“WHERE ARE YOU going?”
I try to blink away the brightness shining into the loft through the big window, but it’s a struggle as I wake up to find Reina standing in front of the bed, buttoning up one of my shirts. Her blonde hair has waves leftover from last night, and she looks like she’s getting ready to leave.
“I have to get back to my place so I can change clothes. I have a date,” Reina replies behind a smile. Even in my shirt, she’s truly stunning, but I’m fuming on the inside.
“A date?” I ask, even though I already know where this is going.
“Yes,” she answers as if nothing’s wrong with her going on a date with someone else after the night we had together.
“With?” I ask.
“Dante, of course.”
Heat begins to brew in my stomach and quickly climb up my body and into my limbs as I think about Dante being with Reina. I could snap right now, but I won’t go there. Not with Reina.
“Dante,” I state. “Now maybe I’m a little crazy, but perhaps you should remind me why you’d be going on a date with Dante after last night.”
“Why wouldn’t I be going on a date with Dante after last night? It seems to be that’s exactly what I should be doing.”
I sit up in bed and lean back on the headboard, spotting the bottle of Cristal from last night lying on the hardwood floor. I think to take a sip, but I know Reina and I emptied it. Damn it.
“Reina,” I say, trying to sound calm. “Do you remember what I was like when we were teenagers?”
Reina smiles and nods. “Of course I do.”
“Right. Then you know I don’t do well when it comes to sharing.”
“You’re not sharing me, Solomon,” Reina replies as she begins walking to my side of the bed and sits down next to me. “We discussed this, my love. I’m conning Dante. That’s all this date is—a con. We planned this a week ago, and I can’t cancel just like that, otherwise, he might know something’s up.”
“So you’re gonna keep seeing him? Sleeping with him?” I feel rage burning a hole in my stomach and takes everything to hold it in.
“I’m not sleeping with him!” Reina snaps, her brows curving into a deep furrow. “We’ve been seeing each other on and off for almost three months now, but we have never slept together. I don’t even let Dante drive me home. When we go on dates, we show up separately, and we leave the same way.”
“Really?”
“Like I said last night, I’m the best at this, Solomon. I’m good at reading people and seeing what makes them tick—what they want. When it comes to men like Dante, they enjoy the hunt. Women who give it up too quick get dropped in a hurry. Women like me, who make them wait and work for even the smallest taste of affection, we’re the ones these guys keep chasing. He likes chasing, and he thinks I like being chased. That’s how it has to stay, at least for today.”
“What’s after today?” I ask, honing in on that last part.
“After today, I think I’ll have all the info you’ll need to make a move on Dante,” Reina says, her face completely serious and focused. “Dante has something big coming up, something I think you could use to your advantage. But, there’s still some details I need—times and dates. I know where he’ll be, but I need to know when he’ll be there. Once I get that info, you use it to hit him in a way he’ll never recover from. If we do it right, he’ll be finished, and that means the entire family will be finished.”
“You seem awfully confident in that,” I say, holding back a smile.
It’s incredible to see Reina grown up and outsmarting men. Even after seven years, I feel a sense of pride, because she grew into this unstoppable force without any help from me, and now here she is, telling me what’s going to go down. It’s honestly the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen.
“I’m confident in it because I know it,” Reina replies, grinning. “Through my time with Dante, I’ve learned a lot about what’s going on in the Scarfo family. I know where their strengths and weaknesses are, and I know how fragile the leadership is at the top, which means the whole thing is fragile.”
“You have my attention,” I reply, adjusting in the bed to make myself more comfortable.
“The most feared man in the Scarfo family isn’t Angelo Scarfo anymore,” Reina says. “It’s Dante Rossi. The reason is because everyone knows he’s about to be the boss soon, and he’s the one who’s basically running the entire show now. Angelo Scarfo is seventy-one years old, and is slowly dying from pancreatic cancer. Everyone in the family knows that, and as a result of that diagnosis, Angelo has started delegating virtually everything down to his underboss and consigliere. Dante is taking over rackets left and right, trying to really build up his capital so that when he ascends to the top spot soon, he’ll have the money to buy off everybody he needs to pay off. He wants the big names: judges, police chiefs, governors, senators, mayors. He’s trying to bring the mob back to life in Philly, because it’s not as strong as it was in its heyday.
