Page 12 of Saint Of Envy (Tangled Hearts, Sinful Hands #2)

LUC

B efore I can make it out of the casino bar and back up to the hotel suite to talk with Valentina and call Vincent, all hell breaks loose.

Several of our men come rushing into the bar at once, two of them bloodied and one with a frantic look on his face.

“Luciano! There’s been a strike at the new casino!” Alonzo shouts as he races through the door towards me. “It’s bad—the whole place is torched.”

This is exactly the thing I feared—that Leonardo would take out his revenge on the entire family instead of just me.

I pull out my phone to dial Vincent now because this simply can’t wait any longer.

But before I can even place the call, the men inform me that Vincent is already on his way back from Italy.

“We called the boss as soon as it happened,” he says. “He and Isla are already on a plane heading this way.”

Great, now not only do I get to deal with my cousin’s fury over his newest casino being torched, but I also get to deal with explaining to him in person about how The Barone and Conti families are now teaming up against us.

I get in the car with Alonzo to head back to the new casino and assess the damage. As soon as the building comes into view, it’s clear that Leonardo’s retaliation was a brutal one.

“Holy shit,” I whisper under my breath as we pull up in front of the still flaming building.

The fire has destroyed the entire casino.

There are small fires still smoldering that the fire department is trying to put out.

The fire blew out all the window glass, charred the casino’s walls, and destroyed everything inside.

This casino had just opened a few months ago.

It was the family’s newest business establishment and one that Vincent had left in my care to tend to without feeling the need to return for its opening operations.

The top floors were high-roller levels, and the lower levels were where our more illicit and illegal trading went on. Now, there is nothing left.

“Was anyone hurt besides the injuries that I saw from a few of our men?” I ask Alonzo as I step out of the car.

“Thankfully, no,” he shakes his head. “The casino hadn’t opened for the night yet, so there were no patrons inside. A few of our guys took a beating when they chased out the attackers.”

“What attackers? Were some of Leonardo’s crew here?” I ask, wanting to sort this out before Vincent arrives so that I can at least assure him I can handle it.

“Not sure whose men they were,” Alonzo says as he runs his hand through his thinning hair. “Our guys chased them, and they fired shots. They made it out and into a getaway car before anyone could get a good look to ID them.”

“What about the security cameras?”

“Haven’t had a second to check that video feed yet.

First thing we did was come to get you and notify Vincent in case there were any other attacks in the works,” he answers.

“You and I know Leonardo Conti will want more than one hit. This one was likely a diversion for something even bigger that he’s planning to execute. ”

I find no reason to keep Gabriel’s intel a secret from Alonzo, especially not now, after there’s already been an attack that has created major damage and interrupted business operations at a brand-new facility.

“It’s not just the Conti family,” I say, knowing that this is likely just the beginning. “There’s credible intel to suggest that he’s working with Barone now, too.”

Alonzo says nothing, but the look of shock on his face and the dropped open jaw relay that even he didn’t expect things to get this bad. A partnership between those two families is a definitive threat to us all.

“Luciano,” he says as we watch the cops take an assessment of the damaged casino and talk to witnesses still standing on the street outside. “This whole thing is going to be a mess to clean up.”

“Trust me, I’m aware.”

After assessing the damage and talking to the cops to smooth things over, I head back to check on Valentina. I know that she’s safe inside the suite, but it’s unsettling knowing that Leonardo could get a package through to her. I need to step up her protection before something else happens.

As soon as I return to the casino hotel, Vincent is there waiting. His eyes are fuming with anger and palpable annoyance. And before I’ve even fully stepped into the building, he’s already scolding me.

“I told you that this would happen,” he scowls as the two of us walk into the casino together.

We sit down at a table to talk. I had hoped to get up to the suite first to talk with Valentina before dealing with my cousin, but since he’s already here, there’s really no chance of avoiding dealing with him first.

“Where’s Isla?” I ask, hoping that she’s with Valentina now so that she at least isn’t up there alone.

“She went up to the suite to visit with Valentina, and to give the two of us some time alone to talk,” he says, still audibly angry.

“Luciano, I told you to inform me if Leonardo leveraged any threats. I wasn’t expecting to be notified by my men without warning that our newest installation was just blown up. ”

“Yeah, my apologies, neither was I,” I say with a regretful sigh. “Honestly, even for Leonardo, that was a big attack.”

“I told you not to underestimate him,” Vincent repeats. “And I knew that the stunt you pulled in Italy would come with steep consequences.”

