18. Angelo

Chapter 18

Angelo

I huff in a pained hiss. "You said you were going to be gentle, you fucking malicious?—"

Laura deadpans and smacks me upside the head. "If you don't stop whining, I'm going to do some serious damage." She bows her head toward my injured arm again, prodding at the stitches I put in myself. "This is awful. Truly terrible work. Why wouldn't you get a doctor?"

I grimace as she jabs at a particularly ugly gash barely held together. "I don't want Simon poking around my business. Besides, it's fine, I learned how to do stitches on myself in prison."

"Yeah, no kidding. I can tell." She shakes her head and sits back. We're in her living room and she looks extremely unhappy. "I need to fix a couple of these."

"What? No, seriously?—"

"You can either let me do it or I'm going to go ask the Famiglia's doctor to come pay you a visit. And I'm sure you don't want that."

I lean my head back. Coming over here was a mistake and admitting to my injuries was even worse, but Laura doesn't bullshit. This isn't a threat: she's just telling me what she's going to do.

"I despise you, sister of mine."

"Save the tears for the stitches, you big baby." She hops up and walks off. I hear her banging around in her upstairs bathroom while I pour myself a massive whiskey. When she returns, she's got a black bag filled with what look like torturer's implements. Long, gleaming metal pincers, a sharp knife gleaming in the recessed lightning, a spool of medical-grade thread. I eye them, dubious.

"Are you sure that's clean?"

"You're an idiot."

I slam back my whiskey as she gets to work. Taking out my makeshift medical care isn't all that bad. Just some tugging, a little bit of blood, but I've healed enough that the wound doesn't immediately break apart again.

The stitches are worse, but bearable. Laura's hands are sure and she makes quick work of me while I drink and glare at the far wall, remaining absolutely still for her.

She should've been a surgeon. Her hands are deft and talented, and it's no wonder she can sculpt like she was born with an innate knowledge of how to cleave rocks. My sister's been through a lot, and it's no wonder everyone finds her somewhat odd, but maybe I'm somewhat odd too. We've always meshed in our own ways. She's too much like Davide for them to really get close, and Elena's always trying to fix Laura, and Simon's too busy running the show to pay his littlest siblings much attention. Which leaves me and her.

"You want to tell me how you got this?" she asks once it's all done with. I rub at the fresh bandages, and even though I hate to admit it, she did a much better job.

"Vito used his girlfriend as bait and nearly blew my head off."

Laura snorts. She's got the gall to look amused. "You're losing a step."

"I didn't think he'd be that paranoid. And I'm still alive, aren't I?"

"For now. Let me guess. He ran off?"

I get up and start pacing. Laura watches me from the couch, legs crossed. She looks like she thinks this whole thing is a funny game, and I guess from her perspective, it is.

But to me it's everything.

"I'd bet a lung he's with Roc. And I'd bet a kidney they're going to work together when I go after them."

"You made your life ten times harder then. Congrats, that's a royal fuckup."

"Do you ever have anything useful to say?"

"Not really."

I sit back down with a groan. "The worst part is I'm distracted. I can't even pretend like I'm not."

"The girl?"

"Claudia. Fucking Claudia." I close my eyes and I'm back in her apartment breathing in her smell and feeling strangely—safe.

"You have feelings for her."

I look at my sister. I open my mouth to deny it. "I have feelings for her," I confirm instead.

"Good for you," she says softly, and I stare at her in surprise. She glares back and shrugs a little. "What? Everyone's partnering up. You might as well too."

"I don't think you've ever expressed interest in romance before."

"It's our damn family," she mutters as she puts away her medical equipment. "Simon and Emily have their baby. Stefania and Davide have their empire. Elena and Brody are probably humping right now as we speak. Now here you are falling for some random girl, and where's that leave me?" She gets to her feet and slams the bag down against the table. "But I want to see you happy, even if that makes me miserable."

I watch my strange sister and suppress a smile. "When are you not miserable, though?" I ask.

