Deadly Ink: A Dark Mafia Romance (Omerta Series Book 3)

by Roxy Sinclaire

  My father was horribly mistreated for years for a stupid reason, yet he never sought revenge. It wasn’t because he didn’t have it in him, but he grew up in a gang. If things went differently, he could have been on top. But, because someone with a little more power held a grudge, he was nearly sent to jail.

  That’s why my dad wasn’t happy when I told him I wanted to kill Giorgio. He told me that it was a terrible idea. I knew he was right, but I wanted to try anyway. He told me it was better for me to leave town and stay away from Giorgio. Instead, I went straight for him.

  Still, he understood why I wanted to end him, and respected that. I was an adult now—I did my time like a man, and I came out of prison a different person. I was older and wiser now.

  The detective assigned to my case was a young blond guy, who didn’t look much older than me. His partner was older, had a deeply-lined face, and a bushy mustache that made him look gruff.

  “I’m Detective Daniels,” the young cop said, “and this is my partner, Detective Duff. I understand you have some information on gang activity. Is this a gang you’re currently affiliated with?”

  I paused. If I admitted it, would I go back to jail? Technically, I was on the payroll. If I lied, it wouldn’t sound legitimate.

  “Depending on your affiliation, there is a chance you can receive immunity. Especially if you testify at trial if there is one.”

  “I can’t stick around for a trial,” I chuckled. “If you knew what kind of information I was sitting on, you’d understand why I have to leave town.”

  “Okay then,” Detective Duff said, sitting backward in his chair, “who are we dealing with here?”

  “Giorgio D’Angelo.”

  The detectives’ jaws dropped.

  “Do you understand why I can’t stick around?”

  “Tell me what you know about him. Are you involved in his gang?”

  “Only because I wanted to take him down. He got me arrested for a crime I didn’t commit. I spent time inside because of him. I wanted to return the favor, and maybe get some scum off the street in the process.”

  “So, this is for revenge?”

  I balled up my fists. “His family is in danger if he stays free.”

  “His family?”

  “He beats his wife. He has people spying on his daughter at all moments of the day. He tortures and kills innocent people all the time. Is it so hard to believe that it’s the right thing to put this guy away for good?”

  They looked at each other and then back to me.

  “No, we believe you. What do you know about his crimes? Anything in particular that can be used as evidence?”

  I set the folder of documents on the table and slid it toward the detectives. I waited for them to flip through the pages. The further the got, the more excited their faces became. I knew that I had done well.

  “Do you understand what these documents mean?” Daniels asked in a condescending tone.

  “Yes,” I said pertly. “I believe this means that Mr. D’Angelo owes the government millions of dollars in unpaid taxes. Also, it shows that he has been involved in illegal gambling rings and foreign drug cartels. I’m sure there’s much more in there, but I’m no expert on the subject.”

  They stared at me, realizing they underestimated me from the moment I walked in the door. By now, I figured they’d listen to whatever I had to say.

  “I don’t know much about the business, but I personally know that he conducts most of his business in New York and Las Vegas. He doesn’t technically own the casinos out there, but he has a hand in all of it. If he doesn’t like how an owner is using his money or services, he sends one of his goons to rough them up. He is dangerous and violent, but he gets off the hook every time because he has a lot of connections and money.”

  “What kind of connections?”

  I cleared my throat, not wanting to tell them something they didn’t want to hear.

  “Police connections?” Daniels guessed.

  “Yup. In most cases, they’ll make an arrest, usually someone who’s on the bottom tiers of the organization. That’s how I got caught up in it.”

  “What do we want to do?” Daniels said to Duff.

  “I think we need to get a search warrant for the D’Angelo home.”

  “This is bigger than us. We need to get the feds on the line immediately. Grab anyone who’s not working on an active case. We’re going to need all hands on deck.”

  “Can I ask you something?” I said quietly.

  “Sure, kid,” Duff grunted.

  “Does this mean that I’m immune for getting caught up in this? I have a feeling that whatever you find in your investigation will lead to the arrests of everyone in the inner circle. Will my father and I be safe? I only came to you because I want to protect my family. I have a child on the way. I need to put this all in the past.”

  They looked at each other, somehow telepathically coming to a conclusion.

  “You’re safe. We won’t press charges against you or your father.”

  “Also, just out of curiosity, but if you find this information to be valid, will you be making an arrest immediately?”

  “We can’t tell you that,” Daniels said. “But you’ve been very helpful.”

  “He’s dangerous,” I said. “I promise you, if you don’t get him put away for a long time, he will hurt anyone who stands in his way. I want to make sure you understand that.”

  The detectives looked a little confused and nervous.

  “We get it, kid,” Duff said. “Mob bosses are usually dangerous. You can leave this up to us now. We can handle it from here.”

  “So I can go?”

  He gestured toward the door.

  “I hope you’re right about all of this, Apollo,” Daniels said, holding the door open behind me. “It would be a big win for the city to get him off the streets. You’ve been a big help. No matter what happens, you’ve done a good thing.”

