Page 47 of The Viper's Wife

Stefano jogs back to me.

“I have a very special task for you,” I say, enjoying the sight of him squirm—nothing like his stoic sister. “But first, a question: How’s your relationship with your sister?”

Stefano meets my eye deliberately. “We’re thick as thieves. We’ve got our differences, but we know family always comes first.”

A canned response if I’ve ever heard one.

I nod, fiddling with the tip of my knife. “That’s good to hear, Stefano. Tell me, what are her hobbies?”

“Her hobbies, boss?”

“Yeah. Her hobbies, interests, favorite wine?”

For a moment, I can almost spot the panic behind his eyes.

“She works a lot, boss. I think she doesn’t have much time for hobbies. She mostly comes home and goes straight to sleep.”

“Thick as thieves, huh?”

Stefano laughs awkwardly. “What can I say? She’s an easy-going woman.”

I almost laugh with him. Valeria is anything but easy-going.

“What about her favorite food?” I point my knife at his skull. “I’m starting to think there’s just dust bunnies up there.”

His face goes a shade paler with each passing second. A vein sticks out in his forehead. “BLTs,” he finally blurts. “Nonna would make them for us when we were kids. She loved them.”

I make a noncommittal sound. He’s clearly a dead end. So desperate to be a part of the Family, but can’t even pay the slightest attention to his own blood relatives.

“Alright. Let’s do something a little different with the boxes.” I point to a spot in front of the truck. “Leave them there.”

Stefano does as he’s told, though he does a shitty job at hiding his curiosity. He brings a box from the warehouse and sets it on the ground in front of me.

I squat in front of the box, cut it open with my knife, and dig through the phones until I get to the drugs. I set thepacket to the side and gesture to Stefano. “Keep them coming.”

Understanding dawns on his face. We’re doing something that’s going to get him into trouble. I wait on my heels, looking to see if he’ll grow a spine. He pinches his lips together and obediently heads toward the warehouse.

We fall into a steady rhythm—Stefano brings me the boxes, I slice them open, pull out the drugs, loosely fold the top back over, and set the boxes in the shipping truck. We work for hours until early morning sunlight pours over us, grey and weak. I wonder if Valeria’s awake already, getting ready for work. I wonder if she’s sore from yesterday. If she’s wearing our ring.

“That’s the last of them,” Stefano announces.

“Good,” I say. “Now you’re going to help me with this part.”

I stab into the packet with my knife and saw an ‘X’ on the top and bottom sides until pure cocaine spills out onto the concrete.

Ignoring Stefano’s strangled sound, I take the package, walk to the shoreline, and hurl it as far as I can into the black waters of Lake Michigan.

When I face Stefano, he swallows, his Adam’s apple bobbing. “Uh, boss, I don’t think…”

“That’s right. You don’t. Hurry up, we need to be done soon.”

Together, we work to slice into all the packages and throw them into the lake, where they sink beneath the waters.

When we’re done, Stefano is sweating, and I don’t think it’s just from the honest work.

“You got the keys to the truck?”

“Yeah.” He pulls them out, probably dying to hand them off to me.