4. Chapter 4
4
Green eyes darted back and forth across the laptop screen.
The sheer amount of cocaine that Vincenzo Vitale had transported alongside the Colombian cartel astounded Elyse.
Line by line, she scanned over details about how Aberto De León and his father, Ignazio, worked with the American-Italian mafia in illegal arms dealing.
Elyse learned that Diego Berlusconi was Domenico and Cara's father. Their family's restaurants and bars were often used as a front for a human trafficking and prostitution ring.
Gregario Moretti had been Carlo's father. He lorded over loan sharks who oversaw various channels of underground gambling.
Matteo Svizzi had been Antonia's uncle, and he'd been heavily involved in protection racketeering schemes with local Sicilian businesses.
Leopold Trevisano had been Tara's cousin, and the man was involved in a bit of everything— smuggling, vote buying, bid rigging —often tipping the scales during elections in favor of politicians who might turn a blind eye to his family's crimes and questionable business practices.
Over the next hour, Elyse clicked through file after file at frantic speeds. The documents were written in Italian. At times, Elyse struggled to grasp the finer details, but she understood enough to conclude that nothing was particularly noteworthy. Malina had already relayed many of these stories to her, and most of these men were no longer alive. They weren't threats anymore. Just corpses rotting somewhere in the afterlife. Yet, she couldn't look away. What fascinated Elyse had nothing do with the data itself but rather the peculiar arrangement of it all.
The deeper she dove into the files, the more obvious it grew. Almost everything had been laid out like evidence for a criminal investigation. There were clear-cut numbers, dates, names, and photographs. Sensitive, incriminating shit that no sane mafioso would allow to see the light of day. Her mind revved into overdrive as she tried to fit the pieces of this puzzle into a cohesive picture.
Why would a seasoned criminal like her father-in-law assemble damning data of himself and his clan? Elyse frowned deeply. Using this shit to blackmail allies would only benefit Vincenzo if he'd excluded his own crimes. The crease between her brow furrowed more. This memory card's original owner seemed unlikely to be Vincenzo.
Elyse inched toward a new conclusion. These files were probably put together by someone with a grudge . Possibilities raced through her mind. Perhaps, an undercover law enforcement officer of sorts? A traitorous insider? But who the hell was ballsy enough to piss off the not one, not two, but all of the clans in Cosa Nostra ?
In a way, the attempt was kind of inspiring even though the person had obviously failed. The data was decades old. Elyse wondered how long this bombshell had been lurking inside the necklace, unknown and undetected by Cosa Nostra , just waiting for the right person to unleash its secrets. And, Dios , what an apocalyptic domino effect it would've set off— if only fate had worked in its favor . The knowledge stored on the card was, indeed, still significant, but it had fallen into her hands too late. There seemed to be little to gain in turning it over to authorities at this point.
Vincenzo recently passed away.
Diego Berlusconi? Suffering from dementia and paralysis due to a stroke.
Ignazio De León? Dead.
Gregario Moretti? Dead.
Leopold Trevisano? Dead.
Matteo Svizzi? Dead.
Aberto De León was the only one who was still capable of leading his clan, and there was far more dirt on the card about his father than there was on him.
After backing up the data on another flash drive, Elyse removed the memory card from her laptop, slipped the small plastic rectangle back inside the medallion, snapped it shut, and shoved everything into the lockbox. She hid the flash drive beneath one of the bookshelves in their bedroom. Just in case something happened to the original.
Her heart pounded heavily as though she'd committed a crime. Elyse wanted to talk to Alessandro about this insane, new development, but she didn't even know where to begin. Nothing made sense. She hadn't been able to connect the dots yet. Elyse was determined, though, to use this information to their advantage. The next few hours dragged as she waited for her husband to return. While Elyse fretted and busied herself with other tasks, a text from Mariposa appeared on her phone. The two women went back and forth for a while, resorting to the safe albeit tired script that most people used whenever there was a death in the family.
Then, Mariposa chose to go off-script.
