Under his breath, Ruin spat, “Pussy.”
This time it wasn’t Miles that had to control his temper, though. Gripping her fork, Letty quickly turned it upside down and plunged the prongs into the meat of Ruin’s thigh. Though his face morphed with pain, Ruin didn’t dare scream, because at the second Letty drew blood, Michael Capadonno began to speak. Clearing his gravelly voice, Michael lifted a glass as he looked down the length of the table towards his son, Miles. Miles peered back at him with a stern look to his gaze.
“How blessed am I to have mi famiglia all surrounding me this day. I’m not a well man, but I’m very rich indeed to have family like you. Salut!”
“Salut!” the other members of the dining party called out as Sasha took the lids off of all her casseroles. Steam rose from her freshly made lasagna and deep dish casserole of gnocchi. Aida peeled the plastic wrap off of the Caesar salad and began dishing herself some greens onto her plate. As everyone began to eat, Miles let Letty make him a plate as he watched everyone very closely. As his eyes met his father’s, Miles noticed that the old man wasn’t eating but staring. A red flag went off in Miles’s mind.
I wonder if the old bastard is pointing his gun at me from under the table, Miles thought.
Never one to be outdrawn, Miles gently tugged his gun from its holster. Taking the safety off, Miles held it under the table, pointed directly at his father.
Old bastard ain’t gonna get me, Miles thought.
Letty fidgeted in her seat as she piled Miles’s plate with food, giving him an ample serving of fettucine, ambrosia and steamed vegetables. Gingerly, Letty placed Miles’s plate in front of him, then proceeded to get her own plate ready. Finally, as her plate was filled with grilled chicken and some salad, Letty was ready to dig in, but as she caught a charged look from Knox, Letty lost her nerve and dropped her fork to the floor. Clanging loudly against the marble floor, Letty’s fork skidded under the table. Rising from her chair, she bent down to pick it up. Leaning on her knees, Letty reached under the table for her fork and as she did so, she got an eye full. Right in front of her face, Miles held his pistol at the ready. Letty sat there in shock for a moment as she processed her thoughts. His gun is out. Who is the bullet for? Pivoting her neck, Letty looked to her right as her eyes bulged. Michael had his gun on his lap, and it was pointed right at Miles. Letty gasped, barely able to believe her eyes.
“Letty, are you okay?” Landon asked as he peered under the table.
Quickly, Letty scrambled for her fork and returned to her seat with a flustered look upon her face. Miles and Landon gave her a pair of bewildered looks, but she didn’t say anything and simply waited for the moment to pass. Then, as the dinner conversation picked back up, Letty whispered a warning into Miles’s ear.
“He’s pointing his gun right at you.”
Miles swallowed down air as his eyes met Letty’s.
“I assumed as much. Just stay calm. Everything is under control.”
Miles stared as his father as Letty gave him the message. Knowing that he was watching Letty like a hawk, Miles looked up at Letty and gave her a wink. Puckering his lips, Miles begged for a kiss, and Letty gave in, giving him a sweet peck on his lips. Miles looked back at his father as the old man snarled his upper lip. Miles snickered as he went back to eating his dinner. The old man is so fucking predictable it’s boring, Miles thought.
But then, just as the thought rattled around in his brain, Michael Capadonno threw him a wicked curve ball.
Bang. Bang. Bang!
Three knocks on the front door of the Capadonno mansion caught everyone’s attention.
“Who the hell is interrupting my family dinner?” Michael asked with a charged glint in his eyes.
“Sit,” Sasha said to Knox and her father, who both rose at the sound of the noise. “I’ll get it.”
Sasha’s heels clicked loudly as she made her way to the front door. She opened it and immediately began speaking to two men. Sasha sounded nervous as she spoke and as she ran back to the dining room, everyone’s eyes were upon her. Two police officers stepped into the room.
“What’s the problem? Why are you in my house?” Michael Capadonno yelled.
Officer Reid and Officer Bristow paid Michael no mind as they searched the faces at the table for the person they were looking for.
