Page 7 of Vincenzo (The DiMaggio Crime Family #3)

AMALIA

W hen I walk out of my room into the kitchen of our suite, Carlos is already sitting at the table eating arepa con quesito he must’ve picked up at the Colombian restaurant down the street.

“You ready to call your uncle?” he asks.

“Yup,” I say, taking the seat next to him. He offers me some of his food, but I wave him off and dial my uncle’s number, putting the phone on speaker.

“Hola, mija.”

“ Hola, Tío ,” I greet.

“Have you made any progress with the DiMaggios?”

“We met with their second-in-command, Vincenzo DiMaggio, and?—”

“I thought you were going to stay under the radar?” he interrupts.

I glance at Carlos who raises his brows and gives me an I told you so look.

Ignoring him, I say, “We were, but we weren’t making any progress.

Our contacts here don’t have much on the DiMaggios, so I decided to confront him myself.

Speed things along. I know how much you want access to their ports. ”

My uncle is silent on the other line, so I hold my breath while I wait for his response.

“And you decided to meet with their second-in-command ? Why didn’t you go straight to their boss?”

“He hasn’t been as easily accessible.”

My uncle lets out a grunt on the other line. “So? What did this meeting get us?”

Taking a deep breath, I say, “They refuse to work with us because of our association with sex trafficking.”

My uncle lets out an irritated sigh, and I can picture him pinching the bridge of his nose.

“Giuseppe Silvestri already informed us months ago about their preferences on that, which is why I told you guys to stay under the radar and find a weakness so we can exploit it to get what we want. So, tell me, what was the point of meeting with him?”

Carlos drops his head into his hands and shakes it.

“We’ve been wasting time, Tío . I figured it would be best to see if we could strike a deal. Now that we know there’s no way they’re willing to do that, we can approach it in a different way.”

“A different way would be finding something to use against them,” he growls out, then I know I’ve fucked up. I let my personal stuff get in the way because I just want this job done so I can go back home and figure out what Felipe meant about my parents.

“You’re right. I apologize, Tío ,” I say, unable to mask the disappointment in myself.

He lets out another long sigh and says, “Now that you guys have put yourselves out there, you need to come up with a plan to get me a port.”

I’m about to tell him that unless we want to start a war, there’s no other way, but Carlos speaks before I’m able to.

“Amalia and I have been talking about it, and she came up with an idea.”

I whip my sharp gaze to Carlos, but he’s not making eye contact with me.

“Well, let’s hear it,” my uncle says.

My heart rate picks up at what Carlos could possibly have to say right now.

Still managing to ignore my gaze, he continues. “Matteo DiMaggio’s wife and sister.”

My blood runs cold. Did he just fucking suggest what I already told him we weren’t going to do?

“I’m listening,” my uncle says, the intrigue clear in his voice, and my heart sinks, knowing the situation Carlos is about to put us in.

“The intel we’ve gathered is that Matteo cares deeply for his family. With his parents dead, all he has are his siblings, wife, and cousin. We think kidnapping his wife or sister would be our best bet. Could throw the cousin in there too.”

“ Sí, bueno . Now this is the kind of information I needed,” my uncle says.

“I’m not sure that’s really the best idea, Tío ,” I rush out, praying I can somehow convince him there’s a better way.

“No, I like this idea,” he says, and the sternness in his voice tells me all I need to know. “Focus on the wife and sister. They’ll be double the leverage. With them in our hands, they’ll be forced to grant us port access.”

I have to try one last time. “I don’t know that we’re equipped to take them both.”

Carlos furrows his brow at me. Kidnapping two people is completely doable for the two of us, and I know I’m grasping at straws here, but I need to figure out an alternate solution. I don’t kidnap people.

“Do you need me to send more men up there,” my uncle asks, but that’s not the answer I was hoping for.

The more men there are here, the more chances there are for this to actually happen, and I’m trying to make sure it doesn’t happen.

I don’t want this to turn into something bigger than it needs to be.

Clenching my jaw, I keep myself from arguing anymore with him. I’ll figure out another way. I have to. “That’s not necessary,” I grind out, then bring my gaze to Carlos, who averts his gaze from me.

“ Bueno. Figure out your plan, and I’ll make sure to have the jet there to meet you all and bring you back here. The DiMaggios want to make this difficult? Then we’ll make sure that was their biggest mistake.”

“ Sí, Tío ,” I reluctantly say.

“I’m proud of you, mija . I know this isn’t the type of job you’re used to doing, and for that, I’m proud of you.”

“ Gracias, Tío. Adiós ,” I say, then hang up.

Letting out a long breath, I try to let go of the tightness in my chest, but it doesn’t work. The feeling of being trapped in this cycle of living a life I never asked for, finally starting to weigh me down.

My uncle took me in after my parents’ murders, giving me a home and a purpose in life that I’m thankful for, but sometimes, I wonder what could’ve been if my parents were still alive.

Do I enjoy what I do? Sure, I guess… I don’t really know.

I was trained to not think or feel a certain way about the people I kill.

I was trained to do it without consequence, and I’ve been pretty damn good at it, but it’s hard not to imagine what life would’ve been like if I hadn’t been forced into the one I have now.

I finally turn my attention to the man bun-wearing asshole to my left. “What the hell was that?”

“What do you mean, what the hell was that? I just saved both of our asses,” Carlos defends.

“I told you I didn’t want to kidnap them.”

“And I told you that’s the best option we have. You should be thanking me, Amalia.”

“Thanking you?” I scoff out. “Yeah, thanks a whole fucking bunch, Carlos. Kidnapping Luxtyn and Isabella DiMaggio is a terrible fucking idea, and I know this is something that could turn around and bite us in the ass.”

Grabbing my phone, I jump off the stool and march to my room, knowing I need distance between me and this idiot, or I’ll end up taking my knife and slitting his throat like I do to all my marks.

After taking some time to try and gather my thoughts, I grab my coat and put on my boots, needing to get some fresh air and figure out what the hell I’m going to do next.

Thankfully, Carlos isn’t in the kitchen when I leave the suite.

If I hear another word out of him, I might not be able to control my actions, because fucking shit …

Kidnapping was never the plan, and now I need to figure out a way to get the DiMaggios to give us port access before I’m forced to do something I really don’t want to have to fucking do.