Page 116 of Contempt

The other man let out a hard laugh, and threw his arms up in the air. He stared at the sky, and let out a shout that echoed over the alleyway between two warehouses. The other men who were standing in their semi-circle immediately quieted, and shot Giovanni a curious look. Or maybe it was one of worry.

The man looked ready to go off.

Renzo didn’t blame him.

“You have to relax,” Dante told his brother. “This isn’t good for anyone, Gio.”

“That’s my only kid, Dante,” Giovanni barked at his brother.

“I know that!”

Gio shook his head wildly. “No, you don’t. You can’t possibly know because he’s not yours. He’s mine. He’s the only fucking one I got, okay? And he’s got kids at home that he needs to get back to—and a wife. And I’ve got a fucking wife I have to go home to and explain what happened here today. If I go home, and I have to tell her we’re going to bury him … oh, you just … you can fuck right off with that shit.”

“Gio—”

The other man started to walk away from his brother with a hand tossed high over his shoulder. “Fuck off.”

Renzo sighed, and gave Dante a look. “Listen, let him be angry. This is a high stress situation, and you don’t have a kid in there, right?”

Dante shook his head. “One is on call right now for us—he’s a trauma surgeon. Another is flying to California today. So, no.”

“Get the surgeon closer; within a couple blocks.”

The older man cleared his throat, and glanced away. “You think—”

“Nothing. I think nothing. I know it’s better to prepare for the worst and hope for the best, though.”

“Yeah, all right.”

“But for the record …” Renzo cleared his throat, and shifted on his feet as he shoved his hands into the pockets of the leather jacket. “You need the surgeon closer for anyone around. Because if that blows, he won’t save anyone inside. You all do need to get as far away from here as you can while I’m inside.”

Dante let out a quiet noise. “I don’t know if I can get Gio—”

“Then you fucking drag him out of here. It’s not negotiable.”

“Can you minimize the impact of the blast in any way?”

Renzo shrugged. “I can’t tell you anything about that bomb until I’m inside there, eye-level with it, looking at all the parts of it that make it tick. But typically, from what I know about bombs like this … no, I won’t be able to minimize the blast should it go off.”

“Fuck.”

Yeah.

Fuck was right.

Dante calmed his outburst, and turned to Renzo with a final nod. “Okay, I’ll make sure the area is clear. Anything you need before you go in?”

Renzo had to think about that one—there was one thing he really wanted, but he couldn’t have it right now. He wanted to speak to Lucia.

He wanted to tell her that he loved her, and if today didn’t end the way he was praying for it to, that he was sorry they didn’t get the chance to see this thing between them through like they should have been able to.

He wanted to apologize for leaving the hospital without telling her goodbye, but he was just like his little brother, honestly. He was like Diego because goodbye scared him, too. Goodbye, to him, felt way too final, and he wasn’t trying to go away forever. He was trying to get back to her. He didn’t think she would understand.

He wanted to tell her that she was worth the fucking world and more to him. Always would be.

That’s why he was here today.

For her.