by Cora Reilly
“I don’t understand what got into you. You even attacked Romero.”
“My father is dead.”
I jerked. “What? How?”
“Last night. He was having dinner at a small restaurant in Brooklyn when a sniper put a bullet into his head.”
“What about your stepmother?”
“She wasn’t there. He was with his mistress. She was shot too, probably because the Bratva thought she was his wife. Someone must have told them where to find him. Very few people knew he went there. He was in disguise. Nobody could have recognized him. There has to be a traitor among us.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
The sky over New York was hung with heavy clouds, but it didn’t rain. It fit the occasion. For the funeral of Salvatore Vitiello, the elite of New York and the Famiglia, as well as the most important members of the Chicago Outfit, had gathered at the cemetery. The perimeter around it had been closed off, and most of the soldiers of the New York mafia were keeping guard to make sure the Bratva didn’t disturb the funeral. A gathering of the most important members from both New York and Chicago at this time was a risk, but paying respect to the Capo dei Capi was more important.
Luca stood tall and stoic beside his father’s grave. He was now the new Capo and he couldn’t show a flicker of weakness, not even after the death of his father. Luca and his father hadn’t been close in the traditional sense, but losing your parent, no matter how cruel and cold he’d been, always ripped a hole into you.
I could tell that many of the older men in the Famiglia watched Luca with a calculating look in their eyes. Luca didn’t give any indication that he noticed, but that was definitely an act. This was the most dangerous time, so soon after he’d come into power. I hadn’t known Salvatore Vitiello very well, and I wasn’t sorry about that. For me the funeral meant only one thing: I got the chance to see my family again.
Gianna, Fabi and Lily stood with Father and Mother among the guests from the Chicago Outfit. They’d arrived this morning and I couldn’t wait to spend some time with them. Every guest shook Luca’s hand, clapped his shoulder and said a few words of comfort, most of them lies. How many of these men were waiting for a chance to rip the power from Luca’s hands?
When it was my father’s turn, I had to stop myself from attacking him for agreeing to marry Gianna off to Matteo. Instead I gritted my teeth and gave him a cold smile. Gianna pointedly avoided Matteo’s eyes. She’d lost weight, and it broke my heart to see her so hopeless.
I was glad when the funeral was over. The men had a meeting scheduled for the evening to discuss the rising threat of the Russians. In our world there wasn’t time to mourn the dead for long. Chicago and New York needed to figure out a way to stop the Bratva before another Capo lost his life. And that would be either Luca, or Dante Cavallaro.
* * *
Luca wanted me out of New York, so he sent me to the Vitiello mansion in the Hamptons. Gianna, Lily and Fabi were allowed to accompany me for the night before they’d have to leave for Chicago tomorrow evening. I had a feeling Father hoped I would talk some sense into Gianna about her arranged marriage with Matteo. The engagement party was planned for the beginning of November, so Gianna didn’t have all that long to come to terms with it. Mother stayed with Father in Manhattan, but they sent Umberto with us. He, Cesare and Romero were supposed to keep us safe.
We arrived at the mansion around dinnertime, and the staff had already prepared a meal for us. My heart swelled with happiness as Lily, Fabi, Gianna and I settled around the long dining table, but it was dimmed by the fact that our three bodyguards discussed the Russian threat in hushed voices and by Gianna’s refusal to eat more than two bites. I didn’t want to discuss her betrothal to Matteo with everyone there. Later, when they’d gone to bed, Gianna and I would have enough time for that.
Fabi was the only one who kept the conversation on our side of the table going as he told me excitedly about the collection of knives Father had given him. Lily was busy sneaking admiring glances at Romero, who was completely oblivious to her pining.
After dinner, we moved on to the loggia overlooking the ocean. The night sky out here twinkled with stars. In New York you rarely got a glimpse at them. Cesare had gone off to do God knows what, probably check the security system, and Umberto and Romero had settled in the living room; from there they could watch us without overhearing our conversation. Fabi lay curled up beside Lily, fast asleep, as she typed something on her phone while checking out Romero occasionally.
