Page 15 of Shattered King

Luca

T he house is quiet after Elisa leaves. My sister-in-law couldn’t be more different from my wife.

Where Fiorella’s hard as iron, Elisa’s soft and pliant with a really good sense of humor.

I can tell they’re extremely close too. Fiorella was constantly lingering protectively close to her sister, which I thought was very interesting, considering she won’t let me do the same for her.

But as night comes and we retreat up to my room for bed, she doesn’t act like she’s going anywhere else. She takes her things into my bathroom, closes the door, and locks it, but at least she’s not hiding out in the guest space. I’m guessing she saw some reason in what I said earlier.

Or she saw something else. Something darker and much less reasonable. Something we should both be trying to avoid.

But before I can find out what she’s thinking, my phone starts ringing. Enzo’s name is on the screen, and if it were anyone else, I’d send them straight to voicemail. “What’s going on?” I say, stepping out of the room and into the hall.

“We’ve got a problem. I got an SOS call from one of our ghost drivers five minutes ago. Davide’s tracking his location now.”

My jaw tightens. Our ghost drivers are the less-than-legal employees. “How bad?”

“Can’t say exactly. Only got the SOS message and nothing else.” He quiets for a second. “Shit, just got the text from Davide. Looks like the truck’s about an hour outside of the city.”

“Still moving?”

“Looks like it’s not anymore. Either that or the GPS was ripped out and tossed.”

“Where are you? I’ll pick you up.”

“I’m heading to the depot. Meet me there. We’ll grab some gear and head out.”

“You call the others?”

“Stefano and Leo are already on the way.”

“Good man. See you soon.”

I hang up the phone. The shower’s running in the bathroom. A sick part of me wants to kick that door down and claim my wife’s beautiful little body. Adrenaline’s rushing through me, and I know that’s just the excitement talking.

But, god, she’s a temptation.

Maybe asking her to sleep in the same bed was a mistake. Maybe keeping doors and halls and space between us was smart. That way, it won’t be easy to completely ruin this tenuous little marriage we’ve got going before it even really starts.

No time for that now. With a frustrated snarl, I grab my gun, tuck it into my waistband, and get the hell out of there.

“Tracking says it should be straight ahead.” Enzo frowns into the darkness. We’re in my pickup. Stefano and Leo are following close behind in another truck. “But where the fuck are we?”

“Middle of nowhere.” I squint at all the trees bordering the dark road. We’re out past the city, down past the suburbs, right across the Maryland border. Somewhere rural with more cows than people.

“What was he doing, coming down this way?”

“He was headed to Atlanta.” I glance at Enzo, trying to suppress a smile. “Thought you were a master of our routes?”

“Well, someone’s got me doing double duty right now.”

“Great excuse.”

“Fuck off. We both know I run the whole place. Without me—” He trails off as we come around a corner and top a rise. “God damn it.”

Up ahead, the truck is tipped on its side and burning brightly against the deep black night.

I slam on the brakes and jump out. Enzo’s behind me, calling for me to wait, but I’m already running toward the fire, my gun out. I’m not even thinking about danger. All I can see is a problem, and I’m the kind of man that immediately wants to find a solution.

“Slow down, you suicidal bastard,” he says, catching up. He clutches my shoulder, pulling me back.

“Our product’s in there,” I snarl at him. “The driver might be too.”

“Men and drugs can be replaced.” He yanks me to the side and into the underbrush. “But there’s only one of you. Now wait a second.”

Stefano’s truck parks behind ours. Enzo shoots him a warning gesture, and he stays back with the vehicle. Firelight dances across Leo’s expression as he stares out the windshield at the burning truck.

We don’t move. But someone near the wreckage does.

More than one person. I start to see them.

I count three, maybe four, hidden around the burning truck.

They must be getting impatient because they’re creeping out of the woods, heading toward Stefano’s location.

I’m not sure if they spotted us yet, and I crouch down lower, grip on my gun tightening.

“Wait for it,” Enzo whispers.

But he doesn’t need to. This is where I thrive. I’m a decent Capo, a solid crew chief, and a decent organizer. The depot runs smoothly, mostly because I know when to delegate.

This is what I’m really good at: hunting and killing. Finding my enemies and snuffing them out. There’s nothing sweeter in this whole world than blood crusted under my fingernails.

“Now,” I say, rising up from my hiding place.

I shoot a man in the head. His skull jerks back, and blood sprays into the fire. Behind him, three more soldiers look over in surprise. They’re dressed in black and probably wearing vests. I aim for heads and limbs, squeezing my trigger as I move to the side, seeking cover behind a tree.

The world turns to hell. Blood splatters against the truck and splashes onto the pavement.

Stefano and Leo join in the fun, spraying bullets at their attackers while the ambush falls apart in a glorious shower of death.

I kill two more while the rest of them are gunned down by my men.

Once the night’s quiet again, I creep out of the woods and jog over to Stefano’s position, heart racing with excitement.

“You both good?”

Stefano nods. “All good. Leo, you good?”

“What a fucking rush!” Leo’s grinning broadly.

He’s still young and inexperienced, but we can fix all that.

Time and teaching will harden him up. But nothing can make a man love the thrill of fighting and killing if it’s not already in him.

Leo’s got that. It’s why he’s a part of my crew.

“Nothing better in the whole goddamn world.”

“We need to be careful,” Enzo says, scowling. “We can celebrate later. Cops and the fire department are going to show up eventually. No way this burning truck’s going to stay a secret for long.”

“Check the bodies,” I order and jerk a finger at Leo. “You’re with me. Come on.”

We hustle over toward the truck. Leo curses as he steps in some blood. “Got brains on my new boots,” he complains. “Do you know how hard it is to get brains out of suede?”

“Shut up and focus.” I approach the burning cab as closely as I can. Inside, through the wreck, I can just make out the body of the driver. He’s in bad shape, but it’s definitely him. “How’s the back look?”

“Loading doors are open,” Leo calls out. “They cleared it out. Looks like they took it apart.”

I join him and stare inside. The whole back was stripped down to the studs. “Found the drugs,” I say through my teeth. “God damn it. Who is stupid enough to do something like this?”

“Luca!” Enzo waves me over. He’s standing above the very first man I killed with a very dark look on his face. “You have to see this.”

He flips a wallet over toward me. I snatch it from the air. “What’s wrong?”

“Check out his ID.”

I open it up. A face stares back at me from the plastic holder. White guy, dark eyebrows, vaguely familiar. My stomach drops when I see the name.

Tommy Serrano .

“Well, I’ll be damned,” I say softly. “Let me guess. Corrado has kids? And Tommy’s one of them?”

“We’ll confirm back at the depot.” In the distance, sirens wail, getting louder as they approach. “Time to leave.”

“Fucker.” I throw the wallet back down on the corpse. “This is a message. Corrado’s starting a war.”

“And he’s doing a great job.” Enzo pulls me away. “We need to go right now.”

I linger for a moment. Rage flows through me. The bastard tried to kill my wife—and now he’s murdering my men and burning my trucks.

Now there’s no doubt in my mind.

The consigliere of the Serrano Famiglia is starting a coup, and I’m right at the center of it.