Page 30 of Hidden Ties (Made Men #11)

TWENTY-FOUR

THE VITALES

TEN MINUTES EARLIER…

R unning had been the only thing he was able to do when he couldn’t sleep, ever since he had found out the truth of his father.

Family.

It was a fickle word for a man who spoke the oath of the omertà. It meant that while you had a family you were been born into, you still swore that your loyalty to The Family came above all.

Vincent had thought himself lucky that joining the Caruso family was one and the same for him … until he found out the devastating news that his father, Vinny Vitale, had betrayed his oath.

The Vitales had been the trusted advisers and confidants to the Caruso bosses since the creation of the family.

With his father as one of the greatest consiglieres in history, he had helped broker a deal between the two feuding families, the Carusos and Lucianos.

So, imagine the surprise when they had all found out that Vinny was the elusive killer One Shot who had not only taken Luciano lives, but the Carusos and, perhaps the most devastating of all, Dante’s late wife and the mother to all his children, Melissa.

Now imagine how his son, Vincent, felt.

Looking at anything that reminded him of his father was hard.

Looking at any other made man in the family was hard.

Looking at his girlfriend, Lake, was hard.

Hell, just looking at his reflection in the mirror was hard.

But worst of all, looking at his bosses, Dante and now Lucca, was the hardest of all.

He should have been labeled as a betrayer and killed right alongside his father, yet he hadn’t.

Dante, Lucca, Nero, and everyone else in the family had shown him forgiveness, because they’d said there was simply nothing to forgive.

Telling him that they themselves hadn’t known the extent of Vinny’s betrayal, so how could he have known? But he should have.

Vincent was dumb.

Na?ve.

Talkative.

Idiotic.

Charming.

He was a funny yet endearing kind of person who joked way too much in life, but not anymore. Nothing in life was funny, or a joke, and he was, most of all, no longer a charming, na?ve, talkative idiot who was dumb enough to miss the obvious.

Now, as he ran miles around downtown, in dangerous places, hoping for someone to give him a reason to kill, after months, his prayers had finally been answered.

So, imagine his surprise yet again to find them to be answered right in the Casino Hotel …

Valerie had been internally screaming for help as she was forced to leave the Casino Hotel, knowing Edmond had a trained gun right at her back.

Without her bat or a weapon of her own, any false move meant she’d be dead.

If it hadn’t been for the crowded casino, she’d at least tried to fight back like she did with Gerard, but she hadn’t been comfortable risking the lives of bystanders.

She’d kept her head forward while her eyes scanned the casino for anyone she knew who could help her, but with not a single made man in sight, or a customer willing to even look up from their slot machine, she’d known she was shit out of luck.

Trying to desperately think under pressure of what to do, she had devised her best plan of taking Officer Daniels and Sal’s advice of running like hell. Sure, she’d probably get shot, but she’d have a better chance of it not being fatal or paralyzing her from the waist down.

As soon as she’d crossed the threshold of the Casino Hotel door’s, she had planned to run, but that plan had gone to hell in a hand basket when a man in a gray hoodie, who had been drenched in sweat, bumped into her and sent the gun at her back pinching into her skin with no doubt of it going to leave a bruise.

The strong man had caught her from falling, making Valerie practically curse out loud.

She would have preferred that, as it could have given her enough of an element of surprise to take the gun from Edmond.

But, as the man had held her steady for only a brief moment, Valerie had caught that baby blue gaze under his low hood that was unmistakable.

Vincent.

And in that second, her gamer brain had known exactly what to do.

“Sorry.”

Vincent had muttered harshly once he’d grabbed a hold of the woman to steady her. He had almost thought it was a boy at first, only deciding to catch her once he realized he was a she. He wanted a reason to fight someone, but he drew the line at women and children.

His hood had been so low from his run out in the cold that he didn’t bother enough to look before he jogged through the open door. Nor had Vincent bothered to even look the woman fully in the face. It wasn’t until he felt the rigid woman in his arms that he finally decided to give her a real look.

It was Valerie, the girl he had met yesterday at Sal’s place. If he hadn’t already met her, he would have thought nothing of the frightful look she gave him. He thought the obnoxious gamer held anything in her but fear.

He almost said her name, but then her lips mouthed a quiet word to him that made him realize something was really, really wrong.

Immediately, he picked up the strange man at her back, and his instincts let her pass right beside him as if he didn’t know her. That was when he noticed the outline of a gun through the man’s pocket at her back.

He walked only another foot before he turned, certain it was safe to watch them leave the safety of the Casino Hotel. He watched them carefully through the glass as they slowly crossed the street, buying himself time before he thought it was safe enough to follow behind.

Valerie Monroe was in serious trouble, but luckily for her, Vincent had been waiting for a fucking day like today.

The only problem? As he took his headphones out of his ears, he could only hope he had understood what she had mouthed correctly …

Sal and Kent entered the casino, trying their best not to look suspicious as they headed for the elevators in not too much of a rush that would draw attention to them.

