Page 34

CHAPTER 34

M assimo

I have no idea how long I’m unconscious.

I wake up in the back of a car and my hands are tied. My vision doesn’t have time to focus before I hear Erica’s voice and something sharp jabs into my neck.

The next time I regain consciousness, I’m sitting in a chair. It feels like handcuffs are on my wrists. My ankles are shackled. I blink several times and see shadows moving.

“Fucking bitch,” I mutter, even though I can’t see Erica. I assume she’s in the room.

“Mo! You’re awake!” It’s Emilio’s voice.

I blink several times and glance to my right. Emilio is in a chair, too. His hands and feet are secured like mine.

“No matter what I do, I can’t get away from this family,” another voice sighs.

“Leo?” I look to my left.

Leo looks like he put up a fight. He always was a tough fucker. But this means we’re all here. The shadows come into focus. I see Erica and Paulie. No sign of Big Boyd, but he’s the least of my worries now. I yank at the handcuffs and my shoulder aches. I try the shackles and see they are secured to the floor.

“Why?” I demand, glaring at Erica.

“Why did I hire a hitman?” Erica laughs.

“No, I get that,” I growl. “But why Layla? She was like a fucking sister to you.”

“She was…” Erica walks closer and smiles. “Until she got pregnant and told me it was a boy.”

My face pales. Layla wanted to know, but I didn’t. I wanted it to be a surprise.

“Your brother was next in line after you, and you were such a hothead, I figured you’d get your damn self killed before you became a problem,” Erica continues. “But a baby? An heir? He’d jump the line, and I couldn’t have that, now could I?”

“This isn’t how we do things!” Emilio spits out. “I told you I’d never sit on my father’s throne!”

“But Matteo will,” Erica says, referencing my nephew. “One day, after I deal with the three of you.”

Leo is silent. I glance over at him before looking at Erica again.

“Leo doesn’t even want the damn job!” I growl. “There’s no reason to kill him! He’s a fucking priest!”

“Too risky.” Erica shrugs. “I can’t have a crisis of faith getting in the way of my son’s destiny.”

“You’re going to kill your own fucking husband?” Emilio shouts. “Who do you think is going to raise Matteo right, so he can even run this damn family, huh?”

“You coddle the boy. It’s better this way,” Erica answers. “I thought I could deal with Massimo and force you to man the fuck up, but we’re past that.”

I size up the room, even though there’s nothing I can do except sit in this damn chair and listen to the bitch who killed my wife talk about killing the three of us. Paulie still has his M16. It probably has bullets now, instead of darts. Most of the men here are associates, but I spot some former Bratva in the mix, too. Guys that survived the massacre. They must have been hiding for years.

My brother isn’t the one leading the coup. It’s his damn wife. If I’d taken the bullet in my skull instead of my shoulder, he’d be completely oblivious to everything.

“Got any bright ideas, Mo?” Leo mutters. “You’re supposed to be the leader here, aren’t you?”

“No,” I sigh. “Maybe you should pray for us.”

“Lo?” Leo asks.

“Besides strangling my wife?” Emilio says dryly.

“That’s not a plan.” Leo shakes his head. “Well, at least we’ll be together when we die, right? I’d say I’ll see the two of you on the other side, but I don’t think you’re going where I’m going. Unless you’d like to repent, so I can put in a good word for you.”

“I don’t think we’ll live long enough for me to list all my sins, Father ,” I grumble.

Erica and the guys with her are talking. I can’t hear what they’re saying, but judging by their glances, they’re discussing us. We’re in some sort of warehouse. Probably one of Emilio’s. I don’t guess it matters where we die.

“Anyone who thinks killing three members of the Morandi family is a bad idea, it’s not too late,” I bluff, looking around. “You know what will happen. Our father isn’t going to rest until he has vengeance. Someone will talk…”

“Really?” Erica laughs, walking away from the group. “And who do you think is going to talk? Paulie? Your father has treated him like shit for years. He should be a Capo, instead of a soldier.”