Green eyes flickered as she read this message. Damn, Alessandro was moving fast . Apparently, he'd already reached out to the De Leóns about Valentina and Gaspare's engagement. Elyse realized that she needed to work even faster. Wearing a slight grimace, she exchanged a few more texts with Mariposa.
As Elyse set her phone aside, through the walls, she heard the front door of the palazzo open and shut. It was followed by a burst of male voices. Alessandro and his men were home. She rushed out of the bedroom to greet him in the foyer. "You and I need to talk."
Alessandro's dark eyebrows rose. "Do we?"
With knowing expressions, Monte, Luca, and the other men excused themselves and slipped away.
She reached for his hand and led him back to their room. "I have something to show you."
He grinned. "Something I will enjoy, I hope?"
Arching an eyebrow, Elyse corrected him, "Something you might hate, actually."
His eyes grew sharper. "Now you have my attention, wife."
Once they reached their bedroom, Alessandro watched her as she closed the door and locked it. He scoffed, "Is that necessary?"
" Very ." Elyse went to the lockbox to retrieve the gold medallion necklace.
Alessandro frowned, eyeing the necklace with a disappointed expression. "Is that all? I was expecting something more… exciting ."
"Just wait."
His gaze narrowed as she found a needle and fiddled with the crack. It split open.
" This ," Elyse said as she removed the memory card from the medallion, "is what I wanted to show you."
Shock froze on her husband's face. "The fuck was that doing in there?"
"I don't know." Elyse muttered, "I found it today on accident, and I was hoping you'd have some answers for me. Come take a look."
She plugged the card into her laptop. They settled onto the bed with the screen shared between them. For the next half hour, Alessandro started looking through the files in earnest while Elyse sat beside him. His posture grew tense and rigid. Disbelief clouded his features as he scanned the incriminating documents about his father's closest allies.
"I doubt your father knew about it," Elyse speculated, "when he gave the necklace to me."
"I think you may be right."
"To me, these files look like evidence against your father and his allies. What do you think?"
He agreed with her again .
"Any idea who might've hidden the memory card inside the medallion?"
"I have someone in mind, actually," Alessandro whispered in a solemn voice.
Elyse's nerves flipped inside her stomach. "Really?"
"That necklace," her husband explained, "used to belong to my mother. She was wearing it when they found her body."
She gasped, " Mierda ."
"After my mother died, everyone told me that my grandfather killed her for running away. Death was punishment for abandoning her family," Alessandro mused quietly. "But, now, I suspect they were lying."
"About what?"
His brow furrowed deeply. Alessandro looked as though he was in pain. "I know my mother, I know my grandfather, and I know the ways of Cosa Nostra . Now, I think, it is more likely that they killed my mother to bury the fact that she had been preparing to go to the authorities. If the news got out, it would have destroyed my father's reputation with our allies."
Elyse was beginning to feel sick. "I think you may be on to something. Fuck."
He continued with a grim expression, " Mamma had been trying to escape for years. She was probably collecting this evidence to destroy the men who would not let her leave."
"Do you think your father knew about it?"
"Of course not," answered Alessandro. "If he had known, a man like my father would have put a bullet in Mamma long before my grandfather."
She released a shaky sigh. "I'm so sorry, baby. I should've waited to share this with you. You're already going through so much."
Despair darkened his handsome face. Sorrow hung between them. Elyse's heart ached for Alessandro. Dios , if this was all true, there were so much fucked up tragedy hiding within these age-old secrets.
His brown and blue-gray gaze slowly rose to meet hers. " No, no , I am happy you did not hide this from me."
Elyse shuffled closer to him, placing her palm upon his hand. She promised softly, "I'll never leave you in the dark, Alessio."
He withdrew his hand from her. It left Elyse feeling oddly barren as she glanced at him in confusion. Why had he pulled away?
His expression hardened. "Going forward, you will always be honest with me?"
"Always. "
A tight smile stretched over his mouth. "Then, perhaps, my faith in you can be restored."
Unease settled over her. "What are you talking about?"
