The Forbidden Secret (Forbidden #2)

Chapter Twelve

Zeke Coleman

I barged into Giovanni Rissi’s office, leaving the door open and slamming into the wall behind me. I passed the liquor cart and stood right in front of the wide desk as I scowled down at my boss.

“What the fuck?” I shouted. “Why is this not settled yet.”

Giovanni looked unfazed as he looked up at me with a stern expression. “Zeke, I don’t tolerate outbursts like this unless there is a very good reason. For your sake, I hope that’s the case.”

“Why has Evelina not been given more protection? Why am I still moving her from safe house to safe house when the threat is more extensive than either you or I can handle on our own? Why the fuck are we still hiding from a brute like Clide-fucking-Newton.”

Heavy feet pounded down a hall and stomped into the room, and a hand pressed into my chest, shoving me back and away from Giovanni a few steps.

I looked into the eyes of his nephew, Enzo. He stood the same height as me, but he layered on substantially more muscle. In a fight, I wasn’t sure which of us would come out on top.

I was prepared to find out, though.

“Calm down,” he snarled in my face.

“I want answers.”

“If you’re not careful, you’ll be taken off this job, and neither of us want that. Aria will kick my ass if something else happens to her sister, even if you’re the one to blame.”

The words sunk into my stomach like a rock. I didn’t have to be assigned to this job. It seemed like Giovanni wasn’t involved in this because he wanted to be. It was because of his nephew’s wife that he bothered to send me into the fray in the first place. If I wasn’t here—if I wasn’t willing to take on this job—his hands would be tied.

I exhaled and loosened my posture enough to show that I wasn’t a threat.

Enzo patted my chest and stepped back.

“Why don’t you try this again?” Giovanni asked.

“Evelina is still in a great deal of danger, and nothing has been done to end it.”

“You’re being paid handsomely for this job, are you not?” He leaned into his desk. “Does the timeframe matter to you?”

I realized at once that he had no idea what Evelina meant to me. It was a mere coincidence that we had been paired together, and if I let it slip how much she meant to me, I wouldn’t put it past him to take me off the detail. The last thing he needed was his best hitman tied down by a woman.

I forced myself to take a deep breath. “We’re facing challenges left and right. There are too many people looking for her, and it’s becoming too much of a risk. I’m running short on safe houses, and there’s not an end in sight. If there is no solution, it’s counterintuitive to continue running through resources. We need to take out the problem at the root.”

Giovanni took a sip of what looked like a stiff liquor. “Let me be upfront with you, Zeke. I am stuck between two very difficult situations. My nephew,” he gestured to Enzo, “wants his wife happy. Aria is an asset to me and my operation, and she is working very hard to ensure we remain unscathed after the last time Alonzo Bianchi pulled something out of his sleeve. It is because of her loyalty and hard work that I was willing to keep her sister safe. I have you on her case, and you are the most capable of my men, are you not?”

“I am.”

He nodded, splaying his hands on his desk. “Precisely. The girl’s father is a threat. One more substantial than we had realized. He is power-hungry, and he has aligned himself with one of my greatest allies. If he plays everything correctly, he stands a chance at wiping us all off the map, and keeping the peace for the time being is the only way to lessen that threat.”

“Surely using your resources to relocate Evelina far away from the threat wouldn’t be difficult.”

“If there is a single thread of connection between me and the girl my greatest enemy and greatest ally want captured, you can imagine what could happen. If Clide Newton decides to back out of all our businesses and dealings with one another, he will take a substantial chunk of my assets and leave me vulnerable to an enemy who has already proven his willingness to come and take me out. And God forbid he decides to back Alonzo Bianchi in his claim for capo dei capi.”

Clide Newton seemed to be the single most important piece in this game, and he had managed to make himself untouchable to the two largest criminal forces in the city.

“What about the Russians?” I asked. “Could we bring them in to help on this matter?”

“The conflict with the Russian mafia is another thing entirely. We’re fortunate enough to be at the bottom of their list of enemies for now, but it’s only a matter of time before another conflict arises with them. We can’t risk bringing them into the situation.”

It shocked me that he was so open about all of this with me. Giovanni Rissi always had plans going on the backburner—plans that he didn’t typically share until it was time to enact them.

I began pacing across the room as Enzo spoke next.

“We have enemies surrounding us and have to proceed very carefully moving forward. Evelina isn’t worth the collapse of everything, especially when Aria and her pregnancy are… difficult. It leaves substantial risk on the table, especially when Alonzo wants her dead for her betrayal.”

“It sounds like he wants a lot of people dead.”

“He does.” Enzo nodded. “And he’s next on our list of people to eliminate, but it’s going to take time. Time and resources that can’t be allocated yet.”

“Can Aria pull some legal loopholes?” I asked, knowing all about her instrumental role in keeping the Rissis out of hot water recently. After Alonzo raided Enzo’s private residence, leaving dozens dead, the police were suspicious. “Maybe find a way to get Alonzo arrested. It would be easy to pay someone in prison to take him out.”

“Aria will not be doing anything that brings her into his attention again,” Enzo responded immediately. “She won’t be forced to think about her father after everything she has gone through.”

“Not even for the sake of her sister?”

Enzo’s jaw clenched. “I don’t give a fuck about her sisters. I won’t watch her put them first after she already gave everything in her life to keep them safe and protected. She gave enough.”

I huffed as I considered fighting him on the situation, but Giovanni spoke instead. “There is a lot that you don’t know. A lot that’s working behind the scenes. You and Jaimie are the only two people with loose enough connections to me to get away with being on this job. Between the two of you, I’m sure you’ll find a way.”

He was only confirming what I already knew.

He was willing to see Evelina die if it meant keeping everything he had safe. He would let her go back to a monster to save his own ass.

But there was one solution—one thing that might end all of this.

“Let me kill Clide Newton,” I suggested.

“He’s too well-guarded. You’ll never have the opportunity.”

“You hired me because I am the best of the best. I know how to do my job.”

Giovanni shook his head. “There is too much risk involved.”

“Respectfully, sir, there is only one other person who will take the threat to Evelina seriously, and she is both pregnant and working for you. If there is not a solution beyond waiting for them to find her, I will go to Aria directly, and I will see if she can come up with more solutions.”

Enzo stood taller and stated loudly, “If you try to go anywhere near my wife—”

“I imagine nobody has bothered to tell her about this, right? About the grave outlook of the situation? Give me another option, Giovanni. Because right now, the only people in Evelina’s corner are me, Jaimie, and Aria. And two of us are proving useless.”

Giovanni gave Enzo a hard look and pressed his lips together. “Killing Clide Newton is a last-resort situation. I’ll see what else I can do in the meantime, but we need more time to figure this out.”

“If the threat is imminent, do I have permission to take the shot?”

I wasn’t sure if I cared about his reply. If the threat was imminent, I would take the shot.

“Give me more time to consider.”

There was no more time, but I was quickly realizing that Giovanni and Enzo didn’t seem to care. Nobody cared enough to get the job done, so I would have to be enough.

And I didn’t particularly care what bridges I burned if it meant seeing Evelina happy and alive.