“Johnny’s car broke down, we think. We found it a few days ago, but Johnny was nowhere to be found. Maybe they thought he was cutting in on their turf, scoping them out maybe. I dunno, boss. They just beat him with lead pipes, then drug him over to our side of town like this. They had him for a few days so he might have told them who he was, what organization he works for, we don’t know. He probably did and that’s why they just dumped him like that.” Petey’s voice was angry, as angry as Matteo felt. They hadn’t even left a message. He assumed they thought this was message enough. Clueless fucks.
“Take a team out there, Petey, once the doctor’s done, and inform them of their new station in life.” Matteo squeezed his fingers in his palm, angry to lose a man to a gang that barely existed. “Actually, make sure that they never become a problem for us again.”
“Sure, boss, consider it done.” Petey nodded, a light of anger in his eyes. Johnny was new, but he was one of theirs.
“Call me if you need anything else.” Matteo went back to the dying man and saw that the doctor wasn’t necessary at all. The shallow breaths and the fading pulse would stop soon.
This was the reality of their lives, the truth hidden in Hollywood’s version of Mafia life. Sometimes people died for no good reason. Sometimes they didn’t go down in a blaze of glory, or in the arms of some don that treated them like their own child. Nope, sometimes, you died comfortless on two wooden boxes, drowning in your own blood. Not glamorous or romantic at all.
He glanced at the car and hoped Marie couldn’t see. He didn’t want her night to be ruined. He wanted her to have a chance to dance, to laugh, and to smile as the night wore on, not witness a man’s bloody death. “Safe travels, Johnny.”
He said the words quietly and then turned away to get back into the car. He tapped the driver’s seat ahead of him, and the car pulled away. As they pulled out of the warehouse the glass went up between the back and the driver’s portion of the car.
“That’s going to be taken care of, isn’t it? We’re not going to let that go unanswered are we?” Marie asked him from the other side of the car.
His head swung over to her, surprised. “Pardon?”
“That man, someone beat him up on purpose, right? He’s going to die? We aren’t going to let that stand, are we?” She looked back at him, something hard that glittered in her eyes that surprised him even further.
Maybe she really was an Alfonsi after all. And maybe that wasn’t such a bad thing. “It’ll be taken care of, don’t worry.”
He took her hand, kissed her knuckles, and went quiet.
They arrived at one of the classier hotels in the city, a place that was known around the world, and headed into the bar to get drinks.
“I thought we were going to a party for one of your associates?” she asked as they waited for their drinks. “Why isn’t it at his house?”
“Too many people to invite. He always has it here.” Matteo took a sip of the whiskey that was brought to him and watched her sip at her wine.
“I see.” She looked around, her makeup perfect and her body outlined perfectly in that wonderful dress.
He’d already caught more than one man admiring her, despite the wedding ring on her finger. These sharks didn’t care if she was married or not. They thought women were pawns, toys to be used and then discarded. And some of the women expected that, truth be told, but not Marie. She was his.
He led her into a dining room where he introduced her to some of the people he wanted her to know and their host before he took her to the dance floor. She wasn’t much of a dancer, she’d admitted that long ago, but he’d taught her a few moves that would keep her from being embarrassed. She clung to him as they danced the night away, caught up in each other, to the exclusion of everyone else.
He’d had no idea this was what he’d been missing for so long, but now that he had her, he knew he’d never let her go. Just hearing her laughter as they danced, seeing the way she looked around in wonder, made his heartache.