They had no idea if Edmond was working alone or not, so they had to play it carefully.

If her old boss knew he was about to be cornered, he didn’t doubt, like any deranged animal, he would bite.

However, knowing Valerie was running out of time with each passing minute, he slightly picked up his speed.

“Her office was on the tenth floor,” Kent announced as they were almost to the elevators.

Sal nodded, not caring how Kent knew that at this point. He only knew that he somehow trusted the untrustworthy man where Valerie was concerned. He only hoped that both of their instincts were correct that she would have taken him to her old office.

Turning the corner sharply into the hallway that held the elevators, Sal ran right into a man with a gray hoodie. It wasn’t until the man turned his head that Sal instantly recognized him.

“Vincent?”

“Yes,” the soldier whispered back, reminding his superior to keep his voice down. “Your girl is in trouble.”

That was when it clicked that Vincent had been the jogger who had run right into Valerie at the Casino Hotel.

He took a calming breath, knowing he had another soldier to help back him up. It was three against one, as far as he knew, and he liked those odds.

Vincent went back to what he was doing, watching the elevator numbers travel up floors, as he spoke quietly again. “She just got on the elevator with him. I’m waiting to see where it stops.”

“They’ll get off at the tenth floor, where her office used to be.” Kent was the one to speak, and Sal agreed.

“I don’t think so.” Vincent shook his head, still staring at the numbers going up and unconcerned with who the man who was with Sal was. “I think she’s leading him up to the rooftop.”

“You think ?” Kent asked furiously. “You can’t think; you have to be fucking certain.”

“Listen, man”—Vincent threw him a dirty look—“I had headphones in when she whispered it to me. But she’s smart.

She’s been walking slower than a fucking snail to buy us time, so I think that’s what she’s doing by taking him to the rooftop—buying us more time by having to take the rooftop access. Watch—”

As the number hit nine, Sal had to agree that that sounded like her, but then it stopped at ten.

“Told you,” Kent said, pushing the elevator button swiftly so another one would take them to the top.

“Wait.” Vincent stopped them when the elevator began ticking away higher than ten. “See? They didn’t get off. They’re going to the rooftop.”

All of them slid into the elevator with a sprint.

“We have to be certain, Sal,” Kent told him as Sal’s hand wavered over the numbers. “If we go all the way to the rooftop and she’s not there, Valerie’s dead.”

Sal’s finger slowly moved to the tenth floor, pausing when Vincent spoke.

“She went to the rooftop.” His soldier was certain. “I know it.”

As Valerie’s life hung in the balance, Sal looked between the men, deciding who to listen to.

If Vincent were Lucca, he would have never questioned him, but the soldier hadn’t been the most reliable one, as Vincent had not only been the young and dumb one for quite some time, but he had been different since his father’s death.

Sal knew all too well what losing a parent did to you. He himself hadn’t become sane of mind until three years later. Every man in the family had cut Vincent some slack recently due to his loss, and now, here he was, supposed to take his word in order to save Valerie’s life, and possibly his own …

The blue moon ominously whispered to Sal, letting him know it wasn’t only Valerie’s life that hung in the balance.

Taking a deep breath, Sal made a decision.

Valerie got off the highest floor in the Horseshoe. It wasn’t the rooftop, but it was the closest they could get. Only a few workers in the casino had chosen to take their smoke breaks on the roof so they could smoke weed; they were unable to smoke it anywhere else due to the noticeable smell.

“I thought you vaped in the bathroom.” Edmond’s tone told her he was starting to reconsider believing her when they had to take the stairs for the rooftop access. Valerie needed to start doing everything in her power to start convincing him again.

“I did vape in the bathroom.” That part was definitely true.

She hadn’t given a fuck, and it made the bathroom smell like cotton candy, anyway.

“But I still would come up here from time to time to smoke with Lyle.” That part wasn’t true.

Anyone smoking weed on a rooftop was dumb as fuck.

You were simply asking for an accident by falling to your death.

Upon further thought, that checked out perfectly for Lyle.

Edmond took in her wildly oversized clothes, having never seen the way she dressed outside of work before. “I should have known.”

While they took the stairs of the rooftop access at slow pace, she could feel the sweat beginning to bead on her temples.

She had hoped with how fucking slow she was going they wouldn’t have made it this far, but as she swung open the door to the roof, she should have known she wasn’t going to get that lucky.

Valerie had only been up here once, and it’d been during the day when she’d needed some fresh air. It was much different at night up here, as the cold air hit her face like needles.

Gingerly, she stepped closer to the ledge. The only reason she could see so clearly up here was because the full moon illuminated the rooftop as if it were a spotlight. She could almost swear it looked kind of blue.

Click .

The sound of the safety on the gun being disengaged was unmistakable, letting her know the severity of her current situation before Edmond had even told her.

“Time’s up.”