This was all true and it pissed him off.

Cal stood and looked down at Colt. “Now are you assured of my focus?”

Colt visibly bit back a smile. “Yeah.”

“Thrilled, man,” Cal growled and turned to the stairs.

“This is over, I’ll get Feb to make you one of her frittatas,” Colt called after him.

“Can’t wait,” Cal called back but didn’t turn as he took the stairs.

This was true too but he wasn’t giving Colt that. He’d heard about Feb’s frittatas. According to her brother Morrie they were heaven in the form of eggs.

They might be good but Cal would bet a thousand bucks that Vi’s seafood shit was better.

* * * * *

Cal was nearly home when his cell rang. He looked at the display and it said “unknown caller”.

He flipped it open and put it to his ear.

“Yo.”

“You’re gettin’ a call in ten minutes at your office,” a man’s voice said then disconnected.

Fucking Sal. Always the drama.

He turned away from home and toward his office. By the time he unlocked the door the phone on Lindy’s desk was ringing. He picked it up and put it to his ear.

“Yo.”

“Cal, figlio,” Sal said in his ear and Cal could hear the smile in his voice.

“Sal,” Cal greeted, not smiling.

“I hear you were in Chicago. Saw Vinnie, Theresa. No visit for me?”

“It wasn’t a social call,” Cal told him and Sal was quiet.

Then he said, “Yeah, bad business. Vinnie told me.”

Cal was impatient. “Listen, I got a woman at home, she’s got daughters and someone’s takin’ snapshots and sendin’ them to cops. I don’t wanna be in the office. I wanna be home. You have a good talk with Vinnie?”

“We talked but I think you need to come up to Chicago. We’ll have a sit down,” Sal said.

There it was. Sal was in the mood to be persuasive.

“Sal, respect, goes without saying,” Cal told him. “But I got a woman at home whose got daughters and someone’s takin’ snapshots, sendin’ gifts and puttin’ bullets in the brains of the men in her life. The man who’s ordering that shit is in Chicago. I don’t wanna be in Chicago, I don’t wanna be away from her and I don’t want her to be in Chicago. If you talked to Vinnie then we don’t need a sit down.”

“I can see why this would make you impatient but there are things to discuss,” Sal countered.

“You want to discuss, I go this alone,” Cal returned and Sal let out a very loud sigh.

“We’re talkin’ a cop’s wife here, figlio,” Sal noted.

“We’re talkin’ my woman here, Sal. Hart sent a picture. I’m next,” Cal told him.

“How ‘bout this? I send a message to Hart, explain you’re family and that he should move on,” Sal suggested.

“How ‘bout this?” Cal returned. “This guy isn’t family. This guy is a mean motherfucker who clawed his way to the top and took down everything that got in his way. He doesn’t get family. He doesn’t get respect. He doesn’t get anything but what he takes. He took from you. He took from me. He took from my family and your family and he took from my woman, who, Sal, cop’s widow or not, she’s mine now and that means she’s family and you can’t deny that and he’s still takin’ from her. Are you tellin’ me, he did all that, you’re gonna send this f**ker a note?”

“I gotta get organized, Cal.”

“You gotta ask a soldier to put a bullet in a gun,” Cal replied.

“We’re talkin’ war,” Sal pointed out, “war requires organization.”

“That’s not what we’re talkin’ and you know it. The big man is out, you move in, you get back what you lost seven years ago and then some.”

“Takeover like that, like I said, needs organization.”

“You’re up for that challenge.”

“This is big what you’re askin’ me.”

“It was bigger what I gave to you.”

Sal was quiet again then he sighed loudly again. “The Bianchis. Always a pain in my ass.”

“The pain was in my shoulder, Sal. You had a situation, Frankie called me and I stood up for you. I put myself in its path and took that bullet for you. You’re breathin’. I’m askin’ you to make sure I keep doin’ it and Vi lives the rest of her life doin’ it easy.”

Cal listened to silence and this lasted awhile.

Finally Sal stated, “All right, figlio. I do this, we’re square.”

“You got it.”

“Fin,” Sal pressed.

“Fin,” Cal repeated.

“You come to Chicago, you sit at my table, we’re nothin’ but family.”

“Yeah Sal, me and Vinnie, we learned that lesson a long time ago.”

Another sigh. “Vinnie Junior was a good man.”

“He’s on Hart too.”

“I remember,” Sal said softly.

“And I’ll never forget.”

“You Bianchis. Your loyalty is rabid.”

Cal shook his head and reminded him, “Bianchi blood is in your veins.”

“Luckily Giglia blood is dominant. Bianchis think with their hearts. Giglias think with their balls.”

Cal smiled. “Giglias think with their dicks and, you see Vi, you’ll think I got Giglia blood.”

Cal listened as Sal laughed then he listened to that laughter die.

“Vinnie said she’s a good woman,” Sal said quietly.

Cal didn’t respond. Sal was family and now Vi was family. Their paths would cross. Sal would find out for himself one day.

“You held this marker a long time,” Sal noted. “You’re pullin’ it for her, she must be.”

“Make my woman safe, Sal,” Cal ordered softly.

“Fatto, figlio. Done,” Sal replied just as softly. “But when it’s done, I want her at my table. Gina will make cannelloni. You like Gina’s cannelloni.”

“I figure Vi, the girls and me will be in Chicago a lot, Sal. We’ll be at your table.”

“It’ll be good to see you, Cal,” Sal said and he meant it, the crazy f**k.

Cal didn’t reply. He liked Sal just as much as he didn’t. But Gina’s cannelloni would be worth dinner at his table.

“I’ll make contact when it’s done,” Sal went on.