Page 119 of Dreadful

I haven’t seen myviperasince she left to mourn with Gio, and I miss her so damn much. But everything so far is going exactly the way we planned it. It all ends tonight.

I smile at the thought.

“What’s so funny about flowers, boy?” Claudio grumbles at me.

My mother has been going on and on about the plants she’s been cross-pollinating in her greenhouse. Apparently she’s figured out how to mix nightshade and foxglove, forming the arrangement before us with pink, bell-shaped flowers with deep purple-black berries on the stems. They “match the black Frette tablecloth,” which is supposed to impress me, but all I can think about is how she has betrayed me and my family over and over again.

There’s no shame or even hesitance in my mother’s tone as she casually discusses her murder weapons. Then again, they’ve also been on display for years, mocking me. Why would she grow a conscience now? It’s another crime to add to Claudio and Gertrude’s list, and when Tallie and I take them down, it’s going to taste so sweet. Right now, though, it’s taken every ounce of self-control to just calmly sit here, so I’ve retreated into my thoughts.

“Severino, your uncle is talking to you, dear.” My mother’s voice wavers at the end.

“Nothing’s funny,” I answer. “Just had a thought is all.”

Claudio’s eyes narrow. “And what kind of thought might that be?”

I shrug. “Just wondering about your winery. How’s it doing these days, Claudio?”

He sighs. “My winery is none of your concern. Unless…” He frowns and tilts his head at me. “I haven’t been able to get in touch with Judge Blunt the past couple of days. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that, would you?”

I take a swig of the bottled water the maid gave me. “Nope. Can’t say I know anything about that. You’re the one he was close to, and I knew my orders.”

“Right…well, my plans required his contacts, and I’m afraid I’ll have to make some new ones to fire up an expansion plan in New York. The winery finally has produced enough to distribute widely. The bottom rows have been especially fruitful this year.”

“And you certainly won’t be able to launder all that drug money like you planned to do without a judge in your back pocket, right? From what I gather, you’ll need that government insider when you’re building a wine empire in New York on the backs of addicted Bostonians.”

“Severino!” my mother snaps. Dramatic worry lines crease her forehead as her gaze darts from me to Claudio and back. “We don’t talk about such things at the family dinner.”

I roll my eyes. “I don’t know when the hell we’d talk about them, then. Maybe you’d like another dinner and a show?”

“What’re you going on about, boy?”

“That’s what you wanted last Sunday. You pulled the judge into your web and then sicced me on him to show us who’s boss, right? If that’s not dinner and a show, I don’t know what is.”

“Listen here, Severino, you’re on very thin fucking ice. If you did something to Judge Blunt, I have no use for you anymore.”

“Oh, dear. Butler?” She snaps her fingers at the man in the corner, even though he’s looking right at her. “More wine for the table, please. It seems my son and husband need a little encouragement to behave, and wine will do just the thing.”

The butler does as she ordered and floats around the table with a wineglass. When he tries to pour for me, I hold up my hand again.

“I bring my own, thank you.”

“Apologies, sir.” He nods, unbothered—and not surprised—by my refusal.

I pull out my unopened bottle of liquor and glance at the maid in the corner to my far left. She doesn’t look at me now, and she hasn’t this whole time. Good.

“Will you get me a glass, please, ma’am?”

She bites her lip and nods, but Claudio snaps at the butler in the opposite corner. “Our butler does bar service. How many times do we have to tell you that? Get this man a rocks glass.”

“Certainly, sir.”

“Would you like one as well,zio?”

“No. Themerdayou gave me last time got me sick. You’re on your own.” He sips his wine, and my lips twitch.

“Suit yourself.”

It’s the same song and dance as last time, as the butler retrieves the glass and hands it to me. I untwist the cap on the bottle and set it aside to sniff my glass.