Shadow Warrior

by Feehan, Christine

  Stefano stared him down, his gaze cool. Vittorio felt everything in him settle. He knew exactly what he would do. His first shot had to be a kill shot. At all costs, even with Stefano choosing to target Val first, Vittorio would take out Val Saldi to protect Emme. Tommaso was next in order to keep from being killed. All the while he had to be moving back to the shadows. Protecting Giovanni came third. Giovanni couldn’t get into the shadows, not with the hardware in his leg. He would be exposed. Hopefully, their backup covering them would mow down their enemies before they fired off a shot.

  Miceli’s face turned even redder. “I don’t care what you think, Stefano—”

  Giuseppi had slowly stood, and his brother broke off, going quiet under his cold stare. “Stefano, it seems my family does owe you an apology. My son assured me that if you were making an accusation it wouldn’t be without proof. The Saldi family keeps our word.” He turned another cold look at his brother. “Conducting business in your club is not a sanctioned move. I will get to the bottom of this and we will pay restitution to your family.”

  “Giuseppi—” Miceli attempted a protest, but it was met with another cold stare and a shake of his older brother’s head.

  “No. When we say we will do something, when we negotiate and sign a treaty, we do so in good faith. Our word has never been questioned by the Ferraro family, nor has their word been questioned by ours. As head of my family, ultimately, I am responsible for not knowing what is going on right under my nose. I can only apologize, Stefano, and pay restitution.”

  Stefano inclined his head. “You have been caring for Greta.”

  “There is no excuse. Perhaps I need to step down and turn the business over to my son.” He sank into his seat, looking older, his handsome face lined with grief. “There is no stopping cancer, Stefano. It doesn’t matter the money or power, nothing stops it.”

  Stefano put a comforting hand on his shoulder. “I’m sorry, Giuseppi. I can’t imagine losing Francesca. Greta has always been a bright star to everyone she touches.”

  Miceli gripped his brother’s other shoulder. Vittorio didn’t buy the murmured words of sympathy. He glanced at Taviano. His younger brother knew Miceli’s condolences were false. Miceli was angry that Giuseppi would apologize to the Ferraros. He had knowingly conducted business in their territory, in one of their establishments, and he’d done so on purpose.

  “I feel very bad having to continue with the list of proof,” Stefano said, “but I can’t let you think the nightclub was the only place the Saldi men were conducting business. I want it all stopped. Harold also recruited Bruno Vitale to sell drugs out of his family’s flower shop. Bruno was using the shop to ship drugs out as well through the postal service, which is a federal offense. He will be dealt with by us, but in doing so, two of the men bringing him the drugs to sell began to harass and threaten my ward, Nicoletta.”

  Dario whipped his head around to glare at Stefano. “Names,” he snapped abruptly. “Do you have proof of this?”

  “I don’t make accusations without proof,” Stefano said. “Nicoletta told us what happened. She was threatened by these men because she saw them bringing the drugs into the shop and she protested. One of them pushed her into the wall. Fortunately, she was taught to defend herself and she was able to get away and call for help.”

  Vittorio flicked a look at Taviano’s grim face. While Grace was in the hospital, Vittorio had heard there was an attempted assault on Nicoletta at the flower shop. The family had been elated that she’d coded in the alarm she had on her wristwatch. Taviano had been the first to get to her and had stopped the attacker’s pursuit. Later, Taviano had confirmed he’d retaliated.

  “I imagine these two men who were stupid enough to put their hands on your ward are the ones who have disappeared,” Giuseppi said dryly.

  “I wouldn’t know about that,” Stefano said. “I was out of town at the time.”

  “Nicoletta is not just Stefano’s ward,” Taviano said. “She is also, and more importantly, my fiancée. It seems that not only was Vittorio’s fiancée targeted, but mine as well.”

  Dario shook his head. “That’s impossible. Nicoletta isn’t wearing your ring. There’s been no announcement.”

  “We do not bring attention to our women if we can help it,” Stefano said. “The media attention is brutal as you well know.”