Erica fires off the names, laying out the reasons each of them is standing by her side. All I see is a bunch of fucking traitors the Morandi family is better off without. Except they’ll still have their position after this. Our father will have no idea they were responsible.

“And the Bratva?” Erica asks. “Obviously, they want you dead.”

“Yeah,” I mutter.

“I’m curious, though,” Erica says. “How did you find out about Layla? And who is this girl who stabbed Claudio before he could take his shot?”

My lip twitches and I bite my tongue. She doesn’t deserve an answer to her first question, and no amount of torture will give her the answer to the second one.

“Doesn’t matter. The Claudio loose end is already tied up. I should have known I couldn’t trust him.” Erica shakes her head. “We’ll find the girl. She left Isola Selvaggia with you, so she must be in Las Vegas. Your safehouses are being ransacked as we speak.”

They don’t have Lea’s name. That’s a relief. Theo got rid of her stuff before Erica’s men could get to it.

“Just a girl who didn’t want me to die,” I say dryly. “She’s nobody.”

Erica smiles and it almost looks sinister. “Nice try, Massimo, but I know you better than that. You haven’t even looked at a woman since Layla died, and we didn’t even get the knife under Claudio’s skin before he told us everything he knew. You told him to take the shot, which means you didn’t know about Layla until… well, we’ll figure that out when we find the girl.”

I pull at the handcuffs, no longer caring how much my shoulder hurts. I’m not in the position to make threats.

“By then, this place will be on fire, and the three of you will go…” Erica pulls a cigarette out of her purse, lights it, and exhales. “Up in smoke.”

“I loved you, you fucking bitch!” Emilio yells, yanking at his restraints. “We’ve been together since we were kids! How could you do this?”

“I never loved you, Emilio,” Erica sighs, taking a drag from her cigarette as she walks over to my brother. “I saw how powerful your family was, and after Massimo wouldn’t give me a second look, I realized you were my way in. I certainly wasn’t going to get anywhere with the priest.”

“I should have told Emilio what you tried back then,” Leo growls. “I thought you were just a mixed-up kid.”

“Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned,” Erica mocks, but her lips spread into a grin. “It’s been… two weeks since I’ve had a hard cock in my mouth. You were tempted, Leo. I saw it in your eyes.”

“You kept that from me?” Emilio snarls, his anger now directed at Leo.

“I’ve already repented for all of my sins,” Leo sighs. “Even that one. I thought I made the right choice after you two got married. Lots of kids get mixed up when they’re sixteen.”

“Did she throw herself at you, too, Mo?” Emilio asks, looking at me.

“There was no fucking point,” Erica chuckles. “Massimo is a brick wall. An emotionless void. I didn’t even think he was capable of love until he met Layla. I guess he has a thing for sweet, innocent girls.”

“Fuck you,” I snap.

“I bet that’s what this mysterious girl from the island was, before she ran into you,” Erica says. “Less than a week with you, and she’s stabbing people? I bet she’ll scream beautifully when we start peeling her skin off—and we won’t stop, even after she tells us what we want to know. I’ll leave a strip of it in your coffin, so you have something to remember her by.”

If willpower could get me out of this chair, I’d rip these handcuffs off. I pull at them until my wrists are bleeding, but the steel is stronger than my willpower.

“We picked up something on a security camera,” Paulie says, walking over to Erica and showing her his phone. “That’s her in the passenger seat. I’m having your tech guy run the image.”

“Splendid!” Erica says with sickening excitement in her voice. “Once we tie up that loose end, we’ll set this place on fire, and I’ll go play the grieving widow.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Paulie says, nodding to her.

If they got Lea’s picture from the security camera, then it’s only a matter of time until they figure out who she is. If we were close to the safehouse when we passed that security camera, they’ll have a general idea of her location. My phone signal isn’t strong enough to mask a camera. I’d need some additional equipment for that—equipment Erica is obviously familiar with.

I just hope Lea does what I said.

It’s too late for me, but she’s still got a fighting chance.