Page 18 of Empire of Seduction (New York State of Mafia #2)

nine

. . .

Vito

While we waited on Michael, I went up to shower and dress. I skipped shaving, threw on jeans and a sweater, and was back downstairs just as the older Fiorentino sibling arrived.

Tommaso and Cesare were at the kitchen island, their brows creased with concern, and Michael closed the door behind him. “Hey. What’s going on?”

I tucked a pistol in the back of my jeans and gestured to my men. “Let’s go. I’ll explain on the way.”

“Is something wrong?” Michael hesitated when the rest of us went to the door. “Why are you carrying a gun?”

I held open the door and said nothing. After Michael stepped onto the deck, I locked the cottage door behind us and pocketed the key. “We need to hurry, capisce?”

“Vito—” Michael said, ignoring my orders.

I grabbed his shoulder, squeezed hard to make a point. “Don’t ask questions until we’re in the car,” I repeated. His skin paled but he nodded. I could see why he might be worried, so I added, “This isn’t about you. Let’s go.”

The four of us went to the SUV parked in the winery’s lot.

Tommaso got behind the wheel, Cesare up front, while Michael and I settled into the back seats.

When the doors closed, I said, “One of my guards is missing. He went out last night to a bar outside of town. I need you to direct us to where he might’ve gone. ”

“Oh.” Michael visibly relaxed. “Okay. There are a few dive bars that people go to. Farther out of town are two strip clubs. Any idea what direction he went? That might help.”

“The strip clubs,” Cesare said. “We should start there.”

“Let’s go,” I ordered. “Michael, direct him.”

No one else spoke as Michael gave Tommaso directions out of town. I hoped we were overreacting. Like Tommaso said, we weren’t familiar faces here. There was no reason to think there was any danger. Benetti had assured me things were running smoothly, so we should be safe here.

The first club was deserted, the parking lot empty. To be sure we drove around the neighborhood, checking for Gaetano’s car, but didn’t see it. Along the way, we passed two of the dive bars Michael mentioned, but there was no sign of the car.

It only took a few minutes to reach the second strip club, but my brain kept spinning possibilities the entire time.

One of my bad habits, Enzo liked to say, was overthinking things.

Good for a consigliere, but a boss needed to make swift and certain decisions.

Time was a luxury I could no longer afford, as my brother warned before I left for Toronto.

The lot at the second strip club was not empty. A large black SUV rested in the back, near a patch of woods. “There’s the car. Pull in here.”

“Cazzo!” Tommaso said under his breath and swung into the lot.

I scanned the surrounding area through the windows. No one seemed to be around. Was this a trap? Where the fuck was Gaetano?

My muscles tightened, my body alert as Tommaso parked the car. I pulled the gun from my waistband. “Stay here,” I told Michael and got out. Tommaso and Cesare were beside me as we all eased toward the parked SUV.

“Maybe you should also wait in the car,” Tommaso said quietly to me. “Until we know this is safe.”

I didn’t bother responding. Gaetano was my responsibility and I would help find him. I tried the passenger side door and found it locked. “Is that side open?”

“No.”

We peered through the tinted windows and the windshield. The car appeared empty. This was confirmed three minutes later when Cesare broke in. There was no evidence of Gaetano in the car, nor any indication of a struggle. “Start calling his mobile.”

Tommaso pulled out his phone while I walked around, searching the area. No scuff marks, no blood. No bullet casings. It was strange. Maybe Gaetano did go home with?—

A buzz sounded in the distance. We all froze, listening. “The woods,” I said, bolting toward the trees. “Again, Tommaso!”

I followed the noise, moving carefully so I could still hear. The other two were behind me, doing exactly the same. I moved to my right as Tommaso called a third time. I hoped to fuck that someone had thrown Gaetano’s phone out here, that it wasn’t what I feared.

A large shape on the ground, unmoving, caught my eye. A mobile buzzed somewhere underneath it.

Gaetano. And he was not alive.

“Motherfucker!” I snarled and lowered my gun.

“Madre di dio,” Cesare cursed as the three of us surrounded the body.

Gaetano had been shot once in the forehead. Executed here in the woods. Alone.

Leaves crunched nearby.

All three of us aimed our guns at the sudden noise. Michael put his hands up, his eyes round with horror. “Don’t shoot me. I just . . . Oh, my god. Is he dead? ”

“You were told to wait in the car,” I snapped. “Go, Michael.”

“Wait, I’m sorry. I wanted to help you look. Has he been out here all night?”

Tommaso found Gaetano’s mobile and handed it to me. “The code is his birthday,” my guard told me. “February seventeenth.”

