Page 92 of The Pretender

I almost laugh. “Bland?”

“Doesn’t fit you at all.”

Nonna turns around in her seat to face us. “Your name is Balthazar Cassiano from now on.”

“She heard us?” I whisper.

“She hears everything,” Deo whispers back.

“Mike Franco is about to die,” Nonna continues.

“What do you mean?” I ask.

“You’ll see.”

Brogan turns down a street and pulls into a parking space in front of a popular coffee shop. The sun is rising, turning the sky from black to a light gray, and as night becomes day I’m tentatively optimistic about my future. Thirty minutes ago, I was on my way to my own funeral.

The four of us enter and find a table in the corner. Brogan gets everyone’s drink orders and goes to the counter while Nonna leans across the table in a conspiratorial pose.

“Here’s what we need to do. Mike needs to die, and the boss needs to believe it.”

Deo glances nervously at me before asking, “How are we gonna do that, Nonna?”

“I have some connections from the old days. Haven’t used them in a while, but I know how to find them. What’s the boss’s name?”

“Vincenzo Galliano.”

Nonna’s eyes widen. “Galliano? As in the Galliano crime family run by the notorious Aldo Galliano?”

I nod. “That’s the one. Vincenzo is Aldo’s great-grandson.”

“Who is that?” Deo asks.

“That Mafia movie your zio likes?” Nonna says. “That’s based on Aldo’s life.”

“Oh shit. I didn’t know.”

“They used different names,” Nonna explains, “but everyone knows it’s about how the Galliano family rose to power on the East Coast.” She rubs her hands together. “Is Vincenzo as formidable as the rest of his family?”

I nod. “He won’t hesitate to hurt people close to me to get what he wants.”

Brogan returns with a tray of coffees and passes them out. “What did I miss?”

“Nothing much,” Deo says. “Just that Balt works for the most violent crime family in existence.”

“Ooh. So what’s the plan?”

Nonna digs in her handbag and produces a small notebook and a pen. “First, I need Vincenzo’s contact information.”

“He goes by Vin, but what are you gonna do? You’re not going to call him, are you?”

“I’m not, no, but someone is. How else will we get the word out?”

“I don’t understand.”

Nonna purses her lips and shakes her head. “You really don’t understand the inner workings of this kind of thing, do you?”

“I handled the money, Nonna. I didn’t sit in meetings and go out around town with them. Until this rumor started, I was just a background guy.”