Page 77 of Mafia Daddy's Christmas Bride

“I met with Vinny Moretti, and he shared that there were rumors of her talking to an informant… maybe even having an affair.”

Marco's brow arches. “Really. I find that hard to believe. She was always so devoted to Leo.”

I shrug. “I'm not sure I buy it either. I trust Vinny, but that doesn't mean he’s right. He did say he dropped her off at a café once and was asked to park down the street. When she returned, she was agitated.”

“What do you think it means?”

“I don't know. Maybe she was approached like Isabella was. Maybe she was having an affair. Maybe she was blackmailed. All of this is a bunch of maybes.”

He nods, considering. “But if she was talking to an informant, that suggests someone on the inside leaking to the cops or Feds. Who'd be so stupid?”

I lean back in the chair, taking a slow sip of whiskey. “What about Ernie Abruzzo?”

Marco jerks, taken aback. “Salvatore’s brother. That ass wipe?”

“Salvatore still has a hard-on about Leo offing Ernie. He threatened Isabella right to her face.”

“First, that doesn’t mean Ernie was an informant or meeting with Leo’s wife.” He shakes his head. “She had too much class for him. But…” he says before I can respond, “Salvatore needs to remember his place. I’ll remind him that Isabella is protected… for now.”

The ‘for now’ makes my stomach clench. “The thing is, what if Ernie was mad that you and La Corona wouldn’t promote him from associate to soldier? He could get back at us by snitching.”

Marco shakes his head. “He was ambitious and reckless, but he wasn’t stupid. He wouldn't have moved against me or La Corona.”

“He might if he was working with whoever is pulling strings now.”

“Turns out he was a junkie. Who’d trust him to take us on?”

“Are we sure he was a junkie? Drug ODs are one of Ferraza’s MOs. It’s why Sal thinks he was behind the kill.” I lean forward. “Is it weird that none of us know who ordered that kill?”

Marco sucks in a breath. “I was going with the idea that he offed himself, but you’re right.” He pauses. “You think Leo ordered it?”

“Maybe.” But there’s something else bugging me about all this.

“What? I can see the wheels turning in your head.”

“I don’t know. Why would Ferraza kill Ernie?—”

“You just suggested he was seeing his wife.”

“And you said she has too much class. It just feels like all this is part of some elaborate scheme. We’re like fucking dominos. One got pushed, and all this shit is happening. The question is, who was the first domino?”

“And who pushed it?” Marco sips his whisky. “Someone is playing a long game.”

“I think it’s possible.” I think back to Ernie’s funeral. Leonardo Ferraza had been there, stoic and proper as always, offering condolences to Salvatore despite the rumors that he'd ordered the hit.

Was he innocent then, too?

Is Isabella's father being played just like his daughter?

Or had someone set up his wife, and he’d punished them both by killing them? Or am I paranoid and the deaths are simple revenge for infidelity or not even related?

“Leonardo's not a bad man,” I find myself saying. “He's made mistakes, but he's always put family first.”

“You're defending him now?” Marco raises an eyebrow. “After he practically sold his daughter to save his own reputation?”

“He sold her to save her,” I argue. “Look, I’m not defending him. It’s just that there’s something not making sense in all this. We're all pawns in someone else's game.”

“Whose? Someone within or the Feds?”