Page 117 of Bitter Poetry
He’s gone.
Maybe he doesn’t trust himself with me unattended in the house. I know I don’t.
CHAPTER 35
DANTE
The journey is long, and I spend most of it lost in unhelpful rumination. But I shove it all down as we pull into the driveway of the modest townhouse with three bedrooms and a decent sized yard. It’s in a nice neighborhood with a school for Peony that is conveniently close. But Helena’s been living with her brother for the past year, and her late husband before that, so I’m sure it’s going to take a little adjustment. Mini Helena, aka Peony, is staying with her nanny at Ettore’s home tonight. Tomorrow, she will be arriving, and that will make for a big adjustment number two.
I’m determined to extract Lillette from whatever hold Helena has on her that she would put up with this shit. But I’m also aware that the child is going through some upheavals, and her nanny is a source of stability. So I need to take this one step at a time.
All the lights are on when we pull up into the parking garage. Leon cuts the engine.
We share a look. He nods toward the glove box. I open it, take out the folder, and pass it to him.
“You good with me doing the talking?” he asks.
“Be my guest.”
He grins. “Show time.”
CHRISTIAN
Carmela is pissed at me.
Dante is pissed, too.
Could I have handled it better? Maybe. It’s not like there’s an easy way to tell your brother that you’ve been fucking his woman behind his back, the one he asked you to look out for. But all things considered, it could have gone a lot worse.
I thought my interest in her would taper off at some point. That telling him would be the wake-up call.
It wasn’t.
I don’t trust myself alone in the house with her. What’s wrong with Ettore fucking off like that and leaving us together? Him trusting me just pisses me off tonight. But he didn’t say I had to stay in the house specifically. Just here—a vague sort of here—and so I head outside.
There was extra security today because of the wedding, but most of them have left now. I find Roman and Kai out the front of Ettore’s massive fucking garage having a smoke.
They give me a chin lift as I approach.
“Any idea when Ettore is due to be back?” Kai asks.
“No fucking clue.” I nod my head at his cigarette. “Got a spare?”
“You’re too fucking young,” he says with a smirk, even as he offers me the packet.
I don’t smoke often… almost never. “Helena’s sprog was screaming her fucking head off,” I say, wishing they had something stronger than a cigarette. They both grimace.
“Hey, aren’t you her uncle now?” Roman says.
“Don’t fucking go there.”
They both chuckle. I put the cigarette to my lips, and Kai offers me a light.
I take a long draw and then cough.
They both laugh again—bastards.
“I could use a beer, you know, but Jero would kick my ass drinking on the job.”