“Miles Capadonno?” Officer Reid called out with a serious look upon his face.
You could hear the sound of Letty’s gasp from across the room. Miles didn’t make any such sound though. Slyly, he passed his gun onto Letty’s lap from under the table, and he looked up at the officer and replied, “Yes?”
“Miles Capadonno, you’re under arrest for the murder of Vinnie “The Fish” Moretta. You have the right to remain silent. You have the right to a lawyer…”
“What?” Miles screamed. “I didn’t kill him!”
“Three eye witnesses say you did,” Officer Reid said with a cool tone of voice.
“Your witnesses are fucking liars!” Miles spat. He had a look of pure rage on his face. Knox and Dustin exchanged a nervous look. Letty looked pale as a ghost as she tried to wrap her head around the situation. Landon stood up.
“He didn’t do it. He hasn’t been alone since he got out. It’s not him,” Landon said to Officer Reid, blocking him from getting to his brother.
“Son, move out of the way,” Officer Reid said sternly. “He’ll get due process, but I gotta take him in.”
Everyone else remained silent as they watched the officer slip a pair of cuffs around Miles’s wrists. Turning around to face his father, Miles glared at his father as a slimy smile creased Michael Capadonno’s face.
A stone cold look washed over Miles’s handsome face as he mouthed the words, “Sei morto, Padre. Sei morto.”
Turning around with the officers at his back, Miles yelled to Landon, “Don’t you leave her side! You stay wit’ her until I get out! I mean it!”
Landon nodded gravely at his brother’s desperate plea as the cops forced him out of the room. As Miles was pushed out the front door, Landon went to Letty’s side.
“What did he say? What does that mean?” Landon asked in a frantic voice.
With a serious look on her face, Letty replied, “You’re dead, Father. You’re dead.”
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
LANDON LED LETTY OUT the patio door of the mansion and made a bee-line for Corina. Getting Letty into the passenger seat, Landon ran to the driver’s seat and hauled ass away from the Capadonno compound. Letty pulled her cell phone out of her bag and dialed her father’s number again, but once again the call went straight to voicemail.
“God damn it!” Letty screamed as she threw her phone back into her bag. Glancing over at Landon with a frantic look in her eyes, Letty said, “We have to stop by my father’s. He’s not answering his phone and he has my son.”
“All right,” Landon said as he turned in the opposite direction.
“Do you know the way?” Letty asked with a bewildered look on her face.
“Yes. Miles asked me a few years ago to keep an eye out for you in a letter. Told me your address.”
Letty laughed. “Oh, did he…”
“Yeah, in a totally not stalkerish way. He’s just protective of you. He doesn’t want anything to happen to you.”
“My father has a business card for a good lawyer on his fridge. Remind me to grab it,” Letty said as she looked nervously out her window.
“He didn’t do it, you know…”
Letty snapped her eyes back to Landon’s face. “I know he didn’t. He’s been with me the whole time… Well, except for when he went clothes shopping, but he had my kid with him. Miles wouldn’t…”
“Yeah, I get that, but you can’t provide him with an alibi… And I doubt your kid could either. Somebody was clocking him.”
“Think Michael is trying to set him up again?” Letty asked.
“I know that’s what’s going on.”
“Well, wait. Stores have
video footage… Right?”
“Yeah, usually…” Landon replied.
“Well, he was at Black Dragon…”
“The biker shop?”
“Yeah, that’s where he got his boots and he bought a pair for my kid.”
“Well, when we go to the station, we’re going to make sure they know that. I’ll be damned if he’s going to take the fall again for a man my father killed!”
Letty’s eyes snapped on Landon’s face once again.
“What?”
“What what?”
“Michael killed Giancarlo Rigatti?”
“Yeah. I thought that was common knowledge,” Landon said.
“Umm… No!”
“And I’m pretty sure he’s the one that killed Fish.”
“Well after the other night, it wouldn’t surprise me…”
“The other night?”
