Chapter 33
CHAPTER 33
MAX
“ W hy are you wet?” Jimmy asked when he finally opened the door to his room after I pounded on it enough to almost dent the fucking wood. I walked right past him and straight into his hotel room while he followed my steps with his eyes before shutting the door.
“Long story.”
“Something tells me it’s related to the fact that you left Miss Battaglia alone. Unprotected.” The implication in his tone and words was clear. But I wouldn’t overlook her safety. I wouldn’t leave her unprotected, as he put it. Not after tonight, anyway.
Never had I tasted a brand of fear quite as real as tonight. Twice, to add insult to injury.
It was so different from anything else I’d ever felt. So fucking revealing, too.
I’d faced loaded guns pointed at my forehead, cutting blades that spread blood all over my skin, dug graves that could have been my own. None of those things made me feel anything quite as terrifying as what she did. I had been trained for death-promising scenarios. What I hadn’t been trained for was to feel. The one time I had felt, those emotions were beaten out of me right before I buried them in a shallow grave without the privilege of a damn coffin.
No amount of training had prepared me for the terror that ran through me tonight, though.
First, when I saw Alison dancing with Diego “ El Diablo Blanco ” Alcaráz. There was a reason why he was called the “white devil.” Lord of an empire of white powder and destruction. The Alcaráz Cartel was ruthless and out of control, and with Diego as their leader, they were more destructive than ever before.
If he’d discovered who she was, we’d be in deep fucking shit.
If he’d discovered who she was to me , deep fucking shit wouldn’t even start to describe the clusterfuck that sorry excuse of an engagement would turn into. Alison wouldn’t have left that damn party tonight. Not in one piece, at least.
Second was during those few moments before I fished her from the bottom of that goddamn pool. I thought she was drowning.
No. I thought someone had drowned her.
The crash after the adrenaline rush had me shaking uncontrollably.
There was no stopping the tremors in my hands and legs, and the cool night’s breeze had little to nothing to do with it.
“She’s fine,” I replied when Jimmy stood there by the door, arms crossed, wearing an accusing frown. “Your face is loaded. I’m going to need you to pull the safety right about now and not shoot me ‘cause I need your help.”
“We’re supposed to keep her safe. You know what Don Battaglia said–”
“I know. And she is,” I cut him off, “Now are you gonna fucking help me, or not? ”
“Since you’re asking so nicely, yes. I bet you’re gonna ask me for clothes now, too, aren’t you? Just know that if you take underwear, feel free to burn it after. I’m not putting my nuts where yours have been.”
“Ah-ha, very funny.”
“I know,” He chuckled, proud of himself, mainly because he’d managed to diffuse my ticking bomb for a second. “Let's hear it. What do you need? Who are we hacking?”
“No one. I need you to start a fire at the casino downstairs.”
“What? In Massimo territory? Are you insane?” I was insane. This is what Alison fucking did to me.
“There’s a fire detector right above table 7,” I said, dismissing Jimmy’s questions. “You know how to play Blackjack, right?” I pulled a stack of bills from my drenched slacks and threw it to him. Jimmy caught the cash without even looking at the trajectory, his eyes intently boring into mine. “Do you?” I pressed.
“I do.”
“Good. Play a hand or two, don’t draw attention to yourself. Take this glass with you, but fill it with this before leaving your room.” I pulled out a tumbler from the mini bar and placed it on the desk, taking the flask of benzene from my jacket pocket and setting it down beside it. “After a while, tip it over and light the table on fire.”
“That all seems peachy and not a single bit risky. Why am I doing this again?”
“I need a little chat with Don Massimo. Alone. That fire will have his security running around like ants to evacuate the building and put out the fire.”
“And how are you so sure that he’s going to be here tonight of all nights?” He meant the night of his official engagement. Rationally, Vincenzo would take the night off. Celebrate a little more. Rationally, his fiancé would be celebrating along with him, swallowing his cum into the wee hours of the night.
I clenched my fist at the thought while my vision blurred with the color of murder.
That’s never gonna happen. That’s never gonna happen.
Taking a deep breath, I steadied myself and replied to Jimmy’s question, “Because old habits die hard, my friend.”
