A Madness of Crows: Mafia University #3

27. Day 74 – Gio

The room is silent.

On the other end of the phone, Dante’s rage is its own entity. “Enough. I’m going in to get her. Both of them.”

Across from me, Marco shakes his head. His own grief lingers, grief for the daughter of the sister he loved so much. But there’s resignation there, too. Too much time has passed for him to believe we still have a chance.

“Then whatever happens to them as a result is on your head, V’Arezzo. They’ll be dead before you get anywhere near them.”

Beside me, Vincent shifts, swiping his hands over his face. “You’ve heard nothing at all? No sign of her?”

Dante’s voice echoes through the burner. “Why don’t we ask Fusco?”

I scrub my hands down my face. “We’ve been over this. I had to slip in and slip out, fast. You were in Vegas. There was no time—.”

“Then you should have made fucking time.”

He bellows those words, and if he was here I have no doubt that we would be rolling around on the floor right now. His fists would slam into my face, just as they did before.

And I would let him do it.

Perhaps it would ease the guilt that weighs on me, every second of every fucking day. For letting her walk back into that hellhole, for not throwing her over my shoulder and running when we had the chance.

Everyone looks away.

The plans we worked on so diligently in those first few weeks sit in the middle of the floor between us. Abandoned. Useless, without more information.

“Have you heard from Luc?” Nico, Luc’s enforcer, glances up at my question. And… he hesitates. Looks away.

“No.”

Another blow. I was so fucking certain that Luc went in there to get Alessia out. But only silence since then. Our calls go unanswered, although with Matteo tracking our activity, we wouldn’t be able to risk speaking freely anyway.

No sign or sighting of Domenico either.

Nothing from Stefano.

And Caterina… Cat has vanished into the depths of that house.

Frankie Costa straightens. “Gio.”

I glance at her, at the scar that rakes her face. “We’ve been over this, Frankie. The sketches were enough.”

My words are not unkind.

And I try not to show her how desperately I wish I could say yes, that I could exchange one life for another without thinking twice.

“No, they weren’t,” she says quietly. “But I’m not asking your permission this time. Any of you. I’m telling you that I am going home.”

Tony stays silent. But his face – it’s clear that they have already had this discussion. This argument. Perhaps many times.

She doesn’t look at him.

“You’re a Corvo soldier.” Vincent’s reply is sharp. The voice of an exhausted man trying to hold the Crows together in Cat’s absence. “You might not answer to Gio, but you do answer to me, Frankie. And I have already said no.”

She lifts her chin. “I only answer to Caterina or Dom. Caterina promised me that, in our first meeting- in case you have forgotten. And since I don’t see either of them here, Vincent, the decision is actually mine.”

He blinks at the pushback. And Tony gets to his feet without another word, stalking for the door.

“Where are you going?” Frankie calls out to him, her face drawn as he rounds on her, throwing his hands up.

“What? You want a goodbye?” He steps closer, his finger jabbing the air. “Tell you what, Frank – I’ll do you a solid and keep an eye on the dark web while you’re gone. Maybe I’ll even be able to afford to buy you back when they’re fucking finished with you.”

There’s pain there, hidden beneath the vicious words that hit her like a blow.

Vincent is out of his seat, pushing Tony back in the next second. “Fucking hell, Tony. Out. Now.”

She doesn’t watch them go, doesn’t look up to see the regret that flashes across his face as Vincent shoves him toward the door. She stares at her feet until they’re gone. “I’m leaving after this meeting to return to my parent’s house. When the next party happens at the Asante estate, I’ll go, and I’ll – I’ll report back, as soon as I can.”

I almost forgot Dante was there. His voice rumbles through the phone. “If you can get out, go. But if you’re still there when we go for Cat, we won’t leave without you. You have my word.”

Nods of agreement. Of respect, as she stands. Frankie Costa offers us a crooked smile. “Then I guess I’ll see you soon.”

She’s gone before I can voice the gratitude that tightens my throat. Our already small group is now one less, and the poorer for it.

My voice is rough. “We need a new plan for Alessia. Just in case.”

Marco nods in agreement, his eyes still showing his surprise at the news Dante shared with them all only recently. “I’d still advise against using force. She’s an easy hostage to hurt. And Matteo has shown that he doesn’t care about collateral damage.”

No. Only we care. The ones we love are a noose around our fucking necks.

I wait for the explosion, but Dante is quiet. “I’ll… think about it. Get back to you with some thoughts.”

He hangs up without another word.

I’m sitting in the empty gym an hour later when a weight settles next to me. “He’s going to do something stupid if we don’t come up with a viable plan soon.”

