Page 106 of Pietro

This woman won't stop making me admire her with her strength and her fucking stubbornness.

CHAPTER THIRTY

PIETRO

The car feels too small with everything unsaid between us. I start the engine while Nora buckles in.

I dial Lorenzo before pulling out of the parking spot. He answers on the second ring.

"Pietro? Everything okay?"

"I found the leak."

Silence. Then, "Who?"

"Tony."

"Tony? That's not—" Lorenzo stops himself. "Where are you?"

"Leaving Gino's. I need you and Nico. Now."

"Come to Arancini. Back room. I'll call Nico."

"Twenty minutes."

"Pietro, is Tony?—"

"Alive. For now. It's complicated."

I end the call and merge into traffic.

"What happened to Riccardo?" Nora's question comes soft but direct.

My hands tighten on the wheel. The memory tries to surface.Blood on marble, screams, Lucrezia in her wedding dress. And I force it back down.

I take a breath, then another. The rage that always comes with Riccardo's name simmers just below the surface.

"Bruno was supposed to marry Lucrezia Feretti."

"The New York family." It's not a question. "My father spoke of them. Old power, older than most families in America."

"You know them?"

"Of them. Connor had dealings with their Brooklyn operations, but I never met them personally. Damiano Feretti runs things now, right?"

I nod. "Damiano took over after their father passed some years ago, his brother Enzo handles enforcement."

"And Lucrezia is Damiano's sister."

"Was supposed to unite our families. Chicago and New York, strongest alliance on the East Coast." The words taste bitter.

"Lucrezia ran away an hour before the wedding." I keep my eyes on the road, not wanting to see Nora's reaction. "With Daniel Hayes, Damiano's head of security."

"She escaped?"

"They'd been together. I don't know their whole story, but she didn't want the marriage."

"I hate these families." Nora's voice carries sharp edges. "Every woman just currency for alliances. Traded like property."