Her eyes grow wide. She picks up and puts it on speaker. “Gem? How did it go?”
“Hello, Valentina.”
Vale’s jaw slams shut. I don’t need to ask to know who the gravelly voice belongs to.
“What possessed you to do this, daughter?”
Stefano Garzolo has caught on to what we were trying to do, which means I need to calibrate my approach.
“Papà,” Vale breathes. “Where’s Gemma?”
“Your sister is in her room, under guard. She’s unlikely to be leaving it any time soon after the trick you two pulled.”
Vale brings her hand to her mouth.
I make a gesture at her to stay quiet. “Garzolo, I suppose we might as well jump to introductions. My name is Damiano De Rossi, and I have your daughter in my possession.”
There’s a pause on the other end of the line, and I can tell whatever Stefano Garzolo was expecting, it wasn’t this.
“Your don told me that when your sister returned to you, she returned alone.”
“He lies, especially to people who fail to do his bidding.” I need to sow doubt and do it fast. Garzolo is in trouble on his home turf. That’s his main problem. If I can position myself as his chance to solve it, I’ll get what I want out of him.
“I presume it’s all in the open now,” he says.
“It wasn’t hard to figure out who hired you once Valentina told me her side of the story.”
He huffs a laugh laced with disappointment. “Of course she did. I bet it didn’t even take much. Do you have children, De Rossi?”
“No.”
“You will one day. I pray yours don’t disappoint you like mine do.”
His words send a spike of anger through me. No wonder Vale didn’t want to go back to this. She pulls the sheet to her chest, her knuckles turning white while her cheeks redden. I steady her by placing my palm on her thigh.
“So what now, De Rossi? I take it you’re not a forgiving man.”
He wants to know if I’m going to make a move on Sal. Once I confirm it, this conversation will only have two possible outcomes. Garzolo will come to my side, or he will rat me out as soon as we hang up the phone.
What’s life if not a series of calculated risks?
“I’m not,” I tell him.
The man on the other end of the line lets out a sigh. “And what do you plan to do with my daughter?”
“That depends on how this conversation goes.” I look at Vale. When she mouths Gemma, I nod and ask, “What are you going to do with Gemma?”
“That’s none of your business.”
“Papà, please don’t punish her,” Vale begs.
“Enough of that Papà crap,” he snaps. “You’ve lost your right to call me that after you abandoned your family. Now, let’s cut right to it. What do you want, De Rossi?”
My eyes beg Vale to trust me. I can see she’s on the verge of freaking out. Once I have a deal with Garzolo, we’ll be able to do more for Gemma. Finally, she gives a barely perceptible nod.
“I want to give you an opportunity to right the wrongs leveled against my family,” I say. “Sal will never work with you again after your failure, but I might.”
“You’re a capo on an island. Rich but isolated. You don’t have anything I want besides my daughter,” Garzolo says, his voice harsher than before.
“I won’t be on this island for much longer,” I tell him. This is where I need to bluff. “Everything’s already in motion.”
“You want to take over.”
“I will take over. It’s my birthright, and my duty. Sal’s running the clan into the ground, and people are noticing. They see me as the natural contender, which is why he wanted to take Martina to keep me in line. The money I make on Ibiza makes up more than fifty percent of the clan’s revenue. Without me, he’s nothing.”
The implication is clear. Once I’m the don, I’ll be able to make whatever counterfeit deal he was interested in from Sal.
“How do I know this isn’t just some fantasy?” he demands. “What makes you think you’ll succeed?”
I’ll succeed if Garzolo agrees to give me his cocaine, but I can’t tell him that. He can’t know how much leverage he has. “Sal’s made a lot of enemies in the last few years. The families are unhappy and ready for a change. You know as well as me that all great empires fall from within. Let me be clear, I don’t need you, Garzolo. Once I become the don, I’ll be even less forgiving. We have a debt between us. One way or another, it will be paid.”
He exhales a sigh. “What kind of payment are you looking for?”
I brace my elbows on my knees. “A short-term supply of cocaine. I’ll pay you a fifteen percent markup if you can get the product to Ibiza.”
There’s a lengthy pause. Vale places her hand on my back while her father thinks.
Come on.
“Done, but under the condition that we sign the deal the Messeros and I were negotiating with Sal.”
Relief cascades through me. “I’ll have to look at it, unless you want to bring me up to speed now.”
“The Riccis have grown too powerful here in New York. The Messeros and I have partnered together to take them down a notch and reestablish our dominance. The Riccis’ main supplier of counterfeits in China is no longer operational. It’s been taken over by the Triad. So they went to Sal.”
Ah, it’s all starting to become clear. “And you tried to get Sal to agree to work with you instead.”
“We almost had our deal signed. Sal’s last condition was the business with your sister. When we didn’t deliver, he was furious. He exposed our plans to the Riccis. The tensions are high. It’s urgent we get it done.”
“Understood. It will be my top priority after the dust settles.”
“Good. When are you sending back my daughter?”
I meet Vale’s gaze. “She’s staying with me.”
“Excuse me?”
“You heard me. Valentina is mine.”