animals. So young. So innocent. It was a little girl’s safe haven in our cruel world.
Anna pressed herself against me and I kissed her head.
Sofia looked toward the door. “I’m going to find Sam.” I did not stop her. With all that was going on, she had often been on the sidelines, too young to be involved but too old to need constant attention. I also hoped for her sake that Fina would return soon.
“Let me talk to your brother for a moment, okay?”
Leonas didn’t like talking about emotions in general, let alone when other people were around, even his sister.
Anna nodded, “Okay. I’ll go get something to eat.”
I turned a grateful smile to her. At almost eleven years old, she was already more responsible than I had been at her age. It was her father’s blood, no doubt.
After she was gone, I sat down on the plush sofa next to Leonas.
“Can you turn it off?”
He pressed the off button but did not look up from the screen.
“Is Dad mad at me?” he asked softly.
“He is not angry with you. Maybe he was for a moment because of what you said. You have to think before you speak or you might hurt people, do you understand?”
He looked up, his blond eyebrows furrowed. “I guess.”
“Count to three before you say something that might upset others.”
“How do I know what upsets others?”
“Right now, if it concerns Fina. They are all very touchy.”
“Okay. Is she alive?”
I bit my lip. She’s seven and asks me about death as if she’s talking about what we’re having for dinner.
“No, she’s fine.”
“I miss my friends. Anna has Sofia but I have no one.”
“You have me and Dad.”
Leonas grimaced. “You’re not as funny as Rocco and Ricci.”
“Well, what would be fun?”
“Roller skating! Or riding bikes and doing stunts!”
Some of the stunts I had seen the boys do on their bikes almost gave me a heart attack. Not to mention the fact that Dante would lose his mind if I left the house with Leonas to go for a ride. “How about we do something else?”
He pouted, then his face lit up again. “The slime challenge.”
My eyebrows rose. “Slime challenge?”
“Yes!” If it had caused so much excitement for a seven-year-old, it would definitely have been something I wouldn’t have liked, especially if slime was involved, but I wanted to distract him . “All right, let’s do this slime challenge.”
Leonas’ answering smile chased some of the darkness from my chest.
I sat in an armchair amid the chaos Danilo had caused in Peter’s office. Torn books, broken glass, overturned shelves were strewn across the floor. Danilo had left in his car. I doubted that he was going back to Indianapolis. He needed time to himself. We all needed it.
I lowered my gaze to my shiny pointy shoes, my smart pants pressed to perfection, my cuffs tightly fastened.
From the outside, I was the ‘immaculate, controlled businessman, the Iceman. I was like one of those damn volcanoes hidden under a thick layer of eternal ice.
Resting my elbows on my thighs, I lowered my face to my palms. If one of those had exploded, it could have destroyed everything around me. I felt on the verge of a dangerous epidemic.
I wanted to destroy, but not those around me, but they would be at risk if I gave up control. Luca and Remo, those were the ones who would feel my anger. Remo for everything he had done to Fina, to our family. And Luca, for cooperating with the Camorra despite everything he knew about them.
“Dad?”
I raised my head sharply. Anna hovered in the doorway. She was wearing a floral summer dress, her hair pulled back into a disheveled ponytail, and her blue eyes wide. She was all I wanted to protect. I said nothing. She entered slowly , almost shyly. I wasn’t sure what Val had told her, but I doubted she had mentioned the sheets. Anna was too young for such a thing, although Val had already explained a few things to her.
“You look sad,” she said softly, stopping right next to me.
Sad was not the right word to describe my emotions.
“I am,” I agreed anyway.
Anna wrapped her arms around my neck. I hugged her .
“Everything will be all right. You will make everything go well. You always do.”
Her unerring confidence in me was my incentive. I kissed her temple and held her for a while. I wasn’t sure who was comforting whom. It didn’t matter. Eventually, I pulled back.
I had a call to make. “I’m sure Sofia needs some distraction. Why don’t you go find her?”
Anna nodded. She knew that was my signal that I needed to work.
She slipped out and closed the door.
Taking a deep breath to compose myself, I called Remo.
I didn’t want to show him how the sheets had shaken us.
“Dante?” he said in a tone that made me forget my resolution almost instantly.
“I got your message.”
“I know you don’t follow the Family’s tradition of bloody sheets, but I thought it was a nice gesture.”
I had always despised that tradition, had found it totally distasteful when it had been presented to me at Family weddings and even at the occasional Outfit wedding of very traditional families who stuck to the old ways. But those sheets represented something far worse than a consummated marriage. They represented an act of violence that a woman should never have to endure, either in a marriage or outside of it. “There are rules in our world. We don’t assault children and women.”
“It’s funny you should say that. When your soldiers attacked my territory, they shot my 13-year-old brother. You broke the fucking rules first, so cut the bullshit.”
“You know as well as I do that it wasn’t me who gave the order to kill your brother, and he’s alive and well.”
