Page 314 of Marcello

Remember how you were afraid I was going to die if I stayed in my job?

Yeah, well, it looks like you were right, so I thought I’d give you one last call to say goodbye.

Why the fuck would I put her through that?

But if I died without hearing her voice again… it was fuckin’ awful to think about.

After stewing in my own thoughts for a while, I noticed Vincenzo wasn’t looking so good. His face was pale, and he looked like he’d eaten something that was trying to come up.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“Nothing.”

Not a big talker, Vincenzo.

“Something’s wrong. What’s going on?”

He was quiet for a moment before finally saying, “I’m a little claustrophobic.”

“…oh.”

Not great if you were about to spend hours underground in a bunch of cramped, dark tunnels.

I tried to be helpful. “I’m sure if you tell the bosses, they’ll let you sit this one out.”

“Fuck that.”

“But – ”

“They killed our friends, man – and they almost killed the boss’s wife and baby. I’m going.”

“Vincenzo – ”

“I’ll deal with it. Just… don’t tell anybody else, okay?”

“I won’t.” I put a hand on his shoulder. “If it starts getting rough down there, let me know. Maybe I can help.”

I didn’t have any idea what the fuck I could do to help him, and I doubted Vincenzo did either, but he appeared to appreciate the sentiment.

“…okay,” he agreed.

Transporting everything back to the tunnels was a pain in the ass. We had to flip down the backseat of our Mercedes to cram the ladder in, and it still hung six feet out of the trunk.

We got back to the tunnels at half past two. Once we parked, it was a little nerve-wracking carrying everything inside through the emergency exit. I kept expecting a bunch of Camorra thugs to jump us in the alleyway. Once the door was closed and locked, I felt a whole lot better.

When we reached the room where the bosses and the old guy were, there were twenty foot soldiers I’d never seen before. Not only that, Niccolo and Massimo were having a fight with Lucia. She and her grandmother’s men must’ve shown up while Vincenzo and I were gone.

“Babe – ” Massimo started.

“Don’t ‘babe’ me,” Lucia said angrily. “What was the fucking point of my coming to Naples if you’re just going to make me sit around with my thumb up my ass?”

Niccolo glared at her. “Do whatever the hell you want with your thumb, but you’re not coming with us.”

“I’m way smaller than he is!” Lucia said as she pointed at Massimo. “I can fit inside a tunnel better than any of you assholes!”

“True,” the old Munaciello guy called out from across the room.

“You’re not helping!” Niccolo yelled at him.