He rolled his eyes. "Cut to the chase, Coluccio. What do you want from me?"
The Capodecina shook his head "Nothing really," he answered before he started to laugh out of nowhere. His hand rested on Elio's shoulder.
Confusion flashed across the Enforcer's face.
What the fuck was going on?
"Pretend like you're having a good conversation."
Like hell he was. He shook off the man's arm. "What the fuck do you want?"
Coluccio cleared his throat, smiling to him. Still playing. For those watching the interaction, it might seem like Elio'd just said something funny, and it might just be his intention.
"I'm telling this to each Capodecina in the city, however, when I mentioned it to your father, he acted sketchily. I know he's against your relationship with this girl of yours, so I decided to warn you instead," he began. "The Bratva is targeting our businesses which means that we are the most likely ones to suffer since we didn't betray our Capo. I believe that to be their endgame. To turn all captains against Noah. Look for the signs with Gastone. He might be susceptible to their persuasion and as much as I don't like the idea of losing money, I'd hate to lose my head more. Watch out."
"Why aren't you telling this to the Falcones?"
"Because Noah needs solutions, not problems."
Elio frowned. "This will only become a problem if he doesn't know about such a possibility in advance."
"No, Elio. This'll become a problem the moment he hears about the possibility because he'll stop trusting his captains. And without any real indication that something is wrong, we don't need this strain in the Famiglia."
With that, he left.
§ § §
Elio couldn't get the conversation out of his head for the rest of the evening. However, he didn't doubt that there might be some truth to Coluccio's suspicions. He was an annoying person most of the time with his old-fashioned sense of morals and set of rules, but he was also loyal. Something that couldn't be said about Gastone with a hundred-percentage certainty. He also understood the Capodecina's reluctance to mention this to their Capo dei Capi without any evidence. It'd bring a reprisal as Noah would be even more careful and possibly go on another killing spree, just like he had when he had taken over the Famiglia.
No one wanted that.
He decided to stay quiet for now and simply be on the lookout for any hints of Father getting in touch with the Bratva. The man wouldn't tell him so it was all on him being vigilant while trying to move on with his life.
To do that he still needed to fix things. Get his shit together. Because no matter what, Savannah was still there. And he couldn't forget. He tried. So fucking hard, yet some things and people weren't meant to be forgotten. He'd just realized that.
He stepped on the gas, driving through the pelting rain. The sky looked like it could turn into a storm any second now after so many days of obnoxiously high temperatures and terrible drought. He wanted to make it to Savannah's before it got worse.
Cold sweat glistened on his furrowed brow. With hands clasped tightly on the steering wheel. His body was reacting like there was a gorilla about to beat the crap out of him instead of being faced with what he actually wanted. He'd never taken any of his actions to heart. Never admitted his mistakes. And the thought of hurting Savannah left him with a hollow feeling in the pit of his stomach, knowing that his last words had hurt her terribly. She might have tried to hide it, always being the one who had to stay strong. But Elio saw right through her.
Fighting with the girl was the worst feeling in the world. He would prefer to take any of the beatings that he impressed upon those who stood against him. It was easier than looking in Savannah's eyes and seeing the light leaving them. Even worse that he was the one to cause it each time.
So no matter how anxious he was to go against his fucked-up self, he stopped the car at the parking lot in front of her apartment complex with a screech of the tires and got out of it before he lost all confidence. It was rather ridiculous that he even felt that. He never took himself as a person capable of such a feeling.
Then again, he also didn't know Savannah before and how much she would change his life in such a short time span.
Under the pressure of rain, he looked up at the kitchen window. His eyes captured Savannah's soft figure right before she hid from him, clearly not wanting to see him.
Too fucking bad. She would hear him one way or another.
Chapter Thirty-Six
She pressed her back to the doors, her head hanging low as tears were threatening to escape. Her breath grew shallow and she kept her palms tightened on the frame for some more balance before her legs gave out under her.
Right about now she was glad that Aiden had wanted to stay with Frank for the night so they could watch some historical documentary. If he saw the state she was in and realized who was on the other side of the door, he would be even more concerned. She wanted to save him the worry.
She heard a few footsteps getting closer and then she felt a pressure on the door.
"Savannah, please open," said Elio. His voice was soft and collected. He sounded defeated and the girl almost gave in to his plea.
She couldn't.
Going further into this relationship wasn't the right thing to do. It would break her when she’d only yesterday stopped crying herself to sleep. She missed him so much that it was almost ridiculous since they hadn’t known each other all that long. And with how his world looked like, what rules