“If he wasn’t, we wouldn’t be having this conversation, Dante. I would have killed every fucking person you care about, and we both know there are so many to choose from.”
Anna, Leonas, Val… He wouldn’t go near them. I would do anything to protect them, if necessary even stoop as low as he did. “You have people you don’t want to lose too, Remo.
Don’t forget that.”
Samuel did not believe Remo cared about anyone, but the protective note when he had mentioned his brothers had led me to believe something else. It was a glimmer of hope.
“I thought the sheets might have talked some sense into you, but I see you want Serafina to suffer a little more.”
“Remo…” A click was heard.
“Fuck,” I growled.
I tried to call Remo over the next few days, but he ignored my calls. Ines’ desperation increased as the days passed, and so did Danilo, Samuel, and Pietro’s desire to carry out our attack on Luca’s Enforcer.
The MCs had agreed to attempt a kidnapping in exchange for exorbitant sums of money and weapons and drugs. I did not trust them. They wanted to be paid in advance because of the enormous risk, and I was wary of accepting such a deal.
I was glad when Remo finally contacted me with a new request, one I had anticipated. My former councilor in exchange for my niece. Naturally, I agreed to give him Rocco. I did not care about his fate or the undoubtedly cruel torture he would suffer under the hands of Fabiano and Falcone.
That was not why I had been reluctant to hand him over. No, it was considered weak to respond to the enemy’s request, especially if the enemy was asking for your former councilor, especially if the enemy was Remo Falcone. Such an action created concern among the ranks of my Sub-Captains and Captains because they preferred to consider themselves safe and giving up one of their own would burst their bubble. Rocco had many friends among my men. He knew how to manipulate people.
Trading a worthless girl for a former Councilor would have been viewed with criticism by some. Others, who cared about their family, would have judged me more kindly. It didn’t matter. I had made my decision. I had to save Serafina, for her sake and for the sake of my family.
Val had baked a cake for Anna’s 11th birthday and held a small party that looked more like a funeral.
Every smile was fake, every laugh forced.
We tried our hand at fake happiness. It tasted fake, bitter.
Anna blew out her eleven candles, her eyes closed . I knew what her wish was even without her revealing it to me. She hoped that things would go well the next day, that we would all be back with Serafina. It was also my greatest wish. Many things depended on the outcome of the exchange, especially the happiness of my family.
Samuel stared into the void, torn between hope and worry. Remo had agreed to an exchange the night before.
Danilo, Pietro and I would leave early in the morning to take Rocco to Las Vegas. Santino and Arturo had taken him to Minneapolis a few hours earlier.
Anna smiled as she unwrapped the painting tools Val had gotten her. We all ate a slice of cake afterwards, trying to maintain meaningless conversation, but it was impossible to overcome the tension.
I felt sorry for Anna. She had always enjoyed celebrating her birthday, but that special day had been ruined by the consequences of my choices. I promised myself it would never happen again.
We all went to bed early, but sleep did not come. Neither for me, nor for Val. She clung to me in the darkness, her body tense with anxiety. “I’m so afraid that this is a trap. Going to Las Vegas is crazy, you know. Remo could be planning to kill you all.”
“He might, but I doubt it. He will kill us later, after we have suffered for a while.”
“Suffered?”
“Under the weight of our guilt.”
“Do you feel guilty?”
“Yes. And seeing Serafina, we will all remember how we let her down. Peter, Samuel, Danilo and especially me.”
Val exhaled. “I cannot live without you, Dante. Don’t let anger consume you tomorrow. Don’t risk anything.”
My wrath for Remo was almost indomitable. I wanted to see him on his knees, begging for mercy. Tomorrow would not be that day. But in the end… I kissed Val and slipped my fingers between his smooth thighs, wanting to feel his warmth, wanting to feel alive.
I didn’t want to talk, not about all the ways this could have gone wrong.
Our kiss was slow and so were my fingers. I was not overwhelmed with lust. I didn’t even want to cum myself. I just needed to make Val feel good, needed to lose myself in her warmth and moans.
She opened her legs for me and I stroked her lightly, dipping my fingers into her from time to time. It took a long time for her to loosen up, allowing her to feel pleasure. When she finally came, I closed my eyes, my lips against her pulse point. I gently pushed my fingers into her. “I love you, Val. I will protect you and our family until I die.”
“Not tomorrow,” she said.
“Not tomorrow,” I promised.
Santino hoisted Rocco onto the helicopter. We would travel most of the distance to Las Vegas that way, only the last part from an airport near Las Vegas to our rendezvous point in a rental car.
We hardly spoke during our trip. We had gone over everything in the morning. Every extra word would only have increased our tension.
Danilo and I pulled Rocco out of the trunk of the car when we arrived at the designated meeting point thirty minutes before the agreed time. I carefully scanned the surroundings but could not spot any snipers on the surrounding rooftops.
