Mafiosa (Blood for Blood #3)(30)

‘Sophie,’ interrupted Comisky, picking up the thread and being a lot more gruff about it than Medina was, ‘let’s speak plainly. We want to know if you’re hiding him.’

Where were the words? Why weren’t they coming out? They were all jammed in a revolving door, struggling, pushing and prodding. I opened my mouth, all the dread piling on my tongue, gathering and pooling, until eventually, a sound sprang from me.

And that sound was laughter.

Manic, terrified laughter.

‘Detectives,’ I half-choked out. I patted my jean pockets for good measure, pretending to check if he was inside them. ‘Where the hell would I be hiding him?’

‘You tell us,’ said Comisky. ‘That’s why we’re here.’

I flopped into the chair, my head lolling backwards until all I could see were the flecks of grey on the ceiling. ‘Oh my God,’ I muttered. ‘Oh my God.’

So the blood war raged on, and now my father was part of it too, standing across a trench of bloody history and relentless vendettas, right opposite me.





CHAPTER FOURTEEN


BLACK FRIDAY




The news of my father’s escape greeted me again when I got home that afternoon. It had filtered out of the cracks of Chicago PD and crept all the way up to Evelina. Now it was wafting through the Falcone mansion like a bad smell.

Vince Marino walked free.

And what exactly did Sophie Marino know about it?

‘Nothing,’ I protested, over and over again. ‘I don’t know anything about it.’

It tipped the scales of my living conditions further from ‘free will’ towards ‘captivity’. With my loyalty balanced so precariously between two Mafia families, and my father running around between them, Saturday was now going to be more important than ever. Either Libero Marino was dead, or I was.

I kept my head down. I avoided Luca, and spent my evenings in the barn with Nic, shooting at everything I could pin a target to.

I was good. I was ready.

Inside, I was terrified.

By the time Friday rolled around, it felt like a family of pirates had taken up residence in my stomach and were stabbing me from the inside out.

‘Why are you so anxious today? It’s the weekend.’ Millie was appraising me. It was never a good thing when Millie appraised me. It made it infinitely more difficult to hide things from her.

‘I don’t know,’ I said, rubbing the dull ache in my stomach. ‘I don’t feel well.’

She hmm’ed under her breath. ‘No, that’s definitely not it. You’re up to something. I can sense it.’

I slammed my locker shut. My bag felt heavier than usual, like it was trying to drag me into the ground. All this homework to do, and a man to kill, in one weekend.

‘What was that?’ Millie pressed. ‘What was that thought that just invaded your face?’

‘I’m just thinking about my dad, that’s all.’ Not totally untrue, but it was certainly more lie than honesty.

‘Have they found him?’ she asked.

I shook my head. ‘I’m trying not to think about where he could be.’

‘What about that address he gave you at the funeral?’ Millie said. Ever since I had told her about the address, she had become fixated on it. She couldn’t believe I had thrown it away – that I had destroyed a potential lifeline. Even now, after everything, she was still so trusting of a man neither of us really knew.

‘No,’ I said firmly. ‘My dad wouldn’t escape from prison just to run away to some other state. He’s with the Marinos. I can feel it.’

‘Ugh,’ Millie groaned. ‘Why?’

Because of the blood war, I screamed inside my head. Because he wants to fight alongside his family. ‘Who knows?’ I said.

She shook her head, a sigh filtering through her words. ‘What a mess.’

‘I’m just trying not to think about it. Otherwise it’s going to drive me mad.’

‘Just stick with me.’ She touched her head to mine. ‘I’ll cheer you up this weekend. Do you want to see a movie tomorrow night? I can ditch Cris. I’m definitely the alpha in the relationship, so he’ll deal with it.’

‘How charming.’ Outside, the air was crisp and cold. I pulled my coat tighter around me, and tried to ignore the shiver crawling up my spine. ‘But I can’t tomorrow night. I have plans.’

‘What plans?’

‘Um.’ If I waited even half a beat longer, I’d be rumbled, so I said the first and only thing that sprang into my mind. ‘We’re having a movie night.’

‘A movie night.’ Millie stopped walking. ‘Who exactly is having a movie night?’

‘All of the Falcones.’ I was really trying to sound nonchalant but the idea was ridiculous.

‘Right …’ she said, conveying her disbelief in a sideways frown. ‘And what movie is it?’

Think of a movie. Think of any movie. Pull this lie back from the brink of ludicrousness. ‘Goodfellas,’ I said. ‘We’re watching Goodfellas.’

Oh, take a bow.

I tried not to flinch.

Millie arched an eyebrow. ‘You mean to say a family of hot-tempered Mafia people are all cosying up with each other on a Saturday night to sit down and watch a movie about a family of hot-tempered Mafia people … ? Is that really what you’re telling me?’