Page 60 of Humility

“Goodnight, Enzo.”

“Goodnight, Little Mess,” I teased and closed the door as she whispered, “Jerk.” I waited until the door clicked with the lock before jogging down the steps to my SUV. Clean-up duty sucked—worst part of the job. Dario seemed completely comfortable with the blood and gore, but I hadn’t grown up like Dario and Angelo. My hands hadn’t gotten dirty until I became an official member of Angelo’s group.

The shock of seeing someone shot in the head for the first time was something I would never forget. Now, it didn’t faze me, but I tried to hang on to that first experience for fear of turning into a heartless monster. Angelo toed the edge of that line. I could see the dead stare in his eyes, and I never wanted to fall that far.

* * *

Three hours later, I pulled into the house driveway. Dario hadn’t said two words the entire drive. He was a broody fucker at the best of times, let alone after burying a man alive. I grabbed his arm before he could get out of the car, and the glare I got would stop another man’s heart.

“If you’re about to ask me to share my feelings, I’ll punch you to make myself feel better.”

“Um…no, but good to know.” I let go of his bicep before he decided to do it anyway.

“What do you want to talk about? I could feel you wanting to talk all the way home, fucking annoying energy you give off when you’re nervous.”

“Jesus, are you clairvoyant now?”

He grabbed his pack of smokes and put the window down. “No, and just get on with it.”

“Fine. Are you really okay with what we did last night?”

“Does my fucking face look like I was okay with it? Of course not.” He lit up and blew the long stream of smoke out the window. “If you want to try and talk him out of it again, be my guest, but it will be your body I bury next.”

“Why don’t we just tell him no.” Dario snorted. “I’m serious. She is sweet, and she trusts me, and here I am sneaking into her room at night and licking her kitty.”

“You didn’t just say that?”

“Fuck off, you know what I mean. Angelo will bump it up, and I don’t know if I can fuck her like that. It’s wrong. I mean, it’s fucking hot…no, no, it’s wrong.”

“Who exactly are you trying to convince here?”

I glared at him, not that he cared. “I’m not sure why I bother trying to talk to you.”

“Honestly, I don’t know why either.” He took another pull on the smoke, pinched the end like it wasn’t a little flame, and put it back in the pack. “Look, let me ask you this. What do you think will happen if we both march inside and tell Angelo that we don’t want to go along with his plan?” He leaned against the door and stared at me. Even though the car was dark, I could feel his gaze on my face.

“I was hoping we’d convince him not to do it.”

“Sure, and Lucifer is a saint,” Dario said.

“I’m serious.”

“So am I, Enzo. Let me try to make this clear. You have choices here, but two of them will end very badly. The first choice is to go in there and try to talk Angelo out of whatever he has planned for Jasmine, and Angelo tells you to fuck off. If you pursue it, he will order me to kill you. I like you, and I’ll give you a head start, but I will do what he says.”

I swallowed at the hard edge of his tone.

“Your second option is to tell Jasmine who you are and what is happening and maybe even convince her to run off with you. Angelo will use every ounce of his ability and power to track you down and then order me to kill you, most likely in front of Jasmine, to make a point.”

That one was worse than the first, and I could picture Jasmine screaming as I bled out on the floor. Not good.

“Third choice is that you can out him to the Falcone family, but the first thing Angelo will do is tell Don Falcone you have his daughter…I’m sure you can already picture how well that will go over considering your family status.”

He paused and just stared at me. “I’m sensing you want me to say something,” I said.

“Very observant. What is your last option,” Dario asked.

“To go along with what he wants,” I sighed.

“Great. Tell me why.”