Rocco’s desperate eyes met mine and he wriggled out of his bonds, trying to speak despite the duct tape over his mouth. We dropped him to the ground and waited.
Dry heat greeted us and sweat trickled down my back under the thick layers of my suit.
Danilo looked at Rocco in disgust but his eyes were on me, still hoping I would change my mind.
Pietro stood beside me, a thin coating of sweat on his forehead. It was much warmer in Las Vegas than it had been in Minneapolis. “Fuck. I’m scared shitless to see Fina…”
Danilo tightened his mouth and lowered his gaze to the ground.
“She’ll be safe soon,” I said firmly.
“I hate being exposed like this, with no guns drawn , to boot,” Danilo said after a few minutes of silence.
I too had a hard time making myself so vulnerable in enemy territory, but I didn’t think Remo would shoot at us.
That was not his ultimate goal, not today.
A car approached and stopped about a hundred meters away. A movement on one of the surrounding buildings caught my attention. A sniper pointed a gun at us.
Danilo’s hand flung toward the holster.
“No,” I cut off.
Danilo reluctantly withdrew his hand and lowered his gaze from the roof, then his eyes widened.
I followed his gaze to the car and my muscles stiffened as Remo Falcone got out with Serafina. She was wearing her torn and bloody wedding dress. A moment later, Fabiano also got out, with a gun pointed at us.
Rocco made desperate sounds against his tape, but I ignored him.
“My goodness,” croaked Pietro.
“You were very ill-advised to attack our territory, Dante,” Remo said in a drawling voice, pulling Serafina against his body.
Pietro rocked forward but I grabbed his arm.
“Fuck. Now I’m going to skin that bastard.
I’m going to kill him for touching her,” Danilo growled.
“Don’t move,” I ordered. Remo was probably waiting for a show. That would give him further satisfaction.
Serafina did not look in our direction. She stared at the ground, her shoulders hunched. She looked devastated, and worse, ashamed, when she had absolutely no reason to be. The fault was ours, not hers. When she finally raised her eyes and looked at Peter, he inhaled sharply. The anguish on his face and the expression of despair on his penetrated the cracks in my armor, but I fought against my emotions.
Remo smiled. “Next time you think about fucking with us, look at your niece, Dante, and remember how you let her down.”
I had. I had let them all down. I had done what I thought was best, and I still couldn’t see what else I could do after Remo had kidnapped Serafina. Before then, long before then, I should have removed Rocco from his post.
Remo approached Serafina intimately, and even from a distance I could see her shivering. I gritted my teeth, tightening my grip on Pietro to keep him from plunging forward. Danilo, too, was evidently struggling with himself.
When Remo finally pulled away from Serafina, he nodded toward Rocco, who lay on the ground behind us.
“Consegna Scuderi.”
I turned and grabbed the rope wrapped around Rocco, then dragged him toward Remo and Fabiano. I stared hard at the latter, wondering how he could have become the man he was today. He had met Serafina when she was a child. They had played together. He had always been a good boy. I pushed Rocco toward them. He was responsible for what Fabiano had become, and also for Serafina’s fate . I hoped they would torture him as they were famous for doing. “Release my niece now.”
Remo held my eyes for a moment, challenging me.
He was Benedict’s son to the core. The same eyes and the same madness. His father had fallen deeply, and Remo would fall too and his kingdom would fall with him.
Remus pulled Serafina to him again and she drew back. I gritted my teeth so hard that the sound vibrated in my head.
Finally, Remo pushed Serafina away and she staggered toward me, her eyes unfocused.
She was in shock. I quickly wrapped an arm around her and Pietro appeared on the other side, supporting her as we carried her away. Danilo came toward us, extending his hands toward Serafina, and she recoiled from him.
Danilo stepped back and I gave him a warning look because I could tell he wanted to lash out at Remo and slaughter him to death. Our time would come. But now, not with Serafina nearby. Her safety was our top priority today.
Serafina trembled violently in our grip. I scrutinized her as we made our way to the car. She had no obvious injuries except for bite marks on her neck. Fury and guilt fought a relentless battle in my chest at the sight of the signs of my niece’s suffering. I should have asked a doctor to check for possible rape wounds.
We climbed into the car. Pietro in the back with Serafina and Danilo with me in the front. I pressed the accelerator and set off, wanting to get out of camorra territory as quickly as possible.
“You are safe now, Fina. Nothing will ever happen to you again. I’m sorry, dove. I’m so sorry,” croaked Pietro and then the sound of his hoarse crying was heard.
My fingers around the steering wheel tightened. Danilo looked out the window and closed his eyes. I kept casting glances at my niece and Pietro through the rearview mirror.
Pietro was a strong Underboss, a man who had been raised similarly to me. I had never seen him cry and I was sure I would never see him again after that day. Bringing Serafina back was supposed to heal this family, but I had a feeling that healing would not come easily, perhaps not at all. Remo had left his mark, and not just on Serafina’s body.