But, when I saw who was calling, I threw the covers of my body.
“Mateo?” she asked with a groan.
I didn’t bother answering her. “What is it?”
The head of my security was panting on the other end of the line. “Sir, I mean, Mr. Emi--.”
The sound of gunfire cut him off and I rushed over to my closet.
“Where are you and why? I’m on my way,” I said.
“No! Don’t do that, sir! Sorry, but your warehouse is under attack!”
Repeated gunfire and yelling battered against my ear as I quickly threw on some clothes. And when I turned around, I saw Rosana tightening her robe around her waist.
“Something wrong?” she asked.
I narrowed my eyes. “How long has this been going on?”
I heard the head of my security grunt. “Just happened, sir! Uh, it’s… shit.”
I walked over and reached for my keys and my wallet. “It’s what? Talk to me, damn it!”
I felt Rosana’s eyes on me as I shoved everything I needed into my pockets.
“It’s Lorenzo’s men! And they’ve come armed with a—get down! Everybody get down!”
I didn’t have to see the gun to know what kind it was. A mounted machine gun started obliterating everything on the other end of the line. I heard men crying out for help and gurgling on their own blood while mine boiled in my veins. I heard the head of my security dragging bodies across the floor and trying to keep me updated, even though they were bogged down and unable to defend themselves.
“Which warehouse?” I asked.
I heard him coughing. “Southern interior. Near the docks. They were waiting for us, sir. They were perch—fuck!”
I pulled my phone away from my ear and quickly typed a message off to my driver. I’d have to pay him overtime and a half for this shit, but I needed to get over there sooner rather than later. And after shooting the message off, I put the phone back to my ear.
“Do what you can do take cover, I’m on my way,” I said.
“Sir, I can’t advise you to—No! Don’t!”
The line went dead and I cursed beneath my breath. I jammed my phone into my pocket and didn’t bother addressing Rosana as I rushed out of the bedroom. Down the stairs I went, taking them two at a time as I saw my driver pull up to the front door. On the nights I spent with my wife, my driver stayed in the guesthouse so that I could get away at the drop of a hat.
But, when I reached for the front door, I heard Rosana giggling.
“You can’t even keep your own warehouse from being attacked, Mateo. What makes you think you going there to get yourself killed is going to help?”
I paused. “How much of that phone conversation did you hear?”
“You mean, since I was in the same room the entire time and you keep the volume on your phone turned all the way up?”
I peered over my shoulder. “This directly affects you, you know.”
She blinked. “Excuse me?”
I turned to face her. “If my warehouses go down, I lose control of what I’ve fought so hard to maintain. That means less money coming in, which means you don’t get to buy a fuck-ton of heels every time I turn around. You ready to start downsizing your shoe closet?”
She scoffed. “Or, you could simply have your warehouses fully guarded like I told you needed to happen in the first place.”
I ripped the door open. “See you next week, Wifey.”
“Mateo, wait!”
I slammed the door behind me and jogged for the car. And when I slipped inside, my driver took off before I even got myself buckled. I didn’t bother looking back at the house, because I hoped one day to never have to see it again. That place was a damn prison, and Rosana was my full-time torturer.
I don’t like the way she mocked me.
Since when the hell did that woman become so brazen?
“Where to, Mr. Emiliano?” my driver asked.
I reached beneath my seat for my rifle. “The southern interior warehouse, but keep a healthy distance. It’s currently being attacked.”
He peered at me in the rearview mirror. “How bad?”
My eyes met his in the reflection. “Bad.”
My driver stepped on the gas and I couldn’t have respected him more in that moment. I logged away the idea of a raise until I could get to my books and crunch some numbers, because for now I needed to focus on the task ahead of me. I had to reclaim my warehouse and mount a counter-attack that showed Lorenzo exactly who he was fucking around with.
And I needed to make sure that my attack left him understanding that he should have never messed with me in the first place.
“How far out are we?” I asked.
My driver didn’t hesitate. “Less than two miles.”
I didn’t hear anything. “This isn’t good. Pull over and stop.”
He did as I asked without question and I eased my window down. If we were this close and the gunfire was still going on, I would’ve heard it three miles ago. But, there was nothing. The smell of gunpowder and smoke hung in the air, but that was the only evidence that something had actually gone down.
And when I checked my phone, I didn’t have any missed calls or messages.
“Shit,” I hissed.
“Mr. Emiliano, up ahead,” my driver said.
I turned my head to face out the windshield and I saw a group of men emerging from the woods. My driver had long since turned off his lights, leaving us in a black car sitting in the darkness. It was the perfect perch point, and I watched as the men dressed in uniforms that I recognized from Lorenzo’s place walked with a confident sort of swagger down the road.
So, I aimed my rifle out the window and lined up my first shot.
While I didn’t have the information I needed to take down the trafficking ring altogether, this much I knew from the little bit of work Char had already done for me: the Lucchese Family doubled-up on security men doing other jobs for them in order to save money. That told me they weren’t doing nearly as well as most people would think, and for all I knew these guys walking down the road helped out with that ring.
