was trespassing,” I correct. “The one who was in my club without permission.” I need to stop. I need to think. But the way he’s looking at me—like I am so much younger and more naïve than him—makes me want to smash his head into the brick wall. “He’s lucky he’s still breathing, Dujar. I should have blown his fucking head off.”
He clicks his tongue against his teeth. “Yes, I agree. That’s what I wanted to say. It’s business, Angelo. You had to beat that man. I had to do the little trick with the baking powder. It’s all business and anybody who trusts anybody in this game is a mark, nothing else.”
“So what?” I ask. “You want to be friends, Dujar?”
“Not friends, no. I do not think that is possible,” he says. “But not enemies.”
“You could kill me right now,” I tell him. “You could hide me, make it so my father never found out. Why don’t you?”
He flinches like I’ve slapped him. “Carlo would find out,” he says matter-of-factly. “And then—no, Angelo. As much as I don’t want you as an enemy, I want your father even less.”
“Why are you here then? To philosophize?”
He shrugs. “And to say that whatever business you are doing up here, we can help. New York runs better when the Albanians and the Italians work together.”
I snort in disbelief. “Good night, Dujar,” I say, walking around him.
Suddenly, he goes for his gun.
I grab mine faster, pointing it at his head. His man goes for his, too, but I tut and shake my head, nodding at him to raise his hands. He does, but Dujar keeps his gun out, pointed at the ground.
“Don’t be stupid,” I tell him. “You know what happens if you raise that gun.”
“You kill me,” he allows, “and then my men kill you.”
“Lose-lose for both of us.”
“But I have no intention of killing you, Angelo.”
I gesture at the gun with my free hand. “Then pt it away.”
Dujar says something in Albanian, talking for around ten seconds. I can only watch, confused. The man at his shoulder begins to tremble, and—what the hell?—a tear rolls down his cheek.
A fucking tear.
What is going on?
“Do you want to know what I just told him?” Dujar asks me.
I shrug.
“I said: I know you have been stealing from me, Altin. Now, I am going to kill you. But don’t worry, it’s just business. Die like a man.”
As soon as the words have left his mouth, Dujar turns and shoots his man in the head in one fluid motion. The soldier’s body bucks to the side and then collapses, limbs quivering. Dujar holsters the pistol and frowns at me almost regretfully as his men come running around the corner. They all have their guns at the ready, but at a barked command from Dujar, they lower them.
I haven’t moved a muscle.
“This really is a beautiful vehicle,” Dujar says, like nothing has happened. “What’s the horsepower, if you don’t mind me asking?”
His man’s blood is pooling around his feet. He doesn’t even glance at it.
“About a thousand,” I tell him through clenched teeth. “It’s a hybrid.”
He whistles through his teeth, shaking his head. “Yes, a very beautiful vehicle. A work of art, truly. I’ll be seeing you, Angelo. Think about what I said.”
I watch as he and his men go, and then I walk over to his man and drag him out of the way of my car. Luckily, there’s no blood spatter on the hood. But I don’t like the idea of driving over his corpse. I may be a mafioso, but something about that just seems wrong.
14
Dani
When I wake up at around ten in the morning, I smell the glorious scent of bacon. Which is strange, because Zora is vegan and Quinny is vegetarian, so usually this is a no-bacon zone. I’ve actually come to—well, not like, exactly—but not mind the meat-free life.
But when I smell the bacon, I’m out of bed in an animal frenzy, my work-sore muscles screaming out for the delicious protein. I find Wyatt in the kitchen, in his PJs, at the stove. “I hope you don’t mind,” he says when he hears me round the corner. “I went to the store.”
Wyatt is making us breakfast. That’s a sentence I never thought I’d say.
“But you’re in your PJs,” I tease. “You went to the store and then changed back into your PJs.”
He mock scowls at me. “Do I look like a monster to you, sis?” he says. “I went to the