Envy by Eve Marian

4

Giancarlo

Vito followed me out of the dining room and into the hallway. “Call Nicky. Tell him to bring the car around. We’re going out to eat.”

He nodded. “Where are you going?”

“I may have pulled a stitch turning around. I’ll redress my side and be out in five minutes.”

“Where should I tell Nicky we’re headed?”

A hunch hovered on my lips. “Did you speak to the owner at Luxor?”

Vito shoved his hands in his pockets. “Yes. He wasn’t interested in selling.”

“How much did you offer?”

“Market value, just like you said.”

I closed my eyes.

Is everyone who works for me useless? I had told him to start at market value, not end there.

“Tell Nicky we’re going to Luxor. I have a deal to close.”

I walked to my bedroom and into my ensuite bath. Unbuttoning my white shirt, I checked my dressings in the mirror. There was no blood. It was probably fine. I pulled at the tape to open it, just to make sure. Black stitches sealed the blotched red skin, and brown iodine made the whole thing look more gruesome than it was. The doctors said I was lucky. A few more inches and the bullet would have hit my liver.

After sealing up the wound, I buttoned my shirt and returned to the front foyer. But Vito was no longer alone.

“Giancarlo!” Nonna gushed when she saw me. “You were sleeping when I came by this morning and I didn’t want to wake you.”

She rushed over to me, and patted my cheek with the back of her hand. “How are you feeling?”

“I feel fine, Nonna. You didn’t have to come back here.”

Another voice piped in. “Sure, feel sorry for her, when I’m the one who had to make the trip twice,” said my stepmother Joanne, adjusting the leather purse on her shoulder. Nonna lived with my stepmother, half-sister, and half-brother.

“Can I take your coat?” Vito asked Joanne.

“No, I won’t be staying.” She turned behind her and pointed to a small piece of luggage I hadn’t noticed earlier. “You can take that, though.”

Frowning, I turned to Nonna. “What’s that?”

She matched my frown, but hers contained disappointment rather than confusion. “I’m staying here, of course. Until you get better.”

I shook my head. “Oh no. No, no, no. I appreciate the thought, but you can’t stay here.” I liked my privacy.

She planted both fists on her hips. “Why not?”

“Because…because…”

“Because he wants to bring his whores around.”

I shot my stepmother a look before turning back to Nonna. “I’ll be working all day and night. You’ll hardly see me. I promise to visit on the weekend.”

“Oh, I don’t need a babysitter. I’ll be spending most of my time in the kitchen, anyway. Look how skinny you’ve gotten,” she said, patting my middle. “Your stomach is too flat. Do you even eat?”

I ate as much as a horse, but of course tonight my stomach growled as soon as she finished her speech and her face beamed with satisfaction. “I’ll fatten you up. You’ll see.”

I groaned. As tempting as that sounded, my life was more busier than usual right now. “You can visit for two days, Nonna. Then, I’m bringing you back home. All right?”

“Two days isn’t enough—”

“Two days,” I repeated firmly.

“Fine. You are just like your father.”

I wasn’t anything like my father. I pushed people harder than he ever did. That was why he was sitting in a jail cell and I had a bullet wound. As strange as it may sound, I preferred it my way. Go big or go home. Either I skyrocketed our family to the top of the mob world, or I would die trying.

“Great. I’m off then,” my mother-in-law said, dusting some lint off her black dress. “Be sure to drop Angela off yourself, as I’ll be going away for the next few days. Spa trip with the ladies.”

I nodded and waited for her to leave. My eyes must have mirrored her disdain.

She turned back around. “Oh, that reminds me. Call your father. He wants you to make a deal with the Caruso family. To smooth things over and avoid any more ugliness.”

Smooth things over! “The hell I will.”

She crossed her arms and pointed her finger at me. “This cannot escalate, Giancarlo! Do you understand?” Her voice trembled. “My children…” She swallowed. Her concern was sincere, if unfamiliar. Of course, that pissed me off more.

“I make the family business decisions around here. Don’t tell me what to do.”

“You only care about yourself. You are so selfish!” she spat.

I paid the bills for the home she lived in and took care of all her expenses. If she didn’t like how I ran things, then she could pay her own fucking bills. But I wouldn’t say or do that. I took care of my family.

I clenched my jaw to keep the angry words deep down in my gut. She’d never liked me. She had no problem with my father making me the head of the family when he was sent to prison because she never wanted her son to be a target.

Me. I was expendable.

“I feel sorry for whomever you marry.” She buttoned up her coat, preparing to leave. “You will hurt anyone that gets in your way.”

The words would have hurt me more had it been the first time I’d heard them. The first time, they stung like a motherfucker.

“Joanne,” Nonna whispered beside me. “Giancarlo’s been shot. Maybe a little sympathy for what he’s been through.”

