Page 10

10

Kyril

E nzo’s Catering was a small family affair. And by family, I meant mafia family. Dear old Enzo had been catering mafia christenings, weddings, and funerals for decades. The local mafia families trusted him to provide a good selection of nibbles and booze.

We’d found out about the wedding two days ago, thanks to intel from Dario’s father, who'd overheard a conversation between Francesco and Torrance.

Francesco’s housekeeper had also confirmed the booking with Enzo’s Catering for a small buffet, enough food to feed 20 people.

Enzo and his son were busy loading trays of pastries, sliced meats, and cheeses onto his refrigerated van when we arrived. While Dario and Connor tied up the caterers and Ash check our weapons, I sampled some of the food, having skipped breakfast.

Damn, this was good shit.

“If you’re quite finished scoffing the sliced meat, we need to leave,” Dario ground out. Both Enzos sat zip-tied to a water pipe with their backs to a large walk-in refrigerator. Both looked pissed off, but there was nothing they could do until someone arrived and released them.

Which would be a while, given they’d closed the shop to cater to the wedding.

Oh well. Not my problem. I picked up a pastry and sampled it while Connor and Ash pulled the rest of the trays out of the van to make room for the stash of weapons we’d brought. Once they reloaded the van, using some trays to hide the toys, we set off.

“Are we clear on the plan?”

“Locate Thea and her sister. Kill people. Extract the girls. Got it,” Dario ground out. He rolled his eyes while Connor smirked.

“Just stick to the plan.” This was dangerous enough without the fucker’s pissy attitude. It wasn’t my problem he felt guilty.

“Who put you in charge?” he snapped when I glared at him. “I know this place like the back of my hand!”

“And the staff all know you, which is why Connor, Ash, and I are the caterers today.” I slammed on the brakes and the van skidded to a halt around the corner from the main entrance to the di Luca estate. “Now get the fuck out and do your thing.”

He spat a few curses at me but grabbed the rucksack and hopped out of the van. Dario’s job was to cause a distraction. Thanks to his familiarity with the estate, he knew of a hidden tunnel into the root cellar beneath the kitchen.

The rucksack contained C-4 explosive and detonators. A few carefully timed blasts should be enough to cause chaos. And chaos was what we needed to distract the guards and Thea’s father while we rescued her and her sister.

It wasn’t a fool-proof plan. The three of us were hardly a match for dozens of armed guards and guests, but di Luca wasn’t expecting trouble, and from what Dario’s father had told us, this wedding was a discreet affair.

Francesco wasn’t interested in showing off. He just wanted his daughter legally wed to Konstantin Marku, so he could collect his dowry. A cool five million dollars, plus the promise of support for future business endeavors.

Marku was small fry compared to my father, but he’d recently expanded into the sex trafficking sector, and di Luca was hoping to get involved in it, too. Theirs was a partnership forged in hell.

Connor stopped outside the main gate. A lone guard stepped out from a small hut, quickly pushing his phone back into his pocket, but not fast enough to hide the Tinder logo. My father would have shot this idiot in the head, but I pasted a bored smile on my face.

“Where’s Enzo?” the guard asked Connor with a frown.

“Family emergency. Aunt Mona had a stroke this morning, so he asked us to handle the wedding gig,” Connor replied in flawless Italian. It was the reason why Declan had lent him to us. My spoken Italian didn’t extend much beyond “want to fuck?”.

“Oh, that’s sad.” The guard seemed genuinely upset. Guess he was a friend of the family.

“Yeah. Wanna check the van?”

The idiot guard waved his hand dismissively and opened the gate. “Nah, it’s cool. Best get in and out quickly. The boss isn’t in a good mood.”

“We plan to,” Connor replied, putting the van into gear and rumbling up the driveway. Once we were far enough away, Connor snorted out a laugh. The Irish fucker had a twisted sense of humor.

We followed the paved road around the back of the sprawling house. It reminded me of a show Ekaterina liked: Escape to the Sun? This was the sort of place idiot Brits would buy and throw all their money at, hoping to create a luxe wedding venue or some such shit.

As far as I could tell, di Luca’s house was a money pit. He was wealthy compared to the locals around here, but judging by the shabby state of the windows and landscaping, he wasn’t spending any of his dirty money on property maintenance.

Dario’s father would likely know the answer to that, but it wasn’t my concern right now. We were here to rescue my kitten.

“All set?” Connor asked, pushing some extra ammo into his pockets before hiding the bulges under a large apron.

“Yep. Let’s do this.” Ash grinned as he slid a large hunting knife into his apron pocket. I guessed it wasn’t for carving meat.

A small rotund woman came out and scowled at the three of us.

“You’re late. Where’s Enzo?”

“Mona had a stroke. We’re covering.” She seemed to accept our explanation and nodded.

“OK, well unload the food. We’re running out of time. The ceremony is about to begin.”

Shit, Dario better get a move on. The fat woman hurried back inside while Connor made a show of opening up the van to remove the trays of food we’d brought. I quickly sent Dario a message, letting him know it was time to cause a distraction.