Chapter 13 Vincenzo
VINCENZO
Three fucking days of hearing absolutely nothing that I don’t already know about Anna Cassone.
I listen to Nicolo on my cell and it’s as if the whole world, everyone but me is convinced that she is dead.
“Vincenzo, I’ve got everyone under the sun looking at anything and everything connected to this lady.
She’s a fucking ghost. They had a funeral and everything.
You know this. We talked about it at the time. ”
I toss the documents I’ve been reading onto my desk in frustration. “They did a piss poor job of making her disappear then because that woman they buried was just in our club.”
“Are you sure it’s not a set-up of some sort, Vincenzo? I have to ask. I mean, after everything that went down, she shows up at our club? Pretty fucking suspicious if you ask me.” My eyebrow arches and he clears his throat. “Just putting it out there, but you’re the boss.”
“Anna’s not a fucking plant, and she even looks the same, Nicolo.
How is it that the Rosellis thought they could just send out a message that she was dead, and all the crime families would buy that when she’s waltzing around the cities?
How many times does that work? You tell me?
” I ask my brother, my frustration with her lack of security growing all the time.
Nicolo doesn’t mince words, especially with me.
We’ve always given it to each other straight.
“Remember how you described her when you came back that night? Your clothes were soaked in her blood. You told me yourself that Barcelo intended to leave her dead. You said he couldn’t have thought she survived.
His family, you can’t tell me they didn’t know the prick for who he was, and you think they thought he would leave a loose end?
No one knows she’s alive, I’m convinced of it, Vincenzo.
I just don’t understand why she’s running around the city. ”
“You’ve reached out to all our trusted contacts?”
“Yes, story after story about her demise, some differences, but all the same in the end. She’s dead to the world Vincenzo. At least those outside of the Roselli’s inner circle.”
“What, to everyone but this attorney friend?”
“Her friend, Addie Dunlap is an up-and-coming attorney. Her father, Dunlap Senior has been defending many of the families, especially the Rosellis for years. Clearly, the Rosellis trust them, but they still have a shit ton of soldiers guarding that house around the clock Apparently, Addie stays with them when she’s working on a case and Anna visits. ”
I blow out a breath. I watch the news too.
“And Anna is staying with her while she’s working on one of the biggest cases in the country.
They’re fucking targets sitting in that house.
Better that she’s at the club with me than in that house right now.
She may be working in the defense of a crime family member, but a lot of other crime families out there don’t want that guy to talk either.
Best way to shut him up is to shut Addie up, and that’s fucking too close to Anna for my comfort.
That’s the only fucking reason I’m allowing her to get back on that highway and come to me. ”
And yet she sneaks away from her guards to come and play in Atlantic City even knowing that if Barcelo Gallini’s family knew she was alive they would come for her, kill her or worse in a heartbeat.
They would make it their mission in life to make her life a living hell or put her in the ground for good.
My head swims with the complexities of this mess.
“Make sure the Gallinis are still in Italy. I want every fucking one of them on our radar until I say different.”
“Already done.”
“Did you get any more out of the Sarone fucks at the warehouse?”
Nicolo exhales a breath. “Yeah, about that. They’re getting backed by someone.
They aren’t large enough to wage a full-scale attack the way they did by themselves.
It’s someone from the north, but we haven’t gotten that out of them yet.
Vincenzo, there’s a very real possibility it could be the Rosellis.
Just because you saved his sister-in-law doesn’t mean they don’t want this territory.
Every fucking body in the state wants this territory. ”
My jaw tightens. “Massimo Roselli is good for his word. We may not see eye to eye on everything, but you remember who cut us a deal when Agosto fucked up real bad. Massimo kept his end of the bargain, and we got our money back. A rival’s mercy after a botch that bad is no small thing.
I trust his word until I have reason not to. ”
He scoffs. “Yeah, we paid our dues. It cost you risking your life, using our soldiers to go into a war zone with Barcelo Gallini to save his sister-in-law. Maybe it’s fucking Gallini coming after us. We always knew it could be a possibility.”
My little brother is not wrong. In this world, it could be anyone. “Find out, Nicolo. We need to know and the faster we know who we’re dealing with the better for everyone.”
“I’m on it, but the three bastards in the warehouse are loyal as fuck. Not like they have a choice, they take the pain here or whoever they’re protecting kills them for squealing.”
It’s not an easy life or world that we live in. “Keep me posted, and thanks Nicolo. There’s no one else I’d rather have running our streets than you. And let Gianni and Agosto know that I want everyone at dinner Thursday night. Mamma’s making spaghetti.”
I disconnect, my thoughts muddled with this fucking war suddenly at the DeLuca family door, and the fucking timing of Anna showing up in our club and what Nicolo said.
The smell of Mamma’s homemade sauce makes my stomach growl as I walk in the back door to the estate. She smiles wide and wipes her hands on her apron before opening her arms for a hug. “Vincenzo!”
“Good to see you, Mamma.”
Mamma smiles up at me. “You doing okay after last week?”