“Do you want to talk?” I whispered to Gianna who sat beside me, legs pressed up against her chest. She shook her head. It felt as if a rift had grown between us since she’d gotten the news about her betrothal, and I didn’t know why. “Gianna, please.”
“There’s nothing to talk about.”
“Maybe it’s not as bad as you think.” She gave me an incredulous look but I kept talking. “When I found out I had to marry Luca, I was terrified, but I’ve come to terms with it. Luca and I are getting along better than I thought possible.”
Gianna glared. “I’m not like you, Aria. You’re eager to please him, to do anything he says. I’m not like that. I won’t submit to anyone.”
I flinched. Gianna had never lashed out at me like that.
She jumped up. I tried to catch her arm but she shook me off. “Leave me alone. I can’t talk to you right now.” She whirled around and stormed off toward the beach. I stood, unsure if I should follow her, but I knew she wouldn’t listen to me when she was like that. Umberto stepped outside. I raised a hand. “No, give her a few minutes to herself. She’s upset.”
Umberto nodded, then his eyes darted to Fabi. “I should take him to bed.”
I was about to nod when an ear-splitting alarm broke the silence, but it stopped a few seconds later. Fabi’s eyes were wide as he clung to Lily, both of them looking at me as if I knew what was going on. Romero stormed toward us, two guns drawn, when a red dot appeared on Umberto’s forehead. I cried out but it was too late. There was a shot and Umberto’s head flung back, blood splattering everywhere. Lily started screaming, and I still couldn’t move. I stared at the dead eyes of Umberto. A man I’d known all my life.
Romero flung himself at me, and we landed on the ground as a second bullet blasted the glass door, sending shards flying.
“What’s going on?” I screamed, hysteria rocking my body.
“The Bratva,” was all Romero said as he dragged me toward the living room. I struggled against him. Lily and Fabi cowered beside a lounge chair, still in shooting range of the sniper. “Get them!”
But Romero ignored my command, and he was too strong for me. He shoved me against a wall inside the living room, his grip biting into my skin, his eyes hard and wild. “Stay here. Don’t move.”
“Lily and Fabi,” I gasped.
He nodded, then ducked and rushed back outside. I was shaking all over. Romero returned with my sister and brother, who clung to him desperately. I wrapped my arms around them tightly the moment they were at my side. And then my world tilted.
“Gianna,” I whispered.
Romero didn’t hear me. He was shouting into his phone. “Where? How many?” His face paled. “Fuck.” He turned to me, and his expression made my stomach drop. “The Russians are on the property. Too many for us. I’ll take you to the panic room in the basement where we’ll wait until backup arrives.”
He gripped my arm but I pulled away. “Take Fabi and Lily there. I need to warn Gianna.”
“You are my responsibility,” Romero hissed. Somewhere in the house glass shattered. Shots rang out.
“I don’t care. I won’t come with you. You will do as I say. Take them to the panic room. If something happens to Lily or Fabi, I will kill myself, and nothing you or Luca or any other power in this world can do will change that. I want you to protect them. Keep them safe. That’s all that matters to me.”
“You should come with us.”
I shook my head. “I have to find Gianna.”
“Luca will be here soon.”
I knew that wasn’t true. “Go now!”
We stared at each other, then finally he turned to my siblings. “Stay down and follow my orders.”
Male voices screamed something in Russian, then more shots were fired. Cesare wouldn’t be able to keep them at bay for long if the number of voices was any indication.
Romero shoved a gun at me. I grabbed it, then I ducked and ran outside. Umberto’s blood covered the stone tiles, but I didn’t look at his body. I hurried down the slope toward the bay when I noticed the vibrating of my phone. I pulled it out and pressed it to my ear as I scanned the beach for Gianna.
“Aria?” Luca’s worried voice sounded. “Are you safe?”
“They killed Umberto,” was the first thing out of my mouth.
“Where are you?”
“Searching for Gianna.”
“Aria, where’s Romero? Why isn’t he taking you to the panic room?”
“I have to find Gianna.”
