Gianni had a slew of girls, and one son, Giuseppe, my father. Giuseppe went to law school at the urging of my grandpa and shortly after became the consigliere to the Providence Famiglia. He served alongside the former boss Massimo for most of his life.
Gian and I followed papa everywhere. As soon as we were old enough, we were working. We started out as soldiers initially; we were given some freedom considering who our father is, but we worked tirelessly. If you want your button, you have to be willing to get pushed around a bit. Even the sons of the consigliere have to be hazed. Eventually, we took our oaths. I’ve had my button for a few years now.
La Cosa Nostra is my family, no way around it.
This is my blood and there's nothing else I want more than this family.
So no, this file, Annie Byrne, is not going to get me stuck in my head.
I grab the damn thing off my desk and open it up. Top of the pile is her photo, which looks like a DMV picture. Annie looks younger in the picture, still with short ashy blonde waves and bright blue eyes. She looks innocent, naïve. No record, I note. She’s never been arrested, not even a misdemeanor. The girl never even had a parking infraction. Annie Byrne is basically a saint. She’s a nurse's aid at Oakland Retirement Community, a fact I already knew. She takes classes at the local community college, studying to be an LPN, licensed practical nurse.
Next, her childhood.
Now things were starting to click.
Her father, Danny Byrne, has been arrested repeatedly for petty theft. It looks like he has his own gambling problem, not to mention a problem with the bottle.
Her brother, Johnny Byrne, has his own rap sheet of petty crimes. Stealing, loitering, public nuisance, the list goes on.
The other members of the Bryne family are a mess.
Mother, nothing. It looked like she left when Annie was young and never came back.
That’s why Annie was so protective of her piece of shit brother, she was basically raising him.
I’ve seen shit like that among lower-level dealers who had to take over raising siblings for their parents. That kind of responsibility so young could mess with a kid.
Is that what Annie was going through? Did she have to step in for her parents and raise her younger brother? Is that why she’d put herself on the line to protect him?
I toss the papers back on my desk.
Fuck.
I’m doing exactly what I told myself not to do, I’m falling for the pretty blonde-haired girl with a sad backstory.
I scrub a hand down my face.
“What’s with that pissy look?”
I look up to find my brother entering my office.
“Nothing,” I groan. “Just reading a file on someone.”
Gian lifts the picture of Annie off my desk with a whistle. “Some research.”
“Stop.” I snatch the photo back from him, placing it back in the file and shoving the whole thing into my desk drawer.
“Who is she?” he asks.
“Who’s asking?”
For my brother, I don’t have to answer shit. If my boss is asking, though, then I don't have much of a choice.
Gian gives me a look, “Really now?”
“Yeah.” I lean back into my leather office chair. “My brother or my boss?”
He chuckles. “Okay, which one will make you talk, yeah?”
“She’s helping with our next job.” I laugh.
“The Pearce one?” he asks, slipping into the seat across from my desk. His smirk has disappeared, the Pearce job is important, it needs to go absolutely perfectly.
“Yep. We needed someone small to get in through the vent. Turns out she’s the perfect size.”
“Where’d you find her?”
A grin forms on my face. “Well,”
“Gio. Tell me you didn’t do something stupid. I can’t handle that right now.” Gian scrubs a hand down his face. The man is stressed. The power vacuum in the city has left him taking on more responsibility, which is what he wants. It also has him fighting with some fellow capos. A civil war was not what Providence needed.
“Then don’t ask.” I retort.
“Where’d she come from?” Gian leans forward in the chair, resting his elbows on his knees.
“She has a shitty brother. I offered to pay off a debt for him if she worked for me.”
He sighs. “You know that’s a dangerous game you’re playing.” Extortion, blackmail, whatever you wanted to call it has a good track record, but every once in a while someone tries to be a hero, and that normally doesn’t work out for them.
Gian was insinuating that one day, I might have to kill Annie Bryne.
I’m not looking forward to that possibility.
“Yep.” I know.
“What if she does something stupid?”
“She won’t. I’m watching her.” Like a hawk, I refrain from adding. I keep her tracking up on my phone non-stop, I always know where she is and what she’s doing.
“If this comes back to bite us in the ass you’re taking care of it, you hear me?”
I smile. “I hear ya, but it won’t. I promise.”
“Yeah, yeah. Tell me something good then, will ya?”
And that was that.
Annie Byrne was part of the team now.
“I think Lil Bobby is willing to have a sit down with you,” I tell him, relaxing back into my chair.
“Lil Bobby,” he mused.
Bobby was another Capo in la Famiglia. There was a hierarchy. The boss, who ruled over everything, he was the one who was in charge. His underboss, the second in command, he typically took care of things, met with the men, handled issues, and so on. The consigliere, our father Giuseppe, who acted as an advisor to the boss.
