Page 71 of When She Loves
I clench my jaw. I want to speak to my father as much as I want to go back to Loretta’s shop. But I’m already here, aren’t I? Might as well see what this is all about.
Papà’s office is a place of bad memories. It was here where I saw him hurting Gemma. But I know he’d never dare to raise his hand to me. Not now that I’m married to Rafaele.
I push the door open. Stefano Garzolo is sitting at his desk, a stack of papers before him.
He looks up. “Come in and close the door.”
I step inside and take a seat in a chair across from his desk. “What do you want?”
“How’s married life?” he asks, a hint of mockery in his tone.
My eyes narrow. “Did you summon me here so that you could rub it in?”
An insincere smile cuts across his face. “Not at all. I want to know if Rafaele is treating you well.”
Better than you ever did.Married life is growing on me, but my father is the last person in the world I’d confess that to, so I say only what he expects to hear.
“I gave up my independence and freedom. I can never go to college like I wanted to. I will never have the career of my dreams. How do you think it’s going?”
He nods, his eyes flashing with satisfaction. My stomach curdles. It’s like he gets off on thinking I’m miserable.
“Well, maybe you don’t have to spend the rest of your life with Messero,” he says slowly.
I frown. What is he talking about now?
He brushes his palms over the desk. “I want to make you an offer.”
“What kind of an offer?” Outside, a raven croaks like a bad omen. My eyes dart to the window in time to see the bird fly by.
“My retirement plans have changed,” my father says. “I’ve decided five years isn’t enough for me to do what I’d like to do as don of our family.”
“And what is that exactly?” As far as I can tell, he’s spent decades lining his pockets, hosting parties at La Trattoria, and acting all-important.
There’s a reason he went to jail—one of his capos turned on him and spilled the beans to the feds. Why? Because my father got greedy. He kept asking for bigger and bigger cuts and squeezed his own men too tightly.
“I want to finish getting rid of the rats, rebuild my ranks, and bring the Garzolo family into a new era. New businesses, new partnerships, new points of leverage.” He steeples his hands in front of him. “It’ll take some time, but the future is looking bright for Garzolos.”
Quickly, I start to put it together. What he’s saying is that he has no intention of letting Rafaele become his successor.
“You want to stay on as don.”
He lifts a shoulder. “I’m fifty-four. My father retired at seventy. I’ve still got plenty of time to bring our family back to the top of the food chain in this town.”
“Rafaele will never allow this to happen. You made a deal with him. He gave you five years.”
Papà nods. “Which is why Rafaele needs to go.”
My blood runs cold.
Of course. I should have known Papà would want to have his cake and eat it too. Use Rafaele to get himself out of prison and then find a way to get rid of him before his five years are up.
Anger kindles inside my chest.
“Why are you telling me this?”
“Your husband is an impenetrable fortress. I’ve tried to find his weaknesses, to find some way to get leverage, but so far, I’ve found nothing. He’s got all his capos under his thumb. They all say he’s a control freak, that he doesn’t feel emotions and cares about no one, that he can kill anyone and anything around him if they get in the way of his plans. They’re all fucking terrified of him.”
A chill runs through me. Rafaele would never hurt me. Or would he? Am I being naive thinking that my famously brutal husband won’t ever show that brutal side to me?
