"The guests will be coming by to get on the boats soon."

I turned to see the man approaching me, another of Greco's employees.

"A few of us will be getting on a boat to take us back, some will stay to help them over. What group are you part of?"

I didn’t think he knew who I was, not that he would care. He did whatever work he was told to and got paid. Getting overly curious when working for a mafia boss was a quick way to get yourself fired, and not in a pretty way.

I thought about the question seriously. I wasn’t quite healed from my injuries, but they were low key enough for me to ignore them. Still, I wasn’t technically going there as part of security, he had enough capable people even though I was way better. I didn’t have to go so soon, but it was still early evening, people wouldn’t come to cross until dusk fell. So, I would be stuck walking around, the only reason I was even here was so I could look over the preparations, a force of habit.

"Nah, I'm good. I'll make it back after the guests have crossed over."

He didn’t question it, just shrugged and turned away. "Suit yourself."

I was left on my own again. Because I had the time to spare, I walked around a bit but staying around the docks. When I looked out over the water, I could see the lump of land that was Greco's own private world. It didn’t look like much from a distance, but that lump could easily house hundreds of people, maybe around five hundred if they were really getting crowded. I couldn’t comprehend the kind of money a person would have to have to purchase it.

I stopped a distance away from the boats, on a walkway built along the water line, a railing providing security so people wouldn’t fall off unless they jumped over it. I was close enough I could see when guests began to arrive, a few might even get close to me, but I didn’t want to be around the men there. The less they paid attention to me, the better.

Out of seemingly nowhere, I had a bad feeling about the whole thing. Greco didn’t want me around his family, not really. The few times he'd had to introduce me had been out of necessity, and even then, it was to the older males of the family, or the women already part of the family business. But I'd been to the wedding, and now he was inviting me to celebrate the conception of his first grandchild. And especially after me asking about a woman with eyes like his, he'd practically warned me off. But then he all but commanded me to attend.

I didn’t understand what was going on. I didn’t like it, either.

I looked around once I heard the cars and chatter from guests and staff, that were to be sent out separately. There would be about as many people as before. I didn’t bother looking at the guest list this time, in a few hours, hopefully, it wouldn’t even be my problem anymore. I waited for the first surge of arrivals to get on the first boats and get on their way before slowly making my way down.

Instead of waiting for all of them to go and following with the rest of Greco's men, I could go with the guests, or the catering staff, to avoid more contact with them. I rubbed at the rough beard on my chin and jaw. I'd have to change my appearance once I left again. Facial hair was a good cover, but I couldn’t use it for a while. I wandered slowly with the group going on the next boat.

A hand patting my shoulder made me stop and turn, and I felt my eyes widen.

She was dressed in the same suit as the rest of the catering staff, white shirt, black slacks and matching vest and shoes. Her hair was tied in a low ponytail, a baseball hat pulled over her head, but when she looked up I had a clear view of her eyes. I glanced around, then grabbed her elbow and pulled her a distance away from everybody else.

"Elda?" She didn’t have any make-up on, and it made quite a difference, but it would be hard to mistake her eyes. "What the hell are you doing here?"

I'd wanted to see her for a while, I'd even dreamed of it when I was asleep and couldn’t stop myself from daydreaming, it took me a moment to grasp she was standing right in front of me, even with my hand still holding her arm. She didn’t move or pull away or offer any kind of refusal that meant I could have mistaken her for someone else.

She opened her mouth, then thought better of it and glanced around. She placed her hand on top of mine, pulling it from her arm and I did so reluctantly, as she sidled her body closer to mine.

"I need to talk to you."

"I'd like that," I said honestly. I'd… missed her. "But why are you here? And why are you dressed like that?"

I knew it was the worst place to stop and have a chat, but I didn’t want to let her go again.

"I will explain that later, maybe. Just not here. I must talk to you. Please, meet me in the bathroom?"

And just like that, before even waiting for me to agree, she turned away and went to the truck that belonged to the catering service. She chatted with someone pulling boxes out of the back and after a short talk, where nods and head shakes were exchanged, she changed course and headed for the closest building. There were offices in there, for what I didn’t particularly care, and bathrooms.

I watched her walk off before shaking myself out of my stupor. I glanced around, doing my best to act casually. No one was really looking at me, but I didn’t move until she was out of sight and after counting to ten. I moved with long, purposeful strides, not fast enough to call attention to myself, but I couldn’t just stroll casually either.

The inside of the building was mostly empty. Since this specific dock was used to access Greco's island, only he and his employees had access to it. Most of them were currently busy, so I was confident I wouldn’t run into anyone. The bathroom was just around a corner. It was the only bathroom, a co-ed one, and I headed right in, closing the door behind me.

Elda stood there, her back to the counter, cap off, waiting for me with her arms folded under her breasts. When she saw me, she moved so she was standing upright, arms dropping to her sides. I stepped slowly closer, enough that if I reached my arms out I could just brush my fingertips on her face, and I stopped there.

Why was she here? I'd felt excited when I saw her, but… it hadn't been that long, but it could not be a coincidence she was here, could it? I didn’t flatter myself thinking she came here for me. It must be whatever she wanted from Greco that she hadn't gotten before.

Technically, I wouldn’t be working for the man after tonight, but I still was. I didn't think I'd do anything to her, though. But that didn’t mean the rest of Greco's men would feel quite as I did.

"You shouldn’t have come back here, Elda."

She smiled. "Why do you say that? Didn’t you miss me?"

I pursed my lips. "I did, actually. But it's dangerous, especially tonight."

Tonight's security wasn’t quite as slack as it was before, not that it had been low quality, to begin with. But Greco was pulling out all the stops, protecting the next generation of his blood. If she went and tried something stupid, she wouldn’t make it out, not alive.

"Don’t worry, Luke," she lost the teasing look. "I didn’t come here for your boss. I came here for you."

… What?

"I have something for you, some information. I want you to listen to me, you don’t have to believe me, but just listen and judge for yourself. I wouldn't come here, risk this, over something trivial."

My expression settled into something grim as I gave a sharp nod. I waited to hear what she had to say.