DanteSunday morning comes bright and early to the bed I custom-ordered so long ago to hold the random women I was fucking. When I wake up next to a naked, fucked-out El, covered in bruises she begged me for from neck to knee, my first thought is that I’ve never asked her if the mattress is comfortable. She’s going to be my wife, the mother of my children. So much of our life is still mine. I kiss her sleeping cheek and roll over to check my phone for mattresses that allow people to adjust both sides to their comfort.I should’ve known. My screen is covered with notifications. Capos, allies, people from the funeral. Tony. I open his first.Cal called me too. I set up a meeting with him and a triad representative to talk. I’ll roll your ass out of bed if I have to.I snort. Cal Duncan is getting bossy. But neither he nor Tony is wrong. If they really have a lead on Fyodor, I need to fucking do something about that. I roll out of bed with a groan and dress quickly to hide the marks El l
EleniI wave goodbye to Kaley and turn away from her after yet another class. We’re…two weeks into the semester now? Three? No, Professor Villanueva was talking about midterms. How could so much time have passed already?Amando walks up beside me. “Headed home?”I shake my head. “Tony needs a little birdie, and it’s easier to hide my traffic under the other students here.”“But—”I put my hand up to silence him. “Just…let me have this, okay?”Amando stuffs his hands in his pockets and nods. I veer away from the hall that takes us to the back elevators and toward one of the many computer labs. Not that I’d actually use a school machine. That’s insane. But if I work on my laptop in the seating area right outside, it’s easy to spoof one of the IPs in there and disappear into the flow.That’s really how these last god-knows-how-many weeks have felt. Disappearing into the flow. I bounce between Tandon and the apartment, juggling school work and Saints’ work and morning sickness that shows
Eleni“Okay, this might feel a little strange. Just take a deep breath.” Dr. Hanna inserts the ultrasound wand, the very last step of the appointment.I breathe through the weirdness, and a grainy, black-and-white picture pops up on the screen. In the middle of a big patch of darkness sits a little grain of white.“There’s your baby,” she says quietly. “It’s too early to tell sex, but do you see right there?” She points to another bump on the screen.I lean closer. Dante holds onto my hand like a lifeboat in a storm. “Yeah?”“That’s an eye.” She smiles at me. “You’re right on track, nine weeks pregnant.”I nod. The picture on the screen is…strange. It doesn’t look like a baby yet. It looks like the thing they show pregnant women on TV that makes them cry.Dr. Hanna looks at me for a moment. “Let me guess. You haven’t started showing yet, and you’re young, so you’re having trouble believing you’re really going to give birth.”I bite my lip. “You could do the maternal a little less well
DanteA couple days after El’s first ob-gyn appointment, I pull up in front of the same stupid diner Henry keeps insisting we meet at. He called me in the dead of the goddamn night, like I’m not busy, and insisted we meet. Finally, I was able to talk him around to doing this at the crack of fucking dawn, so at least I didn’t have to leave my pregnant fiancée before she woke up. I can see him sitting at the same table as always, but I pull out my phone. Let him sweat.A few notifications, nothing particularly exciting. I open the one from Tony and skim it, then smile. Third Russian hangout down, more bodies floating in the Hudson. I’ve been letting him mostly run that while I focus on getting regular operations up to snuff, and he’s been crushing it. The other day, I even saw Wing smile. He’s turning out to be much better at handling our “allies” than I thought he would be.With a sigh, I pocket my phone and slide out of the car. We might be locked in mutually-assured destruction, but
EleniThat weekend, I lean my head back against the chair at the head of the circle and try to pretend like I’m listening to what Wife #12 has to say. I know her name. I know I know it. But Nicky insisted on brunch for this meeting, and the omelet Val has balanced on her lap is really testing the boundaries of my control over my stomach. I suck in a slow breath through my mouth, then exhale through my nose as one of the many, many parenting and pregnancy books Dr. Hanna suggested told me to. It doesn’t help.“…and that’s why I think you should have the wedding here,” she finishes.“In the backyard?” Nicky asks incredulously. “Like they’re hippies?”Wife #12 pouts. “If you’d listened, you’d know I considered that and have several suggestions that would allow Eleni to be…close to home without seeming like someone who lives in a van.”I roll my eyes at Gianna. The wives have been itching to start planning my wedding, and a couple days ago, Nicky ambushed me with an already half-planned m
DanteMonday morning after Mama arrives, I move her into the apartment in the city with El and Gianna.“Are you certain you can carry this?” She furrows her brow at the three suitcases in my hands.I nod, trying to turn a grimace into a pained smile. I’m so happy she’s here. I’m so happy El’ s happy. She has so much goddamn stuff.With another frown, she waves me ahead of her, and I stumble into the lobby of the building.***Tuesday afternoon, I tap my foot on the floor of the elevator. I managed to sneak out between meetings just in time to meet Eleni when she comes home from classes and steal a few minutes. Usually, my Tuesdays are jam-packed, so I’m hoping to surprise her. I fidget with the bouquet of flowers I picked up on a whim.Ding. The elevator doors open, and the first sound that greets my ears is high, feminine laughter. I frown. I checked her schedule. El shouldn’t be back yet.“Hello?” I call.The laughter cuts off.“We’re in here!” Gianna yells from what sounds like the
EleniIn the car on the way back to the apartment, I’m practically vibrating. I hadn’t even realized how much hanging around with Mama and Gianna, constantly being worried over and interrupted, was affecting me. Leave it to Dante to see what I can’t and give me a chance to feel powerful again. I run my hand over his thigh.“I don’t suppose you got rid of the two of them?” I ask.He smirks. “Why? Do you want something?”“I might.” I smile. “But I asked you first.”Dante meets my gaze, his dark eyes burning. “I absolutely did not.”I throw my head back against the seat. “Fuck!”He laughs, very meanly, I might say. For the rest of the car ride, I pout. I’m an adult with a fiancé who has more money than anyone I’ve ever met. I should be able to have sex whenever I want. Dante takes this grumbling with a teasing smile, like it’s all the funnier for him how much I want it. Asshole.Amando pulls the car into the parking lot, and we get out. My phone vibrates. A text from Gianna.Your mom had
TonyI adjust the zoom lens on the camera, and the street below snaps into focus. Four twenty-somethings stroll down the sidewalk in the summer sunset, talking loudly to each other. The lankiest one says something that makes the bleached-blonde leader punch him. The final two laugh. With another twist, I zoom in on the only one we care about. Teo—Veniamin, as these fucks know him—cocks a fist back to hit the lanky one again, but the leader shakes his head. Together, the four of them enter a crappy electronics shop we’ve learned is yet another Russian front. I sit back from the camera.“How’s it look?” Mikey asks.Like Dante sent another kid just about Seb’s age into the goddamn lion’s den without thinking. The phantom Seb in my mind shakes his head. He talks less than he used to, since the funeral, but I can’t fucking get him to go away.“They look like besties.” I shrug. “’Nother guy in the group got hit. Not Teo.”Mikey nods. The sunset makes him look even older than he is, highligh