The sky over New York was laden with heavy clouds but no rain. It suited the occasion. For Salvatore Vitiello’s funeral, New York’s elite, the Family and prominent members of the Chicago Outfit had gathered at the cemetery. The perimeter around it had been closed off, and most of the New York mob soldiers mounted guard to make sure the Bratva did not disturb the funeral. Gathering the most important members of both New York and Chicago at that moment was a risk, but paying respect to the Chief of Chiefs was more important.
Luke stood tall and stoic beside his father’s grave. He was now the new Chief and could not show an ounce of weakness, even after his father’s death. Luke and his father had not been close in the traditional sense, but the loss of a parent, no matter how cruel and cold he had been, always left a hole in you. I could tell that many of the older men in the Familia watched Luca with a calculating gaze.
Luca gave no sign that he noticed but it was definitely an act.
The most dangerous moment was immediately after his rise to power. I had not known Salvatore Vitiello very well, and I did not mind that. For me, the funeral meant only one thing: I had a chance to see my family again .
Gianna, Fabi, and Lily were with Dad and Mom among the guests at the Chicago Outfit.
They had arrived this morning and I was looking forward to spending some time with them. Each guest shook Luke’s hand, patted him on the back, and said a few comforting words, most of them lies. How many of these men were waiting for a chance to wrest power from Luca’s hands?
When it was my father’s turn, I had to restrain myself from attacking him for agreeing to let Gianna marry Matteo. Instead I gritted my teeth and gave him a cold smile. Gianna purposely avoided Matteo’s gaze. She had lost weight and it broke my heart to see her so desperate.
I was happy when the funeral was over. The men had scheduled a meeting for the evening to discuss the growing threat from the Russians. In our world there was no time to mourn the dead for long.
Chicago and New York had to find a way to stop the Bratva before another Chief lost his life. And that would be either Luca, or Dante Cavallaro.
*** Luca wanted me out of New York, so he sent me to the Vitiello mansion in the Hamptons.
Gianna, Lily and Fabi were able to accompany me for the night before they had to leave for Chicago the next night. I had a feeling that Dad hoped I would talk some sense into Gianna about her arranged marriage to Matteo. The engagement party was scheduled for early November, so Gianna did not have much time to come to terms with it. Mom stayed with Dad in Manhattan, but they sent Umberto with us. He, Caesar and Romero were supposed to keep us safe.
We arrived at the villa around dinner time and the staff had already prepared a meal for us.
My heart swelled with happiness as Lily, Fabi, Gianna and I sat around the long dining table, but it was clouded by the fact that our three bodyguards were discussing the Russian threat in hushed voices and Gianna’s refusal to eat more than two bites. I did not want to discuss her engagement to Matteo with everyone present. Later, when they would go to bed, Gianna and I would have enough time for that.
Fabi was the only one keeping the conversation alive on our side of the table as he excitedly told me about the knife collection Dad had given him. Lily was busy casting admiring glances at Romero who was completely oblivious to her pining.
After dinner we moved to the lodge overlooking the ocean. The night sky out there twinkled with stars. In New York you rarely glimpsed them. Caesar had gone off to do who knows what, probably to check the security system, and Umberto and Romero had settled in the living room; from there they could watch us without listening to our conversation. Fabi lay curled up next to Lily, fast asleep, while she typed something on her phone and checked on Romero from time to time.
“Do you want to talk?” whispered Gianna, who sat beside me, her legs resting against my chest. She shook her head. There seemed to be a rift between us since she had received the news of his engagement, and I didn’t know why. “Gianna, please.”
“There is nothing to talk about.”
“Maybe it’s not as bad as you think.” She looked at me incredulously but I kept talking. “When I found out I had to marry Luca I was terrified, but I did the math. Luca and I get along better than I thought possible.”
Gianna looked at him truely. “I’m not like you, Aria. You’re eager to please him, to do whatever he says. I’m not like that. I won’t submit to anyone.”
