Reformed (Gangsters at War #5)

Chapter Nine

Alessandro

I leaned back in my seat, closing my eyes while I forced guilt to the back of my mind. I couldn’t allow that particular emotion to blind me to what had to be done.

My family was in trouble and family was everything to me.

The rumors that had been circulating for weeks had turned out to be true. The Accardi mobster family had united with the O’Malley mobster family. They were a threat that no Agostino could afford to ignore.

It was only lucky that my sister, Isabella, had married into the powerful Costa mafia family or the odds would have been stacked against us.

Tony glanced in the rearview mirror. “You like this woman, don’t you captain?”

I sighed heavily. Tony might be low-ranked as one of my soldiers, but he was one of the best in my team, someone I considered a close ally. I adjusted my junk, painfully aware of my throbbing dick. “Is it that obvious?”

Tony smirked. “I’ve never seen you so captivated by a woman.”

I blew out a long, slow breath. “I can’t afford to be obsessed, not when a war is brewing.”

Tony nodded. “You don’t want any distractions right now.”

I grimaced. “Nor do I want an innocent woman to get hurt—or worse—thanks to her involvement with me. As it is I doubt she’d ever understand my mafia background.”

Tony refocused on the road ahead. “But will you be able to walk away?”

I thrust an outspread hand over my face. “I don’t know. I’ve always taken what I wanted in life. I’m not sure I know how to be selfless.”

Tony chuckled. “You’re a capo, you’re meant to take what you want. And I’m not sure your Jane would put up much of a fight if you did want more from her.”

“ My Jane,” I murmured, possessiveness rushing through me.

A nicer person would have run the opposite way and not looked back. But I wasn’t a nice person, not in any normal sense of the word. I’d tortured and killed to keep my family safe and my enemies at bay.

Not that my family were just blood related.

I had seventeen soldiers under my command, men who I protected just as they protected me. As caporegimes—capos—Serafino and myself each had our own crew of soldiers. Ethan, as the don, had the highest authority, one that superseded our capo ranking, while Evander, as underboss, also outranked us.

Then there was Carlo, the older man who was our family’s consigliere. As the don’s advisor he held a whole lot of power in his hands. That he’d once also been a criminal lawyer meant he knew lots of loopholes in the law and lots of people in the right places.

My introspection dissolved as Tony turned into the driveway of the underground carpark, beneath the Italian restaurant and Serafino’s penthouse living quarters.

I didn’t need to look too hard to notice the suited men guarding the building. We’d already lost two men at these very premises. Ethan had put procedures in place to ensure we didn’t lose anymore.

Tony killed the engine, then reached under his driver’s seat before he climbed out and opened my door. I accepted the handgun he proffered, then stalked toward the elevator with the gun held loosely in my grip.

I had no doubt I was last to the party, if one could call this clandestine meeting by such a name. We needed to strategize and prioritize, needed to sort through any and all options.

The elevator doors opened then closed behind me with a faint hiss. I holstered my gun as I ascended fast. I personally liked the idea of cutting the head off the snake—two snakes, in this case, when it came to our enemy mafia dons—if nothing else it’d buy some time.

The doors slid apart and I stepped onto the foyer’s dark marble flooring. At the unmistakable, cloying scent of Colombian cigar smoke, I headed straight through the open kitchen and dining room and toward the balcony where I had no doubt the bulletproof glass was rolled up and my family waited for me.

I was right, on both counts.

Ethan, my eldest brother and don, looked up from where he leaned against a pillar, his scar that cut across his jaw appearing starker than usual. Though his expression was enigmatic, he was definitely all business.

Serafino smiled at me with a twist of his lips that didn’t seem anywhere near as cold or bitter since he’d tied the knot with Delilah. His longish hair was mussed, as though he’d just climbed out of bed after a stint with his wife. He might be sated, but I sensed the monster lurking beneath and waiting to come out.

Evander appeared the least ruffled, but I knew beneath his composure a part of him snapped and snarled, ready to fight, to kill. That he’d been the only brother to still believe in love seemed a travesty knowing he’d yet to find it again after the love of his life rejected him some time ago, leaving him a broken shell of a man for too many years.

The tall, forbidding presence of Salvatore drew my eye next, his platinum blond hair in sharp contrast to the Agostino darkness. Though we’d barely tolerated him at first, he made a formidable comrade and treated our sister like a queen. He nodded greeting, but otherwise barely acknowledged anyone, his silver gaze sweeping beyond our small group to any possible enemies lurking outside the building.

Valentino cocked a brow, his eyes sharp above his shaggy beard that was peppered with silver. He hadn’t bothered with a jacket, exposing the holstered firearm on his chest that allowed him easy access. “Ready when you are, Alessandro,” he said drily.

I nodded. “I got here as soon as humanly possible.”

Carlo leaned back in his seat as he puffed on his cigar. “Was that before or after you fucked your latest little puttana ?”

Rage roared through me before I tamped it down and sent him a stony smile. “I might listen to your advice when it comes to mafia business, but you don’t get to decide who I fuck.”

The older man laughed, smoke billowing from his mouth. “I’ve never known you to be sensitive about a woman. I guess we all know your feelings about her now.”

“Enough with the personal shit,” Ethan gritted. His dark eyes swung to each of us in turn. “I need to know if any further information has been acquired about the Accardi and O’Malley get together.”

Serafino nodded. “One of my informants affirmed what we already know. The two families have become allies so they can defeat us once and for all.”

Ethan’s nostrils flared. “It was against my better judgement that I didn’t kill the O’Malley don. There will be no second chances for him or the Accardi don this time around.”

Carlo nodded, his eyes squinting through the gritty smoke, his voice satisfied. “You’re doing what needs to be done.”

Ethan touched the stock of his gun. “We have no choice but to take out the boss of both families.”

I smiled, the strain between my shoulders loosening. “Those motherfuckers won’t know what hit them.”