Page 108 of Caught in the Crossfire

He was trying to set me up. But they’d never fall for that, would they? I had evidence. Proof. I’d never been involved. For the past six years, I’d been trying to take him down, nothelphim.

“You’re thinking now that you’ve spent years building a case against me, and that it would be impossible for me to pin it on you. You underestimate me again. Since I’ve known how you’ve been watching me, and I’ve been watching you, it’s been easy to forge a trail of your location history and match it up with the locations I used to transport products. It’s been easy to buildjustenough of a paper trail to cast doubt on your side of the story. The Camorra would never believe you weren’t involved. Youhaveknown, of course. And you’ve done nothing. So you see, if I go down, you’re going with me.”

My brain cycled through what he was saying, trying to process it. Was that…possible? Had he beaten me so thoroughly? Would the Camorra wipe us all out just for a clean slate?

They’d done it before, in Campania. They’d wiped out an entire branch of their Family when they thoughtomertàwas broken. They killed andthenasked questions. Not the other way around.

“I’ll kill you, Luciano. If what you say is true, then fine. We’ll both go down. I have nothing to lose.”

He laughed, hand on his belly. It made my skin fucking crawl. “No, you won’t, Max.”

“And why are you so certain?”

“Killing me is equivalent to killing Leona.”

I blinked,tryingto control my reaction, but my entire body felt cold. “How?”

“All the plans you make against me force her to become collateral damage. You know that. If you expose me, they’ll wipe us all out. If you kill me and try to take control, she’ll be a target for her marriage prospects. The Family will belong to her husband; everyone knows that. If I die, she will follow. And as you said,her safety is the most important thing.”

My hands fisted at my sides. “You’d use your own daughter as a human fucking shield. You’d use your her for blackmail.”

“No, not blackmail. How could it be blackmail? We’re one happy family! And we will be cemented together for life once you marry her.”

The breath felt knocked out of me. “Marry her?”

“You’ll marry her once she turns eighteen.” He placed the gun in the back of his waistband and sat down again. A clear sign he didn’t view me as a threat at all. He gestured for me to sit again, but I couldn’t get my legs to work. I couldn’t get my body to function. “Then you’ll be tied to us forever. If you turn on me, you’ll take yourself down, too. If you hurt me, you’ll hurt her. If you step out of line, the Camorra will wipe us all out. You have no options here, Max. None. The only choice you have is to follow my commands, and things will remain as they always have. I’m not even asking you to take part in my alternate business ventures. I’m just telling you to keep your mouth shut, and do a good fucking job as my second.”

My stomach turned. I was going to be sick. He was right. If I married her, she’d never get out of this life. I might get the Family, eventually, but she’d never get free. She’d always be a pawn for him to use. She would be the vehicle through which he could control me.

Leona would never be safe by my side.

Marriage was a trap for us both.

What about Caspian? If I told him the truth now, surely he’d see through Luciano’s lies. Surely he’d help me kill Luciano.

“Ah, yes, I forgot,” Luciano said, as if he could read my thoughts. “Caspian. Don’t even get me started on Caspian. I know how much you love him. You’re brothers forged by fire—quite like how your father and I used to be. Caspian’s in the same boat, though it would be much easier to get rid of him.”

Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck.My brain bounced from thought to thought, trying to find a way out of this. A way for both her and Cas to survive. Luciano had me by the balls, and he’d never let me walk out of this office without agreeing to his plans. The Camorra were bearing down, and I was his escape plan now.

My brain latched onto that.

I was his escape plan.

He needed me.

Heneeded me. I could be the bargaining chip here.

“You think you have all the power here, Luciano, but you’re mistaken.”

“Oh, am I?” He tilted his head back and smiled like this was all a fucking joke to him.

“You are.” I straightened, running my hand down the front of my suit. It was new, and in this moment, it felt like armor. “I’ve spent six years building allies against you, and they belong to me whether you like it or not. It doesn’t matter that you know who they are; they’remine. If push came to shove, there’s a chance that I’d win this civil war. You can’t take that risk. I’m not the weak boy I was when you murdered my father.”

He smirked. “I can see that.”

“So I’ll offer you a deal.”

“And what would that be?”