Unraveled (Guzzi Duet Book 1)(26)

There was something about the choker—and the way he thought it might look on a delicate throat—that made him purchase the item without even hesitating.

“A woman, then,” Chris assumed as he glanced down at the choker.

Gian quickly snapped the case shut. “A woman.”

“You don’t usually give gifts to women.”

He didn’t.

It wasn’t appropriate, really.

“She’s worth the step out from my usual,” Gian replied vaguely. He handed the case over, and rattled off Cara’s address. “Redhead, tall, beautiful. You won’t miss her, and you might even recognize her. You’re not to leave until this is in her hands, and you’re not to allow her to refuse it. Understood?”

Chris nodded. “Got it.”

“Tell her to text me if she wants someone to argue with about it,” Gian added with a chuckle.

He’d plugged his number into Cara’s phone the weekend before, and occasionally sent her messages throughout the week, but no actual phone call. He wondered how she would react to the gift, but he would have to settle with the aftermath.

“Go,” Gian ordered, pointing in the direction Chris had come.

“Later, boss.”

Gian didn’t correct Chris’s slip that time, but only because the steps had mostly cleared of people. No one was close enough to hear the man’s casual use of a title that technically didn’t belong to Gian.

Not wanting to be late for Mass, Gian headed inside the church, taking the steps two at a time. He’d missed it last weekend, and two in a row would never be overlooked by his devout Catholic mother.

Not to mention, Gian wanted to be seen.

Especially by the men of la famiglia.

With so many younger Capos and foot soldiers upset by the change in power—a change that Edmond had made without their input—Gian wanted to bring some sense of peace. Before any fighting within the ranks could begin, he wanted to stop it. He hoped, though he didn’t know how well it would work, that his presence alongside the new boss might keep those men closer to his own age under control of sorts.

Even if Gian didn’t entirely trust the new boss.

Gian found his usual seat in the third pew from the front of the church. He rested into the pew beside his younger brother. Domenic—though Dom to his family and friends—passed Gian a curious look.

“What?” he asked.

“You’re having Chris run gifts around for you now?”

Gian stiffened a bit in the pew. “Saw that, did you?”

“A few people did. You know, they’re talking too, right? You disappeared last weekend, but someone knew where you went, and didn’t keep it quiet. Add the gift thing to it, and the gossip will fly, Gian. You’re not the kind to stir the pot. So, Cara Rossi, is it?”

Fuck nosy people.

And those that couldn’t keep their mouths shut.

“Mind your business,” Gian told his brother.

Dom rolled his eyes upward. “Not on this, man.”

“There’s nothing to talk about, so leave it. What I do privately is my own concern, and not for you or anyone else to worry about.”

“But you took her away for a weekend.”

“So?”

“And you bought her a gift—I saw it, too, it’s not a little trinket, Gian,” his brother added quieter.

“Again, so?” Gian asked, his irritation rising.

“According to Dad, it’s one thing for you to hook-up with somebody and go your way. It’s quite another for you to be … getting cozy. It makes a statement that you might not want, or the family, if you get what I mean.”

“And Dad should mind his own business, too,” Gian said.

“Ma—”

“You know, out of everyone, I bet she’ll be the least likely to open her mouth and bitch about all of this. And do you know why? Because she knows I haven’t been happy on that side of my life in a long fucking time. You know that, too, Dom.”

Dom met Gian’s gaze, nodding once. “Yeah, I do know.”

“Then fuck off about it.”

“I don’t give a shit how it makes us look, as far as that goes,” Dom said, “but I worry about you, man. And how it might make a target out of you, given some of the rumblings and the recent changes.”

With that statement made, Dom nodded toward the new boss, an aisle over and two pews ahead of theirs. As he looked at the boss, Gian wondered how many eyes were watching him and his brother in that moment.

“Might he make a show out of you, to control those who favor you?” Dom asked.

“He’s got bigger worries,” Gian replied, “like keeping his older sheep happy and compliant. He’s not even looking at the younger men right now.”

Dom scoffed. “All he’s done is piss off a lot of made men.”

Yeah, that too.

Still …

“Don’t worry about me, or this, or my business, all right?”

Dom shrugged. “You say that like it’s easy, Gian. Grandpapa is dead—nobody’s looking out for you like he would have done, so I’m trying to. That’s all.”

“You’re not a made man yet, Dom. There isn’t a whole lot of looking out you can do at the moment.”