Unspoken Betrayal (Casino King)

25. Vitorio

My body is aching from the last few days of intensive confrontation. The fight with my brother and the raid on his hideout has left me with tender ribs, bruises and cuts on my face, and a constant throbbing pain in my left shoulder. I feel exhausted and drained.

Worst of all - I miss Nicki. I crave her touch, her smile, and her soft, gentle nature. I want to hear her laugh and talk to her about the things that are bothering me. I need her support, and I want to be that same support for her.

Where the hell is she? Why haven't they reached out to me?

I need her here with me and I hate the fact that I don't even know if she is ok.

The stress of everything is eating away at me.

There is too much unknown. It makes me feel like I am not in control of this situation, and I am a man who is used to being in control.

After I sent that voice note out yesterday things have started to heat up. I had a few responses telling me I was outright wrong; it could not possibly be true - and then some other responses telling me to stay out of Luca's business - those came from unknown numbers.

Only a handful of people came back to say they were on my side and would support me with whatever I needed. Most of the people I sent it to just remained silent, not willing to get involved in any way at all.

In the lower-ranking parts of our family, people are starting petty arguments, and shootouts in bars, things that I had hoped to avoid. If we don't find a way to settle this situation soon it is going to create havoc across all business sectors that carry the Vitali name. Our enemies will think we are falling apart, and it puts us in danger of being attacked by a greater force than we can handle right now.

I need people to believe me and stand with me.

But Luca did a lot of damage to my name over the past few weeks - and it is really showing now. They don't know who to trust, and currently, I don't have the pull I had as little as a month ago, to convince them.

Ricardo even pulled out of our temporary alliance, realizing the danger he put himself in by helping me escape Luca's place. He knows he had an advantage with me by his side, but now that he is sitting alone in his home, he is freaking out.

Shit is falling apart.

I feel an overwhelming pressure to fix everything. It is my brother after all - so the burden falls entirely on me.

I sigh, throwing back a whiskey and letting the cold liquid burn away some of my thoughts.

I need to decide what my next move is. If the family refuses to come together to help with this - I am going to have to use a lot more force and possibly even do the unthinkable - take my brother down properly, the old-fashioned way.

My stomach tightens at the thought. I don't want to be responsible for his death. I just want him to stop his shit. Unfortunately, at the risk of losing everything I have worked for, everything I love, and watching my family fall apart - I have to do whatever it takes.

If my father were here, he would know exactly how to handle Luca. He had a way with him.

I roam through the passageways of my home - thinking, overthinking, trying to relax my mind so that I can think clearly.

I still haven't heard from Danny, and it's starting to piss me off. He could at least find a way to get a message to me to let me know they were both alright.

If I don't hear something by tomorrow, I am going to arrange to have his number tracked. I'm trusting him to keep her safe, but I'm starting to question his motives.

My phone rings from my pocket and I pull it out. My uncle Marco's name flashes on the screen. I haven't spoken to him in ages, but I did send him that voice note yesterday. My stomach tightens. It must be about my message. He holds a massive influence over our entire family. His opinion matters the most here.

"Marco," I say in greeting. "It's good of you to call."

"Yes, you know I don't like these new phones with all their message options and voice recording options. I prefer just to talk in the good old-fashioned way."

I chuckle. "Of course, that message I sent to you yesterday went to the entire family. I wanted to give you some time to think it through before I called you directly."

"Vito, my boy, yesterday I had a long meeting with that girlfriend of yours, Nicki. And I just wanted to touch base with you, as well, about her plan. It's solid. I like it. But there is still a lot that could go wrong."

"Her plan?" I ask, shocked to hear him mentioning Nicki, never mind the fact that he met with her.

"To expose Luca - wait - you didn't know?"

"We got separated after Luca kidnapped her. I haven't been able to get hold of her." I say, confused and in disbelief.

"Well, she came to see me. She brought me all of the evidence she has against your brother. It was an overwhelming amount. At first, I was reluctant to believe her or be involved at all, but then your message came through while she was sitting there with me."

I need to be focused on the main situation, but the fact that he saw Nicki has thrown me off completely.

"Did she look well? Was she ok?"

"Yes, my boy, she looked well. She's a smart girl. I like her."

I have so many questions to ask him about how she contacted him, who she was with, and where she is staying - but I need to stay focused.