  As I walked outside of the police station, I carried those words with me. I didn’t care about the cops and the big promotions they’d get for catching one of the city’s biggest criminals. I didn’t really care about the stories that would be plastered all over the newspapers because of my information. It was personal. This felt better than revenge. This felt like true justice.

  I got into my borrowed car and drove away, knowing that there was nothing more I could do but wait.

  A Long Wait

  Apollo

  On my way to the airport, one of my prison contacts, Wolfie, called me.

  “I can’t talk now, I have something important going on right now,” I said quickly. I was expecting to hear from Sierra and Alice. I wasn’t sure if Alice had been released from the hospital yet, and we only had a few hours until our flight was supposed to leave.

  “You’re going to want to hear this, Apollo,” Wolfie said. “Giorgio’s been arrested. Once he gets booked, he’ll post bail, but you need to watch your ass. Word is, he thinks that you and his wife are behind all of this and he has people looking for you.”

  “Tell his guys that I’m driving to Los Angeles,” I said, hoping someone would be dumb enough to buy it.

  “I’m not touching this situation, man. I’ll tell you whatever is happening, but I’m not going to meddle around in this. It’s too dangerous.”

  “Come on, Wolfie, help me out here.” I looked in my rearview window, suddenly very suspicious of every car on the road.

  “All I know is that wherever you are, you need to get the hell out of the city. There are eyes out for you everywhere. The same goes for the wife. Are you with her?”

  “Not currently, no,” I said, scanning the road.

  “That’s probably for the best. I heard that the boss has very specific instructions for what to do with her.”

  My stomach churned. I didn’t want to know what that meant. Hearing that only reinforced my belief that I did a good thing.

  “So what should I do? I’m trying to get out of town as we
speak.”

  “Keep your head on a swivel, man.”

  “Just keep me updated if you hear anything else.”

  “Will do.”

  After I got off the phone with Wolfie, I pulled over to a gas station to fill up. I paid the attendant and went into the bathroom to relieve myself before I finished my drive. With all of my nerves flowing through my body, I really had to pee.

  I was starting to feel paranoid, so I checked all of the stalls. I was all alone. I went to the urinal and unzipped my pants when a man walked in. He was short, but stocky and was wearing a leather jacket. Something about this man made me feel uneasy, so I zipped up and walked toward the door.

  “Are you Apollo Nano?” the man asked.

  At the sound of my name, I instinctively turned around. That was my mistake.

  Identifying his target, the man took a swing at me that collided with my chest. It winded me, and I leaned against the door trying to catch my breath. I saw him wind up for the second punch, so I ducked and his hand smashed into the metal door.

  He muffled a scream as he cradled his broken hand in his free hand, giving me enough time to go on the defensive. A kick to the stomach knocked him down, and a second kick to his head rendered him unconscious.

  I quickly checked his pulse afterward to make sure he was still alive. It shouldn’t have mattered to me since he would have tried to kill me, but it did. If I wasn’t going to kill Giorgio, I wasn’t going to kill anyone. Fortunately, he was just unconscious. I washed the blood off my knuckles and booked it out of the bathroom, back to my car.

  I was pretty shaken up, so I sped the rest of the way to the airport. I parked the car in the middle of a lot, unlocked, with the keys inside. It wasn’t of any use to me anymore.

  Bringing along my only bag of possessions, I walked briskly toward the airport’s international terminal, constantly looking back and forth in case some other psycho came running after me.

  I held my breath as I let the airline attendant scan the passport that I got before I went to prison. I was finally going to be able to travel. For some reason, I thought the employee would recognize who I was and would tip Giorgio off. Like I said, I was feeling really paranoid.

  I got through to our scheduled gate after standing in lines waiting to check my bag and get through security. Each time, I wondered if Giorgio had plants in the airport, looking for us.

  Finally, I saw the person I had been waiting to see all day. She must have been looking for me, too, because once I stepped into her eye line, she came running for me.

  “I was so scared,” she said, wrapping her arms around my neck. I embraced her waist, pulling her in close.

  “I was scared, too,” I said, kissing her on the head. “I’m so glad you’re here.”

  Alice walked over to us, a proud smile on her face. I hadn’t asked, but it seemed like she approved of us. At the very least, she wasn’t actively trying to keep us apart.

  “I have some bad news,” I said tersely. “One of my contacts called me a little bit ago and said that Giorgio has men looking for us. Well,” I said, looking at their shocked expressions, “looking for Alice and me. As far as I know, he doesn’t know that Sierra has anything to do with this.”

  Sierra grasped my hand. “Do you think there’s anyone here?”

  “I don’t know. I got attacked by a guy in a gas station not too far away from the apartment. I knocked him out, though, so he won’t be telling anyone about it anytime soon.”

  She grasped my hand even tighter. I heard her phone vibrate in her pocket.

  “It’s him,” she said, a look of pure panic on her face. “What do I do?”

  “Answer it. Make something up. Don’t tell him that we’re with you. Just play dumb about the whole thing. He already knows that we’re involved, so you need to pretend to be innocent.”

  She took a deep breath and answered the phone, walking around to find a quiet spot to speak. Alice and I followed close behind, trying to listen to every word.