“So, if you destroy Dante in the middle of his ascension, it’ll ruin the family. Dante is set to become the next boss, and Tony will be the next underboss. You get rid of those two, and Philadelphia will be yours to run. Nobody would dare challenge you, Solomon. So, I need you to trust that I can get the information you need. I have to go on this date, and I have to play the part. I have to be the character he expects me to be. So you gotta let me work, because I got this. Okay?”
I let Reina’s words settle in my head and play again on repeat. She’s definitely educated on the topic, but the reason I feel hesitant isn’t because of how much she does or doesn’t know. I feel hesitant because she’s been gone for so long and suddenly shows up ready to hand me the keys to the city while still hanging on the arm of Dante Rossi. I love this woman, but can I trust her? She said herself that she’s the best con artist I’ve never seen. Is she conning me? I guess we’ll see, and I’ll keep my favorite box cutter handy, just in case.
“Reina, you know I love you, right?” I ask, to which Reina replies with a nod of her head. “Good. Then you know how bummed I’d be if I had to kill you for lying to me about this. I’d hate to do it, and I’d probably hate myself for the rest of my life, but if you’re playing me with all of this, you know what’ll happen.”
I expect her to frown or move away in fear, but instead, Reina smiles and places a hand on my rugged cheek.
“I’d expect nothing less from you, Solomon,” she says. “That’s why we’re meant to be together, because if you’d let anyone get away with lying to you about something like this, you wouldn’t be worthy of me.”
Reina kisses me softly on the cheek before standing up, straightening out the shirt she’s borrowing from me, and walking towards the stairs. When she reaches the top step, she stops and turns around.
“We’re having lunch at Vetri, on Spruce Street,” she says. “We’re gonna have a table that’s next to the window. If you want, you can watch from a distance. Don’t get too close, because Dante tends to look around a lot when he’s out. But if you’re still feeling unsure about me, come watch.”
I nod once in response.
“Gotta go. I’ll see you soon,” Reina says before turning around and descending the stairs.
“What are we doing here?” Nix asks from the driver’s seat. I sit next to him staring straight ahead, looking down the street and through the window of Vetri, where Reina and Dante sit side by side, talking and smiling together.
Dante is wearing gray slacks with a matching jacket over a white button-up. His hair is messier today and his beard is scruffier than before. He’s less business-like now, and he’s leaning towards Reina as she eats something I can’t make out from this distance. He’s talking her ear off, and I can imagine myself walking into the restaurant and slicing his ear from the side of his face just so I can feed it to him. He shouldn’t be anywhere near my Reina. I know she said she has this all under control and she’s playing a role to get what she wants out of him, but maybe I shouldn’t have taken her advice about coming to watch her eat with Dante. I should be far away from this, because the longer I watch, the harder it is for me to hold myself back. I’m not a man who is reserved. I don’t hold back. If I did, I wouldn’t have become the feared man I am today. I want to let loose and fill Vetri with the sound of broken glass and whizzing bullets. I want everyone within a block of this place to know not to ever come near Reina.
“Solomon!” Nix shouts, stealing my attention away from the two of them. “What are we doing here?”
“I told you, I want to see,” I reply as I refocus on the restaurant.
Nix, wearing a navy blue jean jacket, stares at the side of my face as I look straight ahead. Something is bothering him, and has been since Reina came back into the picture. He lets out a loud sigh and rests his head on his hand.
“You sure about this, Solomon?” he asks.
“Sure about what?” I reply.
“Look, I know you love Reina,” he says. At the mention of her name, I look over at Nix and wait for him to make his feelings known. “I had love for her too, back in the day, but we’re not teenagers anymore. This isn’t Cash N Check or Julia’s Jewels. It’s the mob. Are you sure you want to trust her with this? She’s been gone a long time, and you know she’s changed. Of course she has. Maybe letting her into the mix right away isn’t the smartest way to play this. You know what I’m saying?”
