Broken Empire (Broken Empire Duet Book 2)

by Savanna Gray

  “Allegedly,” I corrected.

  “They have proof of you threatening Senator York.”

  “We haven’t heard a tape or seen anything that proves my guilt, now have we?”

  He clenched his teeth. “Stop acting like a child, Marco. This shit is serious.”

  “My old man has the Senator on his side. I’m sure they can work something out. York wouldn’t have done this if he didn’t want something from us in return.”

  “He wants you out of his daughter’s life.”

  “And now she’s missing,” I countered.

  Lowering his voice, he said, “And I’m willing to bet you know where she is.”

  I looked away from him, refusing to answer.

  “You do, don’t you?” His voice was deep but low and full of so much anger. “This is not the time to play games, kid. You could end up spending the rest of your life in prison, and for what? For this girl? She’s nothing to you.”

  “She’s everything to me,” I shot back, my tone so cold the words shook through me. “And if York doesn’t drop the charges, he’ll never see Sienna again.”

  He shook his head, beyond pissed at me. Paulie couldn’t even look at me. He pushed his chair out from the table and jumped to his feet. “I don’t know what I can do for you. You’re beyond help.”

  “You’re leaving me in here?” I balled my hand into a fist and pounded it against the wooden table. “What good are you? What does my father pay you for if you can’t even get me out of this fucking place? Our guys have been in worse situations, and you’ve gotten them off every time.”

  “That’s because Senator York intervened. This is different. You’re in here because of him, and he can make your stay permanent if you don’t wise up.”

  “I’m not giving in to him.”

  “Then I hope you enjoy the rest of your life from behind bars.”

  “Get me out of here,” I growled. “Now.”

  “Your bail hearing is in the morning.” Paulie stood in front of the door. “I’ll do my best.”

  “What do you expect me to tell them? I’m not answering any of their questions.”

  “I’ll stay with you until they’re done, just keep your mouth shut.”

  I sucked in a deep breath and blew it out. “Where are you going?”

  “To grab a smoke. This is going to be a long night.”

  For six hours straight, the same agents interrogated me. And for all six hours, I pretended they didn’t exist. I had my bail hearing in the morning. Paulie had assured the judge I wasn’t a flight risk, but because my family had the means for me to disappear, I had to surrender my passport. I wasn’t planning to leave the country the traditional way. But I was getting the fuck out.

  Paulie drove out of the parking lot in complete silence. The only thing I wanted to do was run to Atlantic City. My cousin, Luca, would know how to get me out of here without a trace.

  We were almost home when Paulie said, “You better not think of leaving, kid. Your dad had to put one of his businesses up as collateral.”

  I shrugged, staring out the window at the cars on the highway. “I can’t make any promises.”

  He grunted but didn’t speak another word.

  There was no winning when I was in this kind of mood. And I no longer cared about my father or his businesses. As far as I was concerned, we were done. He was a traitor, a fucking rat I would never trust again.

  Instead of dropping me off at my house, Paulie drove straight to my father’s villa, where everyone was waiting for me. Antonio was on the couch in the living room next to my mother and Giovanni was on the opposite side of the coffee table next to my dad.

  “Are we having a family reunion I didn’t know about?” I asked them.

  Ma jumped off the couch and came rushing into my arms. “Marco, you had me worried sick.”

  I wrapped my arms around her. “I’m okay, Ma. They just asked me some questions. Nothing to worry about.”

  What a lie. I was going to prison for the better part of my life if I didn’t act right away. No matter how much I didn’t want to leave my mother and Antonio, I didn’t have a choice.

  Over her shoulder, I spotted my father shooting me a nasty look. No surprise. I knew he’d be angry with me, but at the time I made the decision to fuck with Senator York, I didn’t care. I still didn’t give a shit.

  “I need to speak with you,” my father said to me. “Alone.” His voice boomed when he said the last part.

  My mother’s tears wet the sleeve of my shirt, and as I released her from my grip, I wiped them away from her cheeks. “It will be okay,” I promised.

  In time, it would be, everything would work out. But I had to get over a few hurdles before I could begin planning my new life.

  After my mother left the room, Antonio and Giovanni stayed behind, assuming they would be included in the discussion.

  “Give me a few minutes with Marco,” my dad told them.

  Antonio cupped my shoulder and pulled me into a hug. “I hope you gave them hell.”

  I smiled for the first time in days. “You know it.”

  Giovanni patted me on the back as if I’d done the right thing. We never spoke much, not unless it was to fight about something. I was always at odds with my older brother, and now that I knew my father’s secret, it only made me resent Giovanni more. He was the reason our father became a turncoat.

  “I warned you to stay away from the York family,” my father said once we were alone. “You just couldn’t listen, could you?”

  “I heard you,” I spat back. “I chose not to listen.”

  “That girl will ruin this family. Is that what you want?”

  I sat on the couch across from my father, with a long oak table separating us. Resting my elbow on the arm, I glared at him. “You’ve already ruined this family… and any chance of me being a part of it.”

  He leaned forward and lowered his voice. “I told you that in confidence. To help convince you to do the right thing for this family.”

