Page 81 of Mafia Daddy's Christmas Bride

“Lienev is dead.”

“Right, but they’ve got a little club or something over in Queens. We could dump them there,” Sal says, putting his gun back into his holster and sheathing his knife.

“Let’s dump one there, the others at the docks.” I know that Sal understands that this means hiding them in cargo and arranging for someone on the ship to dump them in the middle of the ocean.

“I’ll call cleanup.” Sal takes out his phone and makes the call.

As we walk back to the car, Sal is practically vibrating with adrenaline. I'm steady, the same as always.

As we wait for the cleanup crew, I casually wipe the blood from my bat with a handkerchief. "I've been meaning to ask about your brother."

Salvatore stiffens. "Ernesto? What about him?"

"You’re convinced that Don Ferraza ordered his hit." I open the trunk, placing the bat inside. "I'm curious what you have as evidence."

"Why? You planning to do something about it?" His voice carries an edge of hope.

I shrug. "Just doing my due diligence to protect Marco."

"My proof is solid. First, Ernesto was meeting with one of Ferraza's captains the night before he was killed. Second, he's no drug user."

I raise an eyebrow. "That's it? A meeting and you think he was clean?"

"You questioning me, Ginetti?"

I shrug. "Just worried you've got tunnel vision on this. Ernie was making waves with all the families. Poking his nose into business when he wasn't made. You know how it works."

"He was just eager, that's all."

Sal thinks his brother met with a Ferraza captain, but what if it was Ferraza’s wife? "Any chance he met with Don Ferraza's wife?"

"What the fuck, Ginetti. Why would he do that?"

I shrug again. "Rumor is she was seeing someone… affair or snitch, maybe." I'm not sure I should share so much, but I need answers.

I expect Sal to come at me then. Instead, he glares at me. "Maybe he did know her, but he wouldn't have killed her."

I stop short. "Are you saying Ernie knew Mrs. Ferraza?"

This time he shrugs. "Maybe he did, but like I said, he wouldn't have killed her."

"Why?"

"If anyone wanted her dead, it was Leo. That's what happens to traitors."

I try not to gape at the implications.

Did Leo have his wife killed?

No, that can't be right.

Isabella betrayed him and he fought hard to protect her. Surely, he'd have done the same for his wife.

“What do you mean?” I feel like I’m on the verge of finding the right thread to pull in this convoluted case.

Sal leans in close, putting his face in mine. “Why don’t you ask your wife?”

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