“I could go to Gallo in an instant. Let him know what you’re trying to do to me.”
“You could,” Luca agreed. “But would your career survive the fallout? The island might live in harmony with the Mafia, but every young politician is eager to make a name for themselves by getting rid of us.”
“Not to mention, Bonacci would be very upset to find out how often his little Celeste rides your cock every week.”
Restivo gritted his teeth and shoved his hands into his pockets. “I know you’ve got something planned for Gallo. He’s worried about it.”
Luca raised a brow. That was news. “What makes you say that?”
“He told me,” Restivo said, giving him a dry stare. “I’ve worked hard to get where I am. I’d like to stay there.”
“Then make sure the information between us and Gallo only flows in one direction.”
They stood there in silence for several minutes before Restivo ultimately nodded and turned to go back inside, slamming the door behind him.
“That went better than I was expecting,” Luca admitted, following Matteo to their waiting cars.
“It did. But I still want to keep an eye on Restivo. Make sure he doesn’t go to Gallo. That something your contact can do for us?”
“They might be able to. I can ask when I meet with them later.”
“You know we didn’t have to drive separately,” Matteo said, pausing at the door to his SUV. “Is your contact afraid of me?”
Luca rolled his eyes. “No. I’m protecting their identity.”
“It almost sounds like you don’t trust me, brother.”
Matteo’s tone was sharp, but Luca wasn’t interested in placating his feelings today. “That’s because I don’t. Not with this. When the time is right for you to know who they are, I’ll tell you. And not before.”
“Everything I’m doing is to put the Bianchis on top.”
“Everything you’re doing is to put yourself on the throne,” Luca said. “The rest of us rising with you is nothing but a bonus. To pretend otherwise is insulting. To expect honesty you aren’t willing to reciprocate is equally so.”
“I came back to fix things.”
“What things?” Luca stood at the door to his car.
“The family.” Matteo twisted his watch around on his wrist. “I wanted to put everything back together again.”
“If that’s true, you suck at it. You can’t put things back together while you hide who you are and what you want from us.”
Luca climbed behind the wheel and slammed the door, cutting off Matteo’s reply. He had better things to do than coddle his brother. Like see if he could coax Sienna to wrap her day up early. He needed the taste of her on his tongue to clear his head.
Plugging his phone into the car, he punched in her number and listened to it ring through to voicemail.
“You’ve reached Anna Marino. I’m unavailable at this time. Please leave a—”
Luca hung up and dialed again. This time she picked up on the third ring.
“Luca,” she said, a little breathless. “I can’t talk right now. Is everything okay?”
“What’s wrong?”
“What?” He heard her take a slow, deep breath before speaking again. “What do you mean? Nothing’s wrong.”
“Sienna Caterina Gallo,” Luca growled. “I know you too well for you to lie to me. Tell me what’s wrong.”
“Nothing, really. I just… I’m headed out to go…shopping.”