26. Vinnie

26

VINNIE

"V innie? What are you doing here?"

My gaze meets Raven Bellamy's.

I stop my jaw from dropping.

What the hell is she doing here in Giacomo Puzo's home?

Fuck. My job just got a lot more difficult.

Clarice widens her eyes. "You two know each other?"

"Yeah," Raven says. "He's my brother-in-law. Well, not really. My brother Falcon is engaged to his sister Savannah."

"Oh my God!" Clarice says. "Raven and I have known each other for years. We went to school together."

Really. Just kill me now.

Not only do I have to off the owner of this house, I have to off the employer of one of Raven's friends.

Fuck. It. All.

"So what are you doing here?" Raven asks again.

"I have some business with Mr. Puzo," I say.

Clarice looks back at Raven. "I keep telling him that Mr. Puzo is never home during the day."

"Which is why I came by, actually," I say. "I wanted to find out when he would be home. I was hoping to talk to Mrs. Puzo."

"Yeah, she doesn't check in with me, and she probably won't be home until dinnertime. But since you're a friend of Raven's and all, I guess you can hang out and wait if you want. In fact…"

Clarice looks at me and then at Raven and then back to me again. Her eyes widen slightly.

"Oh my God, Ray…" she says.

Raven gives her a punch in the arm. "Let it go," she says softly.

Let what go? What the hell is Raven talking about?

"All right," I say. "Thank you, Clarice."

Raven bursts into laughter. "Clarice? Since when do you go by Clarice?"

Clarice shrugs. "Since about five years ago. I decided it was a little more grown-up than CJ."

Raven cocks her head. "But you've always hated your name. Ever since Billy Doyle kept calling you Clarice and making that Hannibal Lecter sound in middle school."

"Yeah, well. I matured a little."

Raven chuckles. "Clarice Josephine Simons. I thought you'd be CJ forever."

"The name has kind of grown on me over the years. It's not like I got a cool bird name like you did. I was destined to be named after my great-grandmother."

"I think Clarice is a pretty name," I say.

I'm not sure why I said that. I don't really have any feelings one way or the other about the name. Now Raven, that's a beautiful name. A bird the same color as the peach fuzz on her head.

With piercing dark eyes.

Just like this woman's.

"The offer still stands," Clarice says. "You're welcome to stay here until Mrs. Puzo gets home. But like I said, it'll be probably around dinnertime."

"No." I look at my watch. "I don't have that much time. Got some other stuff to do. Would you please tell Mrs. Puzo to give me a call?"

"You mean she didn't call you last time?"

I shake my head. "Nope, she didn't."

She frowns. "I'll tell her again. Sorry about that."

"Not your fault. Good to see you again, Clarice. Raven." I nod.

Raven's cheeks are rosy pink. All I can think about is grabbing her and dragging her out to my car and having my way with her on the back seat.

Elmo might have a problem with that.

Then again, who the hell cares? He works for me.

Damn.

I'm still not used to this life.

Even though I grew up in it. Being second-in-command to the boss is…

Just fucking weird.

"Anyway, if you see Mr. Puzo?—"

"I hardly ever see Mr. Puzo."

"Well, if you do, please give him my card and tell him I need to speak with him. It's urgent." I hand Clarice another card.

"I sure will."

I leave, and Clarice shuts the door behind her.

I walk to my car, get inside, and instruct Fred to take me to Grandfather's house.

"Right now," I say through gritted teeth.

* * *

"Listen, old man," I say to my grandfather, whose eyes widen at my words, "why in the hell did you tell me, when you wanted me to prove my loyalty, that I had to kill Raven Bellamy?"

Grandfather cocks his head. "I didn't."

"Don't give me that shit. Of course you did. And when I told you that would be personal, not business, you relented and gave me the name of Giacomo Puzo. Well, I've looked into Puzo. I went to his home today, hoping to find him. And guess who I found instead?"

"I couldn't begin to guess," Grandfather says.

"You think? Give it a try, Grandfather."

He simply stares at me. Glares at me, his watery eyes full of evil intent.

"Answer me," I say, making my voice as menacing as I can.

And damn, I'm good.

"It is no secret that I've had you watched. I am aware of course that you encountered Ms. Bellamy."

I nod coldly. "The same Ms. Bellamy that you ordered me to kill before turning your attention to Giacomo Puzo."

Grandfather's face remains as still as a statue. "So it would seem."

