I banged on the door. “Open up, Honey!”
“No!”
“Open it now or I’ll bash it down!”
I heard her start talking. I put a shoulder to the door and rammed it, yelling out as nothing happened. I did it again. The door creaked, but yet again nothing happened. Swearing, I put my full body weight and strength behind it, smashing it open.
Honey screamed, her eyes going wide with fright. I snatched the phone out of her hand and put it to my ear. “Who is this?” I snapped.
“Tell me who you are first,” an American man said.
“I’m not telling you anything, until I know who you are and what this is all about?”
“Looks like we have a standoff then, so put Sarah back on so I can talk to her.”
“No, you talk to me. Are you her husband?”
“Her husband’s in jail—where you and your family will soon be too.” Someone said something behind the man, then he resumed talking. “We have enough now; we’ll be seeing you shortly.” The line went dead.
I turned to Honey. “Who was that?”
“Dan. What did he say?”
“Nothing, other than your husband’s in jail and that my family will soon be too.”
“He thinks you’re a D’Angelo.”
“Just tell me who he is, Honey,” I snapped, losing my patience with her. “Or is it Sarah?”
“It’s not what you think, Alessandro; he’s FBI and is forcing me to be here.”
“What the fuck? Why?”
“I can’t tell you!”
“You will, or I’ll go straight to the Don and tell him you work for the FBI. Do you understand what will happen if I do that?”
“He’ll kill me!”
“Which is why you need to tell me everything, so I can figure out what’s going on and if it’s worth helping you.”
She started sobbing. “None of this is my fault, it’s my husband’s. He deserves to be where he is, but I don’t.”
I took a hold of her shoulders and steered her back into the bedroom, sitting her down next to me on the bed. “What did your husband do?”
She wiped her eyes. “He works for the Italian Mafia. I had no idea, he never told me; I just thought his employers were Italian, I didn’t know they were criminals.”
“Is your husband Italian?”
She shook her head. “No, Irish-American. He launders money for them. About three months back, the FBI raided our house and took him away. They told me if I didn’t want him to go to jail for a very long time, I had to allow myself to be captured by Jagger, then they would put me and my husband into witness protection after they got me out. They said an FBI agent would look after me while I was here, but Federico couldn’t stop Alberto from raping me, then I found out the Donatelli murdered Federico.” She burst into a fresh bout of tears.
I put my arm around her. “Alberto’s gone now, he can’t hurt you anymore.”
She laid her head on my shoulder. “I’m so scared, Alessandro.”
“I know and I’ll help you the best I can, but I still don’t understand why they would send you into danger like this?”
“They can’t touch the D’Angelos unless they are caught trafficking Americans. They were supposed to raid this place not long after I got here, but the Russian guards showed up. Federico told me I had to wait a bit longer, because plans had changed, that the target was now the Russians. They were going to arrange someone else to come in to help, but the woman turned out to be mafia.”
“Who?”
“Rita, although she told Camila her name was Sophia and that she met Frano seven years ago. I think she might be a double agent working for him, which was why she didn’t help me. But I’m not sure of anything. I don’t know what’s up or down, nothing makes sense.”
“Okay, I’ll go talk to Frano to see if he can help.”
“No! He’ll kill me.”
“I think he’ll be more interested in getting information than hurting you,” I said, hoping that was true. I reached past her and opened the bedside cabinet, pulling out cuffs from it.
Honey’s eyes widened. “What are you doing?”
I grabbed her wrist and clicked one on.
She started struggling against me. “You lied to me!”
I pushed her onto the bed and attached the other cuff to the bedrail. “I’m not lying; I just need to make sure you don’t try to run or use my phone again.”
“I won’t!” she yelled, yanking at the bedrail. “So, let me go.”
I grabbed another cuff and secured her other wrist to the bedrail as she struggled uselessly against me.
“Please don’t do this to me!” she cried.
“Just calm down, Honey, I’ll remove them when I get back.”