  “What I know is, you spend half your life screwing women on the pages of a tabloid,” Dario snarled, his dark eyes challenging Taviano. “This is bullshit.”

  “What’s bullshit is the Saldi family conducting business in our territory,” Stefano snapped. “And threatening our women. I want it stopped. If it doesn’t stop, I can only assume you are declaring war between our families.”

  “It will stop,” Giuseppi said. “I want the list of names, everyone you have, along with the proof. I need to put a stop to this now. A hard stop to it.” He glared at his younger brother. “This has put our family in a bad light. Our word is our bond. Our honor.”

  Stefano inclined his head. “I want all drugs removed from my territory. I also want your word of honor that no trafficking of any kind, especially human, will ever be conducted in our territory.”

  “You have my word,” Giuseppi said solemnly. “I speak for our family.”

  “I want the word of every Saldi in this room,” Stefano said. “Specifically, I want to hear them say it aloud to us.”

  Vittorio felt the warrior in him rising. He felt every one of his brothers go on alert as he was doing. Stefano’s demand bordered on insult. He was all but declaring he didn’t believe Giuseppi spoke for his family.

  Val protested immediately. “My father has given his word of honor.”

  “Perhaps, but it wasn’t Giuseppi’s men invading my territory, selling drugs or kidnapping women to sell them to the highest bidder,” Stefano said coolly.

  Vittorio watched Val out of the corner of his eye, but he kept his gaze fixed on Tommaso. At Stefano’s demand, Tommaso flicked a quick glance at his father. Miceli rose with great dignity. He inclined his head at Stefano.

  “I take full responsibility for what is clearly a mutiny in the ranks of my men. Lando Gori and Ale Sarto have always been trusted employees. More like family. I gave them more and more duties while my sons attended college. Now, my boys are home again, and I have spent time with them that was missed while they were gone. It is clear that there has been some kind of mistaken attempt to take in more territory. Perhaps I didn’t make it clear to these men that the Ferraro territory was out of bounds. I can give my word as a Saldi, for me and for my sons, that we will not conduct any business, drugs or trafficking in the Ferraro territory.”

  He looked dramatic. He sounded utterly sincere. He also had that note in his voice that told Vittorio he was lying. Vittorio flicked a glance at Stefano, who inclined his head at Miceli, who sank gracefully into his seat and folded his arms across his chest.

  Val rose. “I will never, under any circumstances, conduct family business, including the sale of drugs or trafficking of any kind, including women, in Ferraro territory.” He kept his gaze on Emmanuelle’s face. His voice rang with sincerity.

  She paled but she didn’t even deign to lift her lashes to look at him.

  Miceli’s sons made their promises. Dario sounded sincere, and Vittorio couldn’t hear any lie, but Angelo and Tommaso echoed their father’s strange, off-putting note.

  Stefano was gracious after that, turning all smiles, although a bit grim.

  Giuseppi rose. “Thank you for your patience, Stefano. Again, I apologize for my family’s indiscretions. I must get back to Greta, so if you will excuse us, I have quite a lot to do before I can see my wife.” The last was said almost as an accusation at his brother. “If you don’t mind, Stefano, again I would ask that you provide another copy of the list of names of anyone who has been involved in this conspiracy, as well as the proof.”

  “I have it right here for you,” Stefano said and handed over a second copy of the
list. “Thank you, Giuseppi. I’m very happy that you cleared this matter up between us.”

  Val rose hurriedly and went to the door, his hand on the knob, blocking his father from leaving the room before he cleared the other side.

  CHAPTER TEN

  You seem so sad.”

  Francesca sounded so compassionate, Grace was afraid she might burst into tears and spill her every fear to a complete stranger. Stefano had brought Francesca to two functions, and he’d hovered so close to her, watched over her like a hawk, so much so that Grace had been mesmerized by the couple. Stefano had rarely left his wife’s side, and when he did, she was surrounded by his brothers and sisters. Mariko and Emmanuelle were close to her at all times. Grace had wondered what it would feel like to be part of that family and so loved by them all.

