Pipe Burst Guest novel · Chapter 7 of 24

Chapter 7: Hands Off

"Let go of me," I said.

"You've been gone two nights. People are talking."

"Let go, Cesare."

He did not.

Behind him Tullio folded his arms, enjoying it.

Behind me the old captain and the nervous one had stopped in the lobby doorway, and the clinic nurse was staring through the glass.

Nico crossed the marble in three steps and stopped beside us.

He didn't touch Cesare, and he didn't speak.

He just stood there, taller than both of us, with his bandaged hand loose at his side.

"Varrone," Cesare said. "This is a private matter."

"It was private at home," Nico said. "You've taken it into a public lobby."

"She's my wife."

"She's the Fontanelli heir," I said, "and you are holding her in front of two captains of the family."

I said it loudly, so that the lobby heard it.

The old captain took one step forward.

Cesare looked past me at him and let go.

I did not rub my wrist.

I kept my hand at my side and let the red marks stand, in the light from the glass doors.

"You've been talking to the wrong people," Cesare said, quieter. "Whatever Varrone is telling you, he wants the docks."

"I know what he wants."

"Then you're a fool."

"Cesare, I've been a fool for six years," I said. "I'm finished."

"Marisa."

"The Commission meets a week from Sunday. Bring Ines. Give her a chair."

His face closed.

For one second, I saw something move behind it that was not anger, and I could not tell what it was.

"You don't know what you're doing," he said.

"No," I said. "But you'll find out."

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