I went to leave, but turned around as hollering started up outside my window. I walked over to it and looked out, finding Pedro Landi heading for the entrance with a troop of soldiers, the man yelling at the one guarding the door to get behind him.
He stopped and looked up my window. “Santini,” he mouthed, then pointed two fingers at me and cocked them like a gun.
FRANO
Shouts came from the front of the house, making me push to my feet, along with the Donatelli sisters, who I was having breakfast with. Seconds later, Pedro Landi stormed into the dining-room surrounded by soldiers. His eyes were red and his face was twisted in agony. His gaze shot to Camila’s sisters. “Take them!” he yelled, pointing to the women.
The soldiers rushed forward, grabbing Ghita and Andriena, while Camila shot out of her chair, screaming at them not to touch her sisters. She jolted as Pedro yelled for her to taken too. Two soldiers headed around the table to where Camila and I were sitting.
I pushed Camila behind me, yelling: “Back down!”
The soldiers hesitated, their gazes moving to Pedro.
“Step out of the way, Frano,” Pedro said, his voice low and dangerous. “The Donatelli will pay for their crimes.”
“These women have committed no crime.”
“All Donatelli belong in graves after Christo murdered my youngest girls!” he yelled.
I froze, what he had just said making my stomach drop. “What?”
Pedro covered his face, then flung his hand out, his anguish beyond even my own living nightmare. “I found them hanging on crosses!” he yelled, a sob breaking free. “That monster had slit their throats.” His body began to shake, his voice growing softer, grief choking him. “They were my bambine; my everything.”
I moved around the table to embrace him.
He stepped out of my reach. “The only way you can comfort me is to hand over all Donatelli.”
I indicated to the sisters. “These women have got nothing to do with what’s happened. Ghita and Andriena have only just been released by the Santini, while Camila’s helping me hunt down her uncles and Matteo.”
“I don’t care! They are Donatelli and all of them will die for what was done to my bambine!”
Andriena started crying, while Ghita yelled and screamed, trying to get away from the soldier who was holding her.
“You cannot allow more women to die for what their men have done,” I replied.
“The men will suffer as I suffer,” Pedro spat. He lifted a gun and pointed it at Ghita.
“No!” I yelled, raising my hands, my heart now pounding. “Don’t do this, Pedro. You will be no better than the bastardo who killed your daughters.”
Pedro’s head turned to me. “I am no better.” He fired off a shot.
Ghita collapsed in the soldier’s arms. He let her go, allowing her dead body to fall to the floor. Andriena and Camila screamed, chaos erupting. Camila ran around the table to her fallen sister, her wailing now filling the house.
A flash of color shot down the staircase, Alessandro launching himself at the man holding Andriena. They all went down. Alessandro scrambled over Andriena, shielding her body with his, which was half naked, my trainer only wearing track pants, his colorfu
l tattoos showing the depths of Hell. The soldier he’d knocked down put him into a stranglehold, demanding that Alessandro let go of Andriena, but my trainer held onto her strong even though the soldier was choking him.
“Let him go!” I yelled, making the soldier loosen his grip. He was the scarred man who I had ordered to follow Camila around. He looked at Pedro, no doubt waiting for instructions.
As Pedro opened his mouth, Camila jumped up and went to attack him. I lunged at her, grabbing her before the soldiers could. Camila cried out, struggling against me.
“Stop, Camila!”
“He killed my sister!”
I looked at Pedro. “Call your soldiers off! There’s to be no more killing under my roof.”
“Then I’ll take them outside and do it there,” Pedro said, his features harder than granite.
“No! You will not kill any more women.”
“How about I kill your trainer as well then!” Pedro hollered.
“He is Santini. You will start a war if you shoot him. Both the Santini and Rossos will come after you in full force.”
Pedro’s lip twitched. “I am already at war with the Rossos.”
“What? Why?”