I gasped. Gianna had never thrown herself at me like that.
She jumped to her feet. I tried to grab her arm but she shrugged me off. “Leave me alone. I can’t talk to you now.” She turned and hurried toward the beach. I stood there, uncertain whether I should follow her, but I knew she would not listen when she was like that. Umberto came out. I raised a hand. “No, give her a few minutes to herself. She’s upset.”
Umberto nodded, then his eyes ran to Fabi. “I should get him to bed.”
I was about to nod when a deafening alarm broke the silence, but it stopped seconds later. Fabi’s eyes were wide as he clung to Lily, both of them looking at me as if I knew what was happening . Romero rushed toward us, two guns drawn, when a red dot appeared on Umberto’s forehead. I screamed but it was too late. There was a gunshot and Umberto’s head was thrown backwards, splattering blood everywhere. Lily started screaming and I still couldn’t move. I stared into Umberto’s dull eyes. A man I had known all my life.
Romero lunged at me and we landed on the ground as a second bullet blasted through the glass door, sending splinters flying.
“What’s going on?” I screamed as hysteria shook my body.
“The Bratva,” was all Romero said as he dragged me toward the living room. I struggled against him. Lily and Fabi huddled next to an armchair, still within sniper range. “Get them !”
But Romero ignored my command and was too strong for me. He pushed me against a wall inside the living room, his grip biting my skin, his eyes hard and wild. “Stay here. Don’t move.”
“Lily and Fabi,” I gasped.
He nodded, then ducked and ran out again. I was shaking all over. Romero returned with my sister and brother, who clung desperately to him. I hugged them tightly the moment they were at my side. And then my world turned upside down.
“Gianna,” I whispered.
Romero didn’t hear me. He was shouting into the phone. “Where? How many?” His face paled.
“Fuck.” He turned to me and his expression made my stomach drop. “The Russians are on the property. Too many for us. I’ll take you to the panic room in the basement where we’ll wait until reinforcements arrive.
He grabbed my arm but I pulled away. “Take Fabi and Lily there. I have to warn Gianna.
“You are my responsibility,” Romero hissed. Somewhere in the house the glass shattered.
Gunshots resounded .
“I don’t care. I’m not going with you. You will do as I say. Take them to the panic room. If anything happens to Lily or Fabi, I will kill myself and nothing you, Luca or any other power in this world can do will change that. I want you to protect them. Keep them safe. That is all that matters to me.
“You should come with us.”
I shake my head. “I have to find Gianna.”
“Luca will be here soon.”
I knew that wasn’t true. “Go, now!”
We stared at each other, then finally turned to my brothers. “Stay down and follow my orders.”
Male voices shouted something in Russian, then more shots were fired. Caesar would not have been able to hold them off for long if the number of voices was any indication.
Romero pointed a gun at me. I grabbed it, then ducked and ran outside. Umberto’s blood covered the stone tiles but I did not look at his body. I hurried down the slope toward the bay when I noticed the vibration of my phone. I pulled it out and pressed it to my ear as I scanned the beach for Gianna.
“Air?” Luca’s worried voice rang out. “Are you safe?”
“They killed Umberto,” was the first thing out of my mouth.
“Where are you?”
“Looking for Gianna.”
“Aria, where is Romero? Why doesn’t he take you to the panic room?”
“I have to find Gianna.”
“Aria,” Luca sounded desperate. “The Bratva wants you. Get in the panic room. I’ll take the helicopter. I’ll be there in 20 minutes. I’m already on my way.”
Luke would have taken more than twenty minutes even with a helicopter and he would not have been able to take that many men with him, so there was no telling how long it would take him to make his way into the mansion. There was a possibility that he would fail.
Gianna came running toward me, her eyes wide.
“I can’t talk anymore,” I whispered.
“Aria…”
“What’s going on?” asked Gianna, stumbling against me.