I patted my grandmother’s shoulder and took a step toward Joanne.

“Let me worry about my future wife. You can worry about your son.” I wasn’t about to tell her I would never marry. It would only make me more vulnerable to my enemies. One more target to hit. And I wouldn’t let that happen to someone I loved.

After Joanne left, I turned to Nonna. “Give me a minute to prepare your guest room.”

“No, no. You were leaving. I know my way around here. Go on. I’ll be fine.”

“Are you sure? I just have one meeting tonight, then I’ll be back home.”

She smiled and patted my cheek.

I shouldn’t like this so much.

“I’ll see you later, Gigi.”

Her tiny five-foot frame walked away, and I felt as though a truck had knocked me over. That woman was the reason I continued the business. She came to this country to start a new life for her family. She had married one of the most ruthless men in Italy, but he was just a boy from her hometown to her. She loved him unconditionally and passed that same love down to my father, and now to me. She was the rock on which I would build my empire.

“Let’s go,” I said to Vito and rushed through the front door to the waiting car outside.

“Hey, boss!” Nicky chirped from the front seat. “How are you feeling tonight?”

“Fucking fabulous, Nicky,” I said, getting into the back seat. “Do you know where Luxor is? It’s on the other side of town.”

Through the rearview mirror, I watched Nicky pull in his lips, then his eyes caught mine and he forced a big smile. “Yup sure do.”

He pulled out of the driveway. “Hey, boss. I don’t have to come inside, do I?”

“No, I prefer you stay in the car to keep an eye on it. But be ready when I need you.”

He nodded on an inhale. “Sounds good.”

I watched him for a few more minutes to gauge his reaction, but he simply stared at the road ahead.

His edginess reminded me I had to deal with this rat problem, especially since I planned to respond to Sangunero’s hit soon. I had to respond swiftly and let them know they hadn’t slowed me down. Not at all. In fact, it was the opposite. I was feeling inspired.

“Call Frank and tell him to meet me tonight. I’ll text him the address. It’s been a couple of weeks and he owes us some information.” Frank was our inside guy in the Caruso family business. He usually reached out every week, but I hadn’t heard from him.

Walking into Luxor felt like entering any other bar. Although I’d never been inside, I knew my way around. The bar was in the center of the room with tables and the dance floor surrounding it.

I looked for Ryan’s girlfriend, but she didn’t appear to be working tonight. I asked the hostess to make sure when she seated us.

“No, Laura’s not in tonight. She only works Saturday nights now.”

“I’m sure she no longer needs the money,” I said and the woman smiled.

“No. She doesn’t.” She licked her lips. “Can I get you anything?”

“A bottle of tequila.”

“The whole bottle?” she grinned and cocked her hip.

“Yeah, let’s start with one for now.” She nodded and swayed her hips as she walked away.

I fucking loved it when women did that.

“Here comes the owner, Jim. I texted him on our way here.”

The man approaching us wore a black T-shirt and black jeans. He had a shaved head and fidgety hands. He wiped them along the sides of his pants before extending one to me. “It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Rossi.”

“I’m glad,” I said and motioned to a seat in front of me. “I was worried you didn’t like me.”

“W-why would you say that?”

I pursed my lips and raised an eyebrow. “Well, because you told my associate here that you didn’t want to work with us.”

“Oh no, I didn’t say that. I told him I wasn’t interested in selling the place.”

I smiled. “That’s the same thing, Jim. And I find it insulting.”

“You do?”

“Yeah. I do.”

“Well, I didn’t mean to insult you. I—I, just—”

The waitress saved him from his blabbering before it grated on my nerves. That was good news for Jim. “Thank you, darling,” I said and poured Jim a drink.

“Thank you,” he said and eyed me over the rim of his glass as he sipped his tequila.

Who the fuck sipped tequila?

“I’m going to be your best friend, Jim. You know that?”

“You are?”

“Sure am. You know why?”

He shook his hand and rubbed it along his jeans, looking around the room.

I closed my eyes and refrained from shaking my head. These guys were such cowards. I wasn’t even threatening him. I was calling him my friend. He would shit himself if I dealt with him the way I deal with my enemies.

“You are going to be a very rich man, Jim. Richer than this bar would have ever made you.”

He stopped rubbing his jeans.

Finally.

“Really?”

“Yes, really. I’ll pay you three million dollars for this place. It’s not even worth a million. But it’s personal and I want it. So, Jim, today is your lucky day.”

He gulped. “Are you serious?”

I looked him in the eye. “Yes. I’m going to change your life.”

Shaking his head, he laughed. “I can’t believe you’ll pay me three million for this place.”

I nodded and tossed back a shot of tequila.

Licking my lips, I said, “That’s right. Now, do we have a deal, Jim?”

He smiled so widely that I saw his back molars. Sticking out his hand, he said, “Abso-fucking-lutely.”