Page 27 of Run

She was looking at me curiously, the little furrow in her brow telling me there was something on her mind.

“This car was waiting for you,” she said.

“Yeah,” I replied, knowing that the question had unspoken volumes that I wouldn’t acknowledge. To do so would lead to more questions about the business, and that subject was never up for discussion as far as I was concerned.

She titled her head like she had caught me in some contradiction, though I had agreed with her.

“Yeah? Just yeah?” she said.

“Yeah,” I replied, laughing softly when she frowned.

“Santo didn’t have that kind of reach,” she said. “How did you pull that off?”

At her serious tone, I glanced at her, saw that her voice matched her expression.

“There’s been a change in management,” I said.

I’d already said more than I’d intended, and though there was no real information in that statement, it contained all Giovanna would need. Her grim smile told me that. Told me what Giovanna thought of me. I didn’t have the heart to defend myself.

“So that must make you happy,” she said. “You’re with the big boys now.”

There was a lingering sadness in her voice as she looked out the window, and I said nothing.

What was there to say? She was telling the truth.

I’d never tell her the details, but so much had changed. The Syndicate was the best thing other than Giovanna that had ever happened to me, and the changes that came along with it did make me happy. I was doing what I was born to do and in a way that I never would have been able to if Santo still lived.

Giovanna would never see that, and I wouldn’t try to convince her. She’d never expressed outright disapproval about what she knew I did, but I’d always known it troubled her. But I’d never lied to her, never gave her false hope that I would change. This life was in my blood.

All those years ago I’d had a hard time believing her when she’d said she loved me. I finally did, though, and with that love had come the hope that she would accept what I did, what I was, that she’d know I wasn’t like her father.

And that she’d still love me anyway.

For a while, I’d thought she had. Another thing I’d been wrong about. She might have loved me, might have accepted my life, but neither had been enough to make her stay. Nothing would have, and the years hadn’t changed that.

“Vincent?”

Her voice broke through my thoughts, and I looked at her, grunted a low, “What?”

“Can we stop at my place?” she whispered.

“Why?” I asked. It had taken a moment for me to process her question and respond, but now, I was deeply curious.

“There’s something I don’t want to leave,” she said.

Her answer was far too mysterious for my liking, but she sounded sincere. The smart thing would have been to keep going, but I’d never been smart about Giovanna, and that wouldn’t change now.

Before coming here, I’d memorized the main roads, so I found my way to Giovanna’s apartment with ease. As we walked into the building, I kept my thoughts to myself but didn’t try to hide the scowl on my face. Her working in that fucking bar had been bad enough, but when I saw this place again, it renewed the anger I had only momentarily quelled.

I looked at her, ready to tell her exactly what I was thinking, but when I saw her flat expression, I held my tongue. That she’d lived here angered me, but that was over now.

I was taking her back to where she belonged.

Besides, an argument would have been pointless. She wouldn’t listen, and I’d just end up frustrated. I’d tell her this place was one she shouldn’t be at, and she’d scowl back, tell me I didn’t respect her and thought of her as pampered.

Which wasn’t entirely untrue. I did respect her, but I knew she’d suffered no hardship, at least not of the material variety. Santo had never let his girls go hungry, go without any material thing at all. They’d always gotten the best of the best. Giovanna had known nothing else.

One look around, and I could see that had changed over the years. To her credit, she was still standing. A spark of pride flared in my chest.