All Is Fair

“A little birdie tells me you had a cop visit your apartment,” Toni said lightly, unwrapping a piece of gum and popping it between her lips. She shot the wrapper into the trashcan, leaning back in the chair and kicking her feet up on the desk in her study. Lea was sitting on a couch in the same room, looking through the pages of one of the many books, but now looked up at her cousin’s words. “Care to share the details of that conversation?”

“Spying on me?” Lea questioned, snapping the book shut with something similar to annoyance. She stood up, brushing her long hair out of her face and walking over to place the book back on the shelf. It had been a week since the funeral, and it had taken this long for Toni to decide to ask her cousin about the cop.

“You know the apartment is watched, Lea,” Toni answered reproachfully. It was true. Both of their houses were watched for protection, because though they were in thick with power, they could also be vulnerable. It was why Toni refused to bring her new friend home to speak to him. “Don’t act surprised when I ask you that sort of thing. I just want to know if I need to take care of him. Tell me what to do, here.”

Lea waved her hand, returning back to the couch and sitting. She sighed, shaking her head and adjusting the leather jacket she was wearing. “Nah, you don’t need to do anything. He’s clueless. He wanted to know the basics, didn’t bother me with anything. Plus, wasn’t Louis questioned too?”

Toni raised her brow at the mention of her only remaining brother. Louis had in fact shared the content of his brief run in with one of the officers on the case. But he was more interested in how pretty her face was, as opposed to the questions she wanted answered. “Yeah, he agreed to give them some enemy names.”

Both cousins smirked. “The Moretti’s. Sounds pretty well thought out, to me.”

Silence fell between them, and Toni felt Lea’s gaze heavy on her. Toni had been staying busy all week with filling in her brother’s position. Though Louis was also doing that task, Toni felt as the only blood left of the Paziali line, she had to be extra hard working in the task of being Gabriel.

Gabriel, though arrogant and often snarky, had still been a vey good businessman. He was good at collecting money, making friends and keeping the people that paid them for protection satisfied. It was difficult, more so than she thought it would be, making friends with people who were familiar with Gabe, friends with Gabe, and not her.

Toni had gone on several trips to visit many of the small places they protected, all family owned businesses. She had introduced herself to those that didn’t know her, and kissed those on the cheek in greetings that she did know. But it was obvious in the way that they looked at her, that they missed doing their business with Gabe.

She wasn’t her brother. But Toni sure as hell was going to try to be. “How are you?” Lea asked her, leaning forward, putting her elbows on her knees and searching Toni’s face. Lea was one of the few people Toni allowed herself to open up too. “I know it’s been hard and you’ve been… busy.”

“How the fuck do you think it is?” Toni asked quietly and not unkindly. Her voice was very tired and she seemed to shrink in the chair a bit, deflated. “Being Gabe is impossible, you know? I always used to think we were so much alike, that I was a mirror of him. Now I’m starting to wonder if that was ever true.”

Lea stood, giving Toni a sympathetic look. “For what it’s worth, I think you are everything Gabe was and better. I gotta go, but let me know if you need anything, okay? We’re family, you know.”

“How could I forget, with a pain in the ass little cousin like you?”

Lea grinned, flicking Toni off as she walked out the door, leaving Toni in silence. The girl sat there for a long time, drumming her fingers on the chair arm. Toni wasn’t sure of what to do, today. Biting her lip, she glanced at the clock. It was almost 3:15, and she knew that her new friend wanted to meet her at 3:30 on the Brooklyn bridge.

Harry Styles was a bad idea. Toni knew it in her heart and in her bones, that she would discover nothing from him. But ever since that night he had saved her and she got out of her car, asking him if they could talk, she could not stop thinking that he might have answers that she cried for at night.

But she also knew better than anyone that if she was seen talking to him, they were both dead. At least, he was. Toni wasn’t sure if her father could bring himself to kill her, but he would certainly cast her out and strip her of her families titles. And that was something unimaginable to her.

