Mafia Princess Returns novel · Chapter 5 of 24

Chapter 5: The Sidewalk

By eight o'clock the cellar held no dead man.

Adamo's tow truck had left through the alley with a tarp over the bed.

The big man had gone with him, sitting upright in the cab.

I stood behind the bakery counter in one of Nonna's aprons, with flour in my short hair.

I handed out cannoli to the nine-thirty Mass crowd.

Third Avenue on Sunday smelled of coffee, powdered sugar and candle wax.

Nonna ran the register and pretended nothing had happened.

Enrico leaned in the kitchen door with a dish towel over his shoulder and a pistol under it.

At ten past eleven a black Escalade stopped in the fire lane outside the window.

Two more pulled in behind it.

Piero got out of the first one in a navy suit.

A square bandage covered his left temple, and he carried a bouquet of white roses the size of a baby.

Six men came out of the cars behind him and spread along the sidewalk without being told.

The line for cannoli went quiet.

A woman in a church hat took her grandson's hand and moved him out of the doorway.

Enrico took a step.

"Don't," I said, low.

"Fabi."

"Not yet. Let him come in. Let everybody see him."

The bell over the door rang.

Piero walked in with his eyes on me and his smile arranged.

He didn't glance at the customers or at Nonna, who stood with her arms folded behind the glass.

"Amore," he said. "You gave us all a scare."

"Did I?"

"Your father is sick with worry." He held out the roses. "Come home. We'll say you had too much champagne."

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