“Nix, you’re my closest friend,” I say as I let my eyes drift back over to the restaurant, where I find Reina looking in our direction. It seems she’s spotted us, and she flashes a quick grin while Dante is stuffing his stupid face with pasta. In a heartbeat, the smile fades and she’s back to business. “You’re the only person I’d ever call my friend—the only person I trust one hundred percent. You came up with me in this game of ours, bled with me, and killed with me. And it’s because of all of those things that I’d really hate going to war with you. You know me better than everyone else, so you know how much Reina means to me. It’s never changed, Nix. If I listened to you, and it turned out you were wrong about her, it’d ruin everything.”
“Solomon, I’m not trying to tell you what to do. I know how much Reina meant to you. I’m just saying that maybe you should exercise caution when it comes to her.”
“I am exercising caution,” I snip. “You think my feelings for Reina will cause me to act like an idiot? You think it’d somehow change me into some love-struck buffoon who’s no longer worth fearing? You think I’d let it destroy everything we’ve built?”
“No, Solomon,” Nix replies, glaring at the side of my face. “But I know you love her, and love makes people do stupid things, and it makes you vulnerable. If Dante finds out about you two, he’ll use her against you. You know that.”
“Then it’s best he doesn’t find out, huh?” I blurt without looking over at him. I feel the tension in the air, but it’s something we’re just going to have to work through, because Reina isn’t just some chick from the club I met last night. It’s Reina, and she’s everything.
“Do you trust me, Nix,” I ask, looking at him now.
“You know I do.”
“Good. Don’t let her presence change that. She knows what’ll happen if this turns out to be garbage, and she’s still over there with him. Soon, we’ll find out if she’s telling the truth again. Don’t forget, it was Reina who saved our asses the other night at the Asylum.”
Nix nods his massive head, remembering how Reina tipped us off about the assassination attempt.
“Okay,” he says as he looks ahead himself. “I’m riding with you on this, and I’ll be there with you if it turns out to be bullshit.”
Knowing what he means by that, I simply nod my head and face the restaurant just in time to see Reina and Dante standing outside Vetri, moving into a hug. My heart rate picks up as Dante leans in for a kiss, and Reina quickly turns her head to the side, forcing him to her cheek. I struggle to exhale through a sigh of relief as Dante smiles at the move and looks her up and down. I can see the lust in his beady little eyes, and I want to gouge them out. Once they separate, a black Mercedes pulls up to the curb, and out steps a kid dressed in a white button-up and purple vest. The valet walks around the car and hands the keys to Dante, who takes them, waves goodbye to Reina, and hops in the car. Once he’s gone, Reina looks in our direction and starts walking over to us.
“Did you enjoy the show, boys?” she says once she’s in the back seat.
“Enjoy the show?” I ask. “No, I wanted to burn the show to the ground!”
“Well, I’m glad you didn’t, because I have good news,” Reina says, her voice perky with excitement. “Hi Nix!” she chirps, as if seeing him for the first time.
“Hey, Reina,” he replies in his low drone of a voice. “Nice to see you again. Surprised to see you with Dante, though.”
“I bet you are,” Reina answers playfully. “I’m sure Solomon already filled you in on what I’m doing with Dante.”
“Yeah, he did.”
“Good, then I won’t bother going into it again,” Reina says, completely confident. She’s fearless, even as she sits behind two men who’d kill her for being wrong about all of this. “Anyway, Solomon, am I correct in assuming you’ve got a crew behind you on this?”
“Of course I do,” I reply.
“Good, you’re gonna want to call them up and set up a meeting tonight.”
“Is that right? Why would I do that?”
“Because I got it,” she answers, grinning like a kid on Christmas.
“You got what?”
“Everything,” she says. “Without even knowing it, Dante just opened up a gigantic window of opportunity, and something tells me you’re gonna wanna climb your sexy self right through it.”
Reina and I smile at each other before I look over at Nix, who’s as stone-faced as ever. He won’t believe anything until he sees it, and I get that. Hopefully what Reina has will convince him.
“Alright,” I say as I turn around and look out the windshield. “Let’s do it.”