“Looks that way,” Zio Ben agreed.
“Desi’s a smart one. He tracked Gio from the bank using all the closed-circuit cameras. ATM, traffic, even private business security cameras. The boy knows what he’s doing, because he tracked Gio outside the city for over an hour. Gio backtracked a few times to make sure he wasn’t being followed, then went straight to his drop-off point.”
“And?” I snapped, not really caring how brilliant Desi was. I just wanted to know what the hell he’d found out.
Ciro dropped a kiss onto the middle of my forehead. “Relax, I’m getting there.”
“Get there faster.”
“Enzo Fontana’s home just outside the city.”
“Fontana?” I raked my mind for the name, knowing it was familiar, but I didn’t know every aspect of Papa’s business yet. The name Fontana hadn’t come up so far, yet it sounded so familiar. “Enzo… Santino’s man?”
Ciro nodded grimly. “We took out his brother, who was Junior’s second-in-command, when the bastard took you. Enzo is out for blood.”
“And Gio took this man five million dollars?” I narrowed my eyes, picturing the exchange between my uncle and my faceless enemy. “He put a hit out on Dante with our enemy?”
“That would be my guess. The bomb that blew up the car was Santino’s signature.”
“But?” I met his gaze, able to hear the word before he could say it.
“But Fontana isn’t much of an explosives expert. He’s got more grit than to hide behind a bomb like a coward. Enzo enjoys a more up close and personal interaction.”
“Meaning?” But Ciro clenched his jaw, refusing to say more. My gaze fell on my father-in-law. “Meaning?” I repeated.
“Meaning he would rather slit your throat in your sleep and watch you bleed out than blow you up. He’s a freak like that.”
“You don’t think it was Enzo who put the bomb in the limo?” My heart leaped at the possibility, but I kept my face a mask of neutrality. I couldn’t allow myself to think about the possibility of Cristiano still being alive, not until I had solid proof he hadn’t been in that limo.
“There is a possibility Enzo put the bomb in there at Santino’s request, letting his boss take the credit for offing Vito’s heir,” Zio Ben told me with a grimace. “But Enzo is a hothead. Lives by his own rules more often than following Santino’s. If I had to make a bet, I would say Enzo didn’t plant the bomb.”
“Then who?”
“Desi is working on the closed-circuit cameras for the morning of the wedding. Trying to figure out a timeline for when the bomb was placed in the limo.” Ciro took my hands. “So far, we know that they came here from Cristiano’s apartment. Then back to the city. Cristiano texted me to let me know they were headed to pick up Anya. That was the last I heard from him.”
I nodded. “Dante had forgotten to leave Allegra’s present with me the night before, so he dropped them and her bouquet off. But they left soon after. Cristiano didn’t even get out of the limo.”
“Did you see him?”
I frowned as I tried to remember. “Yes. He was on the phone when Dante got back in.”
“Desi is still looking at all the cameras around Anya’s building. We will figure this out, vita mia.”
I leaned into him as hope burned in my chest and stung my eyes. “He might still be alive, Ciro. They might just be trying to get proof that Gio wanted to kill Dante. Cristiano knows Papa wouldn’t turn on his own brother without solid evidence.”
“Is Victoria still reading Allegra’s diary?”
I couldn’t contain my shudder. “We both have.” And the things my poor cousin had endured made my skin crawl. I wanted to put a bullet in Gio’s head myself.
“That fucking bastard,” Zio Ben spat. “To touch any woman with violence is vile, but to do it to your own child… I want five minutes alone with him.”
“Stand in line, Zio,” I murmured, my hands rubbing over my swollen stomach.
“Paco is following Gio. Keeping tabs on him while he’s outside the compound. But so far, he’s been keeping a low profile. He’s got his eyes on Vito’s chair, though. With Vito incapacitated by his grief, Gio wasn’t expecting you to jump in and take over.”
