Never Say Never (Vitale Brothers Book 4)

Chapter 2

The Vitale Brothers.

I’d spent long nights pouring over their files and trying to find a way to get to them. The problem was that for twenty long years they had been just a blip on the radar. A kidnapping here, a gun shipment there, but nothing that could be tied to them definitively. Now, things had changed.

Bodies littered the streets of New York. A church had been set on fire. Carnage was taking over, and I would be damned if I let them destroy my home like they seemed hellbent on doing. It was time to put an end to them.

”These three have caused more death and destruction in New York in the past few weeks than we”ve seen in years. The oldest, Benito Vitale, runs the operation.” I tapped my phone and the screen changed. ”This is his husband, Harlow Vitale. Son of an infamous yakuza leader. Together they seem to have started something with this man.” Another swipe. ”Qiang of the Triads. Other families seem to be getting involved, and this is turning into all-out war.”

”Shit,” Hunter mumbled. ”They”re really some crazy assholes.”

”That”s putting it nicely,” I said as I walked back and forth. ”This is Giancarlo Vitale. He”s the middle child and he acts like it. You can identify his victims from how badly beaten they are. Benito strangles, Giancarlo beats. And then there”s Enzo; he”s the torturer. Trust me, you won”t be able to recognize his victims. If you can even find them.”

I switched the slides and a collective groan filled the air. I kept my back to the image. They were all burned into my brain at this point, portraits of splashed blood, broken bones, and severed body parts. My eyes fell on Paul who looked like he was going to vomit any minute now. I hadn”t expected him to have such a weak stomach. Usually, he was the type that could handle a crime scene without so much as flinching, but now he looked like he wanted to bolt for a trash can.

”These are their partners. Tex Caster and Ash Calahan. Tex works at their nightclub, Blu, as a bartender now and Ash works in Benito”s building as an assistant to both of the brothers. If you ask me however, it”s a cover-up. There”s been some word that he really tracks the books and hands out punishments that his boyfriend carries out. I wouldn”t be surprised, honestly.”

As I looked around the room, I saw each of the members of my team on the edges of their seats. This was a big case. Putting the Vitale Brother”s behind bars could make or break their careers. Many of them had other divisions they wanted to be in or wanted to move up the chain to have my job when I finally retired. I knew how much this meant, and understood their anxieties.

”I know they”re dangerous, and this is a hard case, but it”s time for someone to bring these people to justice. This is no longer the days of cowboys and gangsters, but they seem to think it is. That shit won”t fly with me.” I leaned forward, my hands planted on Paul”s table. ”So, we”re going to start destroying them from the inside out. We have an informant who I will be working with personally and only me. If their identity gets out, they would be dead in a matter of hours.”

People like the Vitales were nothing new or innovative. I knew what they were. They would do anything and everything they could to protect their empire of ill-gotten gains. It was my job to put an end to that.

”Assignments will be handed out as more info comes in, but it”s safe to say that this room is where the beginning of their end starts. Do not share a single piece of information with anyone outside of this room. There are ears everywhere and their pockets belong to the Vitales. If not one of the other families. All of you are here because you were extensively investigated.”

”Behind our backs?” Paul tsked. ”There”s no trust anymore.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. ”There most certainly isn”t. I have to be sure every man and woman on this team is beyond reproach. You almost didn”t make the cut, Paul.”

The laughter lightened the atmosphere of the room. Paul stared at me, his mouth open. I chuckled as I walked back toward the screen and went through the rest of the presentation that I had put together. By the time I finished, everyone had been updated on each Vitale brother from their likes and dislikes to their schedules, their friends, et cetera. Every bit of information we had, I gave to them. I knew they needed to be beyond prepared if they wanted to survive.

”We will meet up again soon,” I said as I checked my watch. ”Now, get out of here. It”s getting late. Study up on the info that”s been provided to you and know it inside and out.”

”Yes, sir,” a few of them called.

”You got it, boss,” Paul added.

There was that smirk on his face again. I swore he never took anything seriously, but his job performance was impeccable. If he wanted to, he would be a prime example for someone who could take my job. Paul”s only downfall was his addiction to dating and drama. Besides that, he would be the perfect agent. If he wasn”t so good, he would have been sent off long ago.