“The Bratva.” I dragged her toward the dock where the boat was anchored. It would have been safer to hide there than to go back inside and look for the panic room. The planks of the pier groaned under our weight as we walked toward the boat. But then Lily’s scream ripped through the night and I froze. Gianna and I exchanged a glance. Without a word, we turned and ran back toward home.
My heart was pounding in my chest as we reached the lodge. The living room was deserted.
I knelt beside Umberto and took his knives even though I was shaking. I handed one to Gianna and slipped the knife into the back pocket of my pants.
“Let’s go,” I whispered. I wasn’t even sure what Gianna and I would do once we got inside . I had fired a gun once and had only handled a knife when I had fought with Luca, which did not bode well in a fight against Russian mobsters. Yet I knew I could not live with myself if I did not find Lily and Fabi.
Gianna and I sneaked in. It was dark. Someone must have turned off the lights throughout the house. I held my breath but it was awfully quiet. I approached the door leading into the foyer when an arm snapped out and wrapped around my waist. I screamed, struggled, tried to point the gun at my attacker, but he twisted my wrist. Pain shot through my arm and the gun fell from my fingers. Gianna gasped behind me. I kicked out. A deep voice growled at me in Russian. Oh God. My foot collided with her shin. She pushed me away but before I could regain my balance, her fist hit my lips. My vision turned black and I fell to my knees as blood filled my mouth and dripped down my chin, the warm salty taste made bile rise in my throat.
Fingers tangled in my hair and I found myself on my feet in a rush, screaming from the pain in my scalp. My attacker didn’t care. He dragged me into the lobby holding me by the hair. I could see Gianna in the arms of another tall man. She was unconscious and a bruise was already forming on her forehead.
I was thrown to the ground in front of her denim-clad legs and quickly peered into a pockmarked face and cold blue eyes. “What’s your name, bitch?” he asked in heavily accented English. Did he not recognize me? I imagined I looked different with blood all over my face. I glared at him. He kicked me in the stomach and I fell, breathless. “What’s your name?”
My eyes shifted to a body to my right. Caesar. He was emitting gurgles, clutching a bleeding wound in his stomach. I didn’t see Lily, Fabi, or Romero anywhere, and I hoped they had made it to the panic room. At least they would have survived.
A hand grabbed my chin and lifted my head. “Are you going to tell me your name or do I have to force Igor to hurt her?” He nodded toward Gianna who lay on her side on the marble floor, blinking dazedly.
“Aria,” I said softly.
“As in Aria Vitiello?” the man asked with a cruel smile.
I nodded. There was no point in denying it. He said something in Russian and the men laughed out loud. My skin crawled from the way they looked at me.
“Where are the others? Your shadow and the children?”
It took me a moment to figure out who he meant by shadow. “I don’t know,” I said.
Igor kicked Gianna. She screamed. Her eyes met mine and I could see that she did not want me to say anything, but how could I see them hurt her?
Voices and gunfire came at us from outside. The Russian leader grabbed me and pulled my back against his chest before pressing a blade against my throat.
Fear paralyzed my body as I listened to the sound of fighting. I was dragged backward closer to the living room. Igor was tugging Gianna by the hair. He did not seem to be able to stand. Another Russian mobster was pushed back as a bullet went through his throat. “We have your wife Vitiello. If you want to see her in one piece, you’d better stop fighting and drop your weapons.”
Luca entered, a gun in each hand. Matteo was a step behind him.
“So this is your wife, Vitiello?” the man said, his breath hot against my neck. I wriggled in his grip but he held me in a death grip. The blade pierced my skin and I lay still.
Luca’s face was a mask of fury as he stared at my captor. Matthew repeatedly twisted the knives in his hands, his eyes darting to Gianna’s trembling form on the ground. Caesar had stopped gurgling. This night could very well end with all of us drowning in our own blood.
“Let her go, Vitali,” Luca growled.
Vitali grabbed my throat. “I don’t think so.”