  I snorted. “Well, your plan backfired.”

  “What did you tell the Feds?”

  “Nothing.”

  “Sienna York is missing. Did you have anything to do with her disappearance?”

  “Why does everyone assume it was me?”

  “Don’t answer a question with a question, Marco. Where is the girl?”

  I shrugged against the plush fabric, sinking further into the cushions. It had been days since I’d last slept. The only thing I wanted was a hot shower and a bed. Talking to my father was the last thing on my list.

  “I don’t know. Maybe you should ask Senator York. He’s the one who’s content on locking her up for the rest of her life.”

  “He had nothing to do with it. If he did, he wouldn’t have come to see me, begging to get her back.”

  “Has he considered the possibility that she ran away? That maybe she doesn’t want to be found. No one should have to live the way she does.”

  “That’s not for you to decide, Marco.” He gritted his teeth, looking away from me. “If you know where she’s hiding, you better tell me. No more games.”

  “I wish I knew. But I don’t have any information that can help you.”

  It was the truth.

  “I don’t believe that for one second.”

  Pushing myself up from the couch, I let out a frustrated groan. “I need to get some sleep.”

  “Antonio can drive you home. In the morning, I expect you to give me some answers. You know more than you are letting on.”

  “Think what you want.”

  He waved his hand to dismiss me, ending the conversation.

  In the kitchen, I found Antonio sitting on top of the counter, eating a bowl of meatball soup. Slurping loudly, he shoveled another spoonful in his mouth, and then glanced up at me.

  “Can you take me home when you’re done?”

  “Yeah,” he said, with his mouth full of food. “Give me a sec.”

  I p
ulled out a chair from the small table and sat down. “Did you meet with Big John?”

  He nodded.

  “Did he talk to Grandpa Pete?”

  Antonio set the empty bowl on the counter and hopped down from it. “I took care of it. Put two bullets in the back of Moretti’s head. He won’t be a problem for us anymore.”

  “Do you even know why you had to kill him?”

  He gave me a confused look as if it were a trick question. “Because he was a traitor.”

  “It goes much deeper than that.”

  “What are you not telling me?”

  “Outside,” I said, my voice almost a whisper.

  His eyes told me he understood, and he didn’t speak until we were in his car. “What’s going on?”

  “There’s something Dad has been hiding from us for years.”

  He drove off the property, through the high wrought iron gates, and down the empty street. “Like what?”

  “Dad’s an informant. Moretti somehow found out we had someone on the inside. I don’t think he knew it was Dad, but—”

  Antonio pulled the car over to the side of the road. His breathing was labored, his voice muffled when he spoke. “Dad’s a rat? No… that’s not… possible.”

  “I felt the same way when he first told me.”

  “Betrayed,” he shot back.

  I nodded. “Like everything we’ve ever done for him was a lie. That everything he’s ever told us was a lie.”

  “Why? It doesn’t make any sense? He wouldn’t do this to us.”

  I filled him in about Giovanni’s arrest and why our father became an informant. No matter how many times I told him the story, he still didn’t want to believe me.

  “It’s true,” I confessed. “I’m getting out of here. I can’t work for Dad anymore. You should come with me.”

  He looked at me with pain in his eyes. “Where?”

  “Italy. We can work for Grandpa Pete in Calabria.”

  “Does Dad know?”

  “No. And you can’t tell him.”

  Antonio seemed irritated but not opposed to the idea. “You don’t have a passport. How are you getting there?”

  “Luca’s going to hook me up. He can do the same for you if you want to come with me.”

  “That’s why you wanted me to call him for you.”

  “I want you to come with me,” I admitted. “It won’t be the same without you.”

  Antonio was my twin, and without him, a part of me would have been missing. I needed him to agree to this, to see things my way. Whether he realized it or not, I was doing him a favor. We could have a better life in Italy.

  He scratched the dark stubble along his jaw. “When are you leaving?”

  “I don’t know yet. I have to drive to Atlantic City to see Luca. He could tell me I have to be ready in ten minutes for all I know. Depends on how soon another shipment is leaving.”

  “You should get some sleep first.” Antonio shifted the car back into gear and pulled onto the dark street. “I need some time to think about it.”

  As we drove back to our house in silence, I hoped he would consider my offer. I couldn’t imagine my life without Antonio in it.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Sienna

  I nibbled on a piece of crusty Italian bread, careful not to eat too fast. After what seemed like days without food, my stomach churned with each bite I took. The pain digging into my stomach like a knife slowly subsided.

  “Do you have something I can drink other than wine?” I asked the man sitting across from me. “It’s delicious, but I could use a glass of water.”

  He glanced over his shoulder at a man by the long, oak bar and muttered something so fast in Italian I didn’t catch all of it. The man did as he was told, pouring each of us a glass of water from the pitcher he left for us at the center of the table.

  I wrapped both hands around the glass and drank it in two gulps. When I set it on the table, the bartender filled it again. Liquid ran down my lips, which I licked away, my thirst still not satiated. I wiped the excess from my chin, and as I did, the scary Italian man across from me smiled. Well, he wasn’t all that frightening. His rugged good looks and killer smirk made it hard not to find him attractive.

