“Can’t we just leave? Start over somewhere?”
“I have unfinished business here.”
She gives me a searching look. “Let me in. Can’t you just tell me what’s going on so I can help? I’m tired of being in the dark.”
“It’s too dangerous.”
“You said it yourself. I’m in danger, too. I have a right to know why.”
I sniff, searching my mind for some way out of this but I can’t see it. “The less you know, the—”
“Don’t regurgitate that mobster bullshit to me again. I have a right to know and you know it.”
I briefly try to remember why I like women who are strong-willed so much. Sometimes it just feels like a pain in my ass. I still can’t help from grinning at her spunk. “All right. You want to know? I’ll tell you. There are five Citrione brothers. If you ask my Pops, there are three. Vince is the only one who even admits that my younger brother and I exist, but that’s the way our world works. Everybody has your back till you get pinched, and then they don’t want anything to do with you. They think you’ll turn them in for a deal. My younger brother got locked up the year before I did on some bullshit charges. Pops never visited him once.
“When I was 19, I had a falling out with my family. Pops was promoting my brothers up the food chain while he kept giving me grunt work. He thought I was too reckless to be trusted with more responsibility. I guess he was right, because I went to a rival family, the Sanatores, and started working some jobs on the side with them. It started small with basic stuff: shakedowns, intimidation, collection. They saw my potential and quickly started giving me more and more responsibility. Eventually, I was running a betting racket that was bringing in more money than you could imagine.
“Just when I thought things were going my way, I got pulled in by the cops. I got seven years for racketeering in federal prison. It took me a few months of digging from inside, but I eventually figured out the Sanatores had a grudge against my Pops and the whole thing from the start to finish was just a way for them to get at him.”
She frowns. “I’m sorry, Damian. I didn’t know…”
I shrug. “It’s part of the business. I should have seen it coming, but I was too pissed at my Pops. I took a stupid risk and I trusted the wrong people. Lesson learned. But I spent every day in prison planning out a way to get back at them and make them pay. That’s part of our business, too. If you’re going to fuck someone over, you had better expect them to come back at you. I can’t just leave without making them pay for what they did.”
“So this is just about revenge?”
“Sure. Revenge, retribution, justice, whatever you want to call it.”
“They are the ones who want to hurt us?”
“Them, the Anastasios, the Riccis, the feds. That night you saw me at the gas station, I was going to rob a big cash drop that was being sent to some of the top Sanatore bosses. It was supposed to be a clean job. Benny and I would come in, flash our heat, grab the briefcase, and then leave a trail that would make it look like the Anastasios were responsible. But things got bloodier than planned. Still, the plan was going fine. The Sanatores took the bait and started making moves against the Anastasios.
“But when the killing started, they made the mistake of killing someone with connection to the Riccis, which brought them into the mix. And then Greg pulled strings to get some fed named Conway sniffing around me and feeding information to the families.”
Callie looks thoughtful. “Wow… You weren’t kidding when you said we were in danger.”
“I wish I had been.”
“So what are you going to do?”
Telling all of this to a woman feels so wrong. I know I’m putting her in danger, but I also know she’s not going to let me off the hook unless I keep her in the loop. “I’m not sure how yet, but I want to find a way to redirect everyone’s attention. I need a big enough target that everyone forgets about me. Once they forget about me, I’ll be able to make my move against the Sanatores.”
“What about Greg?” asks Callie.
“What about him? He’s an asshole.”
“I mean, why don’t you find a way to get the families going after him. Aren’t they always trying to find ways to get more money?”
I laugh. “That’s not how this works. We don’t really just rob people.”
“Why not? Wouldn’t they make an exception if there was enough money to be made?”
I scratch my chin. “I mean…it’s not like he keeps his money in a safe or some shit, right? It’s gotta be all tied up in investments and real estate.”
She leans forward, eyes lit with the idea. “No. I mean, some of it is tied up, yes, but he always bragged to me. He has this safe he keeps in his closet. It’s custom made and apparently impregnable, but he didn’t trust banks. He would always tell me how he had millions just sitting in the safe for a rainy day. I guess it made him feel rich knowing he just had that much money on hand.”
My mind churns. It’s a stretch, a big stretch, but it could work. The families don’t normally get involved in this kind of thing, but if I could somehow make it sweet enough, maybe they would. “What about the rest of his money? Is it clean?”
“I don’t know. His father was always involved in so much and it was never clear where exactly Greg stood in the middle of it. I know Greg made it seem like he was passing money to officials to get favors from time to time, but that’s all I really know.”
“Any chance you know the code to that safe of his?”
Callie laughs. “He never trusted me with that kind of thing. I think he thought if I actually got my hands on his money I would’ve just disappeared in the middle of the night. In his mind, it was the leash he had on me.”
“He didn’t know you at all, did he?” I ask. I can’t believe he was with her for years and not see how little she really cares about money. He really had no idea what he had in her.
She makes a sour face. “That’s an understatement.”
“We’re going to get him back. I don’t know how yet, but when we do get to him, it’s going to be hard and fast. He won’t know what hit him.”