For all I knew, these were the men that had kidnapped Char in the first place.
“Gotcha,” I whispered.
My rifle kicked back against my shoulder as I fired, and I watched two men drop to their knees. The great thing about waiting and timing a shot is that someone can really make a bullet work for them if they shoot at the right angle. And when the first two men stopped to talk, I had both of their heads in a glorious shot.
And I watched them go down like a sack of potatoes while their brain matter leaked onto the street.
Before the third man could take out his gun, I lined my shots up with his knees. I pulled the trigger and took out one kneecap, causing the man to fall to the ground before I put a bullet in his shoulder. He dropped his gun before a fourth and fifth man emerged, and I simply panned around as I needed to in order to pluck them off.
Then, when the only man left alive was the one without a kneecap, I pulled my rifle into the car.
“Let’s go pick him up. I’ve got some questions that need answering,” I said.
My driver turned around to look at me. “You don’t want to see the state of the warehouse?”
I waved my hand at him. “In the morning, when I’m not at risk of being rushed. That’s probably the exact reaction they’re waiting for, so we’ll come back around eight.”
He turned back around. “Very well, Mr. Emiliano, let’s go get him.”
And as I listened to the man beg for his life as I pulled up to his side, part of me wished Char were here with me.
If anything, so I could tell her that I got the smallest bit of justice in her name.
10
Charlotte
I wasn’t sure how many days had passed. I was done attempting to count them. I was done with trying to wiggle away from Lorenzo and fight for my life every time I turned around. But, that little voice in the
back of my head kept convincing me not to give up. It kept convincing me to keep fighting until I got back to Mateo.
Until I got back home.
So, I tried thinking like him. I mean, I was shackled up in the enemy’s basement, and all he wanted me to do was play nice. What happened if I played nice, then? Would he start trusting me? Would he think he had already broken me?
Would he start slipping up more like he did with that conversation behind the door?
Worth a shot, anyway.
The basement door creaked open and his familiar canter came bustling down the steps. A light got switched on and I didn’t flinch, I simply closed my eyes and bore the brunt of the pain. My head didn’t hurt as much, but my neck was definitely still stiff.
At least I’m not dead yet.
“Up. Now,” Lorenzo commanded.
I did as he asked before I felt my shackles fall away from my wrists and my ankles.
“Is something wrong?” I asked softly.
He gripped my arm. “Come with me.”
I stumbled behind him and up the steps, all the way to the kitchen. And when he dropped me into a seat at a table with food in front of me, I paused.
“Sir?” I asked.
Lorenzo blinked. “What did you just call me?”
I slowly looked up at him. “Sir. Isn’t that what you wish to be called?”
His cheeks ticked with a grin. “Finally, some progress.”
I smiled softly. “So, you like that?”
He bent down and gripped my chin. “I love it. About damn time you started using it.”
He patted my cheek a bit too harshly, but I tried my best not to flinch. The smell of food was too much to bear, but I waited until he motioned for me to start eating. Then, I controlled my movements as best as I could so that I didn’t ‘look like an animal’.
As he so daintily put it yesterday.
“Has your time in the basement finally changed your mind?” he asked.
I batted my eyelashes at him. “I think any time down there with those snakes would change anyone.”
He grinned. “It only took you three weeks to come to your senses. Sooner than most, if you ask me.”
I’ve been here for three weeks? “I’m sorry.”
He paused. “For…?”
I set my fork down. “For assuming that you wanted to kill me. It’s why I’ve been acting the way I have been. I figured if I was going to die anyway, might as well go down with a fight.”
He raised his wine glass to me. “Words to live by.”
I reached for my own. “But, I can see that isn’t what you want for me. I mean, if I step too much out of line, sure. However, you don’t just want to kill me.”
“No, I don’t. You’re entertaining, and very beautiful. I have a few plans for you first.”
First. How wonderful. “I hope that this can be the beginning of an apology that suits you best.”
He chuckled. “I like this side of you, Miss Pettigrew. I admit, I’ve always been a sucker for a woman that can submit. I like the fight, don’t get me wrong. But, finally seeing them succumb? It’s sweeter than any fruit on this planet.”
I tried not to vomit in my lap. “I also want to apologize for thinking Mateo was somehow better than you.”
He set his glass down. “Oh, really?”
I sipped my wine. “Yes. When you brought me here, I thought you were lower than him. Or, possibly no better than him. Then, Mateo sent one of his guards to kill me. You know, like I told you.”
He picked up his fork. “Don’t you worry about that. He’s paid handsomely for that mistake.”
I forced myself to smirk, even though his words petrified me. “Is it bad that I want to know what happened?”
There was a glint in his eye I couldn’t interpret, and I wondered if I had overstepped my boundaries. But, I held my ground, and finally he caved.
“See, I knew you had that side of you in there, I just wasn’t sure how to bring it out.”
I set my drink down. “I learned very early on in life that not everything is all roses and rainbows. I’ve endured my fair share of death threats, home intrusions, threats on what might happen to me if I actually show up in court. And while this is a little different, it’s not completely different. Just a bit more physical.”