“Papa always threatened Cristiano with turning everything over to me. It was only to keep him in line whenever he did something that upset Papa, though. Still, if I had been born first, I know he would have put me in charge.” I didn’t want to be now, though, not for these reasons. But I was my father’s daughter, and I wasn’t about to let him down even for a second.
“If Gio’s next goal is to take over, you could be his next target,” Zio Ben warned. “He wasn’t concerned with others getting hurt in his need to eliminate Dante. Cristiano could have been collateral damage—or just as easily part of the deal he made with Fontana. Which means he was planning on taking Vito’s seat all along.”
“Let him try his worst,” I growled.
“Don’t,” Ciro bit out. “Don’t even think about putting yourself at risk. If so much as a hair on your head is harmed, I will slaughter everyone.”
“But that’s why I have you watching my back,” I said with a smile, forcing my rage to calm in the face of his explosiveness. “I know I won’t have to worry about that slimy motherfucker as long as I have you.”
“Scarlett,” he groaned. “Don’t be thinking up any stupid ideas.”
I blinked up at him, lovingly stroking my hands over our babies. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“Uh-huh. Stop it.”
“Don’t you trust me?” I pouted.
“With my life, yes. With your own, I only trust me.”
“Then this shouldn’t be a problem at all.” I winked and moved to sit behind the desk.
All my life, I had seen Papa behind this desk and imagined what it would feel like if it were me in this chair. Now that it was a reality, the chair felt hard and cold. I didn’t want it, and as soon as Papa was able, I would happily push everything back into his capable hands.
Until then, there were things that needed doing.
My husband blew out a harsh, resigned sigh. “What do you want me to do?”
“Get Adrian. We’re going to need his help, after all.”
Chapter 16
Dante
After getting back to the safe house with Cristiano, I showered, letting Junior’s blood wash down the drain. I’d left the bastard sobbing for his mommy, minus a few toes and fingers, but he was still alive.
For now.
The blood that was flowing freely now would attract even more rats. They had already been attacking the sonofabitch as we’d left him there the night before. His screams were cut off from us as soon as the door shut behind us. Whoever the old building belonged to, they had put enough effort into it to make it soundproof.
After I was clean, I scarfed down half an entire pizza we’d picked up and then passed out on the couch in front of the television while Cristiano slept in the recliner. I wasn’t sure if there were any beds in the house, but he seemed content enough where he was.
He was up before I was the next morning. The smell of coffee had my eyes cracking open, and I followed the smell into the kitchen, only to find Cristiano standing at the stove making scrambled eggs.
“You can cook?” I asked in surprise as I pulled a mug down from the cabinet over the coffeemaker.
He snorted. “Don’t get used to it. I can scramble eggs, half burn toast, and boil water for pasta. That is the extent of my talents. It was either learn to do that or die of hunger. I don’t have access to my accounts, so it’s not like I can send out for takeout whenever I please. And Anya can’t cook any better than me. Fuck, she’s liable to give me food poisoning if I let her feed me.”
I laughed and took a swallow from my mug. “At least you got the coffee right.”
“That’s all that really matters anyway,” he agreed with a chuckle.
I drop
ped down into a wobbly chair at the scuffed-up table. “Tell me where Allegra is.”
“Yeah, that will be a big hell no. I like my balls where they are, fratello. I tell you, Anya will cut them off.” He scraped the eggs onto two plates that already had slices of nearly burned toast on them. Carrying them both over to the table, he dropped one in front of me and took the chair opposite. “Stop worrying about her. She’s safe. Isn’t that all that matters? We have other shit to deal with. Then you can worry about getting your woman back.”
“I want her safe, but she needs to know that what she overheard wasn’t true.” I couldn’t imagine what Allegra must be thinking if she really thought it was true I wanted her mother over her. Fuck, I’d been so blind where Lauren was concerned. How could I not have seen she was so fucked up in the head?
“A few more days isn’t going to hurt anyone. She might cool down and see the truth for herself.” He scooped up a bite of egg with his toast and chewed for a moment. “Women are crazy like that. Accusing us of stupid shit and then realizing the truth on their own but still making us grovel to get back into their beds.”
