Chapter 33ANGELO

Chapter 33

ANGELO

"That's a new look for you." Miceli leans back in his chair at the large circular table in the private backroom of Nonna Agata's.

The mafia-owned Italian restaurant that has been in New York as long as the Five Families is closer to Pitiful Princess than either Severu or Miceli's office. Since both of their wives are safely at home while Bianca and Candi are catching up at the club, they agreed to have our meeting here.

Salvatore and I would both rather be at the club, watching over our women, but we can't be with them twenty-four-seven.

At least that's what Severu tells me.

Considering the fact he moved his primary office to the penthouse months before he became the godfather so he could spend more time in Catalina's vicinity, I'm not sure his opinion is valid.

But Candi's is and she told me to get lost. She wanted girl time with Bianca.

Ignoring Miceli's comment, I turn to Salvatore. "Why didn't you install cameras in the office at Pitiful Princess?"

I'd feel better if I had a visual on Candi.

"Because I don't stalk my wife," Salvatore drawls.

Big Sal barks out a laugh at his son's words. "That's why you had Pietro install cameras inside your home, because you don't stalk your wife."

"What's the real reason there are no cameras in the manager's office at Pitiful Princess?" Miceli demands sardonically.

"She told me if I installed cameras in the office at the club, she was moving her stuff back into the guest room," Salvatore admits. "She doesn't want me nosing into her time with Candi and that's where they get together."

"That tracks," I mutter, remembering Candi's adamant demand for time alone with Bianca.

They're safe, I remind myself. Both their security teams are at the club. Derian and Pietro are inside, and we have men at the front and back entrances as well.

There's only one access point to the office and their guards are watching it.

But something is making my instincts twitch.

"They'll have to get together at our homes now that Candi won't be dancing," Salvatore says with satisfaction.

"Don't count on it," I warn him. "Candi is going to talk to Bianca about helping her manage the talent."

"Good," Nerissa says from across the table. "I've told Bianca more than once she needs to get someone to help her."

Salvatore frowns. "She takes on too much."

Which torpedoes any hope I had that Bianca won't take Candi up on her offer.

The smell of garlic and basil precedes the soldier from Severu's security team bringing in our food for the lunch meeting. The food isn't from the restaurant kitchen either, but brought in by one of the De Luca cooks. All the tableware is freshly washed and handled only by our people.

This is the new protocol for Severu eating away from home since becoming godfather.

If we can think of using food to get to someone, so can his enemies.

"Seriously, I didn't know your face could make that expression," Miceli says around a bite of crab ravioli in white sauce.

Big Sal looks at me critically. "What expression?"

"He looks worried." Miceli nods toward me, taking a sip of his water.

We don't drink wine with our meals away from home. I don't drink it at all. A second's hesitation caused by a more relaxed demeanor from alcohol could lead to my death, or someone else's.

The consigliere shrugs like he doesn't see my concern.

Miceli knows me better than Big Sal though.

"Are you really that nervous about Candi being at the club?" Salvatore asks. "You watched her dance there for months without intervening."

Yes, I'm fucking worried. "I hadn't claimed her before. Now everyone knows she's mine."

Salvatore nods his understanding. "No one thought a stripper you were probably banging but didn't bother to date would be a way to get to you."

"Now she's living at your house." Big Sal butters a piece of bread, ignoring his plate of steamed broccoli and grilled chicken breast.

His wife has him on a heart-healthy diet, which he apparently isn't impressed by.

"Our home," I correct. "Candi's on the deed."

She still doesn't know that. I'm trying to ease her into things after the whole checking account thing. She took the news about the trust fund for Cookie's education much better, but that might be because she was still in shock over her newfound wealth.

Severu scrutinizes me like he's looking for something. "How's that going?"

He means living with my new family. "Mostly good. Meshing two lives can be a challenge, but compromise is the key to doing it successfully."

"You've been reading that book on relationships again." Nerissa laughs.

Not sure what she finds funny about me reading a book, I say, "I only read it once."

"You keep quoting from it and we're going to think you've gone soft," Big Sal admonishes me. "I never read a book on relationships and my marriage is fine."

Salvatore shakes his head. "Mamma is the reason your marriage is a good one."

"I won't deny that. Your mother knows what it means to be a true mafia wife." Big Sal leans back in his chair and pats his still flat stomach complacently.

This meeting is a strategic counsel of war for family only. Severu and Miceli are brothers. Salvatore and Nerissa are Big Sal's children and their cousins. I'm the only one here not related by blood or formal adoption.

Not even Severu's council of two consiglieres are here.