My eyes narrow as I step back looking at her lightly pinkened lips and dark tied back hair. “You aren’t supposed to be worrying about anything these days.”
She raises her hands in the air. “I have four boys, all bound and determined to follow in their dead father’s footsteps and I’m not to worry?”
“I’m taking care of things, Ma. You leave the worrying to me and Nicolo. We’re not going to let anything happen to the family, capisce?”
She nods. “Come and try this.”
“I don’t need to try it Ma, your sauce is smelling up the entire kitchen.
I could smell it before I walked in the door.
” That doesn’t get me out of tasting a ladle full of burning tomato sauce that almost spills down my white shirt and suit.
“It’s delicious, I told you.” I kiss her on the cheeks as the doorbell rings, and the loud voices of my brothers fill the house as they make their way into the kitchen.
Mamma’s eyes lit up like this. No matter what we’re doing, meals at home, they need to be more often. I glance at Nicolo who gives me a nod. It’s what we do, we take care of the family.
Our baby sister wanders into the large kitchen carrying three bottles of wine from the basement. I take them from her, set them on the counter, and pull her into my arms.
“You’re squeezing the life out of me,” she grumps, but she’s still got three brothers left who are all in line for a hug.
Lanah good naturedly complains to each of her big brothers as they try to squeeze the life out of her and Mamma. I gesture to the wine. “Go and help Mamma. We’ll open these and pass the glasses around.”
“Thanks, Vincenzo.” She joins Mamma at the stove while the rest of us move into the large formal dining room.
I point to the china plates on the end of the long mahogany table passed down from at least three generations ago. “Pass those out,” I tell Agosto.
He rolls his eyes at me, but it’s in fun or I’d put him on the floor. I open the wine and let it breathe while moving things around on the table to make room for the enormous plate of spaghetti and bread that is about ten minutes from coming out.
Nicolo catches my eye as I settle in at the head of the table, and he sits next to me. “You give me a ride home? I rode with Gianni,” he asks.
I nod. “I’ve got my car here.” I pour wine for each of the brothers and pass the glasses down. Gianni looks at me, then Nicolo, and then Agosto. I put my wine glass down and sigh. “Should we have had a meeting before dinner?”
Nicolo glares at the other two. “It’ll wait until later, capisce?”
I lower my voice, but they all know when I’m pissed.
“I’ll go check dinner. Drink some wine. Socialize.
Like a normal fucking family.” I walk out, irritated that not one night can we have a meal together without tension in the room.
Mamma wasn’t born yesterday. She’s been through it all a hundred times before.
She doesn’t need a night of it every time we decide to visit her and Lanah.
She and our baby sister hover over the platters in the kitchen, making everything perfect with basil garnish. I give Mamma a big smile. “You take the bread and salad. I’ll carry the spaghetti, Ma.”
I get a nod and smile of her approval which brings back memories of many a day spent this way when Papa was alive. More evenings like this I silently vow.
After dinner and everything is cleared away, we make our leave. I can tell, no matter how the boys try to downplay it, something is on their minds, which keeps me on edge all through dinner and even after dessert until it’s time to go.
I hug Ma tight. “See you next week for dinner on Thursday.” Lanah is next in line with a long hug. “What are you doing this weekend?” I ask my little sister.
Lanah narrows those big brown eyes at me. “Probably going out with a group of boys who want nothing but to get in my pants. You should have let me stay in the dorms for school session.”
Mamma’s eyes roll behind Lanah’s head and she grins behind her daughter’s back as she leaves us to go say goodbye to the boys. She knows how much Lanah likes to rile me up.
I tap my baby sister’s nose. “Sass, it’s pure sass. You know we’re only looking out for you. Those dorms, they are no place for you, tesoro.”
She raises a hand. “I’ve gotten over you forcing me to live here while I’m in school. Ma and I do just fine. Seriously, I thought I’d get started on a book that our professor wants us to read and memorize in three days this weekend. Like we don’t all have lives outside of his classes.”
I laugh. “Good. I want you safe. We have a situation.”
Lanah nods. “I noticed all the new guards around the perimeter, and I saw them down the shore when we were coming home from the market. And surrounding us as we went and tried to blend into our little community. It’s hard enough without a militia of DeLuca soldiers who everyone knows are watching us. ”
“Just for a little while, until we know what and who we’re dealing with. Take care of Mamma. You remember where the buttons are and the guns?”
Her eyes get wide. “You are worried.”
I shake my head. “No, just reminding you in case.”
“You don’t need to worry about me. You’ve been drilling those lessons into my head since the day I could walk.
You, Pappa, or one of the boys always with some lesson to share.
Seriously, don’t worry. We’re fine. But you shouldn’t send such handsome soldiers.
” She fans her face. “I’m only human you know. ”
I shake my head. “Go study, Lanah. And don’t let them touch you or they die.”
Her eyes meet mine. She knows I mean every word I said. “You have to stop worrying about me so much. See you next week, be safe, Vincenzo,” she says, standing on tiptoe to kiss my cheek.