Page 60 of Tormented Diamonds

“Newark is only a half hour away,” I mutter.

The tightness in my chest relaxes a bit as her eyes brighten. “Which means I can show up to knock some sense in that hard head of yours anytime I want.”

While corny, it draws somewhat of a smile to my face. “Thanks,piccolina, for everything.”

She shrugs. “Eh, what are sisters for if not to be an accessory tomurder?”

I walk her to the door where she lifts onto her toes and wraps her arms around my neck in a crushing hug. Just as I tighten mine around her waist, the door swings open.

“Hey, Sera,” Anton chirps, a little too cheerily.

Giving me one more squeeze, Sera drops back onto her heels, only to spin around and attack Anton with the same ferocity. He gives me a wide look of confusion over her head, but I just shrug. “Take care of my brother,” she says, then walks out the door.

Anton gestures a thumb over his shoulder. “What was that all about?”

“Sera’s playing marriage counselor,” I say, leaving him standing there as I cross the room toward the ugly card table I hate with a passion.

Marcello’s table.

I’ve threatened to toss it out the window multiple times but never go through with it. Anton says it’s because deep down I see it as a reminder of how easy it is to get caught up in the power and greed this life offers.

I’m not so sure about that. I just can’t be fucked to replace it.

He takes a seat across from me. “Did it work?”

“Fuck off.”

He chuckles. “What’s on your mind, kid? You look a million miles away.”

I grind my teeth, knowing I’m going to regret this. “Anton, do you think being vulnerable to love is worth the risk of it breaking you?”

He’s silent for a minute, then a serious look falls across his face. “I think regrets will break a man faster than vulnerability. Love isn’t for the weak. It can rip apart more flesh than any bullet or blade. But a wound from lost love bleeds slower than one from love you turned your back on.”

“I’veshed enough blood. I can’t spare anymore.”

“Look, Gianni, I get it. Watching love fade away is a pain I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy. But fate gave you something others would kill for—a second chance. Don’t blow it.”

The raw emotion in his voice pulls me out of my river of self-pity. I stare at the faraway look in his eyes, one that seems chained to another time. Then, it hits me.

Holy shit.How did I not see it before now?

I knew bits and pieces of the story, but with Anton serving as my father’s loyal underboss, I always assumed it wastheirfriendship that built the foundation that’s lasted four decades. I never stopped to ask myself why Anton had never married. Why I’d never seen a woman hold his attention. Why I’d seen tears pooling behind his sunglasses at my mother’s funeral when my father’s eyes were bone dry.

He loved her.

Anton loved my mother, and because of another fucking arranged marriage, he had to sit back and watch his best friend marry her and then drive her to her grave.

I can tell he knows I’ve figured it out, and another uncomfortable silence has us scrambling to crawl out of this hole we’ve fallen into. So, I do what comes naturally…

I talk business.

“Becca thinks this Dagger asshole followed her and Reese to Hackensack,” I say, hoping he runs with it. “She swears she saw him sitting a few feet away from them atCucciola’s.”

He mulls that over for a moment, then his eyebrows shoot up. “Shit, that means he probably overheard them talking about where Reese was?—”

“Way ahead of you. I sent Paulie to Marvin Hooper’s mountain cabin two hours ago. I should have an update anytime now.”

“Good thinking.” His eyebrows loweronly to pinch together. “The crash happened off Route 3, right?”