No security team are in the room with us, and it has been swept for bugs and cameras. As an extra precaution there's a localized signal jammer. The walls are too thick for distance surveillance equipment, which isn't very effective in a busy city like The Big Apple anyway.

"Our women don't make us soft. They make us more determined to stay on top so we can protect them," Severu says, his expression one that would frighten most men.

"True that," Miceli agrees.

"Stop talking like a teenager," Big Sal admonishes. "You are a don now."

Miceli's face goes blank and he stares his uncle down. "Be careful how you talk to me . I would hate to have to cut out your tongue. It would piss off Aunt Ilaria and make it hard for you to do your job advising me as my consigliere."

Big Sal rolls his eyes, clearly not worried, but he inclines his head in acknowledgment of his don's words.

"Your mother is in New York?" Severu asks me, obviously ready to move onto the reason for the meeting.

How to respond to his Sicilian counterpart's reaction to Severu being named godfather.

"Maybe."

"I thought she wasn't coming for another week," Salvatore sets his fork down without putting the bite of ravioli on it into his mouth.

"I got intelligence flight plans were filed for Don Messino's jet to arrive in Boston yesterday. My mother and her husband are listed as passengers along with a detail of six men."

Miceli frowns. "That's a small security detail for the godfather's daughter and one of his favored dons."

"They may have other soldiers flying commercially," Big Sal says.

I agree. "Manifests for flights into Boston on the days before and morning of their flight are being checked against known members of the don's security force."

"Did she mention coming to Boston before traveling to New York?" Salvatore asks me.

"No." Which doesn't necessarily mean she and the don are there for nefarious purposes. "My mother does not share her plans with me. This is the first time in five years she's bothered to tell me she's coming to the States at all."

That does not mean her plans in Boston aren't nefarious either.

"Do you think the Lombardi is sympathetic to Don Messino's point of view?" Nerissa asks Miceli.

Miceli negotiated the peace agreement after the Lombardi's nephews were involved in unsanctioned actions against the Genovese Family while he was still Severu's underboss.

"Even if he is, he's smart enough to know that backing anyone but my brother in this altercation would be the downfall of his mafia."

Miceli is not talking out of his ass. The Lombardi mafia are heavily involved in politics. Backing a Sicilian play over a powerful ally in New York would be stupid. Unlike his nephews, the Boston don isn't that.

Big Sal frowns. "You talk like we're going to war. We haven't exhausted the option of diplomacy."

"We aren't going to war, but diplomacy only works when the other side respects you as an equal."

Whether or not, Don Messino sees Severu as his equal, my boss will never see the other godfather as anything but a hidebound fool.

Our plans don't include war though. That would put too many members of the American Cosa Nostra at risk. We'll take care of the problem subtly, but permanently.

Salvatore rubs his chin in thought. "Do we know who they might be visiting in Boston?"

"They both have known associates in the city," Severu replies.

His wife keeps records of the underworld and their connections that the FEDs and Interpol would cream their pants over having access to.

"Do we need to worry?" Big Sal asks with a frown.

He's not thrilled that the intel comes from Catalina. While he loves his nephew's wife, she plays a role he doesn't consider appropriate for a traditional mafia princess.

"They're not big players," I answer for my boss. "The likelihood is they will facilitate plans for my mother and her husband with strategic assets."

Severu steeples his hands. "Domenico's team is compiling a list of properties, weapons access, etc. in case they're gearing up for a violent attack on me."

"They have to know that would fail but would cost many lives. It would be a declaration of war." Big Sal shakes his head.

"Don Messino's arrogance makes him blind to reality sometimes." Severu looks at me pointedly. "He wants to oust me for the same reason he rejected Angelo as his uncle's successor."

"He thinks you're a psychopath too?" I ask drolly.

Severu shakes his head. "Your lack of empathy makes you impossible to control and he never understood your code of honor and loyalty."

"The old dinosaur knows he can't control my brother like he did Don Caruso," Miceli says with satisfaction.

"He didn't control him at the end," I point out.

Don Caruso backed Severu as his choice for the next godfather against my grandfather's wishes.

"How are we going to avoid war?" Nerissa asks, her expression hard. "Don Messino keeps the Sicilian Cosa Nostra in the Dark Ages. He's not spreading that garbage here."

There are no made women like Nerissa in the Sicilian Cosa Nostra. There are still military leaders who don't think women belong in the military either. More the fool them.

Nerissa's a damn good underboss for Salvatore.

Severu tells the rest of the family my plan for taking out my grandfather while I finish my lunch.

"You're okay with this?" Big Sal asks.

"To protect Candi from the risk of mafia war, I would kill the devil himself."

No one has any more questions after that.