6. Elio

6

ELIO

I was so fucking sick of people arguing over me. When was I going to get to make a decision about my own life? "I wanted Billy dead."

Vinnie glared at me. "I didn't give you permission to speak."

I took a step toward him. "I'm the son of Giacomo Barruchi. I don't need your permission."

"I don't need to listen to anything an enemy has to say."

"You need to listen to me if you don't want a war."

The young man I assumed was Vinnie's boyfriend moved closer and laid a hand on Vinnie's shoulder. "Give him a chance. He deserves to be treated like a person."

I smiled at him. "Thank you. I'm tired of being everyone's pawn. I'm a prisoner at home, and now I'm one here. I don't want to be part of this game."

Tony growled "This is not a game to me. You are not a game. I'm doing this to protect you. If I could do that by building you a remote cabin and keeping you there with me, blocking out all this fucking shit, I would."

Vinnie and his boyfriend stared at Tony.

"Is that what you want?" the boyfriend asked. "I'm Tom, by the way. Nice to meet you."

"I'm Elio, and…." I studied Tony for a moment. His look said I damn well better not contradict him, and dammit it turned me on instead of pissing me off. "Against my better judgment, yes, but not if it means starting a war or risking Tony's life."

"I'm willing to risk?—"

"Enough." Vinnie yelled.

Tom placed a hand on Vinnie's arm. "Remember when we met? Remember how hard it was for me to admit I wanted to stay with you?"

Vinnie scowled at Tom for a moment, but it looked like he was fighting a smile.

"I need a laptop," I said.

"You need to learn when to keep your mouth shut," Vinnie snapped.

"Do you want to solve this problem, or do you want my father breaking down your door?"

"If your father starts something with me, he's starting it with Lucien Marchesi. I hope he's not that foolish."

"I can promise you if my father is challenged, he'll accept it, and he'd fight God himself if the family honor was at stake."

"Why do you need a laptop?" Tony asked.

"I'm the one asking questions," Vinnie said.

I rolled my eyes. "I need to make sure Billy didn't wipe the contents of this drive." I pulled it from my pocket. "If he didn't, then I have some proof of a secret my father desperately wants to keep. I can use it to get what I want."

Vinnie focused on me again. I could see the calculations going on in his mind. "And what exactly is that?"

"To be free of my family and able to choose my own path."

"Unless that path involves swearing allegiance to my family, you're out of luck."

I refused to back down. "Unless you want a war with the Barruchis, you'll let me live my own life."

"Why don't we see what he's got on the drive?" Tony asked.

I scowled at him. "No, this is for my eyes only."

Vinnie took a step toward me, and Tony moved to block him.

"Enough," Tom said. "Come on, Elio. You can use my laptop."

"No," Vinnie growled. "Not until he tells us what kind of information he has that will make Giacomo roll over for him."

"There's no point in trying to use this for blackmail if he knows I already told you and you can use it against him. This only works if I keep the secret."

Tom looked at Vinnie. "He has a point."

"So I'm supposed to let him put a drive into our computer that could be doing no telling what to our system, pulling any amount of our data, and then I'm supposed to not look at what he uploads and let him communicate with his father without knowing what they're talking about. You think I'm stupid?"

I sighed. "All I know is that I have a peaceful solution, but you're going to have to trust me."

"Why should I do that? There's absolutely no reason for me to think you want anything but the worst for my family."

"What I want is to get free of my father's control. I don't hold loyalty to him, I don't want to be part of his organization. I don't want to be part of yours. I want to be a free person who directs my own life."

"That's not how things work in our world," Vinnie said.

Tony laid a hand on my shoulder. "He's right. You're with us now. You're going to have to trust me."

I shook my head. "You want to control me just like they do."

I expected him to deny it, but he didn't. "That's because you're mine now, mine to protect."

I wanted to shout that I could protect myself, but unless I got very far away, I really couldn't do that. Even if I ran to the other side of the globe, how long would it take before my father tracked me down? Was he really going to let me go when I knew his secrets. Was I being na?ve? Would my own father put out a hit on me?

Tony looked at Vinnie. "Can Elio and I please have some time? If you'll let me talk to him, I think we can work this out."

Vinnie narrowed his eyes. "How do I know you're not just going to run?"

"Because if we were going to run, we would've done that after I killed Billy. I never would have brought him here. Maybe that's what I should've done."

Vinnie's face contorted with fury. "You don't run out on your family. We'd find you and make sure you regretted the betrayal."

Tony tensed. I wanted to reach for him. I wanted to be able to comfort him the way he had me. This was all so insane. What was I doing here? How had I ended up getting myself even more trapped? If I ran, Tony would be blamed for it. I wouldn't let that happen.

I wished I had the power to protect us both, but despite being Giacomo Baruchi's son, I didn't have any power of my own. In my family, power had to be earned, and all I'd wanted to do was get out. Maybe I should've learned all the lethal skills my brothers had, maybe I should have turned myself into a cold-blooded killer. Because now it seemed like I was destined to work for one criminal family or another.

That thought made me wonder about Tom. He didn't bow down to Vinnie, but I also had a very hard time imagining him taking part in the worst aspects of the family business. He seemed like a natural peacemaker, and he clearly wanted all of us to stay calm. He'd defended me against Vinnie when he didn't even know me. How did a man like that survive in this world?

"I'd like to talk to Tom on my own," I said.

"Fuck no," Vinnie snarled. "If you think I'm leaving you alone with my man for one moment?—"

"Vinnie," Tom said. "What do you think is going to happen? Elio and I are just going to sit and talk."

"For all I know he's going to try to turn you against us."

"Vincent Trevisani, do you think I care so little about you that a person I just met could turn me against you and your family? If that's what you think of me, I'm walking out the door right now."

"You're not going anywhere." Vinnie grabbed Tom's arm and yanked him close so they were nearly nose to nose. Tom didn't even flinch.

"That's right, I'm not, because I love you. I thought you trusted me."

"Fuck, Tom. You know I do."

"Then you and Tony need to walk away and let me talk to Elio."

Tony looked at me. I could tell he didn't like the idea. "I'm the one you need to be talking to."

"I need some perspective."

He frowned. "What you need is for me to remind you why you're mine and why you're staying here."

That was the last thing I needed. Tony touching me would cloud my mind to the point of insanity. Fuck, it already had. That's how I ended up here in the first place. "I need to do this. I chose to come here with you, but I need to understand what I'm getting into before I can reveal any of my family's secrets to people I was taught to hate, taught to see as my worst enemies."

Tony captured my chin in his hand. "I'm not your enemy. I'm going to be your savior."

"I may want you. I may be willing to take terrible risks to be with you. But you're not God. You want to save me, but I want to save myself."

Vinnie chuckled. "Damn, Tony, you've really gotten yourself in trouble, haven't you?"

Tony snarled at me. "As soon as you're done here, it's my turn to talk."

He was fuming, but he'd get over it. If I let him think he could direct every move I made, I really wouldn't be any better off here than I had been with my family.