Page 74 of Bad Bishop

“You suck at everything,” Achilles comforted him.

Luca turned to Lila, his scowl softening. “I’ll take ASL up immediately. In the meantime, if you need anything, you text us.”

Lila nodded, offering him a warm smile.

“This is madness.” Vello glared at his wife. “You cost me a good business deal. We’ll have words later.”

“Hold up.” Enzo raised his palm, turning to me. “How doyouknow ASL?”

“Grew up in a military school. They only let us speak one hour a day, and we were chatty bastards.” This skimmed the truth without really revealing it.

Vello motioned to his daughter, who turned to look at him. “Lila. Come here.”

She tore herself from her soup and gingerly shuffled in his direction. My eyes never wavered from them. I didn’t trust anyone who was willing to hand his daughter off to me.

He put a hand on her cheek. My fingers curled against the back of her empty chair, squeezing. “Bambina mia.” He tilted his head. “You sneaky little shit. I always knew you weren’t an idiot. No child of mine can be stupid.”

My nostrils flared. My wife’s face drained of color.

“Lila,” I clipped out. “That’s enough. Come finish your food.”

But my wife seemed to have enough of people bossing her around. Giving me the middle finger, she stomped out of the kitchen. Enzo stood up and followed her, muttering, “Nice going,stronzi.”

“She’d have never done this a month ago.” Achilles pointed at me with an unlit cigarette, deducing he could smoke, now that she was gone. “You’re spoiling her, Callaghan.”

I wasn’t doing jack shit other than not standing in her way to figure out who she truly was. She’d been kept on such a shortleash here, her family naturally assumed she was a docile little thing.

“Mama.” Luca turned to Chiara. “What you did to her was inexcusable. Did you really think you could get away with it?”

Chiara opened her mouth to talk, but at this stage, I was past my Ferrante family quota for the year and wanted to get out of there. I turned to her again. “Either we have words or I’ll just assume you want me to break the happy news about my wife’s incredible wits on a Times Square billboard.” I withdrew my phone, making a show of it. “If I move quickly, I might be able to get Post Malone to make an announcement at his Madison Square Garden show tonight.”

Life seeped out of her face in real time as she considered my ultimatum. She knew I’d follow through. I’d done a lot worse for a lot less.

Chiara tipped her head up, a gesture that reminded me of her daughter, rising to her feet. “Follow me.”

We entered the second family room, tackily decorated and full of gold-framed paintings and shiny fabrics.

“Should I call for Imma to make coffee?” she asked, about to take a seat on an upholstered sofa.

“No need. I intend to make it quick.”

“Very well.” She stood up and waltzed over to me, keeping her features schooled.

“You robbed Lila of living a normal life, which is the bare fucking minimum. You made the entire world think she isn’t capable, when in fact, she’s the only child of yours I would let use heavy machinery.”

“I gave her everything she ever needed,” she countered. “My only sin was trying to protect her from men likeyou.”

“Men likemeare unavoidable.” I straightened my cuffs.

“And what would she have done? Go to school? Find a boyfriend?” Chiara huffed. “Why dangle a normal life in her face if she could never truly have it? She’d have been miserable.”

“Her lifewasmiserable. You’ve cut her off from everyone but yourself.”

“She had Imma, too,” she said defensively, hugging herself. “And many tutors. Summers full of culture and fun on Ischia—”

“Nothing to prepare her for married life,” I cut her off.

“If my plan had worked, it wouldn’t have been necessary.” Her hands balled into angry fists. “She wasn’t supposed to marry a psychopathic monster.”