Alessandro's mouth continued to curve sweetly even though sadness lingered in his eyes. "I know you were lying, Elyse, about your phone call."
Alessandro's quiet accusation nearly made Elyse's heart drop out of her chest. Her eyes rounded out in panic. Mierda . Had Alessandro overheard her conversation with Benny?
"I was talking to Benny Gusev," Elyse confessed readily.
Her husband's jaw clenched with irritation. "Who the fuck is Benny Gusev?"
"He was one of Stefano's associates. Back in Queens, remember? I got your pain meds from his pharmacy."
"Oh. That Benny ."
"He's fairly well connected. I asked him to help me look into Valentina's ties to Tommy Wilkes."
Anger flashed across his face. "You cannot leave well enough alone, can you?"
"I shouldn't have kept my conversation with Benny from you. For that, I apologize," Elyse admitted. "But I'm only trying to help."
"I do not need your help. Everything is under control." Yet, a shadow of uncertainty darkened his face even while uttering these words.
Elyse huffed, "Why are you being so stubborn?"
"Takes one to know one," he flung back.
"I don't understand why you're so against finding the truth. Unlike you, I have the time to investigate these matters. You have nothing to lose by letting me try!"
"Valentina's engagement to Gaspare is set in stone."
"I'm not asking you to cancel it. Just give me a chance to determine the real enemy. Our plans might need adjustments."
Alessandro's expression darkened. "I remember telling you not to look into this shit. Explicitly ."
"Why do you keep pushing me away?" Elyse argued with a tight expression of her own. "I thought we were a team?"
"Do as I say or else—"
Elyse cut him off with a warning look, "Don't talk as though I'm beneath you, Alessio. I'm your wife."
"Exactly," Alessandro ground out, " you are my wife . Wives are supposed to respect their husbands' wishes, no ?"
"Blind obedience isn't the same as respect."
"What about showing some loyalty?"
"What does this have to do with loyalty?"
He growled under his breath, "You lied to me! Without trust, we are nothing."
"I was going to tell you about Benny— eventually! Once I found a substantial lead."
"You need to be on my side. Not eventually . But always."
Without thinking, she fired back, "Is that what you think love is supposed to be?"
Elyse seized up the moment the word flew off of her tongue.
Fuck!
Alessandro took notice of it as well. As the corner of his mouth quirked up, their heated debate seemed to be temporarily forgotten. "Love, you say?"
In a flustered state, she tried to divert his attention by returning to the argument at hand. "How can I stand by your side when you refuse to let me in?"
Her husband wasn't ready to let it go, though. Alessandro scooted closer to her on the bed, taunting, "I am very curious, wife. What do you know about love?"
"Not much," Elyse grumbled.
"What a shame. I know who my heart belongs to..."
She gulped. "Do you?"
"I wonder, though," he teased with shrewd eyes, "who yours belongs to?"
The bastard was doing this on purpose to provoke her, and his efforts were successful. Elyse snapped, "If you don't know by now, you're fucking blind."
With a low chuckle, Alessandro leaned over to press his forehead against hers. "So, you love me, then?"
Elyse balked in dismay. This wasn't how she had imagined confessing her love to Alessandro at all. But she couldn't bring herself to deny him any longer. Her heart wouldn't allow it.
"I do," she stated quietly, elegantly.
Brown and blue-gray eyes filled with a most potent sort of emotion, so intense that Elyse felt as though his gaze might burn her alive. He didn't utter another word. He simply reacted, shoving her down to the mattress to kiss her senseless. His mouth crushed hers, fiercely passionate and all-consuming, and she gave into him fully.
When his hands started trailing down her body, however, Elyse mumbled, "Stop."
Alessandro gazed down at her through hooded eyes. He looked surprised. "What?"
"You're always trying to fuck me."
"Is that so wrong? I am very good at it."
She stammered, "But I-I just told you that I..."
I love you .
Elyse couldn't bring herself to say those three little words. Not until she knew for sure how Alessandro felt about her.
"That you," he goaded her smugly, "what?"
