she?”
“She’s very good at her job.” I gesture impatiently for him to sit. “We have a lot to talk about, Silvano. Let’s not waste our time making small talk.”
Silvano must be getting used to me because he sits, but his smile doesn’t budge, despite my reprimand. His gray eyes assess me from across the desk, and I notice a dusting of dark stubble on his cheeks.
“Did you not have time for a shave this morning?” I ask, sipping my coffee.
Silvano chuckles and strokes his chin. “I thought I’d try a beard,” he explains. “I always admired Vito’s.”
“Why?” I scoff.
My best friend’s beard was hideous. It was probably the worst decision he ever made, besides getting on the boat with me the day he lost his life.
Silvano cocks a brow. “No time for coffee talk, but now you want to chat about my personal grooming?”
I narrow my eyes and frown. Fair.
Silvano clears his throat and lifts his briefcase onto his lap. He pulls out a selection of newspapers and magazines and sets them into two piles on the desk. Resting his hand on the left pile, he says, “These are the past week’s mentions of you and Alexis.” He moves his hand to the right pile. “And these are all to do with the Cartel and the Irish.”
“Can you summarize them?” I ask, swiping a couple publications off the pile on the left.
“In general, the public thinks you and Alexis are a beautiful couple. There have been a few mentions of your respective anger issues, but the consensus seems to be that because you’re both fiery, you’re well suited. One of the magazines speculates that’s why you were never seen with a woman before Alexis. They were all too docile.”
“Not untrue,” I say with a shrug.
“As for the Cartel…” He wrinkles his nose, as though the words he is about to say taste vile. “It’s exactly what you would expect. Shootings, stabbings, rapes. Sometimes the crimes are credited to the gangs, but I threw in everything that looks to me like it’s Cartel related even if the police don’t think it is.”
“They’re getting bolder,” I say grimly.
Silvano nods. “They’re settling in. They’ve brought over a load more men from Colombia in recent weeks, and their pack mentality has become vicious. I’ve even heard a couple reports of members of the Cartel turning on their Irish counterparts.”
That is never a good sign. Then again, if there’s bad blood brewing between the two groups, we might be able to use it to our advantage.
“Right,” I say. “I want to find some lower-downs in the Irish community. These need to be guys who know things, but who have probably also been shit on by the Cartel. We have to find Kevin Lynch as a matter of priority.”
The city isn’t safe. It’s the most volatile it has been in years, and right now, I am the only one who can do a damned thing about it.
Silvano’s lip tugs slightly. He is uncomfortable.
I sigh. “Fucking hell. What now?”
“I think you should take a step back, Gabriel,” he says somewhat awkwardly. “The murder charges are still waiting for you, and if the cops or the public find out you’re involved in any of this, it could bring down our whole organization. You’ve been putting on a public front with Alexis, which is great for Bellucci Inc., but it means you’re much more recognizable now.”
“I’m not going to start hiding like one of those Walsh pieces of shit,” I growl.
Silvano lifts his palms up. “I’m not saying you need to hide. What I’m saying is you need to be more discreet.”
“I am discreet.”
“You killed two men on the street a few days ago,” he snaps back, and I can sense his irritation.
“They raped that woman!” I reply. “They needed to die.”
I remember my men bringing her to me, bawling her eyes out. They found her down an alleyway behind a bar, where the Cartel members we’d tailed there had gone back inside for another drink after they’d finished with her. I would kill them over and over again if I could.
“I agree, but anybody could have seen you there, Gabriel. You need to be more careful.”
He does have a point, though I am loath to admit it. I grind my teeth as we stare at each other, neither willing to look away.
I will be the first to admit I underestimate Silvano sometimes.
“I will think about it,” I say.
“Good.” Silvano smiles tightly. “How are things with Alexis?”
“Better,” I reply.