Jimmy looked at me puzzled, but the friendship we developed came with a kind of trust that was blind and, in this case, mute, too, because he knew better than to ask any more questions. He wasn’t dumb. He knew there was a lot more going on between me and Alison than I’d ever let on.
Jealousy was starting to make me sloppy, and in the grand scheme of things, I was beginning to not give a fuck if anyone noticed how far I’d fallen for the Battaglia Princess.
It wouldn’t change a damn thing either way.
“Do we have a deal?”
“What about Miss Battaglia?”
“She’ll be safe. The fire alarm system will cut the lights to avoid sparks. The only way into her room will be with a physical key. The key cards won’t work. I’ll have that key in my pocket before you start your game.”
“This better not backfire.”
“Don’t worry. If by any chance it does, I’ll fully take the blame. Don Battaglia won’t hold you accountable. You have my word.”
I watched as Jimmy played a few rounds of Blackjack. The fucker was even making a point of spending all my money and losing gloriously. At least he fit right in with the crowd, looking desperate to turn his luck around and win some to cut his losses.
It was all for show, and I was glad he knew how to play them just as much as the hand he held.
As promised, the key to Alison’s room sat in my pocket, as heavy as the reminder of her sitting at the bottom of that pool, drowning her thoughts in the silence of the water. She was losing herself, and there had to be something I could do to prevent it.
That was exactly what I was trying to do.
I signaled Jimmy with a small nod. A second later, our plan was in motion. Jimmy tipped his glass all over the burgundy velvet surface of the blackjack table. Before anyone could make sense of it, the table was on fire, spreading like a false rumor in a small town.
With the help of the benzine, the felt fed the flames that quickly spread to the carpet on the floor. The whole casino was made out of luxurious materials that were excellent fire food, and I was counting on exactly that.
Everyone at that table jumped from their seat and started running, as expected, and as soon as that fire detector started beeping and the sprinklers turned on, it was full-on panic mode everywhere. When the lights shut off, all the screams turned up by a thousand decibels.
As predicted, every Massimo soldato was hands-on, trying to control the situation and evacuate the floor while I patiently waited for the last of them to leave Vincenzo’s office.
As soon as Fabrizio turned that corner, I was marching into that den just as Vincenzo was about to cross the threshold.
“You’re staying,” I said as I placed a hand on his chest and closed the door behind me. Only the dim light of the emergency signals flashed in the space, turning our encounter all the more ominous.
“This was you. I should have known. I was wondering when you’d show up. You always do, eventually. Like a stray dog sniffing around for scraps.”
Vincenzo walked back to stand behind his desk, a protective barrier that I knew he’d use.
“I couldn’t just ask to speak alone with you, now could I?”
“What do you want?” He spat, his hand hovering over the handle of the desk drawer, ready to open it and pull out the weapon I knew he had in there.
“I want you to break off the engagement.”
The laughter that sounded from his mouth was insulting, borderline manic, and filled with sarcasm and mockery. My hands curled into tight fists as the sound of his apparent victory grated on my nerves further.
Murder and a sudden detachment to my own safety ran from the base of my spine to the tips of my fingers. Still, I kept to my spot, threading this line as carefully as I could. Vincenzo could be relying on a goddamn cane to stand straight, but I knew better than to think I had the advantage here.
Top drawer. Loaded Glock. Safety off. Just as we’d been taught.
“And why would I do that?”
“Because you know as well as I do that she’s in danger here. That Diego won't think twice about sinking his teeth into her until she’s dead.”
“You should have thought about that before you broke our deal. But let me give you a piece of advice – this look isn’t good on a ruthless mafioso. It makes you look weak. Watching you sulk in the corner like a wounded animal almost makes me feel sorry for you.”
“She’s innocent, Vincenzo. She has nothing to do with this world of ours. Let her go.” I was trying to appeal to that stone in his chest that I knew firsthand had stopped beating a long time ago.
“Or what? What can a bastardo do? Alone, against a whole cosca that saw you betray them?”
“He can plead for you not to sacrifice an innocent girl in this war of yours,” I said, my arms open, showing my surrender.
“Too late, Maxy. You had your chance. I gave her to you on a silver platter, and you spat her out as if she was rubbish. You should know better than to think second chances are a thing in the Cosa Nostra. ”
“Isn’t that what you’re looking for, too? A second chance? Maybe even some kind of redemption before you die?”