"So tell me." I cross the room and lean over his desk. "Is Giacomo Puzo actually an enemy of yours, or did you just tell me to kill him as an indirect means to get to Raven?"

A wicked laugh falls from my grandfather's lips. "Surely you don't believe that I, as connected as I am, would have the foresight to know that Puzo's nanny was an old college chum of hers."

"I believe you have the connections to be privy to all sorts of information you aren't entitled to." I point at him sharply. "And how did you know it was the nanny? I never told you that."

Grandfather steeples his fingers. "It was not difficult to ascertain. I know who is on Puzo's payroll. A simple social media search made it clear that the nanny went to the same school as Ms. Bellamy. Once I learned that she was present upon your second visit, it was easy to connect the dots. But if you are asking if I was aware of this connection before today, I'm afraid you're misguided."

I pace the office. There is no way in hell that this is a coincidence. I stop only to see my grandfather's eyes have widened, revealing two black holes of absolute iciness.

"And as for your first question, I wanted to see if you'd do it."

I scoff. "Man, you must really think I'm some evil son of a bitch. You honestly thought I would consider taking out an innocent young woman? A young woman who's already been through so much?"

"Everyone expected her to die," he says.

I shake my head. "You really are one motherfucking bastard."

He cackles then. Like an evil wizard laugh. "Vinnie, you have no idea."

I'm ready to quit now. Head back to Europe. Get the fuck out of here.

But I can't.

I made a commitment to protect Savannah. To protect my mother, who is the spawn of this evil bastard.

Maybe even get my father sprung from prison.

I can't do that from Europe.

"Puzo's nanny's friendship with your lady friend notwithstanding, he is still an enemy of this family," Grandfather continues. "What is your plan to take care of him?"

"It's in the works."

"Simply driving to his house and talking to his nanny or housekeeper is not in the works."

"Yeah, you gave me a gun to do it with. But don't you think you can trust me to do this my way?"

"I'm not sure I can trust you at all, Vincent. You left for seventeen years. You only came back for your sister."

"That's right. I came back for my sister. And my mother. Because they're my family."

He laughs again, shaking his head.

"The fuck is so funny about that?"

Grandfather crosses his hands over his chest in mock bashfulness. "I'm your family, Vincent. Don't I count?"

I roll my eyes. "After what you did to me? After what I'm pretty sure you did to Mikey? No, you don't. But Savannah and my mother and my father. They do. And the only way I can protect them is to do your bidding. So here I am, Grandpa. Take me as I am, or fucking get rid of me yourself."

He glares at me again.

And for a moment, I see an evil glint in his eyes. It's so evil that in that moment I'm convinced I just signed my own death certificate.

But a moment later he relaxes.

"You need to understand, Vincent, that what I did to you was just part of the process. I didn't do anything to you that wasn't done to me by my own father."

"And that's supposed to make it okay?"

"It was worse for me," he says. "My own father beat me up, beat me so my eyes were so swollen that I couldn't see. Then he took that billy club, and he did to me what I did to you. But he wasn't the only one. A few of his minions took their turns at me. But you know what? He didn't fucking break me."

"Did you hate him afterward?"

"For a while I did, until I learned to understand." He stands and paces behind his desk. "There's no room for weakness in this business. By the time they were all done with me, I was still on my two legs. It made me stronger. And I knew that I would one day wield the power they had over me. As you will one day wield over your own son."

"If you believe for one motherfucking second that I would ever do something like that to my own offspring, then you truly have another think coming." I cross behind his desk and poke him hard in his chest. "It didn't make me stronger. It just made me hate you. It made me want to get away from this family. So that's what I did. But I shouldn't have."

"You're right about that," Grandfather says.

"I shouldn't have because I should've been here to protect Mikey. I should've been here to protect my mother. Savannah. Even my father."

"Your father's weak."

"My father's one of the strongest men I know. He succeeded in keeping Savannah out of the McAllisters' clutches for years, and he protected Falcon for her at the cost of his freedom. And you know what? I would do the same thing for my own kid."

"You'd go to prison rather than work for me."

It's a statement, not a question. And we both know the truth of it.

I don't answer. I just keep staring him down. I'm convinced at some point he'll look away.

I've got to hand it to the old man. He's got more balls than any other octogenarian I've ever met.

But he doesn't know all the balls that I've got.

He doesn't know what happened to me in Europe. What I endured, and what I rose from.

No one knows.

And no one ever will.