“They set up my girls. I have soldiers at their house now, fighting against them and the Santini.” He turned his head to Alessandro. “Your famiglia have no part in my daughters’ deaths, so call them off and I will spare them. I only want the Rossos’ heads.”
“My famiglia won’t back down,” Alessandro said. “The Rossos are relatives. My sister and her children are Rossos.”
“Then they will die.”
“You bastardo!” Alessandro let go of Andriena and went for Pedro. Soldiers shot in front him, shoving Alessandro back, creating a barrier of muscle to protect their don.
“You have started a war!” Alessandro yelled. “My famiglia will kill you all!”
Guns were raised and pointed at him.
“If you kill Alessandro,” I said. “You might as well kill me.”
Pedro’s glare moved to me. “He said it: I am at war with his famiglia, and now, Frano, you will return the favor I have done for you. You must support me.”
“I can’t stand against the Santini, they are my cousins. You have to think this through first; think about what you’re doing, because you will bring down an innocent famiglia. This is what the Donatelli want: to fracture our alliances. Maybe they set the Rossos up for this sole purpose. Please, contact your men, tell them to back down, then bring the heads of the families to my table so we can find out what really happened.”
“What happened is my two youngest were murdered! No amount of talk can bring them back or stop this war.” Pedro squeezed his eyes shut for a moment, only the sobs of Camila and Andriena breaking the silence. Their sister’s blood was now discoloring the floor only a few feet away from where Alberto had died. I was beginning to hate this house, where nothing but death and sorrow filled the walls, tears for the dead constantly being shed.
“Then think about your other daughter,” I said. “You need to be with her and your wife now.”
“I can’t until I kill the bastards who took my bambine from me!”
“Exactly: the ones who killed them, not the innocent who had no part in their deaths.”
“My daughters were ambushed at a Rosso party. Those bastards left my children with Christo Donatelli, knowing what a monster he is.”
“Then allow Alessandro to talk to his famiglia. They will find out which Rossos had a hand in your daughters’ deaths.”
“If they were your children you’d be storming in there, shooting every last Rosso without a second thought.”
“I would only kill the ones responsible. I have proven this with the Donatelli after my father was murdered.” I indicated to Andriena and Camila. “That is why they are not dead. We cannot take the lives of innocent women and children; it will only lead to more pain and suffering.”
“You know what I’ve told you in the past,” Pedro spat. “That I wipe out whole families if they dare hurt mine. I leave no survivors! The Rossos and Donatelli knew this; they have seen what my vengeance entails. They have written their own fates, not me!”
“And what about the Santini? You will be attacking a famiglia who had no hand in your daughters’ deaths, yet you are threatening them too.”
“They have chosen their side, they have chosen their fate.”
“No! They are my blood! You cannot cut my blood down.”
“They were the ones who took up arms against my soldiers. This is their choosing.”
“Because you are attacking their famiglia. As Alessandro said, the Rossos and Santini are intermarried. We’re all fucking related on this island!”
“Not the Donatelli! They are not related to anyone but their own selfish desires to destroy everything in their paths. And the Rossos chose to betray everyone by backing them.” He pointed at Andriena and Camila. “And you will betray me if you do not hand the Donatelli scourge over!”
Alessandro backed Andriena up with his body. “This woman is not a Donatelli, she has my name.”
“You are not married to her,” Pedro spat. “I’ve heard about you. You’re the island whore.”
“I married her two days ago,” Alessandro growled. “And if you take my wife’s life, I will take yours—that is a promise.” He pointed at Camila. “And she is Frano’s fiancée, which means she is all but a D’Angelo now. If you take her life, you will paint your hands with D’Angelo blood.”
Pedro looked over at me. “Is this true?”
I nodded to everything Alessandro said, although I knew without a doubt he hadn’t married Andriena. His madre was the type of person who would’ve insisted on the world knowing about her children marrying, especially Alessandro, who was her favorite. But I was going to back him up regardless. “Andriena is a Santini, and Camila is pregnant with my child,” I said, knowing an engagement wouldn’t stop Pedro from killing her. “You take her life, and you will be killing my child.”
