of the table, Dante shoved it in his pocket. "Your concern is showing, Gavin."
"Somebody ought to be concerned."
Dante set his cue stick aside, leaning it against the wall, before grabbing his beer from a small table nearby. It was piss warm from being ignored, but Dante still drank it. "I appreciate it, you know, but it's starting to weird me out. Next thing you know you're going to be writing about me in your diary."
Gavin's expression softened. "Dear Diary, Dante Galante died today because he's a fucking idiot that forgot people wanted him dead."
Despite himself, Dante laughed at that, grasping his side as pain stabbed at him. Still. Most of him had healed, but that last stab wound was brutal. "For the record, I didn't forget anything."
"So you just elected to ignore reality?"
"More like I figured it was worth the risk." He guzzled the rest of the bitter beer. "Not sure why it matters to you, anyway."
"It matters to me because of my cousin."
"Your cousin, huh?"
"Yes, my cousin."
"The one I killed or the one my father blew up?"
Gavin's expression hardened. "I'm talking about the one you're fucking."
It took a solid thirty seconds for that to register with Dante. "The one I'm fucking?"
"Gabby."
The sound of her name was a punch to his chest. "Gabriella?"
"That would be the one."
"Don't bullshit me, Gavin. I'm not in the mood."
"No bullshit."
Dante's guard crept up. He hadn't uttered a peep about her to anyone, choosing to keep her existence to himself, his small bright spot in a dark world. "How the hell do you even know about her?"
"I told you—she's my cousin."
"How?"
"She's a Brazzi."
"No, she's a Russo."
"Technically," Gavin said. "Her father's a Russo, but her mother's a Brazzi, so she's got Brazzi blood. And maybe that doesn't mean shit to you, since you've got nothing to do with the Brazzi family, but it matters to me. It makes her just as much my cousin as the one you killed and the one your father blew up."
Sickness churned in Dante's stomach. In a fucked up, twisted, roundabout way, it meant she was related to the Barsanti family, a fact that made Dante queasy.
He ran his hands down his face.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
"Cousins," Dante muttered. "That means she always knew exactly who I was."
Did she ever deny knowing him? If she had, Dante couldn't recall it. From the moment he'd woken up, she acknowledged him by name, not at all intimidated by his reputation.
That's because she grew up around those assholes.
"This is…" Dante shook his head. "…fucked up."
"Look, I'm not in the business of telling anyone what to do. You're grown. I'm just saying, try to not get yourself killed as long as you're involved with Gabby."
"You don't have to worry about that."
"You're going to stop tempting death?"
"No, I'm going to stop seeing your cousin."
Dante walked away, heading to the bar at the front. Umberto sat on a stool in the far corner, angled to talk to a blonde girl seated on his left. Dante shoved in beside him, to the right, shaking his empty beer bottle at the bartender.
It was replaced instantly.
He took a long, deep pull right away, before turning, knowing Gavin had followed him. He wasn't going to let it go.
"That wasn't my intention," Gavin said.
"What was your intention?" Dante asked. "Thought you could use her to scare me straight? Thought I'd choose a piece of pussy over family loyalty?"
The moment he said that, Gavin snapped. Gone was the guy who had almost been his friend, replaced with an angry soldier from a rival family. In a blink, Gavin swung, punching him right in the mouth. Wrong choice, given he was the sole Amaro in a bar overrun with Galantes.
Dante stumbled, his vision blacking out, coming back hazy as pain vibrated his skull. Shit, he hits hard. Blood pooled in Dante's mouth as his teeth bit down on his lip. Before he could react, others around them jumped in. Umberto leapt right out of his stool, dropping his conversation mid-sentence. Gavin swung a few more times, defensively hitting a couple Galante soldiers before someone managed to subdue him. They grabbed him from behind, pinning his arms down at his sides, as Umberto swung, hitting him hard in the chest, forcing the air from his lungs.
Gavin gasped.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Dante shoved Umberto away, nearly knocking him to the floor. "Fuck, guys, it's not that serious! I don't need your goddamn help. Let him go."
They released Gavin, backing away as he inhaled sharply. They'd knocked the wind out