And maybe I had a soft spot for him. When I”d come onto the team seven years ago, I had been on the cusp of being forty while Paul was only twenty-eight. He”d been fresh-faced and eager back then, but every bit of the manwhore that he was now. The moment I”d met him, I”d been intrigued. Even though I had to get on his ass multiple times. Trying not to laugh because he”d decided to prank one of his fellow agents with a blow-up doll that popped out of the tiles above his ceiling was certainly a challenge. It was stupid, but I don”t know why that didn”t bother me with Paul.

”Boss,” Paul said as he wandered over to me after the last of the agents filed out. ”This is a big case. Are we sure about this?”

”What do you mean?” I asked.

He frowned. ”I mean, don”t you want me heading it up? Can”t I be your number two?”

I groaned. ”There is no number two.”

”There”s always a number two with these things. Come on, I”ll behave.”

I gathered my things. ”I don”t think you even know what that word means.”

”Show up on time, don”t say anything crazy, listen to the boss.” He ticked off his fingers as he listed things that were purely common sense. ”Come on, please? Hey, if I suck at it, I”ll owe you a drink. What do you say?”

I paused as he planted himself firmly in my path. Sighing, I ran a hand over my short hair and shook my head. Paul had been trying to ask me out since the moment we met, but I refused to go down that path. No superior should ever date their subordinate. Or fuck them. Or ogle them when they weren”t looking.

Keep it together, York. Not this shit again.

”What I always say, Paul. No. Now, get out of my way before I find a stack of paperwork for you to do, and you can”t replace Tracy.”

He grabbed his black shirt and tugged. ”Words hurt, boss! They hurt! Come on, don”t treat me like everyone else here. I”m not just some cheap lay.”

I raised a brow. ”From what I”ve heard, that”s exactly what you are.”

The words had barely left my lips before I realized that I”d gone too far. Paul”s sex life was absolutely none of my business. In fact, it was often a source of entertainment for me and a few headaches. Mostly, he handled himself and his issues well. I shouldn”t be inserting myself into his life.

”Sorry,” I muttered.

Paul grinned. ”Ah, no worries. I know you don”t mean it.” He chuckled, but something sparked in his eyes, a look that I couldn”t quite place. ”You should head home. I”ll see you tomorrow.”

”Yes, first thing. Don”t be late.”

He turned on his heels and waved a hand nonchalantly. ”No promises.”

As I watched him go, the knot in my stomach loosened. I laid a hand on it. For some reason, whenever Paul was around, that feeling persisted. I equated it with some stupid desire to see him naked and left it at that.

Normally, someone like Paul wasn”t even my type. His blond hair, blue eyes, and big smirk were far from what I normally found attractive. I didn”t know why he had worked his way into my thoughts the way that he had, but I did know one thing for sure.

Paul Gallo was off limits.

What we had could never extend beyond being friends. And even that was a stretch. Friends were supposed to know you, but Paul didn”t know a thing about me. Even if I knew everything about him.

I finished up and headed down to the parking garage after I clocked out. The walk through the half-lit structure always set my nerves on edge. I”d talked to them a million times about repairing the broken or burned out lights, but nothing had been done yet. I reached my car and admired it for only a moment.

It was one of the only things that I had indulged in throughout my life. A nineteen-seventy Dodge Challenger Black Ghost. The thing was perfect in every way, and it had more than enough room for me. I slipped behind the wheel, turned on the radio, and blasted music, letting the DJ decide what I listened to since I didn”t care. I just wanted to get home.

The drive cleared my head, wiping away the awful images that had plagued the TV and my computer screen for ages. All the blood, guts, and viscera disappeared as I drove through Manhattan. The sun had already started to set, splashes of orange and pink filling my windshield as I made my way home. For a moment, I felt serenity. As my stomach tightened, however, I got that feeling once more that this little peace was going to come to an end.

I pulled into the parking garage and left my momentary melancholy behind. It could wait until tomorrow when I walked into work and the world took on its bleak edges again.

The elevator up to the eleventh floor seemed to take forever. When I stepped off and stuck my key into the door, I felt a sense of dread settle onto my shoulders. Something banged, and I shoved my door open.