“You have no fucking clue what I’m looking for.” His words were angrier than before, the dip in his tone showing me exactly what he was feeling. Vincenzo had learned to wear a mask, curate his response to almost everything. But there’d always been a chip on his shoulder, and up until now, he’d managed to shove it behind that facade. Something must have changed because the edge was there, crystal clear, rearing its ugly head for anyone attentive enough to see.
“Then tell me. I can help you get it. I swear I’ll do anything. Just leave Alison out of it.”
“And you think I’d trust you?” The sarcastic snicker that followed told me I wasn’t getting through to him like I hoped I would. Honey was just as useless as vinegar with this one. “You’re not a Massimo anymore, Max. It’s become clear that you’ve never been. ”
“Vincenzo,” I started, taking a step further, and the gun I knew was stashed in that desk was now pointing at me. The intermittent glare of the emergency lights only flashing fragments of his glower.
“STOP RIGHT THERE!” Vincenzo shouted, the gun in his hand jerking forward while I slowly took a step back, my hands now fully in the air. “Let me make something clear to you, Bastardo . There’s nothing here for you anymore. Nothing in this land belongs to you. Not even the fucking love of your life that you voluntarily escorted into my claws. NOTHING! Alison is mine now. Willingly mine. And there’s absolutely nothing you can do about it.”
He was right. There was nothing left here for me. I think there was never anything here for me in the first place. Not after Mom died.
“I could kill you right here. That gun wouldn’t stop me, and you know it.”
It wouldn’t. He could aim to kill as much as he wanted, but I’d be on him still, and we both knew Vincenzo was no match for me.
“You should seriously know me better. Do you think arrangements aren’t in place by now? That I wouldn’t set a plan to keep you in your fucking place? One wrong step from you and Diego will be informed about my finacé’s mafiosi royal status. What would he do knowing she’s a mafia princess? That she’s a Battaglia? And just to be safe, if that isn’t enough, he’ll also receive a nice little envelope with pictures of you and her together. Do you reckon that would be enough for your fucking fate to finally catch up with you?”
“You wouldn’t.”
“Try me.”
I stared into his eyes for a long fucking minute, and there were no doubts that Vincenzo would do exactly as he said. I just couldn’t figure out why. We’d never been on good terms, but handing me over to my executioner was far from any feud we’d ever had. Especially when I only landed myself on Diego’s shit list for saving Vincenzo’s life.
“I should have let his father kill you that night.”
“You should’ve. The fact that you didn’t is the only thing keeping me from putting a bullet into your skull right now. I want you out of California. Tonight. Don’t fucking test my patience, Max. I’ve accommodated this little thing of yours for my future wife long enough.”
“I’m not leaving without her.”
“She’s not yours to take. She’s never been and never will be. Besides, you’re nothing but a bastard, what would you ever have to offer her? Your tortured silences? Your martyr complex? Please. Women want passion, fire. You think she wants to waste her life waiting for a man who can’t even tell her how he really feels?”
“I swear to God, Vincenzo, if you hurt her–”
“Hurt her?” He chuckled sarcastically as if my words were nothing but a joke to him, “I’ll make her the happiest woman alive. I’ll give her a life you never could. Wealth. Power. A last fucking name. And, of course… I’ll give her me. Every. Damn. Night. I can already hear her, singing my name into the dark while she clutches the sheets on my bed.”
In two lunges, lightning fast, I was gripping the collars of his shirt, shoving him against the wall, not minding the bite of the barrel of his Glock pushing into my side.
“There he is. There’s the beast.” Vincenzo sang, mocking me, “How hard was it not to break character? All that rage you’ve kept locked away… and for what? To save her? You failed to see that Alison has been condemned since birth. Your attempt to keep her away from this life of ours was as pa thetic as her brothers’. Now? You’ll be nothing but a ghost at my wedding.”
Seething wasn’t even close to what I was feeling. I shook him from the grip I had on his collars one more time before shoving him to the ground. I grabbed his cane and his phone from the top of the desk and turned to leave without another word.
I stormed out of his office, purposely shutting the door behind me and jamming the stick through the handles.
I needed a fucking head start for where I was going, and that would keep him busy for a while.