Corrado’s thoughts were a special brand of his own personal hell as he parked his vehicle along the side of the restaurant that belonged to his twin. One of the few businesses Chris cared to use on his investment portfolio.
Cutting the engine on the black Porsche, he stared at the windows lining the side of the business, but the glare of the sunlight kept him from seeing inside. Where would Alessio be sitting in there? Near a window to watch people—he liked doing that—so did that mean he could see Corrado right then? Or was he sitting nearer to the front?
He drummed his fingers to the leather-wrapped steering wheel, trying to shake off that edginess. It didn’t work, instead burrowing even deeper into his heart. How long had it been since Alessio showed up in Toronto now?
Two days shy of three weeks.
Nearly three weeks Corrado had spent wondering, and worrying, and ... too much. He knew Alessio needed his time, but that didn’t make it any easier on Corrado even though he still tried to give his lover space.
And now ...
Now he wanted to close that space.
Fuck it.
Refusing to over think this more than he already had, Corrado pulled the fob, that also acted as the key, from the starter, and opened the Porsche’s suicide doors to step out into the bright daylight. The humid August air wrapped around his three-piece suit, reminding him that black had been a bad choice for the day, but screw it.
He liked a good suit.
Taking the walkway along the side of the building, he entered the restaurant at the front, stepping under the entrance enclave that welcomed patrons with gold and black drapery that spoke of the truth behind this place.
Mob owned.
Specifically, Guzzi owned.
All one needed to do was look at the color scheme, gold and black. The Guzzi family colors, they showcased them on their coat of arms, throughout their businesses, and anywhere else they might be able to sneak it in. One of the few things someone was able to count on where his family’s legacy was concerned. Before the Guzzis had become synonymous with crime, they had made their riches in black gold.
Oil.
Inside, Corrado greeted the woman behind the podium, but didn’t bother to let her direct him inside the restaurant. She recognized his face—it matched her boss’s, considering it was Chris’s place, and she was accustomed to the Guzzis coming and going. Beyond the entrance, Corrado found a busy restaurant waiting for him.
Tables full.
Booths at the windows busy, too.
The breakfast bar had patrons milling around.
Exactly as he thought. It wasn’t what he expected to find that irked the hell out of him, but rather, what he didn’t find.
Alessio.
Corrado’s gaze searched the large main floor of the restaurant, but he didn’t find Alessio’s familiar face. There was a small private dining area that Chris liked to use for private meetings, but he didn’t think Alessio would be back in the area.
Which meant one thing ...
“Fucking hell.”
Alessio had tricked him again.
Corrado was tiring of that goddamn game.
A quiet chuckle at his left had Corrado turning to see who was laughing, because for some reason, it felt like they were laughing at him. The universe seemed to enjoy having a laugh at his expense, so why would this be different?
To his left, he found his twin.
Chris drank from a cup of coffee with steam rising around the rim where he sat in a booth next to the window. “Looking for someone?”
“Were you aware he planned this?”
“I had breakfast with him this morning, so yes ... and no.”
Corrado’s jaw tensed. “And you didn’t give me a heads-up, or ...?”
“He showed up here, Corrado. He knows this is where I do business in the mornings, and where I take my breakfast. I figured out his plan after he asked if I would be around because you might show up. Right before he left.”
A sigh passed his lips.
Chris shrugged. “But hey, at least he’s out of the mansion now.”
That made Corrado pause. “Excuse me?”
“Ma and Papa’s place—that’s where he was staying.”
“What?”
And his mother and father didn’t think to tell him?
That irked him, too.
Sort of ...
To be fair, he hadn’t called his parents and asked them anything about Alessio, or his whereabouts, because he figured they probably didn’t know. Why would they? And, he also didn’t want to bother them with everything going on in his life, but especially the personal shit. Didn’t they have enough to deal with?
Another part of Corrado found it comforting that Alessio went to his parents’, out of all the places he might have hidden himself away. Like that’s where he thought would be safest for him. Corrado’s family.
Huh.
Chris took a drink from his coffee. Corrado figured that looked like something he should do, too. Relax for a minute and rethink this whole thing before he headed back to the penthouse to deal with the frustrating man waiting for him. Waving at a server passing with a tray of dishes she’d bussed from a table nearby, he was quick to say, “Another black coffee over here, if you wouldn’t mind.”
He’d add in his own sugar and cream from the table.
The server gave him a bright smile. “Sure, sir.”
Chris eyed him from the side. “You’re not going right home? I figured you would, knowing he’s with her.”
Corrado shook his head and dropped into the booth opposite of his brother. “He’s not going to hurt her. Not Les’s style, and all.”
“I didn’t assume that, either.” Chris cleared his throat and dropped his brother’s gaze. “I meant, more that you might be jealous the two of them are alone together.”
“Why?”
“Because if someone I was fucking was alone with someone else, and the circumstances were ... like yours, I might get irritated about it.”
Corrado nodded. “And you’re not me ... or him.”
Or her, but Ginevra was still a wild card here.
“I don’t understand how your relationships work at all.”
Corrado laughed. “You don’t have to. It’s not your relationship, and you’re not the one they’re fucking, Chris.”
“That’s probably a good thing.”
Right?
“Besides,” Corrado said, pulling the sugar and cream bowls closer to him as the server neared their table with a carafe of coffee ready, “the more time they spend with one another, the better it’ll be for me.”
Chris arched a brow at the statement, but waited until the server had poured Corrado’s cup of coffee, and then left them alone before he spoke. “Why would that be good for you?”
That seemed obvious.
Corrado lifted his shoulders. “Then, perhaps I can get what I want.”
“Which is ...?”
“Both.”
Chris let out a sigh across the table, giving his brother the look. They both used it—identical twins and all, right? It said he was annoyed and amused all in one breath. “That’s a little selfish, yeah? You made a mess in your relationship with one, and then you dragged the other one into it without giving them the benefit of knowing what you were doing first. And now you want both like they should just ... fall in line?”