Page 95 of Vicious Intentions
“I’m curious to know too,” Raffaele interjects. “You don’t want to sound like you’re making excuses not to follow through on yourbrilliantplan. I mean, what possible reason could there be for you not to want to kidnap Annamaria?”
I take it all back. A mute Raffaele is better than a talking one.
The fucker knows damn well why I’m reluctant to kidnap Anna so soon. Once I do, our late-night talks will end. And though I yearn to have her here in New York, standing beside me as my wife, I am not foolish enough to think she will accept me with open arms. No, she’ll hate me. Even more than my own brother does.
Still, as they both stare me down, waiting for an answer, all I can do is give them one. “Vincent will be celebrating his twenty-fifth wedding anniversary with his wife in June. His guard will be down then. He’ll never see us coming that day. That’s when we take his most prized possession away from him. Not a day sooner. Not a day later.”
Moretti smiles, happy with the alternative I gave him, but Raffaele’s expression looks like he’d love nothing more than to put a bullet in my head like I did to Marino not an hour ago.
Unlike me, he’d never pull the trigger.
At least, that’s the lie I tell myself.
Being the Don of a mafia empire usually means that your days end long after everyone has gone to bed. Though I’m not officially the head of theCosa Nostra yet, I do have the same responsibilities as if I were. So tell me, why have I done my best to be in bed before the clock strikes ten every night since Anna and I started texting each other?
It’s unfathomable that I’d be this distracted, especially when I abhor anything that pulls my focus away from my goals. But the truth of the matter is that when the sun goes down, restlessness starts clawing its way inside me. Anxious to finish up whatever the fuck needs my attention, just so I can lock myself in my bedroom, grab my phone, and start texting her.
Tonight, I feel the need for her light more than ever. Maybe it was because Raffaele just had to push my buttons after the Don meeting, or maybe it was the reminder that these precious exchanges are soon coming to an end. All I know is that I have never needed Anna more.
I start by sending her a quote from Maya Angelou that holds more truth to my agony than Anna will ever know.
Me:“There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.”
Me:Hi, sweetheart. Miss me?
I send the text and almost slap myself on the forehead when I read it back, my words sounding both cringey and needy.
Anna:Don’t I always?
The tension in my shoulders eases just as my heart swells two sizes when I read her words.
Me:Good. How was your day?
Anna:Uneventful. Yours?
Bloody, I start to write, then delete it before I do the foolish thing of actually sending that shit to her. But then I think better of it and send it anyway, just to see how she would react. If she is to know the real me, then I shouldn’t hide my true nature from her.
Me:Bloody.
Anna:Are you okay?!!
Me:Is that concern I hear?
Anna:Answer the question, Raffaele! Are you okay?
God, if she only knew how much I hate it when she calls me that.
Me:I’m fine.
Anna:You can’t scare me like that again. Do you understand?
Me:Yes,cara mia. I won’t scare you again. Promise.
Anna:So… did you delete someone?
Me:Delete?
Anna:You know…knife emoji gun emoji
