Page 75 of Because I Need You
I leaned back in the chair and looked around. The house had always felt cozy and unassuming. Everything about him was low key. He didn’t buy new clothes or shoes unless he needed them. Didn’t wear watches or flashy jewelry, with the exception of the pinky ring finger he never took off. My thoughts narrowed on that. I looked at the pictures, and sure enough, there was the ring. I’d had him buried with it since it was the only thing I knew he loved to wear all the time. Even as I sat there, in a room I’d been in countless times growing up. One we’d watched movies in whenever I was in town. One that still smelled like my father, the immense feeling that I just wanted to go home hit me. It wasn’t like I had people waiting for me, besides Luke and Noah and my grandmother whenever she remembered my existence, which wasn’t often at all, but it was still home. I was still comforted there, in my city, walking my streets, smelling the disgusting sewers, taking the pain in the ass trains that only worked when they wanted to, listening to people bicker and laugh and joke and try to con everyone out of a dollar. I missed everything about home. My phone buzzed on the table, and I reached for it quickly, frowning when I saw Will’s name on the screen.
“Hey.” I answered.
“Hey.” He paused. “I’m just calling to check up on you.”
“Oh. I’m at my dad’s house, packing up boxes,” I said, “Well, taking a break and resting my arms from packing up boxes.”
“I figured you’d be in Chicago,” he said. “You’re by yourself?”
“Yeah,” I said, because I didn’t want to explain the guards outside the house.
“So, I owe you an apology.”
“What for?” I frowned again.
“I said some pretty mean things to you that night in my—our apartment.”
“It was warranted.” I sat back in the seat.
“That doesn’t mean it wasn’t mean. I’ve been feeling like shit over it ever since.”
“Well, I forgive you.” I sighed, still staring at the picture of me and my father. “I figured since you didn’t try to come after me, it was for the best.”
“Try to…” He laughed. “How could I go after you? Giovanni Masseria made it clear that wasn’t an option.”
“What?” I sat straight up in the chair, heart thundering in my ears. “What are you talking about?”
“Wow. I should’ve figured he’d keep you in the dark.”
“About what?” I snapped. “Tell me.”
“He told me to stay away from you. He also threatened me and made me back away from that fucking theater he’s determined to renovate for who knows what reason, probably to have another place to launder money through,” he mumbled, practically whispering the last part to himself.
“I didn’t know.” I licked my lips. “Not that it’s worth anything, since the outcome would’ve been the same.”
“I supposed.” He cleared his throat after a beat. “Anyway, I’m in Chicago for a couple of days for a conference. If you’re free…”
“Where are you staying?”
“The Four Seasons.”
“Are you free at night?” I asked, eyes on the photograph again.
“I can make myself free.”
I smiled at that. “Maybe we can catch a Cubs game?”
“Shoot me a text. I’ll be around.”
“Okay.” I hung up, still smiling.
I realized it was the first time I’d genuinely smiled in days. I knew Giovanni wouldn’t be happy about me going anywhere with Will, especially after what he’d just told me, but I was definitely going to keep the plan in my back pocket. If Giovanni didn’t come home again tonight, I was going to that damn game.
32
GIO
She was fucking reckless. Reckless and selfish. She’d followed my rules of taking Petra and Joey everywhere, all right. She’d taken them straight to Wrigley to watch a game with William fucking Hamilton. I was in the middle of a fucking disaster, on the burner phone with my father. I’d considered calling Silvio to straight up ask him if he was behind all of this, but I knew better than that. He didn’t settle things verbally, on the phone, or ever. With Silvio, if you crossed him, you were done. In this instance, I was positive my father was regretting the day they’d kissed each other’s pinky ring and called each other brothers.
“He needs to be taken care of,” my father kept saying. “Take care of this, Giovanni.”
I nodded, even though he couldn’t see me, and drew in a breath. When I looked down at my desk, a text from Petra was coming in telling me that Isabel was going to a game with William Hamilton. I could barely push through the rest of the conversation with my father, as enraged as I was. That was how I found myself on a treadmill, running as I listened to the sound of my feet on the belt beneath me and my breath as I tried to maintain it level. This usually worked. This and fucking, but I wasn’t doing the latter, and I was regretting that this moment. I picked up the phone and called Dean first. He always had answers, and I was hoping by now he had a hint of who went into the vault, but he didn’t answer his phone, so I assumed he was still working on getting them. I hit dial on Lorenzo next. He answered and I told him more or less what my father told me, leaving out the obvious words since you never really knew who could be listening to these conversations.
