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His eyes close and open again as he cocks his head. “You can count on every man in the organization. The men will follow you, Princess. Anywhere, any time. Say the word.”
“But most of our men now are from the old Fortuna firm, right? So I’m assuming they will follow Alessio too. Everybody stays loyal to him, first, surely. And Carlo and Bruno?”
“Everybody will follow you, Princess, because they know that can believe in you. You say what you mean. You tell it like it is. You know what you’re doing, and you won’t ask any of them to do anything you wouldn’t do yourself.”
“Well, that’s good.”
“I don’t know if you understand just how rare all of that is. Specially nowadays. And, you don’t mind me saying, for a woman,” his head shakes, “Madonna. It’s incredible.” His eyebrows lift.
After a breath, he goes on, “Time was, back in the day, men were loyal because the families were solid. Now, everybody’s an entrepreneur, you know what I’m saying? Every way that you look now, it’s every man for himself.” His lips purse. “No sense of honor any more.”
“You think it’s because I’m a woman? The men feel more protective of me?”
He sits up. “Not a bit of it.” His brow arches. “When you first took over, there were a lot of men ready to jump ship.” He looks at me seriously. “No names. No tales out of school. but nobody likes change.”
“So what happened?”
“I knew them from way back, most of them. They knew me and I could talk to them. We all had history, one way and another. So I went around. I told them, hold on. Just sit tight. You jump now, you may regret it.” His eye gleams. “And I know you, Princess. If a bunch of men took to their heels, you might not be vindictive,” there’s a beat. I can hear in the fraction of a silence, Mikey not telling me about my temper. Which is the one thing he’s even on my caser about. Has been for as long as I could talk.
He says, “But I knew, anyone who turned their back, that you wouldn’t ever let them back in.”
I nod. He’s right about me. Naturally. He always is.
“I leaned it from Daddy.” I take a cannoli. “Never get bitten by the same snake twice.”
“Most people say dog. ‘Don’t get bitten by the same dog twice,’ is what you hear.”
“Daddy was never one to underestimate a threat.”
“No.” Mikey agreed. “Not a forgiving kind of a man, your father.”
I want to bring him back to my question. “But, if it came to it, all the old Fortuna men. they would follow Alessio. Right?”
Now Mikey is very still.
“Are you asking me, where would the men jump?” His voice lowers. “If it came to it, you mean, Princess? If it was between you and Alessio,?”
I give him one small silent nod.
His eyes darken. “If it ever came to it, they’re with you.”
I take a second before I ask him, “How sure are you?”
He thinks about it for a moment. “They’re your men now. Through and through. They would be with you, whatever happened. I’m sure, Princess.”
“They’ve all known Alessio much longer.”
I’m not even sure why the conversation has taken this turn, why I’m asking this, but with everything that’s going on right now, I feel like I really need to know. And I’m so lucky that I have Mikey. I know that I can trust him, come what may.
The cannoli is delicious. I take a few moments to savor it with the rest of the espresso. And at the end, I take a sip of the grappa.
I press Mikey once more. “And the others?”
“Carlo and Bruno?” his eyes flicker as he thinks it over. “Would they go with them over you? No. It might be a closer thing, but I would still say no. The numbers might change. There could be one or two, but not many. I’m sure they’d still rather be with you.”
I nod. He goes on, “Otherwise, if it came to it, probably Carlo. People trust him. Everybody knows that he’s a mastermind. He’s a genius, but he’s totally unpredictable. that makes people… uneasy. Then Bruno. He’s strong and he’s fearless.” He doesn’t say, but not the sharpest tool in the box.
He doesn’t say it, so loud I can almost hear it. That feels like the closest I’ve come to a laugh for a while.