  Francesca half sat in her bed, looking astonishingly beautiful for a woman on bed rest. The room was enormous and included a sitting area. Before he had gone downstairs to the conference room, Stefano had arranged the furniture so that there were very comfortable chairs for Sasha and Grace to sit in while visiting with his wife.

  “This is like a fairy tale,” Grace admitted. The two women were looking at her for some explanation and she felt as if she had to give them something. They’d been welcoming to her, clearly happy to see her. She hadn’t expected that kind of unreserved reception. “But it isn’t real.”

  Vittorio had escorted Grace up to the penthouse of the Ferraro Hotel where Stefano and Francesca resided. As always, he had his hand on the small of her back, making her acutely aware of him. Sometimes his touch was so hot it felt as if he were burning a brand through her skin right to her bones. She never moved away from him, and she could have. She just didn’t. She’d told him she didn’t need him to sleep in her room, and he didn’t, but that meant she couldn’t go to sleep and she was tired. Her eyes felt sandy and swollen from crying most of the night. All for a dream. A fairy tale.

  “What do you mean by ‘it’?” Sasha asked. “What’s not real?”

  Grace sent her a smile, fighting the urge to cry. She’d been indulging herself in her room, staying there, hoping Vittorio would leave her alone so she could get used to being without him, but then when he did, she was devastated. It made absolutely no sense.

  “I don’t know how this thing happened between Vittorio and me. I really don’t. I woke up in the hospital engaged to a man I don’t really know. And he doesn’t know me. He can’t possibly think he’s in love with me, and I should have known better to believe any of it.”

  Grace pressed her fingers over her mouth to stop herself from blurting out another word. What was wrong with her? She was acting completely out of character. She’d stayed in her room, hiding from the one man who had shown her any kindness, because she was afraid. What did she think? That a man like Vittorio Ferraro was playing an elaborate hoax on her? That was absurd. She just knew she couldn’t take rejection from him, so it was easier to leap on the first legitimate excuse to run. Her jumbled fears weren’t making any sense.

  “If I talk about this, I’m going to turn into a crying machine and I’m supposed to be cheering you up, Francesca,” she added.

  “Vittorio is an honorable man,” Francesca said, ignoring Grace’s effort to change the subject. “In spite of what you read in tabloids, he is a man of his word. You can believe anything he tells you. If he says he wants to marry you—”

  “Eloisa said I met the criteria and that’s why he wants to marry me,” Grace blurted out before she could stop herself. “She said he wouldn’t have looked at me otherwise. When I asked him, he admitted to me there is a criterion and that I did meet it.” Grace couldn’t keep the challenge out of her voice.

  There was a small silence while Sasha and Francesca exchanged a long look. It was obvious that they knew what she was talking about.

  “Vittorio didn’t explain?” Francesca asked cautiously.

  Grace shook her head. “No, he refused to.”

  There was another long look between Francesca and Sasha. Grace sighed. “It’s clear you know what Eloisa meant.”

  “What it means, Grace,” Francesca’s voice was gentle, “is that because you meet those criteria, Vittorio is free to fall in love with you. I know it sounds archaic but think in terms of the royal family. They have certain duties they are born to take on and with that comes tremendous responsibility. They aren’t allowed to marry just anyone.”

  “I am not royalty,” Grace denied. “And I don’t want a man to choose me simply because I meet a certain criterion.”

  “Do you really believe that Vittorio Ferraro, who could have just about any woman he wanted, would choose you if he wasn’t capable of loving you? Do you think he wants a loveless marriage?”

  When she didn’t answer, Sasha took over. “Do you believe Stefano loves Francesca?”

  “That’s obvious to anyone who sees them together.”

  “What about Ricco? Does he love Mariko?” Sasha challenged.

  Grace thought about the times she’d observed them together. Ricco had been very much like Stefano, rarely leaving his wife’s side and focusing completely on her in much the same way Vittorio focused on Grace. Butterfly wings began to flutter in her stomach. Deep inside she began to have a niggling doubt.

  “Yes, I believe he does.”

