38. Angelo

Chapter 38

Angelo

T he butcher's shop is on the bottom floor of an old building in a decent neighborhood. It looks like the place was open recently, but the door's locked tight and the windows are all covered by cardboard.

I stare through the scope of the high-powered rifle, watching the doorway, watching the street. From what I can tell, there's nothing special about it, and no sign of anyone remotely connected to Tommy. "Anyone coming and going?" I ask when I lower the gun.

"Some guys," Emilio says. He's squatting to my right. Davide's standing back near the stairwell entrance, arms crossed over his massive chest. "I don't recognize any of them, but I got some pictures I can show you. Right now, we're just monitoring."

"Any sign of Serena or Tommy?"

"None, and we've been watching twenty-four-seven. If they're inside, they haven't come out."

I grunt and pace away. I feel my brother's eyes on me but I ignore him. I'm aware that I might be too emotionally involved in what's happening right now, but everything important in my life is converging on that boring-looking shop.

"Could there be other entrances?" I ask.

"Unless they dug tunnels, which is unlikely." Emilio looks through the scope. "There's a back door, but we're on that one too."

"It's taking up Famiglia resources," Davide says, giving me a cold frown. "It's not cheap or easy, surveilling a building all day and all night."

"We can fucking afford it." I glare at him, trying to keep my temper under control, but it's not easy. I'm frayed and on edge.

"That's not what I mean." Davide's head tilts. If he cares that I snapped at him, he's not showing it. My older brother always was good at swallowing his feelings. "We can take the place without much trouble. Even if he has men inside, we'll swarm it and lock it down."

"Can't take that risk." I lean against an air conditioning unit. Something mechanical hums deep inside, like a mirror to my own churning guts.

"If we know Tommy's inside—" Davide presses, but I'm shaking my head before he even finishes.

"Claudia's sister is with him and she's worried. I can't risk her getting hurt in the crossfire."

"If she's worried, she might get hurt anyway."

"Maybe, but maybe not. Tommy's not stupid enough to use her up, not if he doesn't have to." I don't add that I think Serena might be his insurance policy. He knows that I'm involved with Claudia, and he probably thinks he can use Serena against us at some point. I'm betting he's right about that.

"Then what do you suggest?" Davide keeps on staring at me.

"Stay right where you are." I turn to address Emilio. "Make sure we have eyes on everyone coming and going from that place. Hold tight for now."

Emilio glances at Davide for confirmation, which pisses me off, but at least my brother nods.

I brush past him and into the stairwell. My footsteps echo down concrete. Bottlecaps litter the stairs. An ancient empty beer bottle gathers dust in the corner. I head down, thinking about Serena sitting on a dirty mattress while a bunch of Serbian thugs make violent plans nearby. She's got to be terrified—the poor fucking girl. I hate her for what she did to Claudia, but I know drugs can make people do fucked-up and stupid things, especially when they know better. She's got my sympathy, but if I had my way, I'd raid the place and let the girl die.

Except that would hurt Claudia, and I won't risk it.

"We both know waiting around won't solve anything." Davide follows me downstairs. His low voice bounces off the walls. "You're being too cautious."

"I know that." I don't look back over my shoulder. "But Claudia's too important to me, and Serena's too important to her."

"We can't sit around forever. Tommy's going to slip past sooner or later, and then he'll be totally gone. He'll take the girl with him."

"Maybe, maybe not." I reach the bottom and turn toward the emergency exit that leads into an alley. We're in an old apartment complex. Cigarettes litter the ground nearby. "I think I can smoke him out. If that happens, I think we can take them both."

Davide doesn't look convinced. "You love the girl, don't you?"

I shake my head. "I don't give a fuck about Serena."

"Not her. Claudia. Even I can see it."

I hesitate, letting that word roll around my head. Love . It's not something I ever said before, much less felt, but the way I am with Claudia is entirely new. It could be love, or it could be something else. I don't know what word would describe how I feel.

But I know I like it. I know I can't live without it.

"All I know is, it'll break her if Serena gets killed, which means I have to make sure it doesn't happen."

Davide shrugs and crosses his arms. "There's no shame in falling for her, you know."

"I didn't say there was."

"You're acting like it's the worst thing in the world. Just admit you love her and we can plan accordingly. But this halfway thing you're doing—" He waves a hand at me. "It won't fly for much longer."

I give him a hard look but don't reply. I head outside and he doesn't follow. I walk to my truck, frustrated and pissed off, and sink down into the driver's seat.

Before I went to prison, my older brother Davide was like a robot. The guy was cold as ice and didn't seem to have any actual emotions at all. Now, I catch glimpses of a deep reservoir of feeling in him. Ever since he met and fell for Stefania, it's like an entirely new man woke up inside of his skin and is trying to fight his way to the surface.

Which is why it's so strange that he knows more about love than I do.

It's only a word, love . It's just a sound. What I feel for Claudia is so much more than that. The way my house seems full and more alive than it ever had before. The way I think about seeing her when we're not together, and the way I focus so completely on her when I'm around her. She makes everything else dim and fade away, and it's a strange but exciting feeling, like she's the center of my world.

Can I love her? Am I capable of loving another person that way?

I used to think no. But now I'm all tangled and twisted in her, and I don't want to go back to the way things were. Not if that means being without her.