“Aria,” Luca sounded desperate. “The Bratva wants you. Get into the panic room. I’m taking the helicopter. I’ll be there in twenty minutes. I’m already on the way.”
Luca would need more than twenty minutes even with a helicopter and he wouldn’t be able to take as many of his men with him, so there was no saying how long it would take him to fight his way into the mansion. There was the possibility that he would fail.
Gianna came running toward me, eyes wide.
“I can’t talk anymore,” I whispered.
“Aria—”
“What’s happening?” Gianna asked, as she stumbled against me.
“The Bratva.” I pulled her toward the dock where the boat was anchored. It would be safer to hide there than to go back inside and look for the panic room. The boards of the dock groaned under our weight as we walked toward the boat. But then Lily’s scream pierced the night and I froze. Gianna and I exchanged a glance. Without a word, we turned around and hurried back toward the house.
My heart hammered in my chest when we arrived on the loggia. The living room was deserted. I knelt beside Umberto and took his knives even as I shuddered. I handed one of them to Gianna and put the switchblade into my back pocket.
“Come on,” I whispered. I wasn’t even sure what Gianna and I were going to do once we got inside. I’d shot a gun once, and I had handled a knife only when I’d sparred with Luca; that didn’t bode well in a fight against Russian mobsters. Yet I knew I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I didn’t find Lily and Fabi.
Gianna and I crept inside. It was dark. Someone must have turned the lights off in the entire house. I held my breath, but it was terrifyingly quiet. I approached the door that led into the lobby when an arm shot out and wrapped around my waist. I cried out, struggled, tried to angle the gun toward my attacker, but he twisted my wrist. Pain shot through my arm and the gun tumbled from my fingers. Gianna gasped behind me. I kicked out. A deep voice snarled at me in Russian. Oh God. My foot collided with his shin. He pushed me away but before I could catch my balance, his fist collided with my lips. My vision turned black and I dropped to my knees as blood filled my mouth and trickled over my chin, the warm, salty taste making bile rise into my throat.
Fingers twisted into my hair and I was wrenched to my feet, crying out from the pain in my scalp. My attacker didn’t care. The lights came on as he dragged me into the lobby by my hair. I could see Gianna in the arms of another tall man. Her body was limp, a bruise already forming on her forehead.
I was thrown to the ground in front of jeans-clad legs and quickly peered up into a pockmarked face and cold blue eyes. “What’s your name, whore?” he asked in heavily accented English. Didn’t he recognize me? I supposed I looked different with blood all over my face. I stared back at him defiantly. He kicked me in the stomach and I toppled over, gasping for breath. “What’s your name?”
My eyes darted to a body to my right. Cesare. He was making gurgling noises, clutching at a bleeding wound in his stomach. I didn’t see Lily, Fabi or Romero anywhere, and I hoped they’d made it to the panic room. At least they would survive.
A hand gripped my chin and wrenched my head up. “Will you tell me your name, or do I have to make Igor hurt her?” He nodded toward Gianna, who lay on her side on the marble floor, blinking dazedly.
“Aria,” I said quietly.
“As in Aria Vitiello?” the man asked with a cruel smile.
I nodded. There was no use denying it. He said something in Russian and the men guffawed. My skin crawled from the way they were looking at me.
“Where are the others? Your shadow and the children?”
It took me a moment to realize whom he meant by shadow. “I don’t know,” I said.
Igor kicked Gianna. She screamed. Her eyes met mine and I could see she didn’t want me to say anything, but how could I watch them hurt her?
Voices and shooting carried over to us from outside. The leader of the Russians grabbed me and pulled my back flush against his chest before pressing a blade against my throat.
Fear paralyzed my body as I listened to the sound of fighting. I was dragged backwards closer to the living room. Igor was yanking Gianna by her hair. She didn’t seem capable of standing. Another Russian mobster was flung back as a bullet tore through his throat. “We have your wife, Vitiello. If you want to see her in one piece, you’d better stop fighting and drop your weapons.”
Luca walked in, a gun in each hand. Matteo was a step behind him.
“So this is your wife, Vitiello?” the man said, his breath hot against my neck. I squirmed, but he held me in a death grip. The blade sliced into my skin and I became still.
