Page 73 of Marcello

I noticed that the pizzeria did a lot of delivery business, but no customers came in to eat. Almost like people in the neighborhood knew who was inside, and didn’t want to come in while they were around.

As Cesare and the others laughed and joked, I heard a lot of horrifying stories. Most of them ended with somebody dead – rival Camorra clan members, junkies, prostitutes, snitches – which Cesare and his thugs thought was hilarious.

Apparently, killing a man meant I was trustworthy enough to hear things that could have put them behind bars for life.

I forced myself to smile and play along, though inside I was slowly dying.

After it got dark outside, Cesare stood up and motioned to me. “Alright, you got a big day tomorrow. Let’s go.”

I stood up tipsily and nearly stumbled. The entire table laughed at me.

“Maybe you should call him ‘Nun Regge ’o Vino,’” Cicciobello joked.

Basically, Lightweight.

“Yeah, yeah,” Cesare said dismissively. “You fuckers stay out of trouble – unless it makes me a lot of money.”

“You got it, boss,” Ciro said.

I said goodbye, then followed Cesare out into the parking lot.

“Are you okay to drive?” I asked.

He turned around and frowned at me in disbelief. “What?!”

“I mean, I could take an Uber if you shouldn’t drive – ”

“Stop being a pussy and get in,” he barked.

I got in…

And my sphincter clenched tight the entire trip as he weaved in and out of traffic at breakneck speeds.

Cesare told me to meet Lametta tomorrow at the first spot on the route. He would set me up with everything I needed.

“Do I need a gun?” I asked.

“Not a bad idea. I don’t have a spare on me, so go back and get the one you hid.”

“What about the cops?”

Cesare grinned. “I was just saying that shit to fuck with Lametta. He’s way too pissy about his piece. The cops won’t be hanging around – you did them a fuckin’ favor by offing that guy.”

I wasn’t so sure, but I decided not to push back. “What about bullets? I used all the ones I had.”

Cesare pointed at the glove compartment. “He had a .38, so grab some out of there.”

I opened the compartment to find multiple boxes of various sizes – 9 millimeter, .38, .44.

I took six of the .38s.

“Take a dozen just in case,” Cesare ordered. “Where should I drop you?”

I gave him directions to Federica’s building. Five minutes later, we roared up in front of it.

Once he parked the car, Cesare pulled out a wad of cash and counted off 10 hundreds. “Pay’s a thousand a week. Here’s an advance.”

A thousand was a lot compared with my previous jobs…