Letty sighed as she slapped her hands on her legs.
“Fuck!”
“What?”
“Your father is the one that killed Anthony Spinelli.”
“Huh? When?”
“Friday night. Just before you and Miles showed up.”
“Was Knox involved?”
“No. Knox doesn’t know anything about it.”
Landon tried to sort out his thoughts and make sense of the situation, but it was no use. There was no making heads or tails of what was happening. Letting out a sigh, Landon double parked out front of Letty’s father’s house.
“Here we are,” Landon said. “Hold on, I’m coming with you.”
“Lock the car. He’ll snap if anything happens to it,” Letty warned.
Juan Alves’s car was still parked in the driveway, a fact that brought Letty considerable comfort.
Maybe he’s just had his phone on vibrate, Letty thought.
Pulling her keys out of her purse, Letty ran up the porch steps. As she approached the front door though, she noticed something was wrong. Something was horribly wrong. The front door was ajar, and there was a scuff mark on the door where someone had clearly kicked on the surface. Letty’s stomach lurched with anxiety as she pushed the door open. It took a second to understand what was going on. The calamity of the scene brought tears to Letty’s eyes. There were signs of a struggle. Juan’s coffee table was broken, wood splintered into a pile on the floor. The TV screen was shattered and picture frames that had rested on top of the TV stand lay broken on the floor.
“Dad!” Letty cried out as her hands began to shake. “Dad!”
Sobs began to break from Letty’s mouth.
“Gabriel?”
Landon went to Letty’s side as he looked around at the destruction. Listening carefully to make sure they were alone, Landon was desperate to get Letty out of the house.
“We need to go!” Landon urged.
“G! Dad!” Letty persisted.
“Letty, now. We need to go,” Landon said as he tugged on Letty’s arm.
“No! My baby!” Letty howled as she fought against Landon.
“We’re going to get him, Letty,” Landon told her calmly. “We need to go.”
“My baby…” Letty pleaded as she fell against Landon’s shoulder. Wrapping his arm around Letty, he stroked her hair as he let her cry it out.
“Listen to me, Letty,” Landon begged. “There’s something I need to tell you.”
Through her sobs, Letty looked up at Landon.
“What?” Letty asked. “What do you need to tell me?”
Landon let out a deep sigh. Unbuttoning the buttons of his dress shirt, Landon reached beneath his undershirt and pulled out what looked like a wallet on a chain. When Letty’s eyes focused, she realized that it wasn’t a wallet at all. It was a badge.
“This has to be between us. I’m an undercover police officer for Carrion’s organized crime prevention unit.”
Choking through her tears, Letty actually laughed.
“Are you shitting me?”
“You didn’t have a clue?”
“No. No one does. They all think you’re in taking courses at the community college for business.”
“Don’t blow my cover.”
“Oh, no, Landon. I want the mob out of Carrion as much as you do.”
Landon smiled. “We’re going to get your boys back. Come on. We need to go to the station.”
Miles glared up from the metal bench he sat upon, staring down the long hallway beyond the bars of his cell. There was a hatred so great permeating from his eyes that none of the other prisoners dared to even look his way. From the shadows of the hallway, a man emerged, walking quietly with a strange smile on his face. Miles recognized him immediately. Dressed in a charcoal gray suit, Nunzio Rigatti walked from the shadows and approached the bars of the cell.
“Miles Capadonno,” Nunzio said in a chilly tone of voice.
“Nunzio…” Miles said with a nod of his head.
Nunzio glared at Miles with a pair of deep-set eyes.
“You killed my grandson, your father killed my son, and now I have taken something precious of yours.”
“What the fuck are you talking about? I never laid a hand on your greaseball son. You’re looking at the wrong Capadonno for that one.”
Nunzio waved his hand, brushing away Miles’s comments.
“I have taken something that is precious for you. If you want him back, you’re going to have to come for him yourself.”
“Who? What the fuck are you talking about, old man?” Miles spat as he stood up off his bench.