His smile was absolutely wicked. “You really want to know what I did to Mateo?”
I leaned forward. “And please sir, don’t leave out any details.”
He launched into a diatribe while I took small bites of what I assumed was dinner. He talked and he talked, and he boasted of the raid on some warehouse somewhere. He laughed every time he talked about a story his men told him of someone on Mateo’s side that was slaughtered, and it made me sick to my stomach.
But, the more I listened, the more I learned.
And when he started talking about his plans for total domination over the island—as well as Italy—I knew I had to get to Mateo sooner rather than later.
Even if that meant playing along with Lorenzo and using myself as bait to get Mateo anywhere near me.
I locked Char back in the basement, but I ended up giving her a little light to work with as well. She had positively shocked me over dinner this evening, but in the best of ways. I chuckled as I closed the basement door, and I decided to test her a bit.
So, when the guard assigned to the door went to lock it, I shooed the key away.
“Sir?” he asked.
I nodded toward the door. “Consider it a test. If she tries to leave, shoot her on sight. I didn’t handcuff her down there, so this will show me whether or not dinner was legitimate.”
He furrowed his brow. “What happened over dinner?”
I slid my hands into my pockets. “Remember, if she comes up? A bullet right against her skull will work just fine.”
My plans were coming along swimmingly, especially after the successful raid on Mateo’s second-largest warehouse on the island. Without it, he didn’t stand a chance in the ports this month, and I knew it would throw him off balance.
Especially given the bodies my men dropped and the blood that flooded the parking lot.
“Mmm, I should go back and look at those pictures,” I murmured to myself.
A knock at the door stopped me in my tracks, though. My ears perked up as I moved quickly for the hallway, gazing down it as I watched one of my men open the door. I poised my hand over the butt of my gun, readying myself for whatever fight Mateo had brought to my front door.
“Simmer down, brother. It’s just me,” Ronnie said.
I sighed. “You didn’t call.”
He walked through the front door. “Since when do I have to call to pay a visit to a house I let you stay in free of charge?”
Not for long, asshole. “What do you want? It’s late.”
He sauntered down the hallway. “Can’t a brother come visit his other brother for a glass of wine or whiskey?”
I blinked. “I already sent you the update of the warehouse raid. Did I miss something?”
He walked by me and patted my shoulder. “Come. I’m in the mood for the driest red wine you’ve got stocked.”
I rolled my eyes, but entertained his stupid notion nonetheless. If people thought I was unhinged, then that simply meant that they hadn’t met Ronnie. He was my half-brother. We had different mothers because our father was a fucking horndog, but the family had taken care of me nonetheless.
But, there were times when I questioned his loyalty.
“So! How much of a threat is Mateo now that his second-largest warehouse has been demolished to nothing?” Ronnie asked.
I poured each of us a crystal glass of whiskey. “Bah, he’ll be too distracted with trying to get things up and running again to be any kind of a threat to us.”
He took the glass I handed him. “Then, it might shock you when I tell you that four of the men from the crew that night were found dead on the gravel road leading up to the warehouse?”
I blink
ed. “Sorry, what?”
Ronnie sipped his drink. “Dead as doornails. And who do you think was responsible for that?”
I eased myself into a chair in front of him. “Possibly Mateo.”
“More than likely, Mateo. So, what’s that you were saying about him not being a threat?”
“Oh, come on, Ronnie. You would’ve done the same thing. He did what we thought he’d do: he got up, went to go get a bit of revenge to make himself feel better, and now he’s in scramble mode. I know that man’s docking schedule like the back of my hand, and he’ll be hurting this month and all of next month until he can find the funds to throw into getting that warehouse repaired.”
“Or purchasing a new one altogether.”
I pointed at him. “Or, that.”
He threw back the rest of his whiskey. “We need to make sure we stay two steps ahead of him. And if we know for sure men are going to die, we need to know that before he does. Understood?”
I snickered. “I already knew those men for that job were disposable. Don’t tell me you didn’t know.”
He slammed my glass against the top of the table. “Don’t you throw that kind of shit in my face when this was your idea in the first place. Don’t forget who came to my office pining over some grand, master plan that you wanted to execute. I didn’t hand over my men for you to lead them to slaughter. You told me no one would be killed in this process, and now I’ve got four men dead and one missing.”
I furrowed my brow. “Since when do we operate under the assumption that no one dies?”
His eyes hardened, and it shot a shiver down my spine. “Since I fucking said so, Mutt.”
I slowly stood to my feet. “If you don’t want to talk about the success the raid was, and you haven’t come here with any new plans or information, than you can see your way out. Because while you might own this place and allow me to stay here, I’m the one paying the bills. I’m the one doing your dirty work for half the price. I’m the one cleaning up the shit that’s going on while also making plans on how to take down the one rival we need out of our way to conquer this entire place. So, you can either get the fuck out or sit down and help me figure this shit out. Got it?”
Traitor: An Enemies to Lovers Mafia Romance (Sold to The Don Book 3) Page 5