La Cosa Nostra

Chapter 17

"If it's not too much trouble, could we stop over at the subway station on 21st street?"
I ask Luciano and he nods. "Sure."
He pulls over at the curb and I turn to him.
"I'll be back in 2 minutes."
"Take your time."

I walk in, avoiding the cameras. Heading to the lockers, I find what I had hidden there a while ago  and get out of there.

Getting into the car, Luciano looks over at me.
"You good?"
"Yeah, thanks don."
He tenses slightly and I furrow my eyebrows confused.
He doesn't say a word however as He sets the car in motion and we head home.

We're pulling into the driveway when he speaks again.
"You don't think Thomas giving you the wrong intel was an accident."
It's not a question.
I stay silent.
Luciano curses under his breath.
"I don't understand. You're their greatest asset."
I laugh humourlessly,"they're doing this because I'm their greatest asset. I know too much, I've seen too much."
"Why would he want to take you out though?You're basically his daughter."
I shake my head, playing with my fingers.
"He may have raised me but I was always his protege. He wants me to take over his position one day, not because he cares for me but because I'm the only one he has faith in. After all, he trained me. As for why he would want to take me out, I don't think he wanted to kill me. That was a warning. A warning to remind me where my loyalties lie."
Luciano stays silent for a while, deep in thought.
"Would you?"
"Take over his position? I don't know. after today, I-I just.." I trail off and Luciano nods.
"If there's anything I can do, all you have to do is ask."
I send him a small smile, "Thank you but this isn't your fight. I'll help you get Connor and then, I'll be out of your hair."
Luciano sends me a slightly panicked look, "Alessandra, you don't-"
I chuckle, "It's nothing personal. This is how I work. I'm here on a job. When it's done, I leave and move on to the next one."
"And if Thomas doesn't let you?"
"Thomas doesn't own me. I'm not an idiot, Don. I've prepared for this day a long time ago."
Luciano doesn't seem to know what to say to that and I send him a nod.
"Thanks for the ride." He doesn't say anything as he stares ahead deep in thought.

"Alessa."
I turn around to find Emilia coming down the stairs.
"How are you feeling?"
"I'm good, thanks."
She sends me a stern look before smiling sadly.
"I'm sorry for what my brother did."
Stiffening, I start to say something but she cuts me off.
"Angelo won't tell me what happened but I know Luciano gave you those bruises."
I look away, not being able to look her in the eyes. I didn't know what to say.
"What my brother did was inexcusable, and trust me, we've all given him hell about it but this doesn't change the fact that you're my friend. So please, please stop avoiding me and for gods sake, stop being so cold and distant. I hate it, we all do."
I simply nod, and she smirks playfully.
"Don't stop avoiding him though. It's nice to see him suffer the consequences of his actions for once."
I raise an eyebrow at her, "He's the Italian Don, Emilia. I'm just an assassin. He's not gonna lose any sleep over this."
She just laughs, giving me a hug, mindful of my injuries.
"For someone so smart, you're also really dumb."
I just stare at her as she continues laughing and walks off.
Shaking my head, I head up to my room. Locking the door, I open my laptop and plug in the USB stick I had retrieved from the subway station. I couldn't focus on Luciano right now, I had to think about how I was gonna survive. As good as I was, I was a one man army and Thomas had the power of the CCC behind him. One word, and I would be the next target. If that happened, when that happened, I needed to be underground, off the radar. And that included being as faraway as possible from Luciano and his family.

I'm cold and distant with Luciano for the rest of the week. Emilia, Sofia and the boys were trying their best to include me in everything, to make me open up more. Although I wasn't as distant with them as I was with Luciano, I was still mindful of my behaviour around them. I barely came down for dinner anymore, choosing to eat by myself early in the morning in the kitchen. I was downstairs one night after midnight, about to have my dinner when Luciano walked in to have his. We had both froze for a second before he told me to join him. I politely declined, grabbed my plate from the microwave and basically bolted back to my room. The last time the both of us were in the kitchen alone, I had let him get too close. No way was I letting that happen again, not after that night.