16
Callie
Damian finally let me go back over to check on Vince and Aubriella’s house. I’ve felt guilty letting Damian’s “guys” watch it, whatever that means. I figured it would be best if I ran by to make sure everything was still going smoothly. Damian assured me that he’d shoulder the blame with his brother if something went wrong with the house, but I get the impression things between the two of them are icy at best. Damian hasn’t said as much, but it’s in his body language when he talks about Vince, they still hold grudges. From what he told me, Damian resents the way Vince sided with their Pops, and Vince resents the way Damian went outside the family.
Either way, I made a promise to Aubriella and I don’t want to betray her kindness by slacking on that duty. I just can’t imagine some meathead mobsters taking the job very seriously. When I enter through the front door, I find two men in their forties with their feet kicked up on the coffee table eating pizza and watching TV. They quickly put down their food and stand when they see me.
“Miss Beccaccio, the boss didn’t say you were coming,” says one. “Where’s your security detail?”
“They are surrounding the house, probably looking extremely conspicuous while they try to be stealthy. I made sure none of them called ahead so I could see how Damian’s ‘trusted guys’ were actually treating the house.”
“We’ve been watering the plants every day, miss.”
I put my hands on my hips. “And you’ve also been putting your greasy fingers on the couch.”
The guy closest to me quickly grabs a napkin and tries to rub the stain out.
Thirty minutes later, I’ve gone through the entire house and made a list of items that need immediate attention. They’ve been using the shower and used Aubriella’s soap, there is hair in the sink, one of them tracked dirt into the kitchen, there ar
e fingerprints all over the microwave…it’s like a bunch of cavemen were unleashed on this beautiful house. I would stay to fix everything myself, but Damian only agreed to let me come out here if it was a short visit. He said this is the place everyone knows to look for me, and they will definitely be watching. If I stay too long, it gives them time to think of a way to get to me. It’s still bizarre to think people I’ve never met are out to get me. It’s like something from a movie, and if it wasn’t for the guys with guns who have been following me around, I don’t think I’d believe it was real.
Once I’m sure the two men know exactly how I expect the house to look next time I see it, I head back to the car. I’m being driven around in a black SUV like some kind of VIP. If not for the circumstances, I would get a kick out of it.
I mentally steel myself for what I’m about to do. Damian gave me permission to go check on Aubriella’s house, but he didn’t exactly say I could go anywhere else. I know he’s just trying to protect me, but I also don’t plan to sit idly and let him try to do everything on his own. I have some ideas on how I can help, but I need to talk to Greg’s accountant first.
“You want to go where?” asks the driver. He shakes his head. “Damian said—”
“Damian said you are supposed to keep me safe. How safe do you think I’ll be if I get out of this car and walk there myself?”
The men exchange wary looks. The driver sighs and starts the engine. “Where did you say his office was?”
The accountant is one Greg used to drag me to see with him. I have no idea what the man knows, but I want to help somehow, even if I don’t end up finding anything useful, the least I can do is try. Damian is a good guy, but he tries so hard to protect me from danger that he tends to overlook the fact that I’m capable and can help him. I can’t complain though. I know he took a huge risk and an even bigger leap of faith in telling me everything he did. Even from watching movies, I know mafia guys don’t just talk about their business so openly. For him to tell me so much, he must really care about me. Even if he doesn’t plan to stick around to help with the baby.
The idea comes to me like a bubble, rising through my mind and bursting at the surface, releasing all the dark thoughts and doubts that come with it. He doesn’t want the baby. By extension, he doesn’t want me. He kept talking about what Greg said, that he wasn’t fit to be a father, but I’ve seen the good man beneath the darkness and the violence in him. He has it in him to try to be different and to try to do what’s right. He has the willpower to change, and I think I’ve seen enough of that to know that he would change for me and the baby. I just wish he would do it for a baby that wasn’t his own. I know it’s unfair to ask of him though. I don’t even blame him.
What man would want to raise another man’s child? It must seem like the ultimate betrayal, to know that the woman you care for has a tiny human growing inside, and someone other than Damian helped me to create it. How he could get past that, I don’t know. And maybe he never will. I just wish he knew how much I want the baby to be his, how much the thought of Greg’s deceptive attempts to get me pregnant disgust me. I know I will be able to love the baby either way, I just hope beyond all hope that I can share that love with Damian.
I sign in at the front desk of the accountant’s office and take a seat, waiting for my name to be called. I fidget with my fingers, trying to imagine how Damian must see me. To him I must really seem like a mess. I let him have sex with me in the middle of a thunderstorm when I barely knew him. I let him inside me without a condom. Then I tried to push him away because I waited until after I had unprotected sex with him to seriously consider what I was getting myself into. And then I let him walk back into my life, fuck me, and act like everything was normal again. Now here I am again, on the fence between being with him and not being with him, and all I can do is wish that he wanted me as much as I want him. It’s embarrassing how badly I want him. I want his scent, his touch, his face, and everything about him to be part of my life. I can even look past the violence and the crime because I know he won’t live that life forever. If he lets the baby and I in his heart, he’ll realize he has to change to protect us.