She gives me an aggrieved look. "When I'm sculpting, you prick. Speaking of which, go away now, I want to go back to work."

"You really think I should pursue the girl?"

"If it means getting you out of my house, yes, absolutely, goodbye." She walks off and disappears down her stairs and I hear the chisel against stone, the rapid crack and bang of hammer and steel.

Laura thinks I should pursue Claudia. What a strange world. When I left for prison, my sister could barely look me in the eye, and I distinctly remember she once said leave love for the gorillas in the zoo, I'd rather make art . Which was funny at the time but now? I'm worried about her. She's starting to catch emotions.

Too much has changed. And I'm afraid I'm not going to catch up again.

I'm on the steps and heading to my front door when Elena ambushes me. She materializes from nowhere like the girl used some Star Trek teleporter, and she looks supremely unhappy. I feel my pulse jolt but why the hell does it matter what she's feeling? Elena's just my sister, not my Don.

She crosses her arms and plants her legs shoulder-width apart. "Seamus told me what you did."

I look up at the sky and curse. That fucking Irish prick. He had one job . Well, several jobs, but keeping this away from his brother and my sister was paramount. That bastard's not getting paid now.

"I don't know what you're talking about," I hedge, just in case.

"Revenge is stupid, Angelo." She points a finger at me. "Vito and Roc aren't worth your time. They're nobodies."

I open my front door. "Come on, you might as well yell at me inside."

She follows me into the kitchen. I pour us both some wine, and I'm resigned to this conversation. At least Elena seems much less annoyed when she's sitting at my island and looking around my place. Not much has changed since I went down. It's like a relic of who I was five years ago, and I haven't been able to do anything about that. Because I'm not sure who I am now, and how I'm different from that guy. If I'm different at all.

"Simon wants you to move on," she says and all the bite's gone from her voice. "What happened to you sucked. It was bullshit. Vito and Roc have been working garbage jobs since then and Paulie was basically ostracized."

"Tommy's doing okay for himself," I point out.

"Because he's useful. You know Tommy."

I do know Tommy. Competent, clever Tommy. Self-interested and always looking for an angle. Once my best friend. Now just a name on my list.

"They fucked me. They left me there to rot."

"Can you blame them? From what I hear, the cops were bearing down and the Serbs were trying to kill you all. It's no wonder they ran."

"And you're defending cowards?" I glare at her, pulse rising. Heat fills my face.

"No, I'm telling you that they are so far beneath you that this revenge quest is worthless." She shakes her head and holds up her hands for peace. "I understand you're upset about Tommy and the club. If it helps, I think Simon's wrong. You should be in charge of Cage, no matter how much money it's been bringing in. But that's not how the Don's supposed to think."

"Fuck the Don. He's my brother."

"Yeah, and I'm your sister, and I wish you'd listen to me sometimes." She tilts her head from side to side and sips her wine. "At least don't get yourself killed. Can we agree on that much?"

"I'll do my best." Fortunately, she hasn't noticed the bandaged arm hidden by the sleeve of my button-down.

"Great." She shoves a piece of paper at me. "Seamus says sorry and he told me to give you this."

I stare at the page. "What's that?"

"Roc's address. I would've given it to you if you had just asked, you asshole." She finishes the wine and gets up. "And no, I'm not going to tell Simon, and yes, I feel a little bad about that. Oh, well, that's life."

She walks to the door. I stare after her, not sure how to feel about this turn. "How'd Seamus get caught, anyway? Did he come clean?"

"Brody got wind of him snooping around Famiglia business. Seriously, just ask me next time. I'm on your side."

I watch her go. The door shuts behind her, and I wonder if that's true. If there's anyone on my team except for me. Elena would rat me out to Simon in a heartbeat if she thought I was doing something truly stupid, like trying to take down Tommy.

There's Claudia at least. We're aligned, and she doesn't give a damn if my mission goes against my brother's wishes. So long as she gets what she wants.

I unfold the paper and smile at the address.

It's not far from here.