Page 28 of Thin Lines (Donati Bloodlines 2)

Time, maybe.

If his wayward inner thoughts were any indication,Calisto was still walking a thin line between stupid and insane where Emma wasconcerned. He should be disgusted with himself. The woman was pregnant,married, and entirely unavailable.

Yet, he still wanted her.

A little.

God, he was a fool.

“How is the doctor appointment going?” Affonso asked.

Calisto balanced the phone between his ear andshoulder as he punched in the code for the soda he wanted to get out of themachine. “Fine, as far as I know. The doctor made me leave.”

Affonso chuckled. “Yes, Curtis is particular likethat. He doesn’t like others in the room when he’s got a patient in there.Thankfully, he handles all of Emma’s medical needs. I prefer it that way.”

Who cared about Affonso’s need to control every littledetail of the lives of the people around him? Calisto didn’t.

“What did you think about the mess this morning?” heasked, wanting to get his uncle on a different topic.

Affonso hummed under his breath. “I went down andlooked at the body. The police hadn’t found it by then. Good thing.”

Calisto had been woken up at six in the morning by aphone call from one of the Donati Capos. Apparently, one of his soldiers hadn’tmade it to the warehouse by five. He was supposed to, in order to do a joblater that morning. The Capo, knowing where his man was supposed to be workingthe night before, went looking for the seventeen-year-old street kid. The Capofound him in an alley behind a pizzeria that he owned.

A bullet had been put between the kid’s eyes.

A shamrock had been drawn on his cheek with blood.

It was a very clear message from the O’Neil family. Theywere still trying to work their way into Donati territory, and anyone who gotin their way would earn themselves a bullet to the head and nothing more.

Calisto knew his uncle was going to have to sit downwith the boss of the O’Neil family and work something out so that the warringfamilies could work together. That, or Affonso was going to have to take out theman altogether.

Something.

Anything other than doing nothing.

Doing nothing would only let the O’Neil family believethat the Donati Cosa Nostra was weak in protecting their territory. It wouldn’tlead to anything good.

“You’re going to have to handle that,” Calisto said.

“I’m aware,” Affonso replied dryly. “For now, I willsend out my own message. If they don’t get the point, then I will handle it ina different way. It’s just a solider, Cal. One boy, nothing more. I canoverlook one dead man that wasn’t even made.”

Calisto’s jaw clenched. “He meant something tosomeone, zio. His mother, or father. Maybe he had siblings. I know theCapo he worked under cared for him a great deal because he was one of his bestmen. And for that matter, by default, that makes him one of your men.”

“Perhaps, but I won’t start a street war with the Irishsimply because one solider met his maker. That seems extreme.”

Calisto didn’t see it the same way, but he wasn’t theboss.

He didn’t get a say.

“Whatever you want, zio,” Calisto settled onsaying.

“You know what I want, Cal. For you to drop the ziononsense.”

Calisto could hear the smile in his uncle’s tone. Itmade him sick and furious at the same time. “Are we going to do this again?”

Affonso grumbled. “Not with that attitude.”

“Good.”