Page 24 of Pen Pal

Icouldn’t get my new little lawyer out of my head. She was a traumatized little thing; I could tell by her lack of confidence and the way she carried herself. She had fire in her, but it must’ve gotten her in trouble since she ignored the flame within her. She cowered instead when she was faced with the monster within me.

“You really pissed off Sacha’s homies by pulling that shit,” Luca muttered.

I shrugged. “He shouldn’t have run his big mouth.”

“You’re starting to scare people,” Vitali added with amusement.

“Oh, now they’re starting to worry?” I chuckle. “I’ve killed for years. One more isn’t that much.”

“He was twice your size, Enzo,” Ludovic scolded. “How the fuck did you pull that shit off?”

“Rage,” I sighed fondly, remembering Sacha’s pulp of a face when I was done with him. “Pure, unrestrained rage. Works every time.”

“Remind me not to piss you off,” Ludovic muttered, shaking his head in disbelief.

I smirked, stretching and yawning before regarding Vitali. “I need you to find someone for me.”

He eyed me warily. “You’re going to ice someone from the outside?”

“No,” I snorted. “Not this time. She’s my lawyer, and I want to learn more about her. See how qualified she is. According to her business card, her name’s Amara Branson, and she works at Lockwood Law.”

“I’ll see what I can find out,” Vitali nodded, getting up and heading to the phones.

“Fuck!” Luca exclaimed, reading a letter and clutching it so tightly it wrinkled.

“What?” I snapped.

“My sister Angela got arrested. She caught some battery charge, and I can’t do anything about it. FUCK,” he exclaimed, punching the table.

“HEY! Keep it down, inmate,” a guard snarled.

Ludovic cringed. “Not the time, man, not the time,” he warned the guard.

Before Luca got up, I grabbed his arm to help ground him. “Want me to send my lawyer to her? We’ll make sure she’s alright. We’ve got people on the outside who’ll watch over her, don’t worry.”

Luca nodded, gritting his teeth at the news. No one wanted their loved ones to be in trouble, especially when we couldn’t help them. “She was arraigned already, no bail. She’s stuck in there.”

“No bail for a battery charge?” I whistled. “What the fuck did she do, cut off someone’s dick?”

Luca glared at me, and I realized I hit the nail on the head. I burst out laughing. “Damn, who pissed her off?”

Luca groaned with frustration as he put his head in his hands. “Could be anyone. I love her, but she’s a crazy bitch. Our parents should’ve named her Lilith or some shit. She’s no angel, she’s a demon.”

I laughed, remembering growing up around Luca, Vitali, Ludovic, and all our siblings. We were all neighbors and family members of the same Italian mafia. Angela was always a little spitfire, playing innocent and causing chaos. She was a menace.

“The fucker probably deserved it,” I agreed, kicking back. “Besides, Angela will probably want to go to prison. It’ll be a fucking buffet for her.”

Luca snorted, a small smile plastered on his face. Angela was a notorious lesbian, and locked up with a bunch of women would be heaven for her.

“Hey, Enzo,” Vitali called as he approached. “I’ve got my people on it. From what they could see, she graduated a few years ago, has five cases under her belt, and won four. She just rejoined the workforce and married a Mark Branson.”

My face hardened. So my lawyer was married, after all. I clenched my jaw as I thought of all the wild things I would do to that man. Who else would’ve caused those yellowing bruises on her face?

“Put someone on the husband,” I ordered. “I want to know everywhere he goes and who he meets with.”

“Yes, Boss,” Vitali saluted as he returned to the phones.

I glanced at Ludovic, the only one with any semblance of a conscience. “You doing alright there, buddy?”

---