“It wasn’t a stunt, Vincent,” I say as I try to appeal to the common ground which we now both share.

“I did it for love. Come on, you of all people know what it’s like to go to war for the woman you love.

Valentina is that woman for me, just like Isla was for you.

I love her, and she’s carrying my child. ”

Vincent’s eyes widen at that news. After a few moments of uncomfortable silence between us, he backs off his anger-infused scolding a little. I see him shift the focus from being upset with me to dealing with the situation pragmatically.

“Alright,” he says as he pulls out his phone and sets it up on the table for us both to see. “Let’s look at what happened.”

I watch the screen as Vincent pulls up the security footage from the cameras at the new casino that was just attacked. It takes less than a minute for the screen to fill with video of the entire scene playing out.

“Impressive,” I say, narrowing my eyes as I focus in on the men who started the attack.

“I’ve learned a few things since my last dealings with adversaries.

” Vincent nods. “I figured it would be wise to have the casinos better prepared with surveillance in case anything came up again. Now, everything that happens in any of my buildings’ feeds right into my devices in real time and saves a copy of the video to a backup hard drive via Bluetooth.

I would not mess around with being unprepared again. ”

We both watch the footage and can clearly see not only Leonardo’s men but also Angelo Barone’s men on the scene.

They walk straight in through a service delivery door, pretending to be liquor vendors, before throwing a couple of Molotov cocktails into the belly of the casino and then splitting.

Vincent’s face contorts in disappointment and displeasure at the idea that his men at the door were so easily fooled.

“That’s a matter that I will deal with after we finish here,” he huffs, speaking of disciplining the men who made a mistake, which cost him his polished new casino building. “This is worse than I thought, though—Leonardo pairing up with Angelo is definitely not ideal for us.”

“Agreed,” I nod. “Although I don’t imagine it will last.”

“Probably not. But it will last long enough to cause us substantial trouble, and long enough to potentially use their alliance to overwhelm any security measures you have in place to protect Valentina. Luciano, things could get pretty ugly with all of this,” he warns.

“You need to send Valentina somewhere safe.”

“She is safe here, with me,” I assert. I don’t want her leaving my side. The safest place for her is with me.

“I understand you feel that way, trust me. I would feel the same regarding Isla if I were in your shoes right now. But Valentina is not safe here, not with both the Barone and the Conti family after her. Your best shot at keeping her protected from Leonardo is to get her somewhere that he can’t find her.

And trust me, he will look for her,” Vincent says.

“And the first place that he will look is wherever you are. He’ll expect you to keep her close. ”

As much as I hate the idea of sending Valentina away from my side, I know Vincent is right. I have to send her away in order to keep her and the baby safe. The question is where to send her.

“Nico Vitale,” Vincent says quietly, as if he knows exactly the question in my mind right now. “You could send her to Nico.”

“The Ghost?” I ask in surprise at that suggestion.

“Yes. I doubt either Leonardo or Angelo will think of looking there. Valentina and your unborn child will be safe with the Ghost. He can protect her away from here until we can get a handle on this situation and put Barone and Conti back under thumb.”

I nod and stand up from the table. “I’ll go break the news to her.”

When I get up to the hotel suite, I find Isla and Valentina sitting on the couch together, deep in conversation. Isla graciously steps out when she sees me come in to let Valentina and me talk privately.

“Are you okay?” I ask her once we’re alone. “I assume Isla filled you in a bit about what’s happened?”

“I’m fine,” she smiles bravely. “And yes, a bit. What are we going to do?”

“We will do nothing,” I say, already knowing that she will not like what I’m about to tell her. “I’m going to handle things here with Vincent now, and in order to do that and keep you and our baby safe, I’m going to need to send you away for a little while until we take care of this threat.”

“What? No! I want to stay here with you. I don’t want to be sent away,” she protests. “Besides, I feel the safest when I'm by your side.”

“I know, but that is exactly where Leonardo will look for you. I need to get you away from here just long enough to handle this situation. Then I’ll bring you back here with me, I promise.”

“Where will you send me?”

“I can’t tell you that.”

Valentina frowns, and it pains me not to tell her anything, but it’s for her own safety.

“It’s better if you don’t know,” I say, realizing that not being in control of her own fate is already a sore spot with her. “For your own protection.”

I wait for her to say something, but she punishes me with silence as she gets up and walks out of the room.

This will undoubtedly cause her emotional distress and self-doubt, but it’s my only option to prevent her from returning to Leonardo.

I just hope that once this is all over, Valentina can forgive me.