"Whatever she has planned, I will help," I say, wanting him to know that I support her in every way. "Just tell me what you need."

"Good. Then you have to be at Cielo e Terra tomorrow evening at nine o'clock sharp. We will be waiting for you. Come in force, and bring backup, just in case things don't go smoothly. I can't imagine Luca is going to be too pleased about being cornered and called out."

"And the rest of our family? Are a lot of them coming as well?"

"They will be there. Unfortunately, not all of them are supporting us yet, but we hope that we can give them enough evidence tonight to sway their opinions. Either way, this has to come to an end. In all my years we never got involved with the dirtier side of business like this. Luca has crossed the line. It disgusts me. Nicki is right. This is the family name we are fighting for."

"Thanks, Uncle Marco. I really appreciate you meeting with her and your support in trying to sort this out."

"I hope that when this is all done you will be calling to invite me to a wedding instead of an intervention against your tyrant brother?"

I chuckle. "Perhaps so."

I put the phone down, thinking of Nicki, and what it would be like to be inviting my family to a wedding. I grin and shake my head. Now is not the time for dreams, Vito. Let's get through this chaos first.

After speaking to Uncle Marco, I have a renewed sense of hope and determination.

I can't believe Nicki was brave enough to go and see him by herself. I am not happy and annoyed about it. She is putting herself in very dangerous situations, but I know she is showing incredible initiative and courage, and it is helping in so many ways. She won my uncle over and has put together a plan with him that I think is brilliant. It has a good chance of working. Things are definitely looking up.

Cielo e Terra is a popular events venue. Our family has been renting it out for years, for weddings, birthdays, and gatherings. It is also a meeting place for the higher-ranking members of the family to host dinners where they discuss business opportunities.

Luca has been invited there by my uncle, under the impression that he wants to invest in Luca's business and wants to hear from Luca how he can grow his money with him.

On the other hand - Sasha has also been invited, by Marco as well. This was a risky move as Sasha clearly doesn't trust anyone from the Vitali family - but he dangled an incentive she couldn't resist. Money. He has appealed to her greedy nature.

He told her he is going into business with Luca, and while this is still private and should not be discussed with anyone, he said in the meantime he is worried about what she knows - and would like to offer her a large payment in return for her silence.

Of course, no one knows what she knows - but they didn't tell her that.

So, Sasha has very reluctantly agreed to meet Marco in private, not knowing that Luca will be there at the same time.

I walk briskly through to my home office. I have many calls to make. Starting with Ricardo, we had a very brief alliance that I want to pull back to my side.

He is nervous and jumps back and forth in supporting me and then he's out, wanting nothing to do with it.

"Ricardo, how about this? You tell me that Luca has asked for your security team to accompany him and his men to a meeting tomorrow night – You'll say yes and go with him. When you are there, you can see for yourself the support I have behind me and when the time comes you can make your choice regarding who you want to move forward with."

"That sounds risky for you. What if I decide to stay with Luca? Then you have just handed him an extra team of men in a sticky situation."

"I am confident you won't support Luca at the end of the day."

I go through my contacts, talking to everyone I think should be present. Even those whom Marco has already invited, I call them and tell them I am in support of Marco. The more people who know that we are working together, the better it will be. I spend the entire day reaching out to people and asking them for support against Luca. And by the time the sky starts to grow dark outside, I start to get calls back.

The list of people who are going to be there with me begins to expand.

Call after call, my hope grows.

Around eight o'clock I'm exhausted, hungry, and in need of a drink.

I push myself away from my desk and head down to the kitchen. I can smell roasted chicken and possibly roasted potatoes and my stomach is starting to growl as I get closer.

As I walk into the kitchen my cell phone rings. Perhaps another supporter.

Glancing down at the phone I see an unknown number.

I slide my finger across the screen, sliding the green button to answer the call.

"Hello," I say, cautiously.

"Is this Vitorio Vitali?" A man answers a voice I do not know.

"Yes, this is Vitorio. Do I know you?"

"Do you know a woman named Nicola Dellacroce?"

My gut twists. Is this about Nicki?

"Did something happen to her?" I ask quickly, with my tension growing.

"No, but I do need to speak to you."

My heart pulses thick and heavy as I listen. I can barely believe what he is telling me.