Untamed (Omertà Book 2)

by Anna Widzisz

  "These are the bathroom and supply closet but I have never really used them," explained Noah, seeing that Inéz was looking in that direction. For her, the apartment in Seattle had nothing on the one the man had in Las Vegas.

  "The elevator is a private one, so no one is going to come here without my permission. And I don’t tend to have business meetings here so only Flavio, Cristian, and one of my enforcers Nicodemo ever come over, and on special occasions my grandma too. But it’s rare."

  They went upstairs where there were a bar and coffee table as well as three armchairs. It looked less official and was suited for more private conversations filled with drinking alcohol. Right next to it, was the door to the patio that held a jacuzzi and loungers.

  On the other side, there was another corridor with many different doors on both sides and one white double-door at the very back.

  "You have four different bedrooms with en-suite bathrooms that you can choose from. At the end, there is my bedroom which is off-limits for you. Don’t even try going in there," he warned, receiving quick nods of approval.

  He let them inspect the rooms as he went downstairs to the kitchen to order something to eat. He was famished after the travel. There had been no time to eat anything today, and adding to that the lack of sleep, he needed the energy to last him for the rest of the day.

  As he pulled out his phone, Inéz walked up to the kitchen counter and sat on a barstool. "I’m going to order a pizza. What do you want?" he asked.

  "I don’t really care as long as it's food."

  She watched as the man ordered four different pizzas for each of them to share. Looking once again at the living room she could easily admit that it was beautiful but didn’t make such an impression on her as it probably should. Inéz was never one to care about money even though her parents had more than they could spend. Living her life in luxury wasn’t anything exciting.

  "What do you think of the place?"

  Noah gestured at the penthouse, leaning slightly over the counter. He still had his holster on, even though nothing covered it.

  She shrugged, not bothering to answer.

  "Why haven’t you told the boys what I am going to do?"

  Inéz wasn’t used to keeping things from her friends. She preferred them to know, even if they would probably throw a fit. Especially Drew. After her twin, Francisco, had gone back to Spain, he took it upon himself to enter overprotective brother mode.

  "Because I am not one to trust anyone, cara. This is a huge responsibility that rests on my shoulders. I can’t fail my Famiglia. The more people know, the more dangerous it is for me, and especially for you. We cannot afford something going wrong, because I don’t want to risk your life and the whole operation along with it. The fucker has been on my death list for a while. I made him a Capodecina after my father refused to countless times. It seemed like a good idea at the time because it would earn me his loyalty forever. But it turned out to be a bad move on my account. However, there are steps I need to take in order to remove him. A reason for me to do so. Because I can’t stand in front of my captains, telling them that I killed my Capodecina because I thought that he was conspiring against me."

  "Aren’t you the Capo? People should listen to you."

  "And they mostly do. But my power lays with those who respect me to be the leader. I can hardly start killing my own people without as much as a shred of proof. Others would think that at any moment they could die too. That was my father’s way of working, and look how it turned out for him in the end."

  Inéz nodded in agreement. She needed to trust Noah and his leading skills. After all, the man had been born into this world and knew more about it than most people. He was intelligent enough to take over the role of a Capo and respected enough to have reliable henchmen working for him who would do as he said when the time came.

  § § §

  The dinner went by quietly with the re-run of a football match in the background. Noah was focused on his phone, texting back and forth with someone, an unabashed grin on his face. Something had him excited. As he was mainly focused on business, it was probably related to that, rather than his social life. But for Inéz, the smile was a scary one all the same.

  Steps sounded in the corridor and a second later they saw a tall dark-haired man. He was over six feet with broad shoulders and tattoos covered his arms. An icy expression that reminded Inéz of Flavio. They both held back, and an identical mysterious aura surrounded him. In his hand, there was a box with a brand-new laptop. The packaging wasn’t labeled.

  His eyes moved over to the Capo, as he nodded his head in a greeting manner. "I have what you asked for."

  The man bore a resemblance to a hitman with his clothes. They weren’t elegant as Noah’s were most of the time. No suit, or even a dress shirt. Just a black t-shirt, jeans and sports shoes suited for everyday use. He looked casual, but with an unmistakable potential for danger.

  Noah regarded him. "Isaac, it’s yours to work with. Get acquainted with the operating system because I need you to do something for me."

  Henderson got up at once, and with adoration shining in his eyes towards the electronic device, he took the laptop from the man. He settled at the table, a smile flashing across his face. Never before had he used such an expensive and new equipment.

  "Done with the job already?" Noah asked.

  The man nodded slowly. "Do you need me for anything else?"

  "Indeed. As soon as Isaac gets the information, I believe you will need to pay a visit to one more person," he said, getting up from the couch. "This is Nicodemo. He is one of the Famiglia’s enforcers. But he mainly works for me alone. That’s Inéz, Drew and Isaac.”

  Nicodemo acknowledged them with a barely visible nod and moved on to the table to figure out what the boss had in mind for his last job of the day. His hands rested on the wooden counter looking at the laptop screen. Noah joined him soon after showing Isaac his phone. There was a photo of an older man in mid-sixties, almost completely bald with deep black eyes and a grim expression.