Eating my own breakfast, I contemplated that. Cristiano was right, I had to admit. A few days wouldn’t hurt anyone, and Allegra would be more likely to be more open-minded when I explained everything to her. But the thought of being away from her for even another night made the eggs sit hard in my stomach.
It had been a week since she’d started sleeping in the guest room back in Chicago. A week since I’d spoken to her. Like my friend, I’d thought giving her time to think would solve everything. She was smart, rational. She would realize I had only been protecting her and Jenny. Eventually. But I’d sat outside her room every night, needing to be closer to her, my sanity cracking a little more every time I heard her broken little sobs. I deserved that punishment, I would admit that. But I didn’t want to pay for my crimes at her expense.
Now, she wasn’t even under the same roof. I had to trust others with her safety. More to the point, I had to trust Anya with her safety. While I would put enough faith in Anya to have my back during this, I didn’t trust a single soul with Allegra’s life. I needed her to be within arm’s length. Needed to hear her breathing, even if it was on the other side of a locked door.
“Today, I’m going to follow Gio around. See what the fuck he’s doing.” Cristiano stuffed the last bite of egg and toast into his mouth and rubbed the crumbs off his hands over his plate. “Want to come with me?”
“Yeah. Let’s see what the fucker’s up to.” I scarfed down the food, surprised that it wasn’t half bad, if overly salty. My phone went off, and I looked down at the damn thing. Recognizing the number had me draining my coffee. “Give me ten. I need to check in with my people.”
I walked to the back of the house and called Jarvis back. He picked up on the second ring. “Lauren is gone,” he growled in greeting.
My entire body turned cold. “What the hell do you mean, she’s gone?”
“She left Jenny a note. Said she had something to take care of and that she would be back as soon as she can, but it might be a while.” Jarvis cursed low. “She got a one-way ticket to JFK.”
“What the fuck is she thinking?” I muttered the question aloud but didn’t expect an answer. The real question, however, was why would she risk Gio finding her? If he saw her, he would kill her for real this time.
“She’s been worse recently. Having longer periods of these episodes. Seeing the little one triggered her, man. She’s not right in the head at the moment, and I really couldn’t tell you what she’s thinking right now.”
“How long has she been gone?”
Jarvis blew out a harsh breath. “Computer history showed she got a ticket that took off at just before six this morning.”
“Fuck,” I groaned and raked my hair back from my forehead. “Okay. I’ve got this. You take care of Jenny. I’ll deal with all the shit out here.”
“Watch your back. Like this, Lauren is unpredictable. She could be up to anything.”Cursing, I went back into the kitchen where Cristiano was cleaning up. For a second, I was so surprised at seeing my friend doing dishes that my mind shut down. Hell had frozen over. It was the end of times. Any moment, zombies were going to be knocking down the door and would eat our brains.
“Don’t look at me like that,” he growled as he rinsed a plate and put it in the dish drainer. “Anya busted my balls the last time I left a mess in here.”
“You’ve become domesticated in your ghost life,” I chuckled.
“Fuck you.” He turned off the faucet and wiped his hands on a dish towel. “Who was that?”
My laughter died instantaneously. “We have a problem.”
He held his hands up defensively. “I didn’t fuck anything up, man. I’ve been keeping my nose clean. Your plan is still pristine.”
“It’s not something you did, dumbass. If anything, it’s something I did.” I grimaced. “Lauren is in New York.”
“Lauren?” His face clouded with confusion, his brow practically protruding over his eyes as he tried to place the name. “Lauren who?”
“Lauren Vitucci. Allegra’s mother.”
Confusion turned to surprise, then his face darkened dangerously. “That’s why Allegra is so upset? Her mother is actually alive?”
“Lauren is a small part of it, yes.” I dropped down into one of the kitchen chairs and motioned for him to join me. This explanation was probably going to take a while to get through, and a sitting Cristiano was less unpredictable than a standing one. “Gio nearly killed Lauren eleven years ago. My father got her out that night and hid her until she was recovered enough from the beating. Once she was cleared for travel, he brought her back to New York.”
