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She was hesitant and her eyes pleaded with Tommy, communicating that the last thing she wanted was to get in an ambulance. Did she have a phobia of them, or maybe she didn’twant to leave Tommy given her distress not too long ago when Al was shot.

The last thing the EMT needed was to worry about her, too.

“I’ll go,” I said.

Sandro’s face was still a blank mask, but I could see the fury simmering behind his eyes. At the audacity of the people who did this. “You sure?”

I took Griselda’s hand from Sandro’s and told him, “Do whatever you need to do and find the fuckers who did this.”

The detective shot Tommy a meaningful look. “We need to talk.”

A slight relief swept through me. Of course, this was in the Brooklyn area controlled by the Rossis, which meant they controlled the cops.

“Sticks. On Bianca.” Sandro turned to Arnie. “Call our men and have them guard the hospital.”

“She will have two police escorts,” the detective said. “I had to take Al into custody.”

Tommy and the cop exchanged a look again.

The EMT and his partner loaded the gurney into the ambulance.

Before I climbed in, Sandro gripped my arm. “Thanks for doing this.”

What was left unsaid was…despite my feelings about Griselda.

I had a role to fulfill as Sandro’s wife.

“She’s family,” I told him. “Take care of the men. I’ll take care of Griselda.”

Sandro

I watched the ambulance drive away, along with two police escorts. I knew those cops. They were on our payroll. Sticks and Arnie followed in the Expedition.

Still, I was unsettled not having Bianca in my sights during a powder keg situation, but I was facing the biggest challenge as the Rossi boss. Our enemies wanted to expose the weakness in our ranks. At how easy it was to hit us. But how, exactly? Raffa had top-notch security around his house. He’d been living in it for decades through all the mob wars between the Five Families.

No one could get in unless someone let them in.

Did Gian cut a deal with the Manhattan Albanians and Raffa told him no? He got pissed and shot Raffa? It didn’t make sense to me. Gian rarely did his own dirty work. I tried to recall the crew under him. One soldier stood out who had a trigger-happy finger.

One shot was all it would take to start a gunfight.

I recalled the time Raffa dared me to end his miserable life. Did he goad Gian or one of his men to shoot him?

The CSI and medical examiner vans arrived.

I dragged a hand down my face and exhaled a gust of frustration. A painstakingly long evening loomed before us with the number of bodies inside. When we first arrived, we were told that seven people were dead. Al had confirmed Uncle Raffa and Gian. He said he was on the second floor when he heard the one and only gunshot and Griselda started screaming. He thought for sure Gian had shot Uncle Raffa because they were in a heated argument before they locked themselves in the study. A meeting I knew about because Gian was bitching again about not being boss. Al said he was shot running down the stairs. He fell down the rest of the steps and lost consciousness. He woke up to a sobbing Griselda and a bullet-riddled house.

“You okay?” I asked Tommy after he talked to the detective. Since Tommy had been dealing with the police on behalf of theRossis since Frankie’s reign, I let him handle our connections in law enforcement.

“No, man.” He dug the heel of his hand into an eye. “I can’t believe this shit.” We were standing side by side, but facing opposite directions. “This has to be the Albanians. We shouldn’t have left any of those fuckers alive.”

“And we will get them if they did this. But how did they get in?” I felt for Tommy. I really did. He must’ve been feeling like he let his sister down. Just when things were looking up, we were hit again. What Albanian nest did we miss? I was sure we sent all of Doku’s loyalists running. “We need the surveillance in the house. Who has access to it?”

“Gian, Al, and Griselda,” Tommy answered.

One of our capos approached us. “I’ve got my men heading to King’s County hospital.”

“Do Sticks and Arnie know?”