”Daddy!”

Navy flew at me, her hair a wild mess all over her head. I nearly fell back, but braced myself and grunted instead. Nyra was on her heels, paint splattered all over the side of her face and her clothes. She didn”t bother hugging me, instead, she climbed up my body until she wrapped her legs around my waist and grinned at me.

”Hi, Daddy!”

”Hey, babies.” I smiled, the anxiety instantly dissipating once I saw they were okay. The job made me paranoid, but who could blame me? “Nyra, please get down before you put my back out.”

”Will you two come back here! I am so over—Oh, Mr. Washington, you”re home. I didn”t hear you.”

Shelly, the nanny that my wife and I had hired to care for the girls, looked disheveled and out of sorts. Her brown hair that held streaks of gray was just as wild as Navy”s. She”d gotten paint on her button up denim shirt and khaki capris. As I watched, she wiped her face and smeared more of the red and yellow paint all over her skin.

”Hey, Shelly,” I said as I sat Nyra on the floor. ”Is everything okay?”

”Yes, yes,” she said, sounding exasperated. ”The girls were just having a little fun. We were about to get cleaned up and ready for dinner. I made the baked chicken and rice dish again that they loved so much.”

”Ugh,” Navy groaned. ”If I have baked chicken again, I”m going to barf.”

”Sammmeee,” Nyra said as she took her sister”s hand. ”We”ll barf.”

”Can we have burgers?” Navy asked.

Nyra nodded. ”Burgers sound delicious.”

I stared between the two of them as that familiar overwhelmed sensation came flooding back. For as long as I could remember, my future had never looked like this; two ten-year-old twin girls with no mother and only me to rely on. The truth was that I was drowning, my head barely above water.

”Don”t bother your father, girls,” Shelly said as she laid a hand on both their shoulders. ”Bath time and then dinner. Mr. Washington, please get showered. By the time you”re at the table, the girls will be clean, dressed, and ready to eat.”

Both girls stared up at me with big, round brown eyes that begged me to overturn the verdict and let them have burgers and fries instead of the delicious meal that had been prepared for them. I knew they would love it, but I also knew what was right for them. We”d survived off nothing but fast food the first six months after their mother died. Once the casseroles disappeared and old friends went silent, too traumatized by death to stick around, that was all we had. My Challenger, the music, and a few greasy burgers to make us feel at least a fraction of the happiness that we had when Dawn was alive.

”Go on and get ready for dinner girls,” I said. ”We”ll have burgers next week, okay? You did want to have a barbecue before it gets any colder. We only have a little time before we won”t be able to have a party on the roof.”

I watched both of their eager little faces drop only to brighten up again. They always wanted to barbecue on the roof, play in the pool, and have a good time. I reminded myself to slot us in for a few hours the following Saturday so they could have the fun that they wanted. That way I wouldn”t feel bad about putting a stop to their good time now.

”Twenty minutes?” I asked Shelly.

”That seems more than adequate. Hurry up, girls!”

”Aww, not fair.” Navy pouted.

Nyra huffed. ”Super not fair.”

As they walked away, my heart squeezed. Did I make the right decision? I was always sure of myself, until it came to my girls. They were the one part of my life that I had no playbook for. I slipped into my room and passed the collection of parenting books I”d studied like they were the SATs, and yet none of them were real enough or practical enough. It”s all well and fine to give hypotheticals, but what do you do when your daughters ask why their mother was killed? There”s no book that talks about murder and how to talk about that.

I shed my jacket as I walked past the chair and laid it there for Shelly to take to the dry cleaners along with the rest of the pile. I didn”t have it in me to actually do laundry, not today. As I tossed the rest of my clothes into the hamper, I stopped at the photos of Dawn that littered my wall. Her wide smile peered back at me, and I reached out to touch one of her dimpled cheeks.

She was my best friend. No one knew me the way that Dawn did.

Had.

When she”d suggested I start exploring my sexuality, I”d thought she was nuts, but in the end, she had been right. Even after I found out the truth, we stayed married, happily. Neither of us were in a rush to change what we had, this wonderful life that we”d built together. But now she was gone.

And I was left alone.