“You kept her a secret for over a decade?” He shook his head in disbelief, smirking. “I’m impressed, fratello.”
“Yeah, fuck you.”
The smile dropped off his face. “Is she okay? If Gio beat her so bad we all thought she died, wouldn’t she have had some lasting…issues?”
I gritted my teeth. “I never saw it, until recently. If that’s what it really is. But yeah, there was some brain damage. All the blows to the head, especially that last one, left her with some memory loss. And apparently, some personality…irregularities. I don’t know if it was seeing Allegra again after so many years that triggered something, or if she’s always been a heinous bitch, but she changed once Allegra and I got to Chicago.”
“I take it the reunion between mother and daughter didn’t go as you were expecting it, then?”
“That’s an understatement. Allegra was hurt I’d kept the truth from her, on top of feeling abandoned by Lauren.” I scratched at the scruff on my chin, irritated all over again with myself. “I didn’t factor in her feeling that way toward her mother. I should have.”
“Allegra isn’t one to get overly hysterical or pissed over something for long. She’s got the kindest heart I know. If you give her time, I know she will eventually come around. You just have to be patient with her.”
“I know that, damn it!”
Cristiano frowned, his narrowed eyes assessing my mood. “What else happened?”
“She overheard something that still doesn’t even make sense to me.” A lift of his brow told me to continue when I would have left it at that. Muttering a curse under my breath, I told him the gist of it. “Lauren came to my room. At first, she was all pitiful tears, upset over Allegra not so easily forgiving and moving on. But then, things changed. I started getting these vibes that didn’t fit coming from her. Long story short, Lauren was convinced I would have divorced Allegra to be with her.”
“That’s twisted and gross. Older women are fun and shit, but she was with your dad, man. And she was going to be your mother-in-law.”
She was still going to be my mother-in-law. I was marrying Allegra the first chance I got, one way or another. But Cristiano didn’t need to know that yet. “I considered her
like a mother to me. She was my damn nanny before Gio took her to Sicily.”
“If she has brain damage, though…” He broke off with a shrug. “You look enough like your pops to confuse her broken mind.”
“Yeah, I guess. But that’s not the only thing, man. She seems to hate Allegra.”
He reared back in surprise. “Who the fuck could hate her?”
“Lauren, apparently.”
“And now she’s in New York?” Grimly, I nodded. “Meaning, she came to do harm to my little cousin or…?”
“Or confront Gio, would be my guess. Maybe both. She didn’t like that I left to come after Allegra. She tried to make threats, but I didn’t take her seriously enough.” Now, who the fuck knew what she could be up to.
“As long as Anya is with Allegra, you don’t have to worry about her. Anya will kill Lauren before she could even lift a finger to harm my little cousin.” He rubbed his jaw, thinking. “But if she confronts Gio—”
“He’s most likely going to kill her.”
And as pissed as I was at her, as much as I was ready to put her out of my life for good, I couldn’t let anyone kill Allegra and Jenny’s mother.
Chapter 17
Allegra
Two days. That was how long Anya stayed locked in her apartment with me before she had to go out. Two days of watching mindless television and vegging out—as Anya called it. She seemed to enjoy it, but for me, it made me edgy.
I didn’t want to just sit around doing nothing. I needed to get out there and find a job and start my new life. But with Anya babysitting me, it was hard to make plans. Each time I brought up going out to look for work, she made some excuse for me to stay where I was. When she said she had to go to her club to deal with an issue, I was beyond relieved. As soon as she was out the door, I rushed to get ready.
I pulled on the black slacks Anya had lent me along with a dressy top, and I left.
The first thing I did was grab a newspaper in hopes of finding something in the classified section. Unfortunately, the only jobs listed were for ones I was sorely underqualified for. I stopped at the library and used one of the computers to check online help-wanted ads. There were at least twenty waitressing jobs, multiple housekeeper positions, and countless store clerk openings. But they would all require ID.