I unlocked the phone and began searching for any clue as to who did this. There were a flurry of missed calls from us, plus unread text messages from Tommaso. Nothing else of note.

“Think this was Benetti?” Cesare asked. “In retaliation for being here.”

Instantly, I knew this wasn’t Luca. “No. He wouldn’t risk a war with us.”

I checked the photos on Gaetano’s phone.

Sure enough, there was a video from the night before.

I hit play and it was obvious Gaetano was in a VIP room at the club.

A pair of tits filled the camera as a girl gave him a lap dance, grinding her hips in his lap.

The angle swung to her face, where she smiled at him, then back to her tits.

There was music pumping in the background, so I couldn’t hear what was being said, but it sounded like he called her “Terry.”

“Hey, that’s Tammy,” Michael said over my shoulder.

The three of us looked over at him. “You know her?” I asked in English.

“Sure. I’m not, like, a regular but I go with the boys every now and again. Plus, I went to school with Tammy’s younger sister.”

“Last name?”

“Bruno.”

“Do you know where she lives?” When Michael shook his head, I ordered Cesare to start searching for the girl. “But we have to deal with his body first.”

“Fuck.” Tommaso rubbed his head.

Exactly. But we couldn’t leave him here—and we couldn’t involve the police.

“Digging in the cold ground is a bitch,” Cesare said absently as he typed on his phone.

Tommaso slapped the back of Cesare’s head. “Have some respect, stronzo.”

I put my hands on my hips and stared down at my former guard.

I fucking hated when my men died. This was the life we’d signed up for and we knew the risks, but that didn’t mean I was cavalier about death.

Gaetano was in his late forties, a cugino, a cousin to me, exactly like Cesare and Tommaso.

This wasn’t unusual. The ’Ndrangheta remained a secret because we were all family—literally.

We only trusted those related to us and no one ever ratted out their family.

And one of our family members had been murdered.

“What are we going to do with him?” Cesare asked in our own language.

Tommaso raised his eyebrows meaningfully. “There’s digging equipment at the winery, no?”

I instantly dismissed this. I couldn’t bury a man on Maggie’s property. “That isn’t an option. Not at the winery.” I looked at Michael. “How far away is the ocean?”

“About two hours to the coast,” he answered. “Why?”

I ignored the question and checked my watch. Fuck, it was going to be tight. And I’d need to rent a boat. “Let’s load his body in the SUV,” I said to my men. “We’ll drop Michael off and then take care of this.” In English, I asked Michael, “What time does this place open?”

“Four, I think.”

Cesare scrolled on his phone. “He’s right. And they close at two.”

I checked the video stamp on Gaetano’s video. 1:36 A.M. “We’ll come back after they open to find this woman and see if they have security footage. Let’s deal with our cugino first.”

Tommaso searched Gaetano’s pockets and found the fob for the SUV. “I’ll drive him back to the winery.”

I put a hand on his shoulder. The two men had been close. “Grazie, Tommaso.” To Michael, I said, “Open the hatch on the parked SUV, the one Gaetano was driving. It’s unlocked.”

“Why?” The confusion on Michael’s face morphed to horror and he took a step back, his palms shooting up. “Wait, you aren’t putting him inside the car, are you? You have to call the police, right? He’ll be taken to a funeral home and buried in a cemetery, right? We aren’t?—”

“Michael.” He quieted at my sharp tone. “We will handle this our way, capisce? No police, no cemetery.”

“Where are you going to bury him?”

I smothered an irritated sigh. “It’s better if you don’t know. Now, go. Do as I say, and don’t ask questions. And don’t tell a single fucking soul what you saw here today.”

“Oh, god. Oh, god. Okay.”

Michael turned and stumbled, then hurried back the way we came. Tommaso moved toward Gaetano’s feet. “He’s a good kid. We could use him in Toronto.”

“His sister would slice my balls off if I tried,” I said dryly. “Let’s do this. I need to be at a meeting by one o’clock.”

Tommaso and Cesare each lifted a stiff leg and began dragging Gaetano’s body out of the woods.

As we trudged back to the car, I dialed Toronto and told them to send more men today .

We needed to kill whoever was responsible for Gaetano’s death—swiftly and painfully.

Then I arranged for the jet to pick up my men back home.

At the SUV, the three of us lifted the heavy corpse into the back, while Michael looked on, his skin pale. Once Gaetano was in, Tommaso started off for the winery. Cesare got behind the wheel of the SUV, so I gestured for Michael to get in. “ Andiamo . Let’s go.”

I could see his throat work as he swallowed, but he obeyed and slid into the backseat. I followed, then unlocked my phone and punched a few buttons. The other end rang once before a deep voice answered. “What the fuck do you want now?”