  "Find this man. He was last seen at the border of Texas. I won’t have the idiot cooperating with the fucking Mexican cartels. They piss me off enough as it is," he seethed.

  "Who’s that?" asked Drew, looking over his friend’s shoulder to see the photo. Falcone bit his lip hard sucking some blood that appeared there. He looked angry.

  "Ivo Boveri. He was an associate and knew every single thing about Famiglia businesses. Which he shouldn’t. But my father was unable to control his people and differentiate an associate from a Made Man. He ran as soon as I came into power, and since then my people have been looking for him."

  "He might have been in Texas, but probably changed his mind," began Isaac, turning the screen towards Noah. "He’s in Flamingo, Las Vegas."

  A devious smirk took over Falcone’s face. He shook his head in disbelief.

  "This fucker doesn’t know what’s good for him, but at least he makes it easy for me," he stated. His eyes darted to the Enforcer. "Bring him to me, Nico. I would like to have a talk with the old man. Take anyone you want, if necessary."

  Nicodemo looked askew at the Capo trying to figure out if he was being serious.

  "I don’t need anyone," he answered. "Send the details to my phone." He looked at Isaac who nodded in agreement.

  The Enforcer rested his eyes on Inéz in passing. Temporary confusion showed in them as he moved to the elevator. He quickly replaced it with determination. The assignment was to be an exciting one.

  § § §

  Inéz couldn’t sleep. Her mind kept replaying the last days as if they were a movie trailer that she was watching at the cinema. Everything felt so surreal, yet it was as real as it could be. She lived in Las Vegas now and, what’s more, she was in Noah Falcone’s penthouse.

  But no one knew any of it. She'd resigned from the job in the senator’s office that she got after spending her last months of high school doing an internship there. Never having explained her r
easons for quitting. Her parents went back to Spain with Francisco. They still worked as architects, while Francisco had gotten a full ride in college because of his basketball scholarship. Her whole family was still convinced that she was in Seattle. Working.

  A door creaked making the girl jump, thinking that someone was coming into her bedroom. Opening her eyes, she saw a light coming from the corridor and heard quiet steps. She checked the time on her phone. It was past one. To realize that someone wasn’t sleeping either, just like her, had her lower her feet off the bed as she stood up, pulling a big hoodie over her body.

  She headed out of the room, careful not to make too much noise. The corridor was dark once again, but there was a dim light at the bar area. She tiptoed there but stopped as soon as she heard the safety of a gun being released. Her heart went up to her throat.

  "You can come closer, Inéz. I won’t bite." She heard Noah’s deep voice and a quiet chuckle.

  She breathed out, not realizing that she’d been holding it back. Slowly, she approached the bar area and her eyes fell on the blond man sitting in one of the armchairs with a glass of scotch in his hand. He was dressed in just his sweatpants and had a holster carelessly thrown over his chest. One of the guns laid on his lap. He was playing with it since he obviously had no trouble discerning who’d gotten up. He raised his eyebrow in a questioning manner.

  Inéz sat in the other armchair, pulling her knees under her chin and tightly clasping her arms around them.

  "Why aren’t you sleeping?" he asked, taking another sip of the alcohol. "I can’t sleep in a new place. It takes time to grow accustomed to it."

  Her voice was sleepy, however, there was no tiredness in her. "How did you know that it was me?"

  "I heard you tossing and turning in bed. It could only be you."

  She nodded. "Have you already dealt with this Ivo guy?"

  Noah shook his head, turning his eyes away from the girl. He leaned his head back breathing steadily.

  "It’s been a long time. Haven’t you said that Nicodemo is your best Enforcer? Why does it take so much time to kidnap one man?"

  The Capo laughed at her words. She was new to the mafia world and a lot of things wouldn’t be easy to understand. The mob played by their own rules, had their own society where Inéz, as well as Drew and Isaac, will have to learn to be a part of, eventually.

  "Nicodemo prefers working at night. Some of the easiest jobs he takes care of throughout the day, and then leaves the best ones, the most interesting and entertaining ones for the night. He will text me soon."

  She searched his face but could tell that he was relaxed enough not to be secretly worrying that something had happened to his Made Man. She took another attentive look at him. His muscles were flexed and perfectly shaped. Scars covered his arms as well as stomach, some of them burns. But those imperfections didn’t look like ones on him. They were signs of survival, a harsh past and tough jobs that happened throughout his life. They were untold stories, braided in dark memories. Inéz wanted to know more about him but there was no point asking because as much as he’d been willing to tell her more a few years before, there was no sign of the same person today. Due to him becoming a Capo, he’d changed a lot. Couldn’t afford any weakness or kindness if it didn’t add to his ever-growing strength. Power plays through and through.

  "Do you sleep with your guns as well?" she asked curiously.

  There wasn’t a time that he hadn’t had his holster. Even earlier in the day, she’d been able to see the bulge under his jackets, which hadn’t meant anything then, but right now she was certain that it had been guns hidden underneath.

  "Mostly. I don’t make a habit out of being unarmed."