“Callie Beccaccio?” calls Jason. He’s a relatively young guy, but Greg always liked to tell people his accountant was top of his class at Harvard and a young go-getter.
I smile, standing to follow. I let George, one of the guys sent by Damian to keep an eye on me, follow me to Jason’s office. I learned my lesson the hard way. Nowhere is safe from the people who want to hurt us. I’m not going to even risk going into an accountant’s office alone.
“Who’s this?” asks Jason.
“My uncle,” I say. “Uncle George.”
George gives a stiff smile that is utterly unconvincing. Jason pauses just long enough before smiling back that I know he sees through the lie, but he does a good job of acting natural as he reaches to shake George’s hand and then to kiss me on the cheek.
“Please, sit,” says Jason.
I take a seat across from his desk, feeling my heart pound. How do I even ask what I want to ask?
“What can I do for you? Normally, Greg always comes along…”
“He couldn’t make it today. Look, Jason, I’m going to be really honest here,” I say, abandoning my previous plan of trying to pretend things were still okay with Greg and that I just wanted some basic information. “Things are getting rocky between Greg and I. Very rocky. I need to know that if we… separate, that, well… I need to know that he has enough money to take care of me.” Even pretending to be this kind of person makes me feel sick, but I think it might be my best chance of finding out what kind of dirty business Greg is involved in.
“Greg has a sizable estate. I think you would be fine,” says Jason, a little coldly.
“He cheated on me,” I say, realizing I need to win Jason’s sympathy if this is going to have any hope of working.
Jason’s lips twitch. I can’t read his face, but he nods slowly. “I see.” He turns to his computer and taps a few keys and then clicks his way through a few menus. I can see spreadsheets from the angle I have on his monitor, but not detail.
“If I were looking to protect my share of Greg’s finances, I would consider pulling it out of a few business ventures he’s involved in.”
“Such as?” I ask, heart still pounding.
“A large portion of his money is currently invested in real estate. But if authorities were to investigate some of the numbers and properties, well…” Jason looks at me apologetically and spreads his hands. “To be honest, without going into too much detail, the vast majority of your fiancé—ex-fiancé’s finances are not secure. A man with less connections would already have been thrown in jail and had his assets frozen.”
I nod. “I understand,” I say. I don’t know enough, but I get that Jason can’t tell me more. He’s already putting his neck on the line, and I don’t want to push him to do more. “Thank you so much. If anyone asks, I never spoke to you.”
He smiles. “Thank you. Have a good evening, Callie. I hope this helps. My dad cheated on my mom when I was ten,” he says. He pauses, as if not knowing what else to say.
I give him a sad smile and reach to grab his hands. “Thank you.”
It doesn’t take long to find out where Greg’s real estate is located. He has dozens of properties from downtown New York to scattered properties within northern New York and Connecticut. I have Damian’s people drive me to the nearest house he owns. It’s a three bedroom home in a gated community. I read somewhere that you can get into 90% of gated communities with the same passcode and have the driver try the code one-two-three-four. To my surprise, it actually works.
I get out in front of a Spanish style home with stucco walls and orange clay shingles. The yard is overgrown and the house looks completely empty. I walk up the front yard and look inside. It looks trashed. There’s no furniture and obviously no one living there. A quick check on my phone shows that the house is being rented and ha
s been by the same tenants for seven years. It doesn’t make any sense though. There is obviously no one paying to rent this place for years just to leave it trashed like this. But what could Greg stand to gain from keeping an empty property and claiming to rent it out?
We spend the next two hours driving to look at two more of his properties. They are both the same as the first. Different locations and sizes, but they are empty and unoccupied even though everything online says they are being rented. I don’t know if it means anything. It probably doesn’t, but it’s something.
“You shouldn’t have risked it,” says Damian.
We’re back at his place and he was waiting in the kitchen for me when I came home, looking every bit the worried wife. I almost would have laughed if I didn’t know how dangerous he is. Besides, when I give him too much of a reason to be mad at me, it seems to turn him on. He is like a sex fiend when I disobey him, and I know if I ever want to get him going, I just have to start putting my foot down and being stubborn. The truth is I love every second of it. I love baiting him into it and I love the intensity of his focus. I especially love having him inside me. Still, for every bit that I love about being with him, I’m even sadder to know that it’s all temporary. It may not be today, tomorrow, or even a week from now, but this baby in my belly is going to make him leave me sooner or later. And knowing it breaks my heart.
“Well I did risk it, and I found something useful. So maybe you can stop being Mr. Overprotective for long enough to hear me out?”
I see his hands tightening into fists and I feel the thrill and fear of knowing that he’s probably already thinking about fucking me until I apologize for mouthing off to him. Part of me wants him to, but the other part knows that I can only distract myself with sex and his touch for so long. If we don’t solve the bigger problem, it will only ever be temporary. Everything between us will end.
Mine (Citrione Crime Family #2) Page 12