Page 33 of Capo Dei Capi's Daughter

Lorenzois going to burn down the city to get her back.

“Fuck,” her hand clamps over her mouth as she whimpers, “my family.”

Unbuckling her seatbelt, I pull her across the seat to my lap and hold her against my chest.

“As much I wish I could, I can’t answer all of your questions,cuore mio,” my fingers tuck her hair behind her ear before drawing her face up to mine, “I only had time to read a few text messages before everything happened at the cabin. In those messages, Sal was clear that I keep you safe, and I intend to do just that.”

Bridging the little bit of distance between us, my lips press against hers. Although usually every touch of her makes me want to devour her, this one is different – I just want her to know that I am here to take care of her.

With her on my lap, I hold her against my chest, petting her hair as we continue to talk and I try to comfort her. After a while, the tenseness in her body relaxes a little and the thumping of her heart begins to slow.

“There is a drug store across the street,” I motion to the little pharmacy, “We need to grab a new burner phone and then we can get some breakfast before we disappear for a few days.”

Opening the door, I help her slide off my lap before climbing from the car myself. Popping the trunk, I pull a several hundred dollars in small bills from one of the bags.

Taking her hand into mine, we walk across the street to the pharmacy. Being outside of my arms and surrounded by people, she is suddenly so tense; it nearly looks as those I am holding her against her will.

“You’re going to need to relax and act natural,” I squeeze her hand, “we’re just a couple running errands and grabbing breakfast. We don’t want to look like we’re on the run.”

VENECIA

“Relax? Easy for you to say,” I scoff back at him trying to push out a small smile, “Some of us aren’t used to gunshots and dead bodies before our morning coffee.”

“There’s my girl,” he squeezes my hand again before leading me into the store.

Walking along the end caps of the aisles, Dante quickly finds the area with prepaid phones. Pulling one from the shelf and grabbing a card that matches the box, we get in line to pay. After a quick scan of our items, Dante pays in cash and we are on our way across the street to the diner.

“Welcome,” an older woman in a retro-styled waitress uniform approaches us, “Just the two of ya this morning?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Dante flashes back a ridiculous smile at her, “Would you mind if we took that booth in the back corner?”

“Help yourselves,” she gestures towards the booth, “coffees?”

“Yes, please.”

With his hand on the small of my back, Dante leads me toward the booth and gestures for me to slide into the bench against the wall before sliding in next to me. Once sitting, it dawns on me why he requested this booth - we can see every inch of the diner from here.

Opening the phone box, he inserts the battery, and types a bunch of numbers from the card into the phone, “The phone numbers?”

Pulling the list of numbers from my pocket, he keys in the one I had listed for Papa as the waitress brings our coffees to the table.

“Are we eating this morning,” she smiles adoringly at the two of us sharing the one side of the booth and sitting so close to each other, “or just the coffees?”

“Definitely eating,” Dante replies to her, “Can I get a pork roll sandwich? And she’ll have the pancakes.”

While he doesn’t look at me, I can hear the amusement in his voice as he continues, “And she’s going to need extra syrup with those.”

My cheeks are warming and I am certain that my entire face is currently the color of a tomato when the waitress moves her attention to me.

“Bit of a sweet tooth,” she chuckles at me, “Me too, honey.”

Dante laughs quietly to himself as the waitress walks away from the table, “I thought you liked syrup.”

Getting back to the phone, he pulls up the text message again and types to Papa.

DANTE

New number. Cabin was hit, needs clean up

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