Page 156 of Vicious Intentions
“I’m saying that tired Dons make for shitty bosses.”
The bite in his words has me raising my head to meet him head-on.
“Is there something you want to say to me, brother?”
Niccolò’s jaw twitches, all the words he wants to throw at me right there behind his eyes.
“No, boss.”
“Good,” I retort, shaking off the tension in the room as I walk toward the door. “I’ll see you back home, then.”
Niccolò nods, but he doesn’t say anything else.
Shit. He’s never stayed mad at me this long. We’ve fought before, plenty of times, like most siblings do, but we always found our way back quickly. It troubles me that he’s holding onto this grudge. But then again, I did lie to him. And lies were never part of our relationship. Not between Nico and me.
That motherfucker has been dead for weeks, and he’s still causing me problems. If I could kill my father twice, I would. Though by doing it, I’d only piss off the people who are supposed to have my back even more.
Porca miseria, I wish Niccolò would just let this go already. But then again, if the roles were reversed, wouldn’t I be just as angry with him?
On the night of theconferenza, I gave Niccolò my word that I wouldn’t kill our father. All he had to do was bring him to me, place him on his knees before me, just to scare the bastard and prove a point to the Outfit that I was the one in control now. Niccolò had no idea that Carlo Senior would never make it out of that abandoned warehouse alive. As far as he was concerned, our father was just a prop we brought to the parley.
Still, his death had to come by my hand. There was no other choice, not in my eyes. After everything our father had done to us, after the hell he put my brothers and me through, my wrath could only be satisfied by his final breath. To believe otherwise would have been a lie.
I shake the thoughts away, not wanting to dwell on my bastard of a father or the growing impatience of the Dons before I head home. I have another battle waiting for me there anyway—my wife.
Of course, by the time I arrive, Anna has already called it a night. Thankfully, she’s abandoned her hermit life of staying in the bedroom all day and now wanders around the house while I’m not here, keeping my mother company. But before the sun even sets, she retreats back to her hiding place before my return. Not that it does her any good. She still has to share a bed with me.
“Buona sera, figlio mio,”my mother greets from the couch.
“Buona sera,Mom,”I reply, pressing a kiss to her cheek. “How was your day?”
“Ask me what you really want to ask, Matteo.” She smiles sadly. “I doubt you’re interested in my day. You’d rather hear news about your wife.”
“And?”
“She’s settling in, if that reassures you.” It doesn’t. “She apologized again for the… incident,” my mother adds, referring to the day everything went to shit in this house.
“Again?” I frown.
My mother nods. “I think I… frightened her a little.”
I don’t add anything to her statement. Ever since the phone incident, my mother has been off. I was sure she was on the verge of an episode, but today she seems more like herself. Maybe Anna had something to do with that.
“Anyway,” she shrugs off. “Have you eaten? I could heat something for you.”
“That’s okay. I’m not hungry.”
She studies my face, then cups my cheek gently. “You look tired,figlio.”
“Funny. Nico said the same thing.”
“Have you not been sleeping well?”
How can I, when the woman I love lies beside me, thinking of all the ways I betrayed her, even as she searches for ways to leave me?
“I’m fine, Mom. Don’t worry.”
“A mother never stops worrying about her children.” She gives me a soft smile. “But go. Go rest. You deserve it.”
