“First, tell me if she’s happy. Tell me that she’s okay,” he demands. Maybe I overplayed my hand, because he looks confident now, like he’s convinced I’m going to give him what he wants.
“She’s settling in,” I say. The first thing that pops into my head is that Alex is with Ryan. And while I’m half-tempted to put that shit out there, it’s none of his business. I’m pretty certain that Ryan loves her, and I don’t doubt that she loves him. When Junior kidnapped her and she wouldn’t give the club up, he beat the shit out of her. Blow after blow, she refused to tell him where the club house is. It didn’t matter where he hit her or how hard. She didn’t back down. I don’t worry about her opening her big fucking mouth as long as she and Ryan are doing well. It’s when he fucks up and she gets pissed that I worry about. If she could send her own father away, then what’s to stop her from doing the same to me and my brothers? Nothing, that’s what. “You don’t need to worry about her. Your sister ever do anything like that before?" I ask. I got shit to do, and it's starting to get late. Despite the fact that he's being chatty, I don't want to be here all night.
"The running in to break up a fight? Nah, not since we were little. The talking the cops? Never," he says. "She thought she was saving me, you know? She's always had this thing about the family. There is no gray area with my sister. For her, I'm either a part of her family or I'm part of my father's family. One of the last good days we had together, we talked about where she wanted to go with her life. She had all these big dreams of college and stuff. It was like she was in total denial or something. When I told her that I was going to get my gold gun before the end of the year, she freaked out on me. She knows, having grown up in the life, that once I take my oath, that's it. There's no turning back. So whatever she did, she did it to save me."
"Clean or not, she talked to a cop. How can you be so sure she didn't hate your daddy enough to put him in prison?"
"Because I know her," he says. "She might not like that the family demands there be no divided loyalties, but that's her blood. Gold gun or not, I'm her brother, and she wouldn't do anything to hurt me."
"You hurt her once, how do I know you won't hurt her again?" I asked. Since the club has put themselves between this bitch and harm's way, I need reassurances that he won't turn on her again.
"I'm going to have to live with that until the day I die. I can't make that right, but I can try to help your club figure out a way to stop Tony before this crap gets out of hand and my dad finds out and gets involved. When I came here, I thought if I could make it look like we died in a fire, and let you people think so too, you would get word back to my aunt Gloria. By then, she and I would be long gone. We could have run if only she had told me where you guys have your meetings. I needed a few bodies to make it look like there was a struggle. I didn't want to hurt her."
My limbs lock in place. I give myself a minute so I don't say something that's going to put us two steps back. It's a good thing this little prick is laying all of his confessions at my feet and not someone else's. It's no secret that I'm not a fan of his sister, but so far he and I don't have any problems. I want to keep it that way. Unlike some of my younger brothers, I know how to keep myself in check—most of the time.
"This uh, cousin of yours—he's got to be looking for you. Who is he sending?" I ask.
"Only one person I can think of who Tony might be able to manipulate into doing the job. Guy's name is Leo Scavo. Tony doesn't have the rank, and he isn't likable enough for my father's men to be doing him any favors. Only reason he could get Leo is if he didn't tell him the real reason he wants my sister back."
"You know how this guy operates? His tics?"
"My father calls him the peacemaker. He's always reasoning with people, ironing issues out before they blow up, and he's a team player. Leo shows up, we're lucky. I don't think he would take a kill order from Tony, and even if he did, I want to think he wouldn't kill my sister. He and Tony are both just soldiers, so neither of them have their own crew."
"There something I should know about Leo and your sister?" I ask.
"Dad likes Leo. Started talking to him about giving him his own crew. My father is something of a traditionalist, so when Leo makes Capo, he was going to give Leo his blessing to marry Alex. That's what he calls it, his blessing. It's not his blessing, though, it's a goddamn order. As far back as Sicily, with my great-grandmother, the men in our family have been arranging marriages for the women. It's old-school Italian. The problem is, Alex didn't want any of it. She didn't want to be married off, and she didn't want to be part of the life.”