My voice leaks with exhaustion. “What do you want me to do about it?”

I’m trying so fucking hard to keep it together.

I already lost one family.

My mother and father, broken.

My sister, dead.

Cat saved Rosa. Saved me, and gave me something else to hold on to. And all I want is to do the fucking same for her, but every step is closed to us.

We were building something solid, and real. A family we chose.

And I barely had a taste before it was ripped away from me too.

I’m tired, and I’m fucking angry.

Rocco just shrugs. “Thought you should know.”

I don’t particularly like Dante’s enforcer. But it’s clear that Rocco, through the sarcasm and comments, is completely loyal to Dante. And that loyalty now extends to Caterina and Alessia too. “Want to blow off some steam?”

He raises an eyebrow at me as I get up. “What do you do for fun, Fusco? Bible reading?”

***

“Jesus. You’re actually a psychopath.”

Rocco sounds impressed as I press my foot down onto the shovel, digging out another few inches of dirt.

I shrug, leaning on the metal. “An eye for an eye, right?”

“I thought you Fusco lot cut out the tongues of your traitors?” Rocco stares into the growing hole with fascination as my shovel clunks against the surface of the wooden box.

“We do.” I clear enough space to open the lid. “But Cat has a say in this one too. So I’m just… passing the time, until she gets back. Keeping him on ice.”

Working out my demons on the man who sold me out. Matteo would be fucking dead if it wasn’t for him.

Rocco helps me heave the box out, flipping the lid. He whistles. “You don’t fuck around, Fusco. I might have to try this for myself.”

Leo moans behind the gag.

My ex-enforcer, ex-best friend and traitorous bastard stares at us both with petrified eyes, ruddy-faced and bleary. Old tear tracks stand out on his filthy face.

Rocco sniffs, his face twisting in distaste. “He could do with a bath. Or a toilet.”

“All part of the experience.” I kick the side of the box, and Leo flinches.

I slice through the cables on his ankles, his legs, watching as he moans and flails, dragging himself out.

“Terrible choice for an enforcer.” Rocco mutters. He kicks him, and Leo howls. “Johnno seems alright, though.”

High praise.

“Glad you approve.” My voice is dry, but he laughs anyway.

We wait as Leo crawls out of the box, desperately reaching for the water I left in a pile and glugging it. His shaking hands rip open an energy bar, his teeth tearing into the chewy center.

I study him, my lips pressed into a thin line. “If he had any sense, he’d let himself die. It’s been six weeks.”

Six weeks since I dragged him from the basement beneath the Fusco house and brought him here.

“Parasites like him will do anything to live. Fuck only knows why. Doesn’t seem worth it to me.” Rocco pulls out a packet of cigarettes, lighting one up and blowing out white smoke in a perfect circle. “Fifty bucks says he comes over here and tries to beg.”

I snort. “I’m not losing that kind of money.”

He indeed begins to crawl my way, and Rocco cackles with laughter. He pulls out his gun, and Leo pauses, his arms shaking as he begins to back up. “How fast can you run, traitor?”

Now this is a bet I can get behind. Leo staggers to his feet, his legs already buckling as he makes for the trees, wobbling and staggering. “A hundred says we catch him in less than a minute, even with the head start.”

“I’m feeling generous today.” Rocco aims, one eye closing. “And bored. Let’s see how long he goes for before he drops. A little test of self-preservation.”

A terrified shout echoes as Rocco’s shot hits the tree closest to him.

I eye the next grave, the box already open and waiting for him. Eleven holes dug so far in this clearing, the clearing where he buried her.

I wonder if it feels like home to him yet. Buried, released, and buried again. Long enough for him to feel the agony of it, but not quite long enough for him to suffocate.

He doesn’t deserve anything less.

Fucking karma.

I actually grin as I pull out my own gun. “I’ve decided I do like you after all.”

“I’m very fucking likeable.” He sounds affronted. “Ask Dante.”

God. He reminds me of Luc. I shake the thought away. I don’t want to think about Luciano Morelli right now. Don’t want any of those thoughts that consume me night and day to creep in.

Just a minute. A few minutes of peace.

“I did. You don’t want to know what he said.” Another yelp as my shot cracks the top of a boulder, and we begin to follow.

“If it was about the stripper, I didn’t know she was my cousin.”

I stop to stare at him.

He takes another drag on his cigarette. “Oh. You were joking.”

Distraction. I embrace it, grateful for a single moment of empty banter.

“I was. But now I really want to know about the stripper.”