Page 68 of Caught in the Crossfire

“He’s looking for allies among the Italians,” he said. “Possibly the Luccheses, the Sandrinis, or the Rossis.”

My father had paid the other Dons, and we had assumed it had something to do with the Albanians.

Cas shook his head. “Can’t be Rossi. He’d never work with scum like them.”

“The Rossis were conveniently left out of your father’s records, right?” Ryu asked. “Maybe they’re hiding something.”

“Or maybe he’s just not involved at all,” Cas answered, pulling his phone from his pocket. The screen lit up while it buzzed in his hand. “I’ll be damned.”

“What is it?” I asked as I leaned over to get a view of whoever was calling.

“It’s Enzo,” he said. “Enzo Rossi.”

We all exchanged glances.

“Well, answer it.”

He tapped the screen and brought it to his ear. “Enzo?”

I could hear a deep voice on the other end, but not the words.

“What a coincidence. We’re nearby, actually,” Cas said while Ryu gestured widely. He might have actually hissedturn on the fucking speakerphone.

Cas waved him off, but just as quickly as he’d called, Enzo Rossi apparently hung up because Cas stared at theend callscreen.

“He hung up on me.”

“What did he say?” Ryu demanded. “Do we have to add another name to our kill list?”

Cas shook his head. “He said we should meet him at his restaurant. He has some information we might want.”

I looked at Obi in the rearview. “Coincidence? I think not.”

We turned our SUV around and followed Cas’s directions to Rossi territory.

Thirty minutes later,we pulled up in front of a restaurant calledNonna’s. Four men stood out front, waiting for our arrival. They eyed our vehicle warily while Obi parked the SUV on the street and all six of us got out.

Wynn withheld his groan as he lagged.Fuck. I didn’t want to see him hurt. Ciel quickly came to his side, and Wynn discreetly leaned onto his shoulder.

The six of us walked up to the front of the restaurant. An arty brick building extended five stories into the sky, withNonna’staking up the first level. Small shops lined the rest of the street on each side. A decent amount of foot traffic crossed in front of us on the sidewalk, but none of the pedestrians even blinked an eye at the clearly armed men waiting outside. The people just went about their business, joking and laughing.

Rossi technically had the smallest territory out of all the Five Families, and he was, to my knowledge, mostly a recluse. He rarelyattended social events unless he was required to. He kept to himself. My father never spoke of him—for good or for bad. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from him, or how much he knew about Max, the Albanians, or what was going on inside his territory.

He was a wildcard.

So why did he call us here?

I triple checked all my weapons. I still had my knives strapped to my thighs, and my Hellcat was freshly reloaded on the way over here.

The six of us stepped closer, and the four Rossi men formed a wall directly in front of us, barring us from entry.

Cas nodded to them. “Gentlemen. The Don has invited us.” He extended a hand to one man while he looped the other around my shoulders. “Anthony.”

“Caspian.” The man, Anthony, met Cas’s outstretched hand. “I can see that you’re armed.”

I glanced across us and almost snorted at the dozens of visible weapons, plus the knowledge we all had even more hidden.

“Yeah, well, we’ve been out hunting tonight,” Cas replied easily.