Luca’s face was a mask of fury as he stared at my captor. Matteo twisted the knives in his hands over and over again, his eyes flickering to Gianna’s trembling form on the ground. Cesare had stopped gurgling. This night could very well end with all of us drowning in our own blood.
“Let her go, Vitali,” Luca snarled.
Vitali grabbed my throat. “I don’t think so.”
I could barely breathe in his hold, but all I could think about was that I could lose everyone I loved tonight. I hoped they’d kill me first. I couldn’t bear the thought of watching everyone die.
“You took something that belongs to us, Vitiello, and now I have something that belongs to you.” Vitali licked my cheek and I almost threw up. “I want to know where it is.”
Luca took a step forward, then froze as Vitali raised the knife to my throat again. “Put your guns down or I’ll cut her throat.”
Vitali was stupid to think Luca would do that, but then I watched in horror as Luca dropped his guns on the floor.
“Your wife tastes delicious. I wonder if she tastes this delicious everywhere.” He turned me around so I was facing him. His foul breath hit my face. From the corner of my eye, I could see Luca watching me, but I wished he’d look away. I didn’t want him to see this. Vitali’s lips came closer. I was sure I’d throw up.
I tried to lean back. He laughed nastily and gripped my hip but I barely noticed, because my shifting had made the switchblade dig into my butt. As Vitali trailed his tongue over my chin, I slipped my hand into my back pocket, pulled the knife out, released the blade and rammed it into his thigh.
He cried out, stumbling back, and then all hell broke loose. Luca practically flew through the room and pulled me against him as he sliced Vitali’s throat open from one ear to the other. The man’s head tilted back, blood spurting out, then he toppled over. Bullets tore through the air, and screaming filled the room. The ground was slippery with blood and only Luca’s firm grasp on my arm kept me upright. He must have dropped the knife at some point, because he was shooting bullet after bullet out of a sleek black gun with a silencer. I picked up a gun lying in a pool of blood. It was slippery in my hand but its weight felt good. Suddenly Romero was there too. My eyes tried to find Gianna, but she was gone from her spot on the floor.
L
uca shot another enemy and reached down for the gun of the dead guy as his own appeared to be out of bullets, when one of the Russian mobsters to our right pointed his gun at Luca. I cried out in warning, and at the same time stumbled forward and aimed my gun at the guy and fired. I didn’t even think about it. I’d sworn to myself I wouldn’t watch anyone I loved die tonight, even if meant I had to die first.
The bullet hit my shoulder and my world exploded with pain. My shot hit the guy in the head and he dropped to the ground, dead. Luca ripped me to the side, but my vision turned black.
* * *
When I came to my senses again, Luca was cradling me in his arms. It was silent around us except for someone’s whimpers. It took me a moment to realize they were my own, and then the pain sliced through me and I wished I’d stayed unconscious, but I needed to know if everyone was all right. “You okay?” I croaked.
Luca trembled against me. “Yes,” he gritted out. “But you aren’t.” He was pressing down on my shoulder. That probably explained the pain. The back and front of my shirt were slick with a warm liquid.
“What about Gianna, Lily and Fabi?” I whispered even as darkness wanted to claim me again.
“Fine,” Gianna called from somewhere. She sounded far away, or maybe that was my imagination. Luca slid his hands under me and stood. I cried out in pain, tears leaking out of my eyes. The lobby was crowded with our men.
“I’ll take you to the hospital,” Luca said.
“Luca,” Matteo said in warning. “Let the Doc handle it. He’s been taking care of our business for years.”
“No,” Luca snarled. “Aria needs proper care. She’s lost too much blood.” I could see a few of Luca’s men glancing our way before pretending they were busy again. He was their Capo. He couldn’t show weakness, not even for me.
“I can do a blood transfusion,” came a deep, soothing voice. The Doc. He was over sixty with snow-white hair and a kind face.
Luca’s grip on me tightened. I clutched at his arm. “It’s okay, Luca. Let him take care of me. I don’t want you to take me to a hospital. It’s too dangerous.”