Six Months Contract With The Mafia God

”No.”

”Are you going to tell him?”

”Not yet.”

Eve was quiet for a long moment. When she spoke, her voice was very soft.

”Why did he do it?”

”I don’t know. I’m going to ask him.”

”When?”

”When she’s stable. Not before.” He rubbed his face with one hand. ”If I go to him now, he’ll tell me whatever he needs me to hear. I want to go in with the facts.”

Eve nodded slowly. She looked at his hand where it rested on the railing, at the white edges of his knuckles. He was holding on very tightly.

”Does anyone else know?” she asked. ”That it’s him?”

”Marco. Armani. Now you.”

”And Mike?”

”Mike knows I’m helping Dante. He built a false trail for me this morning, so that Dante’s man would stop looking.” Dimitri’s mouth twisted. ”He asked if you knew. I told him I’d tell you tonight.”

”So Mike knew before I did.”

”Yes.”

”Everyone knew before I did.”

”Eve....”

”I’m not angry about the secret,” Eve said. She turned to face him fully. ”I understand why you didn’t tell me at dawn. I understand that you were afraid I would worry, or that I would ask you not to do it. But I don’t want to find out last again. I don’t want to be the person you protect by keeping her in the dark. Do you understand?”

”I do.”

”Say it.”

”I won’t do it again,” Dimitri said.

She searched his face. He held her gaze and didn’t flinch.

”Good,” she said.

...

They went inside. Juliet had left the lamps on in the living room and a pot of tea on the low table, and Eve poured two cups without asking. Dimitri sat across from her on the couch. She could see that he wanted to say more and didn’t know where to begin.

”Tell me everything,” she said. ”All of it. Start with what Dante offered.”

He told her.

It took half an hour. He did not leave things out. He told her about the question he’d asked and what Dante had answered, about the way Dante had gone quiet before he said the price. When he got to the part about The Covenant, Eve set her cup down.

”He offered to sell them to you.”

”Everything he knows. Structure, handlers, how the money moves.”

”Do you believe him?”

”I believe he means it,” Dimitri said. ”I don’t believe he’s the only one deciding. Their man in Rome could be a plant. I’ll test him before I trust anything.”

”How?”

”I’ll ask him something I already know.”

”And if it’s a trap?”

”Then it’s a trap I’ll see coming.” He looked at her. ”That is the point of testing.”

Eve picked up the tea again and held it without drinking. She thought about the man on the other end of that phone, the one who had once made her afraid to walk into her own office. She thought about him offering up the thing that kept him alive.

”I don’t like it,” she said.

”I know.”

”I don’t like him.”

”Neither do I.”

”But I understand why you’re doing it,” Eve said. She said it carefully. She wasn’t sure until the words left her mouth that she meant them. ”She’s a girl who was sick for eight years and never knew. She didn’t choose any of this. If it were me in that house—”

”It wouldn’t be.”

”If it were, I’d want someone to help.”

Dimitri said nothing. He looked at her for a long time, and she saw something move behind his eyes that she couldn’t name.

”There’s something else,” she said.

”What?”

”Your father.”

His face closed. Not much, only a fraction, but she saw it.

”I know,” he said.

”You said you’d confront him when she’s stable. Are you going to do it alone?”

”Yes.”

”Dimitri.”

”He won’t say anything in front of anyone else. It has to be me.”

”Then I’ll be here when you come back,” Eve said. ”But I won’t be kept out of what happens after. Whatever he says, whatever you decide, you tell me. The same night. I mean it.”

”The same night,” Dimitri said.

”Promise me.”

”I promise.”

She nodded. She felt something loosen in her chest, a knot she hadn’t known was there. She set the cup down and slid across the couch until her shoulder pressed against his. He put an arm around her without a word.

They sat that way for a while, saying nothing. The tea went cold. The city murmured beyond the glass.

”Cara mia,” he said finally.

”Hm?”

”I should have told you this morning.”

”Yes,” Eve said. ”You should have.”

”I’m sorry.”

”I know.” She turned her face into his shoulder. ”I forgive you. Don’t make a habit of it.”

His arm tightened around her.

...

Eve called Mike while Dimitri went to the kitchen to refill the teapot.

She stood by the terrace door with the phone against her ear. It was four in the afternoon in New York. He picked up on the first ring.

”Hey,” Mike said carefully. ”How are you?”

”You knew.”

A pause. ”He told you.”

”Tonight. You’ve known since this morning.” Eve kept her voice low. ”You called me twice today and said nothing.”

”He asked me to let him tell you himself. I said I’d give him until tonight.” Mike let out a breath. ”I wanted to tell you, Eve.”

”I know you did.”

”Are you angry?”

”I was.” She leaned her forehead against the cool glass. ”I’m not now. I understand it. But you don’t keep things from me, Mike. Not you. Not ever.”

”Okay.”

”Promise me.”

”I promise.” His voice softened. ”Are you all right? Really?”

”I think so.” She closed her eyes. ”I’m sitting in a house in Rome, drinking tea, and hoping Dante Romano’s girlfriend doesn’t die. I never thought I’d say that sentence.”

”I built a fake company for him this morning. I’ve had better days too.”

Eve laughed, short and surprised, and wiped her eye with the back of her hand.

”How is he?” Mike asked. ”Dimitri.”

”Not sleeping. Pretending he’s fine.”

”That’s what he does.”

”I know.” She looked back through the glass. Dimitri stood at the table, pouring tea into a cup he wasn’t going to drink. ”I’ll take care of him.”

”I know you will. Call me when it’s over.”

”I will.”

She ended the call and went back inside.