“Okay, look, I can’t deal with all of this not being out in the open,” Camille says. I give her a look that tries to tell her that she should keep her mouth closed. Something about my brother’s reaction makes me believe that this is better left alone than adding to his unstable mood. I’ve had my fun with it, paid him back a bit for walking into my place and interrupting us, but now I want him out. But Camille bats my hand away and continues trying to make amends with Leo. “I’m sorry I wasn’t honest with you before,” she apologizes.
“Honest with me about what?” Leo asks bitterly.
“About the fact that Gabriel and I had slept together before he brought me back to my apartment. I just didn’t want you to be upset, so I made up that story about him happening to be there and saving me from a failed job,” she explains.
I can tell that her apologies and explanations are falling on deaf ears. The only part of all of this Leo is hearing is the part about how I fucked his best friend, and apparently now secret crush.
“It wasn’t all untrue,” she continues. “I did fail a job, and Gabriel did help to save me from the consequences of it. But he didn’t just happen to be there, and we slept together after that. I just didn’t want to tell you because I thought since he’s your brother that it was some kind of taboo. I didn’t want to cross any lines or damage your relationship with him.”
“Oh, trust me,” Leo says with a soured face that looks like he’s going to be sick. “My relationship with my brother already sucks.” He’s not wrong. “But I thought it was better than this,” he says, shooting Camille a look of contempt that I’ve not seen him ever give someone before. “You betrayed our trust. We were supposed to be best friends and you lied to me.”
He turns abruptly to face me next. “And you’re a complete piece of shit, just like you’ve always been. I don’t know what our parents or ourborgataever saw in you, Gabriel, but you don’t deserve the role in life you’ve been handed.”
“Harsh words,” I say calmly. “One might say that those are disloyal words.”
“Save it,” he scowls. “I don’t give a shit about your threats or your power or anything else about your life, for that matter. I came here to deliver some important news. If I would’ve known that this was what I would walk in on, I would’ve kept it until morning.” He glares over at Camille again and she looks absolutely heartbroken. She hasn’t done anything wrong. It’s not a crime or even a breach of the “best friend’s contract” to have sex with whoever you want.
“What’s the news?” I ask, wanting to know what warranted his audacity to begin with.
“The Grecocapo, Johnny Greco, was just found dead.” That was unexpected.
“No way,” Camille says in a hushed voice before turning to look at me. “That disproves your theory, then, doesn’t it?”
“What theory? Leo asks.
I don’t answer him because I don’t find him worthy of talking to at the moment. Currently, I’m about to have him removed from my penthouse, and have the guards stationed outside the building replaced with ones more capable of actually doing security.
“Gabriel thought it was Johnny who was after me, and after him too,” Camille answers. I need to give her a mini lesson on how not to be forthcoming. “But if he’s dead and we’re still alive, then that proves—”
“It proves nothing,” I interrupt. “Just because Johnny’s dead doesn’t mean it was him ordering the hits. There are a million other reasons someone might be behind this, and his death doesn’t lessen the fact that you’re still in danger. In fact, it might mean that you’re in even more danger now.”
“How so?”
“Are there any other estranged relatives that might want to come after that position ofcapo?”
“Not that I know of,” she says, pinching her forehead as if she has a headache.
“We all just need to lay low and keep things secure until we wait and see how this plays out.”
“We?” Leo asks. “Speak for yourself. I haven’t done anything to be on anyone’s hit list.” Although I’m glad to see my little brother growing what appears to be a bit of a backbone, I’m not a fan of his new attitude.
I grab my cell phone from the jacket on the door where I had accidentally left it earlier, ignoring all of the missed messages from my erratic brother, and call myconsigliere. It’s the middle of the night but Nick answers my call immediately. “Put the building on high security,” I instruct him over the phone. “Then get here as soon as you’re able to. We need to come up with a new plan.”
11
CAMILLE
“If Johnny Greco wasn’t behind the assassination attempt,” Gabriel’s underboss asks, “then who are our other suspects?”
“I’m not sure we have any actual suspects yet, Pito,” Nick says.
“Just because Johnny’s dead doesn’t mean anything,” Gabriel repeats. “It doesn’t absolve him of guilt for being the mastermind behind it, and it also doesn’t frame him as a suspect. I think we’re flying blind at this point.”
“Also, we’ve got another problem on our hands,” Nick says, garnering everyone’s attention, even Leo’s. “The Grecoborgatais without a leader, and there’s in-fighting between the men seeking to rise to the top.”
“I fail to see how that concerns me,” Gabriel says as he rubs his forehead with his thumb and forefinger. I can tell that he’s stressed.
“Men making a grasp for power can get some crazy ideas,” Nick tells him as if giving him a reminder. “You don’t know what people are truly capable of until they’re met with the chance to pursue their ambitions. Some of them will trample each other in order to get to the top.”
