Page 56 of Enduring Caine

“It’s unlikely, but stranger things have happened. The officer said that boy steals a car at least once every couple of weeks, but this was his first collision. It’s such a small town, the officer’s heading to the kid’s house to speak with his mother instead of pursuing him.” Antonio leaned in to kiss my temple and whispered, “Plus, I think Leo’s angry you’re the only one who acted.”

“This isn’t going to make things easier for me, is it?”

“No, bella. Not in the slightest.”

Chapter 24

Antonio

“Thatgirlfriendofyours—”Leonardo snarled at me.

Giovanni knocked on his desk. “Saved my son’s life.”

Leo’s mouth opened to protest but cut off when Gio glowered at him.

We were in the game room, Cristian and I sitting in the armchairs, while Giovanni sat behind an ornate desk normally used for cards. He riffled through papers, occasionally looking to his laptop. Leo stalked back and forth, eventually stopping by the carom table to roll a yellow cue ball from cushion to cushion.

Cristian said, “The boy was only—”

“Shh,” said Giovanni, returning focus to his work. He had a private office upstairs, but Leo was too antsy to move discussions to the second floor. He wanted as many escape routes as possible.

So much had changed over the last nine years. Zio Gio was the aggressor in most things back then, from protection and extortion to smuggling, but I couldn’t remember him ever sitting at a computer or in front of his files, checking on someone before deciding how to act. In this case, both the police officer and the young boy. Where he got his information, I’d never known, but a person didn’t build his kind of wealth without a vast network of whisperers.

Cristian stood and crossed to the shelf where they kept the other two carom balls and pins, shooing Leonardo away. “Bouncing that thing is making me more anxious.”

“We should have gone after him,” muttered Leo.

It was a kid. I kept my mouth shut. Giovanni would finish his research soon enough. Arguing with either him or Leonardo would bring more attention to Samantha than I wanted. Sitting down in broad daylight with Elliot was a stupid risk. What if someone recognized that he’d been lingering around the bakery twice every day? Gio could have had him followed. Perhaps all the way to TPC headquarters in Roma. Then what?

What had he said to her? Their conversation had lasted longer than mine with him, so it was not simply to ask if she was alright.

And then there was the sparkle in her eyes afterward. The joke about the bakery after tackling Cristian out of the way of the car. She didn’t seem hurt and was more excited than stunned despite the near miss.

Elliot had said something important to her. And I needed to know what it was.

Giovanni closed his laptop. “I’ve asked Henri to prepare a special dinner for Samantha in thanks.”

“What?” My head snapped toward him. That meant she was safe, unless my sudden reaction triggered questions from Leo, so I responded, “She likes all foods, especially Italian.”

Leo made a shot, hitting Cristian’s cue ball, bouncing off two cushions, and knocking over a white pin. He straightened, a smile finally crossing his face. “What about the boy?”

“Everything the officer said was true.” Giovanni stood and rounded his desk to sit next to me. “I have four stories backing him up.”

I ran a hand through my hair and clasped the back of my neck. Visiting this place was harder than I’d expected when Samantha and I discussed it at the airport, for more reasons than my past.

Cristian and Leo continued their game, marking points on a chalkboard on the wall.

Giovanni leaned toward me. “We’re safe, Antonio. No need to worry.”

The throbbing through my arm reminded me that our lives had been in more danger at home in sleepy little Brenton, Michigan than they were here. I let out a long sigh, curving in my injured shoulder. “It’s not that. It’s being separated from her. Three months apart, then two weeks together, being shot, now so close to her yet so far away.”

He smiled and pointed upward. “God is watching.”

“God was watching when that boy almost hit Cristian, too. But Samantha was the one who saved him.”

“We have a chapel downstairs,” he chuckled. “I can have your rings blessed.”

Cristian and Leo continued their game, Cristian’s numbers climbing faster.