Page 59 of Mafia Queen
“So, when it came to her marrying Damiano…” He rubs his eyes with meaty fingers. “I told her she had to accept it. Instead of being a man and marrying her…I told her, you know, this is how it is. It’d be fine. And she changed. She just…I don’t know…went cold.” He drops his hands. “I’m just saying it’s not my fault because of anything that day, but it’s my fault for not doing the right thing and marrying her or even offering. So she did the plan with Damiano.”
“I assured him she was a virgin. Was she?”
“No.” His eyes are stuck to the floor. God damn his shame. I want to kill him.
I might.
Without thinking, I put the gun to his forehead. “You should have told me, Armando. Instead, you made me a liar.”
“I know.” He cringes, squeezing his eyes shut. “I’m sorry. But she said she’d handle it.”
“All of this… We could have avoided it if you opened your fucking mouth.”
Even as I say it, I know it’s a lie. Damiano and his father want the crown, and if Gia wasn’t available as a way to get it, they would have found another. All routes lead to the situation I’m in right now. I move the gun away, still annoyed at his betrayal in the months before Gia shot me and in the days since.
“You’re so protective of her,” Armando says. When his eyes open, they’re full of tears. “She thought they’d send her back, and she didn’t want to go.”
“You were afraid for yourself, not her.”
“I know. It’s true. And I’m sorry for it. I want to make it up.”
“There are these little wooden rooms in the church.” Unholstering the gun, I pause, letting him think I’m about to use it on him. “Get inside one and let the priest give you your Hail Marys. But setting your sins straight isn’t my job.”
“Yes, Re Santino, I know. And I know I take care of the house. But I want to go with you to the quarry. I can’t let you take care of business for me. Gia’s my fault.”
“You’re going to shoot her?” I say with no little sarcasm.
“No. No, I couldn’t, and you shouldn’t trust me to. But I can drive. Or watch the back. Or something. Please. You have Dario to stay behind, and he’s… I wouldn’t fuck with that guy. He ain’t gonna listen to me anyway.”
“Dario Lucari isn’t a bodyguard.” I reholster the gun.
“He won’t stick his neck out either.”
He’s right. Good for Armando for saying what’s hard to say, even if it’s obvious.
“Camilla Moretti had bodyguards,” I say, and with the weight of the gun swinging by leather straps, I remember that night. “I wasn’t the only one watching. Men like you were too. But in the end, they failed. She couldn’t be protected. She was part of her husband’s business, and his wife, and the mother of his children. Got her shot.”
“Right next to him.”
He’s right again. Emilio was right there, and he was twice the capo I’ll ever be. This is why I keep a guy like Armando around. He’s not muscle. He’s not even a mastermind. But he loves the truth the way a priest loves God—even when betraying it.
If I can’t protect Violetta, she’s going to have to be able to protect herself.
This holster fits me, but it’s too big for her.
I rummage around a drawer and find an awl.
“Here’s what’s going to happen.” I lay the strap across the table and drive in a new hole. “You’re staying here for the hit on the quarry tonight. But there’s an errand before.”
“Okay.”
“Bring the car out of the gate.” I make a second hole.
“You got it. Thank you.”
Even with a wall of guns at my disposal, I brandish the awl. “I could just kill you here for laying your mitts on Gia without my permission.”
He holds up his hands. “I know. I’m sorry.”
