Page 54 of His Wicked Wants (West Coast Mobsters #6)
CHAPTER 50
NERO
I can see the name means something to everyone standing here. But it means nothing to me. “Miller’s sister,” I repeat, acutely aware of Gabriel’s tension beside me, the way he’s shifted closer as though to shield me from what’s coming.
“She’s a—she was a movie star,” Gabriel says, pulling his gaze from her and turning to me. “But she died . Well, she was murdered, actually.”
“She appears hale and hearty to me,” I offer with a shrug.
But Gabriel has warmed to his theme, the words tumbling out of him. “But Nero, it was a huge story. You didn’t hear about it in Italy?”
“Unless it affected business, I would not have taken an interest.”
Jacopo takes a step forward. “Well, that’s the thing, Andretti. I’m guessing she has something to do with your business, because at one point, Ms. Beaumont here was also the best friend of Roxanne Rochford.”
I stare at the woman. She stares back.
“Perhaps the best person to interrogate about all this is the woman in question,” I suggest. “Since I can assure you, I’ve never seen her before.”
“Oh, we’ll be getting more information out of her,” Jack says. “But we’ll do that somewhere with more privacy. And I’m sure Ms. Beaumont will be anxious to have a reconciliation with her best friend. Right?”
The woman—Ms. Beaumont, apparently—speaks at last. “If you try to take me anywhere, I’ll scream the place down. You’re—you’re kidnapping me.” She turns to me with an imploring look on her face. “Please, Nero—help me.”
Whoever she is, she’s dangerous. Because I truly have no idea who she is, have no orders from La Contessa about her, and yet she knows my name, speaks to me as if we are acquainted. “Let’s go back to Redwood, then,” I say after a pause. “Because I would appreciate another chance to talk to Don Castellani.”
“No,” Gabriel says sharply. “It’s too dangerous, Nero. Jack, come on , Nero clearly has no idea who she is?—”
“Stay out of this,” Miller tells him, while still staring daggers at his sister. “I promise, Gabriel, you don’t want to get involved.”
“He’s right,” I say in an undertone, turning toward Gabriel. There is an emerald fire in his eyes once more, and the stubborn set of his jaw that I remember all too well. “You stay here and let me handle this.”
“Carstairs is coming, too,” DeLuca says with an apologetic glance at Gabriel when he turns in surprise. “Sorry, but if Andretti’s involved, we gotta take a look at you, too. Right, Jack?”
Jacopo seems in two minds, but eventually he nods. “DeLuca’s right,” he says. “But you have my word, I won’t let Sandro do anything…”
“In anger?” I ask with a short laugh.
“He’s got a leash on that temper these days,” Jack says. “And he won’t hurt an innocent.”
I’m feeling my own temper rise. “I will not allow Sandro to interrogate Gabriel. The only thing he is guilty of is following the orders of Sandro’s own brother in restoring features around Redwood Manor. If Sandro has a problem with that?—”
“I’m happy to go,” Gabriel breaks in. “I want to go. I want a chance to explain to Don Castellani why he’s wrong about Nero.” The faith in his voice astonishes me. Even now, even after everything he has learned about me—he still believes in me with unwavering certainty.
“Then everyone’s happy,” Jack says with irony. “DeLuca, get these two their clothes. You’ll get dressed, and then we’ll get moving. And you—” He points at the woman. “You’ll keep your mouth shut while we’re going through the lobby or I’ll shut it for you. You hear me?”
But for now, Ana?s Beaumont seems to have decided silence is her best defense.
There’s a complicated negotiation over who’s going in what car, but ultimately Jack and Miller take the woman they claim to be Ana?s Beaumont in the Pinto. I’m glad that we don’t have to ride with her. She’s done enough damage as it is. Gabriel and I are seated together in the back of the town car DeLuca must have arrived in. DeLuca sits next to me, his gun pressed into my side. The driver is one of the Redwood regulars, and I can tell from his tired eyes that he’s been through the same hell as all of us have over the last day or two…and yet he’s still here, doing his job.
The Bernardi and PacSyn invasion of Redwood has failed in all ways. The remaining Castellanis have been forged in fire together. They will be stronger than ever, tempered and sharp.
I simply hold Gabriel’s hand on the drive and prepare myself for what could be my last meeting with Alessandro Castellani. Gabriel must sense my thoughts because his fingers tighten on mine, his thumb brushing over my knuckles as we get closer to our destination. As we enter the gates of Redwood Manor, I drink in the beauty of it one last time, try to see it how Gabriel must see it.
The redwood cluster that gives the estate its name. The winding driveway that takes us closer and closer to the French-style chateau—and my fate. I wince along with Gabriel as I take in the damage: the lawns ripped up by bullets, trees bent and broken that used to stand so proud, the statue of Venus riddled with bullet holes, her face obliterated.
I squeeze Gabriel’s hand when his face twists with pain as he surveys the destruction. “I’m so sorry,” I murmur to him. “You’ll put it right, little gardener.”
He turns to me, his eyes damp. “It’s not so much the grounds,” he mutters. “It’s the people. They can’t be replaced.” He leans past me. “Raffi, do you know…how many?”
“Too many,” DeLuca replies gruffly. And it’s not because he’s dismissing the question. It’s because he feels the same pain of loss.
And I feel it too.
I keep thinking of Ray Ventura, that foolish, brave man bleeding out, and not a thing I could do to save him. And his last request, to make him proud of me…
I’m almost glad he didn’t live to hear of my betrayals. And yet I would much prefer him alive and hating me.
We arrive at the house, where the guards watch our ragged band tumbling out of two cars with interest. We’re all patted down, even Jacopo. “Pedretti’s orders,” one of them says apologetically to the Underboss. “No free weapons in the house until things have calmed down.”
I took no weapons with me, of course. But Jack surrenders his to be stored in a large, sturdy weapons locker that has been set up to the side of the front door. DeLuca is about to hand over his gun when one of the guards forestalls him. “Not you, Raf. Security stays armed at all times.”
How long, I wonder, will that cursed night scar the psyche of this Family? La Contessa still talks of betrayals to her kin from half a millennia ago. Will the Bernardi Wedding be looked back on as a turning point for the Castellanis? Sandro always did have a keen sense of history. I don’t think it will be forgotten any time soon. And that doesn’t bode well for me, either.
Like his mother, he is unforgiving of betrayals.
“It will be alright,” Gabriel whispers.
It’s as though he read my mind. I put my arm around him and draw him close unapologetically, pressing a kiss to his temple. His warmth against me is both comfort and courage. And I swear to whatever entity is listening that I will not let Gabriel Carstairs be harmed.
Not by Sandro Castellani. Not by La Contessa. Not by any power in this world. I’ll die first, and die happily, just like Ray Ventura.
It would give my life some meaning at last, to die for love.