Silence in New York - Book One

~Chapter 13~

"Adriana you can't seriously be into that guy?" Santo asked once all three of them arrived back at the apartment. "Santo please don't"

"He's too old for you Ade. He looks like a connected guy too, is that the case?" Santo continued firing away with the questions making his sister slightly uncomfortable. "He's actually a nice guy" Claudia spoke up with a smile on her face, "seriously Santo, he's actually helped your sister out a lot lately" she continued defending Adriana before Adriana was ready to step in. "There's nothing to talk about Santo, we're getting to know each other and that's all"

"Why are you even getting to know someone like that?"

"Someone like what?"

"He's connected Adriana isn't he?" Adriana began to feel defensive. She loved her brother with all her heart and would normally never defy him. This conversation however was frustrating her. She had enough on her plate trusting men as it was and did not appreciate having anyone place any further doubt into her mind.

"Santo please"

"You're not denying it Ade. Don't get involved with him, shut it down now before you get hurt"

"There's nothing to shut down ok? Non fare cosi Santo mi stai facendo arrabbiare"

"Ok that's enough guys" Claudia quickly stepped in once again. Her friend had change languages to Italian, which was a clear indicator that she was getting beyond angry.

Joe and Blake sat nervously at the back of an Italian deli somewhere in Iittle Italy. The store was a front for the Gentile family crew. The two men were nervous, more so than usual. They were now fearing for their lives after they had heard about the assassination of Scott. They knew being involved in the card game it could come to this, but at the time they did not believe the worst case scenario would come into play. Yet here they were, scrambling now for protection.

"What exactly do you want from us?" One of the crew members asked casually smoking his cigarette. "Are you serious? Our friend just got his head blown off. They found him thrown in a dumpster!"

The Abandonato family were not stupid or careless. Although normally they would go to the effort to dispose of bodies so they were not found, this time was a little different. They wanted the others to know they were hot on their trail. It was a message that they were coming for them all. They wanted the others to scramble and expose themselves. A classic mistake a rookie or a desperate man would make.

"You know you should not have come here right? You're putting us all at risk"

"I don't give a shĩt!" Joe stated trying to keep his voice down. "Your boss needs to help us!" Blake contributed nervously. "You were both paid very well for what you did. Protection was not in the agreement"

"So that's it?" Joe continued, "you're just going to let them shoot us all in the head? They'll find out it was you if that happens"

"Is that a threat?" The Gentile crew were now ready to withdraw their guns on the unarmed men. "You're going to rat on us now? Is that what you're saying? Let me assure you that if it is, we will have no hesitation taking care of you both right now" Joe dropped his head down into his hands exasperated and desperate. He knew better than to come off as a rat. "No" he retorted wanting desperately for this nightmare to be over. This is not what he wanted, this was not how it was supposed to go down. They were supposed to prove themselves to the Gentile family for future work. There was just no way they could end up dead after one measly job. "Tell us what to do" Blake chimed in asking for direction. "We respect your boss, we wouldn't be involved if we didn't. Yes this was about money, but it was also about something more important, honour! We want to do more work for your boss, this wasn't supposed to be an easy pay day for us". The crew looked at each other briefly exchanging words before responding. "Lay low. Don't do anything stupid. Don't contact Scott's family, don't attend the funeral. Just keep to yourselves understand? We will look further into this and see what we can do. No promises"

"This Daniel Agostino doesn't ring any bells Stefano, are you sure?" Francesco questioned him with frustration in his voice. Although he trusted his man there was a good chance Scott simply spat out an irrelevant name while staring death in the face. Stefano on the other hand did not believe this was the case. "He wasn't lying. He was terrified. He thought we were going to spare him". Marco and Francesco paced back and forth trying to think up a plan which would eventually lead them to their ultimate goal.

"Should we go back to his apartment?" Stefano half queried, half suggested. He actually wanted to pay the apartment a visit the previous night after they disposed of Scott's body. They felt the risk was too high going back at that point though. In reality the risk was even higher now, surely there would be cops all over his apartment trying to come up with any clues regarding the cold blooded murder.

"We need to find a way back in there" Marco stated thinking out loud, "it's important. If this Daniel is a friend there might be some clues in the apartment"

"Like what? A photo of the boys with the name Daniel Agostino written across his head shot?" Francesco spat out angrily.  "We've gotta do better than this guys. Come on! Get everyone onto this Stefano, get everyone on the streets and find this guy".

Claudia was surprised when she stared down at the contraceptive pill packet on the kitchen counter. She had told Adriana to loosen up and give Salvatore a chance, however this seemed like too fast of a step. The last thing she wanted was for her best friend to throw herself at Salvatore only to be used and eventually kicked to the curb like probably many women he had had in the past. She imagined Adriana would not be on board with that sort of treatment. If she was finally going to open up to someone she wanted her to be sure she could handle all the consequences or she would find herself regretting opening up in the first place.

Adriana walked out of her room when she heard movement in the kitchen, she smiled at Claudia greeting her. "How was your day?"

"Really busy actually! How was yours?" She asked back picking up the packet and waving it around suspiciously. "Better to be safe than sorry" Adriana stated in a matter of fact tone. She was a little embarrassed that she had left the evidence on the counter. "Does this mean you're ready to move forward?" Adriana shrugged. Moving forward is what she always wanted, it is not like she ever intended to move backwards in life, sometimes things just happen and this was one situation in her life she had yet to overcome. "Moving forward is always the plan Claudia. I can't make any promises except to try. Just please do me a favour and don't tell Santo, he's obviously angry about my current choice in men" Claudia could not help but laugh as she took a drink from the fridge gulping down the cool liquid and quenching her thirst. "Oh don't worry Ade, he won't hear anything further from me about him! Just have fun and be careful ok? I don't want you getting hurt. I was actually hoping to talk to you about Salvo to be honest"

"Oh?" Adriana immediately noticed her friends cheeks redden and she quickly glanced away trying to hide her sudden obvious feelings. "Claudia you better start talking because I'm very confused as to why you're smiling like that. What are you up too?"

"His brother, Francesco. Adriana he is so hot, I'm surprised you're not all over him! Obviously you're into the older guys now" she winked earning a laugh from Adriana who was shocked to hear her announcement of how hot Francesco Abandonato apparently was. "I don't know anything about his brother Claudia, I can find out however, I mean what are friends for if they can't be each other's wing women?" Claudia's eyes widened in excitement, "Oh my God Ade I'd really appreciate that! We got talking last night and I don't know, he just seemed nice"

"Nice?" Adriana repeated like the word was dripping in disdain. Nice was not the word worthy of someone Claudia initially described as hot.