“You’re lying to save her,” Pedro snapped.
“You know I was with her for a long time. That is not a lie as her pregnancy isn’t, and if you take my child from me I will take up arms against you.”
Pedro’s eyes flashed. “I will spare her, but only if you give me proof. And you and everyone else here are not to leave your house, Frano, until this war is over.”
“You cannot tell me what to do; I am the head of the island.”
“This is a coup. I have now taken over until this land is cleansed of Donatelli and Rossos, and I will fight every last Santini if they choose to stand against me.” Pedro turned to Alessandro. “Tell your famiglia if they back down, I will spare your sister and her children, but only them. Also, tell them that even combined with the Rossos they cannot win against me. And, Santini, I want proof of your marriage.” His gaze shifted to me. “And, Frano, if that woman is indeed pregnant with your child you will be married to her by the end of this week.”
I nodded, knowing I needed to bribe a few people.
“Also,” Pedro frowned. “The Donatelli have Thierry, in particular the Padre does.”
My heart sank, the yell at the top of the staircase telling me that Jagger had heard. I looked up as he rushed down the staircase, his face wracked with fear.
Pedro turned his attention to Jagger. “Irene said he is still alive, so take comfort in that.”
“The Padre will rape and torture him,” Jagger said, his voice cracking. “We have to get him back.”
“This is your don’s duty, not mine. My obligation to this famiglia died with my daughters.” He turned and signaled for his men to follow, a few staying behind to join the soldiers that were already here.
I pointed at the soldier with the scar. “You are not to touch the women.”
“I will not do anything to them unless I’m ordered to,” he replied.
“Both myself and Alessandro will keep them at our sides. You are no longer guarding th
em.”
He nodded, then turned and headed for the front door, taking up position with another guard, while others walked past us, going to block the other exits. I was now a prisoner in my own home.
I let go of Camila, Alessandro doing the same with Andriena. Both of the women went to their fallen sister, their wails filling the house once more.
“I will take care of her,” Jagger said, pushing between the women.
I grabbed Camila as she tried to stop him from picking her sister up. “He’s helping,” I said to her, the woman’s grief blinding her.
Jagger rose to his feet with the dead woman in his arms. “I will arrange for her burial. Where do you wish it to be?” he asked, focusing on Camila.
“My famiglia’s plot on our land,” she sobbed.
He nodded, then turned to me. “When Matteo contacts me in regards to Teodora, I will offer myself up in exchange for Thierry.”
“No, that’s a bad idea,” I said.
“Don’t worry about me, Frano, because I will be sending the Padre to Hell.” He turned to leave, disappearing into the passageway that led to my office.
I shifted my attention to Alessandro. “Take Andriena to your room; don’t let her out of your sight. The guards can no longer to be trusted. Contact your famiglia, and get updates on what’s happening. Tell them about our situation and what was said; also tell them that you are surrounded by Pedro’s soldiers so they can’t attack the Landi.”
“They won’t listen; they will protect the Rossos with their lives.”
“I understand that, but there are other ways they can protect them without endangering yours and their own lives.” I stepped closer to him, weary of the guards overhearing my words. “Tell them to get the Rossos off the island. Pedro’s soldiers are too skilled, they will eventually win, even with your famiglia and the Rossos combined. It is not wise to fight them. Once they are safe and Pedro has calmed down, we can attempt to make him see reason. I believe the Rossos have been set up. Pedro is only getting the version that Christo wants him to hear. We need to make him understand that this is Christo’s doing, and his brother’s, especially with the crosses being used.” I turned to Camila, taking her face in my hands. “I will stand between you and Pedro, but you also need to help by contacting your uncles. You need to trick them into giving themselves up, because I cannot allow Jagger to go through even more hell than he already has.”
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