Page 48 of Mafioso's Muse

‘You fellas hanging about to chat with the police?’ Finn asked the other men.

They exchanged conflicted looks, then began backing away. Once they were a safe distance from the mafiosos, they turned and jogged off down the alleyway.

Vaughn checked the shot man’s pulse a final time while Finn went over to help get Antonio on his feet. Unfortunately, there was no miraculous change from his previous dead status. Vaughn went to take hold of Antonio’s other arm. They needed to get him to the car—quickly. They practically carried him along the alleyway.

When the car came into view, Finn ran ahead to open the back door before jumping into the driver’s seat and starting the engine. Vaughn pushed Antonio into the back seat, blood smearing the upholstery as he did so.

‘Where to?’ Finn asked as Vaughn climbed in after his brother. The car began reversing up the alleyway before his door was closed.

‘My apartment.’ Vaughn checked Antonio for stab wounds or broken bones. He had a gash on his head and possibly a broken rib or two judging by the bruising that was already flowering.

‘I’m fine,’ Antonio said, sounding more humiliated than hurt.

Vaughn sat back in his seat, the weight of what had just transpired settling on him. He retrieved his phone from his pocket, getting blood all over the screen as he dialled his father.

‘Pronto,’ came Salvatore’s voice through the line.

Vaughn wiped his free hand on his trousers. ‘Tony took a beating. He’s all right, but I need help.’

There was a string of curses on the other end of the line before his father said, ‘What do you need?’

‘A clean-up. I’ll send you the address. I don’t know what the security situation is. I didn’t have the luxury of hanging around to find out.’

His father was silent a moment. ‘What happened?’

‘Gambling dispute.’ Vaughn lowered his voice. ‘One dead. Three witnesses.’

Salvatore swore so loud into the phone that even Antonio flinched. ‘I’ll take care of it. Get him somewhere safe and wait for my call.’

The line went dead.

Finn’s hands worked the steering wheel as he glanced at the rear-view mirror.

‘He’s taking care of it,’ Vaughn assured him while sending the address to his father.

Antonio winced as he tried to sit up. ‘I’m sorry?—’

‘Not now.’ Vaughn grabbed a bottle of water from the car fridge and handed it to his brother.

‘I can get the money?—’

‘It’s really not about the fucking money anymore.’ Vaughn gave him a hard stare. ‘Is it?’

Finn reached into the glove box and pulled out a gym towel, tossing it back to him. Vaughn wiped his hands and face, then dropped it onto the floor.

‘I’ll fix this,’ Antonio said.

‘Oh, you’ve done plenty.’ He was exhausting. ‘Now I need you to shut your mouth and let me handle this.’

His brother leaned his head on the headrest, eyes closing.

Vaughn stared out the window, his thoughts racing. If Antonio had called him thirty minutes earlier, he would have been forced to call Willow an Uber and leave her on the side of the road somewhere. The alternative was that his brother would have likely been beaten to death before he got there. It was an inconvenient time to be thinking about Willow, but she had a way of pushing into his thoughts at the most random of moments. The events of that evening were further confirmation that segmenting his life could never work. It was family first, and everything and everyone else after that.

Willow Hayes deserved to be someone’s first priority—100 percent of the time.

Unlocking his phone, Vaughn dialled the family’s doctor, Andrew. He understood their definition of doctor–patient confidentiality and was paid well for the additional privacy.

‘Hello?’ Andrew said, picking up on the first ring—something else he was compensated for.