So there she sat, thinking and deciding. Going was stupid, and everything screamed against that idea. Toni was a smart girl, and always made the right decision because she was smart. So she knew what decision she had to make. Sort of.

“Ah hell,” she muttered, standing and grabbing her car keys.

*

Toni stood in the very middle of the Brooklyn bridge, the wind not too bad that day as she stood, hands stuffed in her pockets. On top of her head she wore a snapback with the bill pointing backwards, and glasses covering her face. she knew it wouldn’t do much if anyone knew her well, but it made her feel better.

Leaning against the side, she looked off into the water, wondering if she had just sentenced herself to death. It hadn’t occurred to her until she had arrived that Harry could be asking to meet her here to kill her or ambush her. Her heart didn’t think he had called her to meet him for this, but her brain did.

Waiting for only five minutes, she began to get impatient when someone leaned on the railing next to her, looking down at the water and letting out a long whistle, signaling that he was impressed with the drop. “Would suck to fall all the way down there, wouldn’t it?”

Her heart leapt a little bit. “Is that a threat?”

Harry looked at her, green eyes amused as he pursed his lips. “Of course not. If I wanted to kill you, I’d shoot you point blank. I don’t think I’d have it in me to throw you off a fucking bridge.”

“That’s a relief,” she said sarcastically. For a moment, they both leaned, looking over the sheer drop. She did think it would be pretty awful, to fall all that long way down. It gave her goose bumps. “So, what made you want to intervene the other night? So I’ll owe you? Or just because you were bored.”

“Well, I like to step in when there’s a pretty women around, or when I have nothing else to do.”

“Ahh,” she said, smirking and looking at him sideways. She was acutely aware that he was studying her face, his green eyes scanning every inch of it, as if he were trying to commit it to memory. If she didn’t know better, she would think he was trying to remember every one of her features. “So you think I’m pretty?”

“Actually I had nothing better to do.”

Toni glared at him as he grinned away. She had to admit that his sarcasm was charming in it’s own way, and that his smile was absolutely wonderful. For someone who was deep rooted into the mafia, he was extremely easy going. She wondered how fast it could turn into temper. “If you’re not going to give me answers, I’m going to leave and forget I ever ran into you.”

He raised his hands up defensively. “Alright, alright, calm down love. You don’t beat around the bush, do you?”

“I prefer to cut it down.”

“Well, I saved you that night because I don’t think anyone deserves to be out numbered, especially because you’re a woman. Granted, a woman who can defend herself, but a woman none the less.”

“Don’t give me the pity card.”

“It wasn’t pity, I promise.” He gestured for them to begin walking, and she did so grudgingly. “I also knew that if you were hurt, it would be pinned on my family. Just like the death of your brother. I’m sorry, about that, by the way.”

Her fists clenched and a thunder cloud of anger rolled in. “Sorry that your family murdered him? Or sorry that they got caught doing it?”

“For someone who wanted to ask me questions, you seem to think you have all the answers.”

Harry’s response stumped Toni. She was never used to having someone talk to her in a reproachful manner save her parents, and she was especially surprised because it was certainly true. Instead of apologizing, she sighed in annoyance, gesturing with her hand for him to continue. “I’m sorry that you lost a brother,” he said, shoving his hands in his jeans as they walked. He looked at her not with pity, but with sympathy. Which made her feel… well she wasn’t sure. But it was good. “Losing a sibling is… hard. As for the accusations, I can assure you his death wasn’t at the hands of our men.”

“Yeah, Gabriel just shot himself, right?”

He sighed in frustration, like he wanted her to believe him. And she did. But she couldn’t. “Look, one of my best guys where there and he swears none of them fired the shot, Toni.”

“Don’t do that.”

He looked at her, puzzled. “Do what?”

“Talk to me like you know me.” She stopped walking, shaking her head. “You know what, this was a mistake, I should never have thought to ask you shit. Just forget this every happened, alright?”

“Toni-"

“Bye.”

What she didn’t tell him, was that she wasn’t mad that he wasn’t giving her answers she didn’t want. It was because he was willing to give her whatever she wanted. And she didn’t like that.