"Isn't there something you want to say," she prompted in a sullen tone, "to me?"
A sly grin spread across his face. "I have already said it to you before. Maybe once or twice. If you missed it, the oversight is your loss."
Elyse's eyebrows nearly flew to the ceiling. What the fuck was he talking about?
Alessandro possessed the gall to laugh at her bewilderment. "Do not look so shocked, cuore mio ."
Elyse had no idea when Alessandro had confessed his feelings for her. For all she knew, he was probably messing around with her.
"Are you saying that you love me, too?" she demanded.
"You are fucking blind," he replied, stealing a touch of inspiration from her, "if you cannot see it by now."
Elyse gazed up at her husband with hesitation. "I've felt blind these past few days."
This seemed to catch Alessandro off guard. His eyes widened slightly. "In what way?"
"You won't talk to me about anything that matters."
"That is not true."
Elyse shook her head in protest. "Your father's death has clearly affected you, but you insist on pretending like everything is fine."
Shame struck his face as Alessandro mumbled, "Everyone handles shit differently. Are you doubting my ability as capo? "
"Of course not."
"As a husband?"
"Not at all."
"Then what are you trying to say?"
Tears stung her eyes even though they didn't fall. "I'm not trying to say anything. I'm begging you . Please don't hold me at a distance . Especially if you're hurting. Your pain is my pain. Let me walk through hell with you."
Frustration flickered through his eyes. "I am not trying to push you away, cuore mio . If anything, you are the closest and dearest person to me. Ever ."
With a lost look, Elyse whispered, "Yet, I don't know what you're thinking half of the time. I want to be able to reach you."
"I have revealed more of myself to you than anyone in my life."
"I want... more ."
"Greedy wife," he scolded.
"No," Elyse corrected softly, " loving wife . I love you, Alessio. Let me in. Please. It will only make us stronger. Not weaker. I promise."
With a helpless-sounding groan, Alessandro buried his face into the crook of her neck. "I love you, too. God help me."
Her arms wrapped around his shoulders to hug him tight. "After today, I won't bother you about this again, but, in the future, can you try to be more open with me, especially when you're feeling this way? Sex doesn't count."
He grimaced. "I will try."
"Thank you."
"Elyse?"
"Yes?"
He declared quite seriously, "I would like to request something from you as well."
"Go on."
"Promise that you will never lie to me again. No matter how small the issue may seem in your mind."
She looked him dead in the eye and swore on her life, "I won't lie to you ever again, Alessio."
" Grazie , cuore mio ."
Husband and wife lay in each other's arms for several more moments, touching, kissing, and simply being . They didn't make love. They didn't fuck. Love now bonded them. A soul-glowing, heart-shining love. It felt as though a ray of light had been restored to their dark kingdom. There were still many battles to be waged outside the sanctuary of their bedroom, but, at this moment, beneath the weight of her husband's solid body, within the warmth of his embrace, Elyse felt less afraid and a little more confident that they might survive the coming war.
She decided to tell Alessandro about Javier Santos. "When I called Benny earlier..."
His gaze sharpened. "What did he tell you?"
"He mentioned someone named Javier Santos. Have you ever heard of him?"
Alessandro froze. "Did you say Javier... Santos?"
"Yes, Benny told me that Javier was the middle man, the one who was supposed to pay Tommy Wilkes after, well, you know," Elyse made a face as she muttered, "he finished the job."
Concern strained across her husband's face. "Fuck."
Elyse eyed him anxiously. "You know him?"
"If he is the same Javier Santos that I know," Alessandro muttered, "we will need to reconsider one key alliance."
Alarm shot through Elyse. "Why?"
"His brother, Savino Santos, is an arms dealer based in New York."
"Is he part of the American-Italian mafia?"
"Yes."
Elyse's complexion grew pale. She didn't like where this was going at all. She knew of one clan who dealt heavily in underground arms trafficking with the American-Italian mafia.
Alessandro continued, "In the past, he has worked closely with—"
"Aberto De León," she finished with a look of horror.