Page 40 of Dima's Vision
She gives him a bored look and he rolls his eyes, striding and hefting the stockier man over his shoulder. Kristie and I watch him move with ease past us, a different man from the one five minutes ago.
“His soul is at peace,” Kristie nods, a smile on her face.
“And what about yours?” I ask, pressing a kiss to her temple.
“I, I feel lighter. Free.” Her mouth twists to the side. “Like I can have nice things and they might not die.” She gazes up at me. “Like I can keep you.”
“You’ll always have me,Ved’ma moya. In this life and the next.”
“Let’s start with this one.”
Epilogue One
Dima
“Um, are you sure this is correct?”
Kristie continues to braid her hair, back to me. “Ah yeah. Trust me, that look is exactly what I had in mind.”
I stare down at the striped t-shirt and shorts she’s handed me as my Halloween costume.
“Oh, don’t forget the socks, too!” She turns briefly to toss a pair of long socks at me and goes back to what she’s doing.
I mean, if this is what my woman wants, this is what my woman gets. It’s only been 24 hours since La Madrina tried to take her soul, and thus far she hasn’t seemed to display any type of feelings one way or another. Except complain how tired she was after our all nighter to drop fresh meat to Gretchen.
Pulling on my costume I take a quick look in the mirror and cringe. It’s not terrible, but it’s miles away from my usual uniform of black and professional. Lady Gaga blares from the bedside table and I lunge across the bed to answer, sliding the accept button.
“What the hell are we wearing?” Lexi’s lip curls up in disgust and she’s only seen the top half.
“Halloween costume.”
“It’s a woman, isn’t it? That’s the only way you’d ever A) celebrate Halloween, and B) wear something that looks like that.”
“Hey! He looks cute” Kristie shoves her face into mine so she can peer at my phone screen and my niece. “Hi. I’m Kristie.”
“La Strega. Nice to meet you. I’m glad to see my uncle looking less stoic than usual.”
I mock scowl at her but my lips can’t help but tip up when Kristie laughs in my face.
“Anyway, I had information to share. Is it, um, OK to steal my uncle for a little bit?” Lexi’s eyes dart from me to Kristie, so I know she must have the information from the deep dive she did on Kristie.
Turning to my woman, her eyes search my face. Curious. Wary.
“Lexi has a lot of contacts, she finds information. I asked her to look into you to help me find out who might be gunning for you.” I try not to cringe as she stares blankly at me.
She blinks once, then again before turning back to the screen. “OK, hit us with it. Can’t be too bad.”
Lexi beams and I press a kiss to Kristie’s temple.
“It’s not bad. Just…interesting. And probably life changing.”
“Oooookay,”
“You weren’t born Kristiana Ferone. The man you thought of as your father was actually your mother’s bodyguard who acted as capo. Your actual father was Roberto Mancini. Brother to Lorenzo Mancini. Head of the Mancini Mafia.”
“Wait wait wait. You’re telling me that Roberto was my father? Roberto who was a traitor?”
“Yes. The same Roberto that you took out.”
