Page 21 of Mafia Angel

“Doesn’t that set the wrong tone arriving with muscle at my back?”

“Not when you’re dealing with these types of men. Sinead, I do not doubt you can hold your own intellectually with any of them. You’ll run circles around them. But they will see you, and they will think they can eat you for dinner. I need them to understand you are untouchable. If you weren’t my attorney, I would be the one to go with you. People know what my position was for years. Very few cross me when it comes to targeting anyone I protect.”

“I wish you could go with me. I don’t know Luca, and I barely met Massimo.”

“Luca has a jagged scar on his face. It’s obvious it was a gnarly wound that had to be stitched up. Not only does it lend an air of danger to him— as his wife would say—” He rolls his eyes. “—It’s obvious that it’s old, and anyone who survived that isn’t a weak-ass bitch, for lack of a better way to put it.”

“Well, good. I wouldn’t want a weak-ass bitch guarding me.”

I nod at him, and I’m pretty sure he tempered his language for my sake. He’s not saying anything I hadn’t already suspected, but I appreciate him saying it. Yes, it’s obvious. But I like that he’s taking the time to explain it rather than issuing a unilateral order or expecting me to obey simply because he said so. I don’t expect him to justify everything. Some things I’m certain I will have to accept purely because he said so. For now, it’s nice.

“Make sure he comes to your office for the interview. Do not meet him somewhere. Luca or Uncle Massi will say the same. Do not give him any opportunity to think he has home court advantage or that you’ll jump at his command. But don’t let him act as if him coming to you is doing you a favor. The moment he thinks that, he’ll believe you owe him. He’s complicated in a simplistic way. He’s a narcissistic sadist. That’s simple to see and understand. He’s sometimes illogical, so that can make him complicated and unpredictable. Do not speak to him alone, Sinead. I’m serious.”

“I get it. I know you’re not trying to freak me out. But you’ve made your point.”

“I’ll be in the car outside your office during the meeting. I want you to wear an earpiece. In case anything goes wrong, I want to hear you. You’ll be on the same frequency as Luca or Uncle Massi.”

“You can’t record the meeting.”

“I’m not going to. But I am going to be certain you and whoever goes with you survive.”

Would this guy attack me in an office building with at least fifty other people? Is he truly that deranged? From the way Gabriele’s talking, he is. I need to consider my line of questioning carefully.

We’re pulling up to my office, and Gabriele’s already told me he has to go to one of his stores to check some water damage from the storm we had over the weekend. I really don’t want to say goodbye. I know I have work to do, but I want more time with him. Something about him just has me wanting to trail after him like a puppy. Or is it a bitch in heat? I don’t know much about him beyond what I need to for this case, but I want to. It’s the opposite of what a sane woman would want. He’s shared things with me, and he’s warned me for the sake of my protection. But I still get the impression he doesn’t trust me. I want to trust him since he’s looking out for me.

“Thanks for the ride.”

“Afonso will be here. Remember, don’t leave the building without him.”

“I know. Thanks.”

There’s that edge again in his voice. The way he goes from cordial to disdainful. Is it that, though? No. That’s not it. Closed off. That’s better. I don’t think he looks down at me, but he’s only letting me in as far as he’s willing to. I’m realizing he has control of all our conversations.

I drove to the office this morning since I was running late. I know I could have had one of the Mancinelli drivers take me, but I’m not used to having people around me all the time. I enjoy being able to blast my music. Giuseppe followed me this morning, and now Afonso will have the evening shift. Somewhere between me getting to the office and Gabriele and me leaving for the meeting, Giuseppe wound up with an SUV. I’m trying to just go with it all and not ask unnecessary questions. But part of me wants to ask all the unnecessary questions since there is so much I know I can’t ask.

Once Gabriele leaves me just inside the office suite door, I head to my office. I review what I have for the Cohenour case since that trial begins the day after tomorrow. My client knowing about Gabriele’s case came out of nowhere. I thought he was making shit up about the Polish Mob. He accepted my pushback about committing perjury. Now I’m wondering if there’s another connection to the Polish Mob that I’m missing for Cohenour? Did someone overhear him then go to Jacek? Nothing during discovery for that case leads me to think there is. Jacek is involved in this somehow. This coincidence can’t be a coincidence.

I pull out some paperwork and find a phone number.

“Mr. Cohenour, this is Sinead O’Malley.”

I don’t enjoy making phone calls if I can avoid them, but I can’t do this via email.

“Hello, Ms. O’Malley. Is everything all right for the trial to start?”

I hear the anxiousness. His voice is less strident than usual. Hopefully, he shows up with a little of that humility.

“I have some questions before we go into trial based on what you told me the other day.”

“Okay.”

The hesitation. Fuck me if he sounds like that on the stand. This isn’t humility. It’s fear, but he’s insisting he wants to testify. It’s his right, but it’s yet another thing I’ve been strenuously urging himnotdo.

“I need you to come into the office, please.”

He agrees, and thirty minutes later, he walks in. I lead him to the conference room and jump straight in.

“The story you planned to concoct. Why the Polish Mob?”

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