  “You probably haven’t seen Giovanni with me,” Sasha said. “But I can assure you, he’s very much in love with me. When we’re together, his attention is wholly focused on me. It doesn’t matter how many beautiful women throw themselves at him, he never notices. And guess what? We meet those criteria Eloisa so quickly pointed out to you.”

  “Not to me,” Grace corrected absently. “To Vittorio, where I could hear her.” Vittorio did focus completely on her. Even now, after she’d told him not to sleep in her room, everything he did was for her.

  He had set up a room with the equipment needed for her physical therapy and was already talking to the physical therapists. He brought her breakfast and made certain she had everything she wanted. Katie came to go over work with her. He escorted her personally to the back patio, so they could look out over the pool to the lake.

  He touched her often. Just a brush of his fingers, but each time he did, he sent heat spiraling through her body and secret fingers of desire dancing down her spine. Sometimes, she wanted him with every breath she drew. Other times she was upset at the disappointment and hurt she saw in his eyes. Every cell in her body urged her to soothe him. To make everything between them all right, but she knew that was her personality. She was a nurturer. A pleaser.

  She was good with details and she noted everything about Vittorio. She knew he didn’t like shoes worn in his house. She knew how he took his coffee and when he preferred tea or Scotch. She could tell when he was restless and needed to retreat to his private training room, or when he preferred to meditate. She recognized the signs in him when he struggled to keep from kissing her, or maybe even taking their relationship further, but he respected the boundaries she’d set. She almost wished he didn’t.

  “Grace, any number of women might meet those criteria. We don’t know. I, personally, couldn’t care less,” Francesca said staunchly. “I will admit, like you, at first I was worried he hadn’t chosen me for me, that we moved too fast, but then it didn’t matter, because he was everything I ever wanted in a man. Don’t get me wrong, Ferraro men are no picnic to live with. You have to be committed to them. Wholly. If you take him on, Vittorio has to be your world, because you’ll be his. That isn’t always comfortable.”

  Sasha nodded. There was a hint of worry in her eyes. “Vittorio is a wonderful man and he’ll always look after his wife and children, but don’t let this go any further if you don’t really love him. He needs that. A woman who will love him so completely that she’ll want to be his universe. Like Francesca says, that isn’t always a comfortable place to be.”

  “I’m very aware of that,” Grace acknowledged. “I just hate that he has to take
care of me. If I wasn’t so needy—” She broke off. What was she saying? She wanted him. That was the truth. She wanted the fairy tale, even if her prince was admittedly a little on the dark side. A little shiver crept down her spine. He’d never shown that side of him to her, but he’d alluded to it and she was aware, on some level, that it was there.

  “Has he intimated in any way that he doesn’t want you there or he doesn’t like looking after you?” Francesca asked. “I can’t imagine that. I think Vittorio would enjoy looking after you.”

  “He says so. I think, after having Haydon in my life for so long, I’m terrified of trusting anyone. Other than Katie, who I met by accident in college, I haven’t believed in anyone. Not ever.”

  She hadn’t. She’d been conditioned not to go near anyone else. She’d met Katie in school and they both had done papers on event planning. After they found that out, they met for coffee and discussed their ideas. When Haydon had objected and made overt threats toward her, Grace had pointed out that if she didn’t have a job that paid well, she wouldn’t have a place to live. She’d implied he wouldn’t, either, and he’d left her alone. Katie had ended up sharing her dorm room through college.

  “Do you love Vittorio?” Francesca asked.

  It was far too soon. A month? Five weeks? Part of that she’d been out of it. It had been the best month of her life, in spite of the pain. She looked for him. She listened for him. Every cell in her body was completely tuned to him. Was that love or obsession? Was it just turning to a man to help her out in a terrible time of need?

  “I haven’t had time to find out. He asked me to give him a chance and I was. I told him I would, but then Eloisa came along and I lost my confidence.”

  Francesca sighed. “Don’t fall into the trap I did. Eloisa tried to drive a wedge between Stefano and me. She does a good job of undermining my confidence whenever she sees me. I wish I was more like Mariko, who ignores her, or Sasha, who puts her in her place. Instead, I let her words hurt me and then Stefano loses his mind.”