Page 230 of Marcello

“You said that was the only way we could make it work, because otherwise your father would track you down. I’m finally ready to do it. Run away with me. Get over here quick, though, because we have to leave town as soon as possible.”

“Why?!” I asked, bewildered as to why he’d changed his mind all of a sudden.

There was a long pause, like he was trying to figure out the best way to spin bad news.

Finally he said, “Shit went sideways, and something really bad is going to happen if I don’t leave Naples immediately.”

I started fuming.

What, did one of your female clients’ jealous husbands find out where you live?

Did you lose a big bet, and now you owe the loan sharks?

Did the cops bust your passport-forging business and now they’re looking for you?

“What happened?” I asked.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t tell you that.”

My eyes nearly bugged out. “You’ve got to be kidding me!”

“I wish I were, but I’m not.”

“Well, if you can’t tell me, then I can’t leave town with you!”

“You have to.”

That absolutely stunned me.

He sounded exactly like my father.

When Papa said Jump, he expected everybody else to say, How high, Don Amato?

Fuck that.

“I have to?! I don’t have to do anything!”

“Will you just fucking TRUST me?”

“WHY? You won’t even tell me why you’re leaving!”

There was another long pause. Then –

“Somebody wants to kill me.”

Now we were getting somewhere.

You have to understand, I’m from a mafia family. Though Papa never told me anything, for years I’d assumed that killing people was business as usual.

So I was a little more blasé than a normal person would be when I asked, “Why?”

Romeo reacted predictably.

“Why does somebody want to KILL me?! Because I owe them money! Because I fucked them over! What does it fucking matter?! They want to kill me, and I have to leave Naples NOW!”

I felt awful. Romeo was obviously freaking out, and I was making it worse.

I reconsidered my options. Maybe I could sneak out tonight. I’d reflexively said ‘no’ because Romeo had pissed me off by calling me, but maybe there was a way to do it.