  “Hi, Daddy,” she said cheerfully. “Are you back from your trip?”

  “Darling, where are you? Have you seen your mom or Apollo anywhere?”

  “It’s my day off, Dad. I was feeling stressed so I went to the spa for a few hours to relax. Mom is still at the hospital but is going to be discharged soon. I don’t know where Apollo is, but I told him to leave me alone while I’m trying to relax. He’s probably back at that apartment you put him up in.”

  We heard silence on the other end. Sierra looked at us with wild eyes. I nodded at her reassuringly. She was doing a great job.

  “I think you should come home, Sierra,” he said.

  “Why? Is everything all right?”

  “No, it’s not. Your whore of a mother has joined up with your bodyguard in a petty attempt to hurt me. They’ve made up all sorts of nasty lies about the both of us to the police, and I need you to get home so we can talk with the lawyer. I’m really not surprised this is happening. Alice was never a good wife, and I knew I should never have trusted that rat Apollo.”

  I grinned when I heard this. He was right about one thing.

  “Okay, I’ll leave now. I’ll see you soon.”

  “See you soon, Sierra. If the cops try to talk to you, tell them you need your lawyer. Don’t talk to anyone until you talk to me.”

  “Okay, Dad. Bye.”

  She looked at us with the beginnings of a smile on her face. She looked exhausted like she hadn’t slept in a few days, but beautiful, nonetheless.

  “Did you hear all of that?”

  “Yeah. He’s going to be waiting a long time for you to come home,” I said, pulling her in for a hug.

  In the remaining hour, before our flight took off, we sat on the floor in the terminal, talking about everything from our childhoods to our future goals. If we were going to spend the rest of our lives together in one way or another, we needed to learn everything about the other.

  I had never gotten so close to anyone before, but I found that it was easy to open up to someone that I trusted. We had been through so much already, so any uncertainties in the future seemed manageable.

  Once we got on the plane and watched the city disappear below us, I knew that we would be just fine. Sierra and I had managed to dethrone the mob boss, and no one could hurt us now.

  Taking Care Of The Baby

  Sierra

  Despite our whirlwind of a romance, eventually, things settled down in Greece. Using the money from my trust fund, I bought Apollo and myself a small villa on the coast. It seemed that in all of the chaos surrounding my father’s arrest, no one thought to secure his accounts with my name on them. It was no surprise when he was convicted for a whole list of crimes and was sentenced to prison for fifty years. When you think about everything he was busted for, he got off relatively easy.

  Eventually, the money would run dry, so it was time to find a job. After a little searching, I found a small hospital that was in need of nurses. I took language classes during the day and worked nights until my pregnancy made it too hard to keep up. But, it wasn’t long before I had my Greek nursing license.

  About seven months after we arrived in Greece, I gave birth to our daughter, Luna. Apollo and I were terrified that we would ruin something so perfect and precious, but after a few weeks, we got the hang of being parents. I loved to watch Apollo take care of her. He had such a tough exterior, but on the inside, he was surprisingly warm and nurturing.

  After I had the baby, it was so hard for me to go back to work. All I wanted to do all day was hold Luna and watch her sleep. My mom helped out a lot, too, but I still hated the thought of having to leave her with a babysitter from time to time. I didn’t want my mom to feel like she was my unpaid nanny, especially when she wanted to travel around Europe.

  Apollo really stepped up and quit his job at the motorcycle shop to take care of Luna full time. That way, I could see my patients and fulfill my dreams of being a nurse.

  My mom had a lot of mon
ey of her own and really wanted to do something with it. She felt like when she was with my dad, she didn’t put it to good use enough. She felt like she wasted so many years, sitting around the house, or blowing her extra cash on shoes and purses. She wanted to give back to our new little community in Greece that had accepted us.

  After a lot of thought, we decided to open up a free clinic in a poor neighborhood. My mom was great at organizing events, so she held numerous fundraisers and events to get the town behind our cause. After about a year, we had enough help to make our dream a reality.

  I spent half of my workweek at the free clinic as a volunteer, taking care of people who wouldn’t ordinarily have access to health care. It was a lot of hard work, but it was worth it, in the end, to see how happy and healthy people were, just because of what we did.

  In fact, our first clinic went so well, that we have plans to start more clinics in different places. Before long, my mom will probably move to another town, just to branch out and start her own life. Of course, she’ll never be so far that she won’t be able to visit us. Apollo and I are at the point where we have things covered at home.

  When it was time for Apollo’s parents to come over, his mother decided that she didn’t want to leave. She had grown quite accustomed to her life in New Jersey and didn’t want to give it up for a life on the run. Stephano, on the other hand, was at risk if he didn’t, so they decided to split up. It was sad but amicable, and the two are still friends.

  While I was pregnant, my ditzy pregnancy brain forgot that my mother and Apollo’s father had a fling before. So, I suggested that they spend some time together, thinking that they could use each other’s company. Of course, this led to something more, and they rekindled their lost romance. Apollo and I absolutely hated the idea at first, but once we saw how happy they were, we couldn’t keep them apart. Our only request was that they could never marry because we couldn’t bear the thought of being step-siblings.