“Il tuo bambino…” Nunzio said with a raised eyebrow.
It took Miles a moment to understand Nunzio’s meaning. Il tuo bambino was Italian for “your baby boy.”
Reaching his arm through the bars of his cell, Miles gripped onto Nunzio’s dress shirt. Yanking the man forward, Miles slammed his face into the bars of the cell.
“If that child has shed one tear,” Miles said through gritted teeth. “If that child has been hurt in any way…”
Miles glared at Nunzio through the bars of his cell. Pressing the old man’s face to the bars, Miles snarled with rage.
“What?” Nunzio growled. “Say it.”
“I will torch the house of Rigatti to the ground.”
Slamming the man against the bars once more, Miles let go and threw Nunzio to the floor with a thud.
“See you in Brooklyn, motherfucker!” Miles screamed.
Corina came to a screeching halt outside the West Precinct police station as Landon put the car in park. Rushing from the car with Letty, Landon kept a protective hand on her back as he kept a watchful eye of their surroundings. Walking to the back door of the station, Landon took a key card out of his wallet and swiped it against the security reader by the door. The back door buzzed loudly and they walked through. Letty followed Landon closely as they entered what looked like an officer’s break room. Captain Wesley Harris stood at the counter dressed in his service whites as a coffee pot percolated loudly. Turning his body around nonchalantly, the captain did an about face to see who had come through the back door. When his eyes fell upon Landon’s face, he nearly choked. Glaring at Landon, the captain crossed the room with a grave look upon his face.
In a muffled voice, the captain barked, “What the fuck are you doing here? Did anybody see you?”
“Nobody’s seen me. They have bigger fish to fry.”
“What’s the problem? Who is this?” the captain asked as he motioned to Letty.
“Two things. Number one, we need to report a crime. Number two, the guy you got in a holding cell is innocent. He’s being set up.”
“Okay, wait. Slow down. What crime are you reporting?”
“There was a break-in at my father’s house. My son and my father are missing. I haven’t been able to reach them since last night and when I showed up today, the front door was open and the house is in shambles,” Letty shakily explained.
Grabbing a notepad and a pen off of the counter, the captain told Letty to write down the descr
iption of her father and son, the address of the break-in, and the times of her calls. As she did so, he continued to talk to Landon.
“Okay, Capadonno. What about the guy in holding?”
“He’s my brother.”
“Yeah, he’s got quite the record.”
“He has an alibi,” Landon explained. “Vinnie ‘The Fish’ Moretta was murdered at approximately 11:45 p.m. At that time, Miles Capadonno was with Letty, her father Juan and her son at his house. The only time that Miles has been alone since getting out of prison was when he went clothes shopping Saturday morning, and earlier in the evening Friday night.”
“When he opened fire in the middle of Center Square on Moretta…” the captain said.
“Fish and Dante were attacking me. Miles was trying to protect me!” Letty spat.
Landon dug his hands in his pants pockets as he fished for something. Pulling his hands back out, he tossed a small camcorder cassette tape on the table. The label on the tape was marked “Evidence.”
“What’s this?” the captain asked.
“Surveillance tapes. You’ll find what’s on them very interesting,” Landon said.
The captain quickly grabbed the tape and gave Landon a dark gaze.
“I’ll review it. Keep your cell phone on.”
“Will do,” Landon said.
The sound of rustling feet echoed from the hall as several approaching officers laughed loudly.
“You better go,” the captain said urgently. “Go on, get out of here. I’ll keep you posted.”
“What about my son and my father? What about Miles?” Letty begged.
“It’s all being worked on. Keep your phone on you and charged. I’ll be in touch.”
Not a moment later, Landon grabbed Letty’s hand and yanked her out the back door as a group of officers entered the break room.
“Let’s go back to your house. I need time to think,” Landon insisted.
Letty nodded somberly as she got into the car.
As Landon got into the car, he clutched the steering wheel tightly. Glancing over at Letty he spilled the words on his tongue.
Miles Away (Carrion #1) Page 25