Page 225 of Incompatible

"Some things have been bothering me ever since Snow said that everything connected to Sun being held captive would resolve itself in a few days. It lines up with something else…"

"Wait, do you think Summer will make it happen?"

Ennio takes a deeper breath.

Silence falls; I simply wait.

"I don’t know, maybe. I’ve got a suspicion something serious is about to happen. Anzo is planning an assassination. The dates align with Snow’s dates." Ennio says it reluctantly, pressing his lips together. He very rarely talks to me about internal mafia matters, our arrangement is entirely different.

"And you’re planning to be involved?"

"I have a few ideas on how to mess with it, so that could open a path for me to—"

He trails off, but his eyes keep moving over my face with such sharp focus it feels like he’s tracing a knife tip across my skin.

Well, I’m not mafia, and he probably senses he can’t fully trust me. But I can figure out the rest on my own.

If Anzo slips up, then what? Who takes over the mafia?

The logical successor is Rocco. The only Ferro brother I’ve never met, the oldest of them in the family.

I’ve never sparred with him, he has a different trainer, apparently he and Gurco can’t stand each other.

Ennio scrubs his chin lightly, deep in thought. He’s one of those people who are nearly impossible to unnerve, like a block of cold ice stripped of any obvious emotion, but today there’s something different in him, a subtle under-the-surface frustration.

"What is going on, Ennio?"

His puts his hands on the steering wheel and move his fingers lightly, tapping against its edge as if playing a melody on a loop.

His profile is sharply outlined against the dark background.

"All these years, I never collected the first debt you owe me," he says suddenly.

I raise my brows a little. In the twelve years we’ve known each other, Ennio has never brought it up, this is the only time.

I tense my jaw slightly, then say,

"Tell me what it is, Ennio, and I’ll pay it back."

"You know I always think and plan far ahead. This whole assassination thing won’t end well for Anzo, it’s too big of a deal. I’m not going to give you details about what’s happening, but I have reasons to believe he’ll be out of power soon."

A moment of silence passes.

So I was right with my conclusions.

"Looks like changes are coming."

"I think so, if my instincts are right, and my… intelligence network. Unfortunately, second in line for power is Rocco."

I clear my throat, giving him a long look.

"Unfortunately."

Again, Ennio taps his fingers against the edge of the steering wheel once, twice, three times, as if organizing his thoughts.

"The problem is, I have to be patient. I can’t make my move right away. The entire branch of our family on Vincenzo’s sideis on good terms with Rocco. They don’t love him, but they will definitely support his candidacy. There’s no chance I will be chosen as the next capo as long as Rocco is alive."

Ennio slowly turns toward me.