffee table with his. Then he grabbed my hand and helped me stand up. Vince stood too.

“Before you go… I just wanted to say that your father was a good man. No matter what anyone else says, he was a good man.”

I nodded, and he gave me a sad smile before showing us out. Arlo walked me over to the car and helped me into the passenger seat before walking around to the driver’s side. I put my seatbelt on and stared up at the houses in the quiet street. Arlo didn’t immediately start the car, but I didn’t look over at him.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

I shook my head. He reached over and stroked my hair off my shoulder, brushing his fingertips over my neck.

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