Page 49 of Vincenzo (The DiMaggio Crime Family #3)

ARMANDO

Hanging up my phone, I toss it across the table to Chief Valdez who’s had me locked in this interrogation room all night.

He stares at me for a few seconds, then says, “A thank you would be nice for my generosity. I didn’t have to allow you one last call to your cousin.” A grimy smile plays out on his round face, showcasing his stained teeth.

Unimpressed with his condescending attitude, I say, “You’re on the wrong side, Chief Valdez. I assure you, when I get out of here—and I do fucking promise you that I will—I’m going to take you, and anyone else that’s helping you, down.”

The old fat man bellows out a laugh that’s so over the top, I nearly roll my eyes at the theatrics.

He might be comfortable now thinking he has the upper hand, but he’s in for a rude fucking awakening.

I’ve done a lot of illegal things in my life and have never seen time for them.

If he thinks pinning me for something I didn’t even fucking do is going to end well, he’s even more incompetent than I thought.

“The fact that I finally gave you the chance to make one last phone call, and you decided to call your cousin instead of a lawyer—” He lets out a humorous scoff and shakes his head. “And here I thought you were smarter than that.”

I ignore his jab because his naivety is astounding. Of course I didn’t fucking waste my last call, but he’s too clueless and incompetent to realize a simple text message doesn’t take much effort to send.

I just had to check on Amalia and make sure she made the decision to stay in New York. I’m not sure what Valdez has planned for me, but I don’t want Amalia coming back around here. Especially not right now. Keeping her out of this shit was my goal, and I intend to keep it that way.

As he leans over the metal table and rests his forearms on the edge, he interlocks his fingers together. The smug look never leaves his face. “You’re done for, Armando. We have a star witness that came forward and already told us he’ll testify against you.”

I scoff, annoyed I have to entertain this fucking stupidity. “Yeah? And who’s this star witness you have that you think is going to put me behind bars for a crime I didn’t commit?”

He runs his tongue over his teeth and sucks in a sharp breath.

The sound echoes through the small room, bouncing off the concrete walls.

“You know, I’ve been under the thumb of that father of yours for nearly a decade now…

” He tilts his head and pins his glare on me as if to make sure I’m listening to the next words that come out of his mouth.

“And now with him out of the picture and you following suit, I’m going to own this city the way I’ve always deserved. ”

I glance up at the security camera in the corner and notice it’s no longer flashing red. Convenient since his admission would’ve landed him in the same seat I’m currently occupying… if this was a strait-laced precinct, at least.

Letting out a scoff, I say, “If you think getting rid of me is going to extinguish my family, you’re very much confused, Chief.”

Sitting back in his chair he says, “Oh, I don’t think I’ll ever get rid of your family , but I do think the cartel can make me a much richer and far more powerful man than ever before.”

“Don’t you know that greed will only get you killed?” I tilt my head and narrow my gaze on him, trying to figure out if he was always this dumb or if a switch flipped when he realized my dad was out of the picture.

Sitting back in his seat, he says, “A man can never have too much of either, Armando. You should know, right? You were born at the top unlike all of us other men who have had to work hard for what we have.”

“Look,” I say, already annoyed by the words that are about to come out of my mouth, “I’m prepared to make you a deal in exchange to let me go.”

Chief Valdez lets out a maniacal laugh. “Why would I need anything from you when I’m about to have everything I’ve always wanted? Money. Power. I’m going to be set for the rest of my damn life.”

“Why am I not surprised that a dirty little cop like you would be willing to put an innocent person behind bars?”

“Innocent?” he barks out. “You are far from innocent, Armando.”

“Well, that’s exactly what’s going to happen if I wind up in prison for something I didn’t do,” I say with a loose shrug, playing with the cuffs that have me attached to this table.

“Oh, yeah? Fine. I’ll entertain this. If you didn’t do it, then who did?” He raises a brow at me, encouraging me to give up the name I’ll never let cross my lips.

No one deserves to be put in a cell block over Pedro, my dad, and those idiot guards of his, especially not my cousin. I’ll take the fall for killing everyone to keep Amalia out of this shit, but I’m also not planning on going down for something that was rightfully done.

“Yeah,” Chief Valdez scoffs out, shaking his head as if he’s won. “That’s what I thought.”

A knock sounds at the door before it opens, and the last person I expected to see steps over the threshold.

“I apologize for being late,” the pendejo says. “I had to make some arrangements before coming in.”

“No need to apologize,” Chief Valdez says, his beady fucking eyes remaining solely on mine. “This is the guy, right?” he asks, folding his arms across his chest and nodding in my direction with a crooked smile.

My eyes slowly draw up to my twin brother who’s watching me with a dirty fucking grin on his face.

“Yeah, Chief,” Diego says, and I have to do my best to calm the fucking rage brewing inside of me.

“My brother’s the one who murdered all those people at my house, including our father. I saw it with my own eyes.”

TO BE CONTINUED …