  But he was a murderer. I could see it in his eyes. He was like Marco and his brothers. The same look from Marco never frightened me. It excited me. I knew there was a monster inside him that wanted to claim me, hurt me, and I didn’t care about the risk. Except Marco was never that way with me. He’d always shown me the softest parts of himself while exposing me to his darkness.

  Sometimes, he smothered me with it, and I welcomed it every time. I breathed in his anger and frustration, allowing him to swallow me whole. Every inch of my body craved him, always did. And that fact would never change. Being on this boat, alone and afraid, only made me miss Marco more. He could handle the man across the table from me.

  “My apologies for my men. They had you confused with someone else.” His thick accent reminded me so much of Cara.

  My heart pounded against my ribcage at the thought of her. I hoped she was okay and that the men who wanted me didn’t hurt her.

  I pushed the plate of food away from me and sat back in the chair, soaking in the warmth of the comfy cushions. “Who are you?”

  “Alessio Salvatore.”

  I breathed a sigh of relief. “Salvatore?”

  He nodded. “Yes. Marco arranged for you to be here.”

  “You said your men mixed me up with someone else. Does that mean you’re holding another woman against her will on this boat?”

  His expression turned serious and dark. “What takes place on this boat is none of your business, Sienna. If you’re going to be part of this family, you have to stop asking questions.”

  What Marco and I had was forever. At some point, I would become part of the Salvatore family. But I’d never given it much thought, mostly because I wasn’t sure how long we’d be together with my father constantly interfering with my life.

  “One more question. It’s important. Is Marco still in jail?”

  He shook his head, and I let out the breath of air I was holding. “We have another week until we reach Calabria. I suggest you rest up.” He scanned my dirty clothes and ratty hair and continued, “Perhaps a shower, too. You need to look presentable when you meet the boss.” I narrowed my eyes at him, and he added, “Pietro Salvatore.”

  “I thought Marco’s grandfather was retired.”

  He removed a pack of cigarettes from the inside of his jacket pocket. “I handle the day-to-day business, but my grandfather is the head of this family.”

  “Does he know about my situation? About my father?”

  If we would someday be family, I wanted to make a good first impression. But the issues Marco had with my father only complicated things.

  “He’s well aware. Your father is being handled.”

  The way he said the last word sent a tremor down my spine. I was told not to ask questions, and so I kept my mouth shut. Did I care whether my father lived or died? No, not at all. He was a horrible man who destroyed everyone in his path. Whatever retaliation he would face from Marco’s family was on him. And he would deserve it.

  The door behind me opened, and two sets of footsteps moved toward us. Alessio’s face brightened, and when I heard Cara say my name from behind me, I jumped up from the chair.

  I pushed the man at her side out of the way and hugged her with every ounce of energy I had left in my tired body. She was washed and dressed as if she’d been treated with care.

  “Cara,” I whispered, my voice turning into a soft sob. “You’re here. Oh, my God, I was so worried about you. I was afraid you were hurt or dead.”

  I lifted my head from her shoulder, and she stroked my cheek with her fingers. “I’d never leave you,” she lilted.

  Squeezing her against my chest, I took in the scent of her perfume and allowed it to fill my nostrils. Cara was here. With me. And soon, if ever
ything worked out, Marco would be with me, too. It was almost too good to be true.

  Chapter Twenty

  Marco

  “Are you sure you want to do this?” My cousin, Luca, asked me first, and I said yes without hesitation.

  Like Antonio and me, Luca was tall, with black wavy hair, olive skin, and around the same build. Most of the men on our father’s side of the family looked like Grandpa Pete.

  After thinking over our father’s deception, my brother agreed to come with me to Italy. Together, we could start a new life with Sienna and our Calabrian family.

  Luca’s gaze shifted to Antonio. “You going, too?”

  Antonio took a sip from his glass of scotch and nodded. “How soon do we leave?”

  “I have a ship arriving in Boston in the morning. You’d have to leave in the next few hours if you want to make it in time. It’s not the same accommodations as last time.”

  He was referring to the boat Sienna was on with Cara.

  “That’s fine.” I set my scotch on the table between us. “I don’t care if we have to sleep in the engine room. Just get us out of the country. When will Sienna be in Calabria?”

  “In a few days.”

  “Is she okay?”

  “She’s on Grandpa Pete’s yacht. Alessio is taking care of her.”

  I gave him a sideways look, wondering what that meant. But I didn’t bother to ask. Alessio was my cousin, one of my grandfather’s most trusted men, and loyal to the family. Unlike my father. I still couldn’t get over the fact he was a rat. At least with Alessio, Sienna was safe. I knew he would take care of her and keep his hands to himself.

  “What about Senator York?”

  He scratched the corner of his jaw, a smirk slowly forming on his face. “My men picked him up earlier. Want to see him?”

  A smile turned up the corners of my mouth. “As if you even had to ask.”

  Luca finished off the amber liquid in his glass and set it on the table as he rose to his feet. “What do you want me to do with him?”