Page 83 of Effortless

His father let out a hard breath of air. The speakers crackled at the volume of the noise.

Really, Tom knew that he had probably gone a little too far, but he also knew that he could get away with it, too. Being the son of a boss—and a man who loved his children—meant that Tom knew exactly where his father’s lines were drawn in the sand. He would never pull this kind of shit on his father otherwise, but he had left Camilla hanging for far too long.

Not to mention, he really did need a break from the fucking politics of the mafia in Chicago. Every man did, occasionally.

“What do you want, Tommaso?” his father asked. “What would make you happy, son? Can you figure that out and give me an honest answer?”

There were a lot of things he wanted.

Camilla, mostly.

Tom didn’t think that’s what his father meant. “For the Outfit?”

“Yes, for the Outfit. Tell me.”

“Not what I’m doing.”

“I figured.”

“It’s not meant for me—being a Capo, I mean.”

“For some, it isn’t. The crew has been better, haven’t they?”

“Sure, but only because the fear of God, is me, currently.”

His father chuckled dryly. “But you also know—”

“Fear doesn’t breed respect, only contempt. I can’t help what they won’t accept. You know Lou would be far better to run that crew for Adriano, Dad. Make him—give him his button, and let him run the crew. He comes from the same streets those guys do. He’s run with them and worked alongside them since he was a teenager. They respect him for it. That crew could be something worth having if they had the right Capo running them. Right now, it’s just a pain in the ass, but it doesn’t have to be.”

Tommas sighed. “See, and there you go, son, showing your worth and how much you know in this business. Sometimes I think you don’t listen to a thing or see what’s going on around you.”

“I see and hear everything.”

“What do you want me to do for you, Tom?”

“Give me something worth doing, but it isn’t this.”

“You need to come home, son. Soon. It’s not a request.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“You went to New York, didn’t you?”

Tom laughed. “How did you know?”

“Call it a hunch. Say hello to the Donati girl for me.”

CHAPTER TWELVE

CAMILLA LEANED against the frame of the hallway entry, and scrubbed her palms over her eyes in an effort to rid them of sleep. The watch on her wrist said it was close to noon, and she wasn’t even surprised that she had slept damn near all of her morning away.

After the night before with Tommaso, she was lucky that she still wasn’t sleeping. That man was a workout, but in the best of ways.

She had only woken up because of the constant murmurings that kept filtering through her dreams. It seemed like Tommaso was making or taking one phone call after another. It was the first time in the three days that he had been in New York where he actually spent any time at all on his phone. Mostly, he kept it tucked away in his pocket, and it rarely rang.

Tommaso’s next words drew Camilla out of her thoughts, and back to his current phone call. With his back to her as he looked out the window of her apartment, and chatted on the phone, she knew he likely didn’t have a clue she was there listening in.

Camilla knew better than to eavesdrop.