  She didn't expect such an answer. Noah was tall and brawny. He could easily crush someone with his hands alone. That should be reassurance enough to at least sleep without having a gun near his bed. The Capo had said a couple of times that he didn’t trust people, but it looked as if he didn’t even trust himself.

  "Can I ask you something?"

  "You already have. More than once. So does my permission really matter? You will ask anyway." he smirked.

  She smiled lightly. "That’s true," she admitted. "What’s your brother’s deal with Lynette? He was kind of rude when someone mentioned her."

  "Kind of? Flavio is more than kind of rude when it comes to Lynette. He thinks that I am wasting my time looking for her. That she doesn’t deserve it."

  Noah returned the gun to the holster, got up and poured himself another glass of alcohol but didn’t sit back down. He came up to the windows, looking at the illuminated Las Vegas. It was a breathtaking view even more now at night than during the day. The city came to life with casinos, clubs and other entertainment sites. The penthouse was right in the middle of the Strip which Inéz hadn’t acknowledged before. But now it gave her goosebumps just thinking about everything that was happening right now in every single building around them. And it was all under the control of the Famiglia that she was now a part of.

  "And what do you think? You agree with him?"

  The man wasn’t the easiest person to figure out. He might be helping Lynette but it didn’t mean that he cared. And as Drew told her once before - the girl had been scared of him most of the time and if she’d been that way despite being born into mafia world, no one should feel safe and sound in Noah’s company. She’d already learnt that some of his motives were hidden, and only for him to know. You could never be sure of anything with Noah. He was unpredictable. That was what made him dangerous.

  "Lynette might not deserve my help per se, but it’s not a waste of time."

  She raised her eyebrow, hoping that Noah would explain it in more details. His smile turned into a terrifying smirk. "Then what’s your motive behind it?"

  Noah’s phone rang. He looked at it, emptied the glass of alcohol and put it down on the bar. "Wait and you might just find out," he whispered in her ear, leaning over her small body in the armchair. He rose and held his hand out for her. "Do you want to come with me?"

  It was an actual question. For the first time, there was no hidden order in his voice, but a small part of him was sure that Inéz wouldn’t turn down his invitation. She pretended to think about it, but after a few seconds she took his hand and got up to follow. Who was she kidding? It was an adventure she didn’t mind embarking on.

  CHAPTER 9

  His hand tightened around the gun in the holster as they were standing in front of a big, abandoned building. The area was outside the city with nothing around but wind turbines. It's desolation made it the perfect spot to conduct illegal business. No undesired witnesses, or screams to be heard.

  The cold night wind hit them in the face, making Inéz shiver slightly. She hadn’t dressed for the weather. With only her jeans and a hoodie, it was hard for her to keep a straight face. Even though it was May and it should be warmer even at two in the morning, that wasn’t the case.

  Noah looked at the girl from the corner of his eye but didn’t say anything. Moving towards the building, his smiled widened. Such dealings were an everyday thing for him, but they still managed to excite him tremendously. Even more than before. Terrifying satisfaction made its way throughout his body. Inéz watched him carefully as if it was possible for her to figure him out. Whatever was about to occur, she knew it wouldn’t be easy for her to see but she could somehow relate to Noah’s obvious excitement. Only in a small part that is.

  Going through the big hall, old furniture covered in dust was all that was to be seen. They went up the stairs which were situated on both sides meeting in the middle. A long corridor of rooms materialized on the right. The man wrapped his big hand around her wrist pulling her after him. It was dark and it wouldn’t be hard for the girl to lose her way not being familiar with the layout. And Noah didn’t feel like wasting time looking for her when there were more important matters to take care of.

  Quiet movements were heard behind the doors at the end of the corridor. Noa
h’s grin twisted dangerously, making Inéz’s pulse quicken.

  "Don’t lose it, cara. It’s not the place for it," he warned her.

  As he loosened his grip on her the door flew open, and Nicodemo appeared in front of them. He was covered in blood from head to toe, catching the girl by surprise. Her heart went up to her throat. She swallowed her fear, trying to do exactly what her boss had told her to do. But she felt out of place because clear excitement was seen on the men’s faces and she was everything but excited. Merely curious.

  The Enforcer didn’t even acknowledge her presence. He stepped back to make room for Noah to come in, which he did. Inéz wondered if she should follow him. After all, she was still a woman and if there was something she knew for certain about the mafia, was that women weren’t supposed to meddle, and even more - they shouldn’t see others taking care of business.

  But Noah clearly didn’t care about those rules. He made his own that allowed for her to at least be a witness of all that was about to go down. His determined gaze made sure of it as she stepped towards him.

  The room was at some point a bedroom since there were a large bed and a chest of drawers. She could see it clearly as the moonlight shone through the windows. There was a man lying on the dirty sheets covered in blood. Even the walls and the floor were a sickening shade of red. Not just Nicodemo, as it appeared.

  "Had fun already without me?" Noah asked taking in the sight before him.

  Nico shrugged. "The fucker didn’t come easily," he answered, coming closer to the man who shivered at seeing his torturer, but when he realized that they weren’t alone anymore his fear somersaulted.