Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 76065 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 380(@200wpm)___ 304(@250wpm)___ 254(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76065 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 380(@200wpm)___ 304(@250wpm)___ 254(@300wpm)
“As a capo?” I asked.
“Yeah.”
“Is that a common thing?” I asked. “Female capos,” I clarified. “TV and movies make it seem like—“
“A sausage fest?” she interjected. “Yeah, it usually is. There are five New York families. We are the only one with female capos. So far. I mean, maybe the others will follow suit. But they’re different families.”
“How so?”
“We’re kind of a hodgepodge crew here. Normally, it is very much so family. Like blood family. But the Lombardi family was in shambles when Renzo took over. Not a lot of guys who were actually blood-related to fill in. So he brought in outsiders. He was a bit of a rebel boss from the beginning, so it was no big deal to break the rules further and bring in women.”
“So all the other families you can only be in if you were born in?”
“Well, except for the Espositos, I guess,” she said, nodding. “That was a shitstorm of a situation a few years back. He had to rebuild like Renzo did. So he has more outsiders too.”
I wasn’t surprised the man I’d met on the street that night ended up being a mafia boss. That was the vibe he had. Powerful. Intimidating. In control.
“Okay. Enough mafia talk. What are we eating?” Saff asked, going to the fridge again. “Clearly not anything here,” she decided.
We went through the menu drawer, picking a restaurant, then meals for ourselves as well as Rico and Bass.
“He’s probably not coming home, but it doesn’t hurt to have leftovers.”
“Doesn’t Bass live here?” I asked.
“Right now, he’s living between the thighs of as many women as he can find,” Saff said. “Not that anyone can blame him when he was locked up for so long. But I imagine it has less to do with that and more to do with Rico wanting privacy with you.”
“I don’t want to put him out, though.” Even if it had been oddly freeing to walk around Rico’s place naked the night before, to be as loud as we wanted in bed that night and first thing in the morning.
“Trust me, he’s not upset about it,” Saff said, waving off my worries. “So… alcohol?” she asked, walking over to the cart without waiting for my answer. She didn’t need to. If ever I really needed a drink, this was it.
I knew why Rico wasn’t home with me.
He was… handling things with Kyle.
I knew a better person, a good person would have objections to his plan. I mean what decent human being condoned murder?
But I’d been living months thinking I’d killed Kyle.
It would be silly to be upset about someone else killing him. And after having been at his beck and call for many years, I knew better than anyone that the world would be a better place without him walking around.
I also couldn’t bring myself to have any issues with that attempted rapist getting a swift trip to hell either.
And after learning my brother was working with my ex, well, any remaining feelings of familial affection or obligation just evaporated.
I didn’t want him dead.
But I did want him gone.
I never wanted to see him again.
I wanted to put my faith to rest in the words of Primo Esposito.
Found family can be better than blood.
Because, damn, they certainly couldn’t be any worse, that was for sure.
I’d already gotten to know Rico, Bastian, and Saff. All of them cared more than my own flesh and blood did about me.
Saff was already inviting me to book club.
Rico was talking about condos with extra rooms.
Even Primo Esposito had mentioned wanting to come to the wedding.
It was scary to hope, but I was praying that I could fit in here, that I could eventually call all these people my own. That I wouldn’t have to know lonely holidays again or always only have myself to lean on.
“You don’t have to stay,” I told Saff as she nodded off for the fourth time in ten minutes, each time snapping awake to stare blearily at the silly comedy movie we’d put on to lighten the mood as hours slipped away. As the sky went from the darkest part of night to the lightest parts of dawn.
“I’m fine,” Saff insisted.
“There are guards outside,” I reminded her. “I’m safe here.”
“I’m gonna st…” she started, but was cut off by her phone beeping on her thigh. “Prince Charming is on his way home,” she said, finally getting up off the couch, stretching like a cat, and rolling cricks out of her neck. “So I am going to get going. Don’t forget to look for the book,” she said as she grabbed her purse. “It should be here in the morning.”
With that, we said our goodbyes and I waited anxiously to hear Rico’s key in the door.
In a few minutes, the door was pushing open.