Page 64 of Heartless Union
I instantly miss her and am confused. Why isn’t she with me?
Getting dressed, I leave the bedroom. Voices come from the kitchen, where I find Lara with the rest of my family and her father.
She glances up at me, then quickly looks away. So, we’re back to being afraid, are we? I stifle a sigh as I grab some food and sit down with everyone else. I make a point of taking a seat right beside Lara, so she can’t ignore me.
She shoots me another glance before looking down. It’s like she wants to acknowledge what happened but is too nervous to.
Massimo looks between us with a knowing grin. I scowl at him. Emilio is busy talking with Nico, and Gabriella is busy sulking.
“I can’t believe you made me get rid of my phone,” she says. “I can’t do anything with this burner.” She holds up the small black phone and tosses it onto the table.
“You know you can’t use your real phone,” I tell her. “Carlo could track it. We have to be smart. I need to find more allies. There has to be more of Father’s men willing to work with us. They all can’t be on Carlo’s side.”
“We’ll find them,” Massimo says, taking a large bite of his scrambled eggs.
“Always the optimistic,” Emilio says. “We have to be smart about this. We can’t just go up to anyone and ask if they’re an ally. Word could get back to Carlo, and he could come after us.”
“You can only be so cautious for so long,” Nico says. “You have to act soon before this gets out of hand.” He doubles forward suddenly, hacking.
“Dad?” Lara presses her hand to his back. “Dad?”
He continues to cough for another moment before straightening up. His face is beet red. “I’m all right. I’m fine, Lara.”
“You’re getting sicker. This stress is taking a toll on you.”
“I’ll be fine.”
Lara turns to me. “You need to do something about Carlo fast. My father needs to know I’ll be all right before he—” She stops suddenly.
“You can say it.” Nico looks at her. “I’m dying, Lara. You want to make sure I know you’re all right before I’m dead.”
She looks down into her lap. “I do. I know it’s important for you.”
“Don’t put that stress on yourself,” he says, touching her arm. “It will only make me more stressed.”
They share a little smile.
It’s strange watching Lara with her dad. She has an effortlessly easy relationship with him. The complete opposite of what I had with my father. I wonder what it would have been like to grow up with a father who loved me.
But I do know what it was like to have a mother who loved me, whereas Lara doesn’t. Her mother left her years ago. Just up and abandoned her family.
Maybe Lara and I aren’t all the different. We know the love of a parent. And we know the hate of one, too.
“So, who do you plan on reaching out to first?” Emilio asks me.
“I was thinking about some of the lower-level guys. They don’t have as much power individually, but with enough of them, we could stand a chance against Carlo. And they might appreciate a younger boss, rather than someone like Carlo, who’s insistent on doing things the way my father did them. Then we take down Carlo and all the men who chose to be on his side, and we instill men loyal to us.”
“Sounds easy,” Gabriella mutters, stuffing a bite of pancake into her mouth.
I shoot her a look. “I’m trying here. It’s the only play I have left.” I nod at Massimo. “Start making calls. We need to get those men before Carlo can.”
Massimo nods and gets up from the table, pulling his phone out.
A knock at the door makes me tense, and everyone freezes.
“Who knows we’re here?” Emilio asks.
“You lost the car following you yesterday, right?” I ask Massimo.