Branching Out

Dante

Earlier than expected, I walk in the front door of my house. Piacere actually ran smoothly for once, and I have high hopes they won’t even need me there for another day or two. El and I haven’t spent a ton of time together since our day of errands, and I miss her despite falling asleep next to her every night. Sometimes, I think it might be better if she was involved in high-level operations again, but that might just be a side effect of wanting to see her more often.

No, some of the capos still look around for her when I give an order. I know a handful of them text her nearly everything. They’ll answer to me—especially because I suspect she told them to—but she’s won their loyalty forever. I can’t say I don’t understand.

I wander through the house until I find Eleni in the living room at the back of the house, sprawled out on the leather couch with a laptop on her chest and a mostly empty pitcher next to her.

“Hey—”

Pitcher. With a little bit of something yellow at the bottom.