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“Son of a…I always thought he had a thing for her.”

“They’re in…well. Better if you don’t know. For now. Same with Adriano and Gloria. They’ve assumed new identities, found a nice place to lay low. Someday, we’ll all?—”

“No. I can’t. Ever. I can’t know where any of you areever, Aless.”

His face falls, but I see him really look at me for the first time since he got here. His shoulders bob in a little huff of disbelief.

“You’re…”

“Not as pretty as I used to be.”

“I was gonna say, different. In a good way. Not that getting this way was easy, I’m sure.”

“No. It’s not easy to get into the Bratva.”

Aless’s whole demeanor changes. For a split second the old don is back, a flare of indignant rage flashing in his eyes. What I just said is tantamount to treason. The ultimate betrayal.

“I see,” he mutters, taking a beat. That looming presence of his wrath, the powerful man I grew up with, fades. Honestly, I’m kinda shocked he didn’t spray my brains all over the tiles right here and now.

“I’m just glad you’re alive. Even if you do look like?—”

“Heh, Ero said I look—” I interrupt him, then cut off, biting my tongue. “He’s why you’re here isn’t he?”

“Yes. Ciro,” Aless looks at me for a long time, holding my gaze, “Ero is damaged.”

“We know,” Vanya snaps, locking eyes with Aless. This would be such a fun family reunion to watch. These two butting heads, me and Gloria relentlessly teasing Adri and Isabella for being the nerds they are.

In another life…

“The last mission the two of you were supposed to go on was…”

“Didn’t go as planned,” I finish for him. “He’s not always there. When we talked, I noticed…”

“Gaps?”

“Yeah.”

“I met with him months ago. I’m not sure if he even remembers. Fiero has gone off the deep end from all the intel I’ve managed to gather, from having him watched. I was trying to find the two of you, to make sure you were still alive.Youvanished for three months. Ero…”

“Went on a killing spree.”

“Like we always feared.”

“Just not the way we always feared it would happen. It’s worse.”

“Much worse. I think someone messed with his mind. Tampered with his memories. Or he’s just unstable. I wish I could take it back. All of it.” Alessandro sighs, looking into his cup, the weight of the whole goddamn world on his shoulders.

“But you can’t bro. And you’re not the don any more. This isn’t your responsibility. We’re thirty for fuck’s sake. He stuck his head up his own ass. Made his choices.”

“He will always be my responsibility. I made him into?—”

“We all did. Which is why I will deal with him when the time comes. I can get through to him.”

“I hope you can, Ciro. Because if the tip I got from my informant in Syria is true, he’s planning something. He was spotted there just two days ago. Looking to buy some highly illegal explosives.”

27

VANYA