Page 73 of Caught in the Crossfire

I chewed my bottom lip. The Luccheses being involved also connected the Sandrinis to this whole mess. My father must have been paying them both for something similar, and then over the years, the Vokshi felt safe with them.

“Why did you call us?” I asked Rossi. “You could have just kept this hidden and found another way to contact Chiara.”

“Perhaps it’s because I believe we could one day trust one another.” He sighed and then laughed. “Perhaps it’s because Cas is my friend, reluctant though I am to say.”

“Thanks,” Cas smirked. “Dick.”

“I’ve been watching you and the Shadows.” Rossi’s face turned contemplative. “I’m telling you this because you need tounderstand that I take my duty to the people who live under my care seriously. I will not be used, Leona. To answer your earlier question, that’s the kind of man I am. Your father learned this early, and ultimately left me in peace.”

I stared at him. He wouldn’t be used; he didn’t want to be involved in the old Dons’ shit; and he certainly didn’t want trafficking in his territory. Rossi and I had more in common than I thought.

I nodded. “All right. Message received. How about this, Rossi? You watch my back, I’ll watch yours. Outside of that, we’ll leave each other be.”

He considered for a moment before he nodded. “Agreed.”

I huffed a breath through my nose, then looked at Cas. If Orik was with the Luccheses, we needed to go there next. Whoever aided our enemies would pay the price. We had work to do.

“Well, Rossi. Thank you for the information.”

“You’re welcome,” he replied while grabbing another towel and cleaning the countertop in front of him. “Now I’m hungry, and I’d like a late dinner. Care to stay?”

“Appreciate the offer, but I’d rather not eat overworked and overcooked pasta.”

He laughed. “Don’t blame you.”

Cas extended his hand, and they shook. “Good to see you, Enzo.”

“Always a pleasure, Cas. Come see me again when you’re not building an empire from scratch.”

Cas folded his hand into mine and squeezed. We both headed back toward Anthony to escort us out of the restaurant.

“It was very nice to meet you, Leona Vero,” Rossi called. I turned. He pulled the lump of dough from the fridge and unwrapped it.

“Lovely to meet you, Don Rossi.”

He waved a hand while he sprinkled some flour on the counter and picked up a wooden rolling pin.

26

CIEL

The Luccheses were a problem.

Leona came out of Rossi’s restaurant ready to storm their castle and tear it apart brick by brick looking for Orik Vokshi, but that was “unwise,” as Obi has so graciously put it.

We couldn’t fly into their territory without a plan, demanding they overturn someone whoshouldbe their enemy, and expect them not to get pissed at us. It was too great of a risk.

So we’d returned to the penthouse to regroup.

We all agreed the Luccheses and the Sandrinis needed to be addressed. Obi said he’d think of a plan to go after them both while I tried to stay on top of tracking Orik Vokshi.

Here we were a week later with little to show for it.

Orik Vokshi had disappeared. He’d vanished from Lucchese territory without a trace, slipped through my fingers like a ghost.

There wasn’t even someone deleting his digital trail, like Lucia had done with Max before. Nope, he was still there, hiding in a goddamn hole—unlikely—or he’d avoided getting caught on any cameras.

Fucker. It was so frustrating.