Chapter Four Tyler #2
Before I can order her to, she puts the phone on speaker as the voice of Ciro DiCicco fills the room.
“Is this true?” he snaps. “They look like fools.”
“Could be seeking attention. You know how idiotic some Americans are about claims to fame. Have you called to order the part?” I quickly translate her questions. Have you contacted your source in the Bureau?
“Yes,” he replies, “they don’t have it in.” No evidence it’s them so far.
“Of course they don’t, but I believe I know where to find it,” she relays, her eyes on mine. To find us. “Do not order anything online until I get home,” she says. Don’t kill them.
“Keep me updated.” Find them.
“It’s him. That’s Ciro,” Russell confirms in my earpiece. “One hundred percent match, and he’s at his address in Asheville.”
She snaps the phone shut and eyes me. “Do I finally have your fucking attention, Tyler?”
“You’re the one he sent to uncover us.”
She nods. “Three months ago, Ciro summoned me to leave Barga and start the transition by proving my allegiance. I’ve been—” She shifts.
“Doesn’t matter. What matters is that identifying and eliminating you is my final test to prove myself capable before taking over.
Some of what your search revealed is the truth.
I am a farm girl, to an extent. I was groomed on an olive grove in Italy. ”
“When did he send you to Barga?”
“The summer before I turned seventeen.”
So far, she’s confirmed every suspicion I have.
“Save me some time, groomed by who?”
“Tula DiGiovanni,” she delivers easily.
“The boss,” I say. “Impressive.”
“Don’t be condescending,” she groans.
“Okay”—I slide my hands into my slacks—“what do you prefer, La Famiglia, La Malavita? Italian mafia? Or, in your case, ’Ndrangheta, which is blood only.”
Tobias’s curse rings clear over the line.
The ’Ndrangheta is the strongest branch of the mafia not only in Italy, but in the world.
Arguably, it is now more powerful than the Sicilian Cosa Nostra.
’Ndrangheta being much harder to penetrate due to the blood ties and the fact that it consists of true family.
This makes turning or getting informants in higher ranks next to impossible.
Keeping them as untouchable as it gets. They know how to keep secrets, and they rival us in that respect.
“Of course you go there,” she sighs. “I’ll have you know that three-quarters of my extended family run legitimate businesses.”
“But not Tula or you.”
“Don’t insult me again by playing expert. You didn’t even know my fucking name until I told you.”
“Fine. Why are you the one getting a raise? Why not your brother, Ignacio?”
“Ignacio is sixteen and has no ambition right now because Ciro lets him do his drugs and spend his money without restraint. Ciro ordered that he’s to work closely with the man I’m meant to marry.”
She mulls over this as I note the slide of her manicured finger over her full lower lip before she continues.
“Sadly, my brother has mental issues and can become unhinged because of Ciro’s brand of parenting.
Even if he were eventually to be given the title, he would most likely squander the family fortune within the decade if freed of his leash.
Ciro’s captains will not take him seriously if he appoints Ignacio, and Ciro DiCicco’s ego won’t allow his life’s work to end when he dies.
I’m naturally ambitious, ruthless, highly intelligent, and I possess the exact qualities that my father needs his successor to have.
Like most misogynistic organizations full of corrupt pricks, what I want isn’t a consideration but an order.
But thanks to Tula’s successful reign as donna, some things have changed, to an extent.
Which is why I was sent to her. With her, as far as Ciro’s concerned, I’ve been trained to make sure his legacy lasts through generations of great-grandchildren. I have other plans.”
“Which are?”
“I don’t want the life that’s been designated for me. I want the ability to design that for myself, and I will give you everything you need to help gift me that freedom.”
“In exchange for?”
“My freedom, Tyler. Are you hard of hearing?” A slow smile blooms on her face. “No, that’s not possible, is it? Because you heard me last night, and I spoke below a whisper. Tell me”—she tilts her head, her honey-colored eyes sparking with curiosity—“how did you do that?”
Ignoring her question, I pose my own. “So why not go to any one of the agencies vying to take your father and brother down? I can name a few more than willing.”
“Because the depths of this are far beyond their capabilities. You and your Ravens are the only ones I trust for this job.”
“You want nothing more?” I bait the line.
Silence lingers, but it’s loaded.
“And you know so much about me because?”
“You know why, and playing ignorant to that is insulting, but you seem to enjoy doing so. It’s not what’s most important, so we can leave that out of this for now.”
“Does your family mean so little to you?”
“I’m nothing but a tool for them, a vessel. I’m replaceable. If I were to die tomorrow, no one would mourn me.”
“Not even Tula? Oof,” I say, “sounds like it’s past time for a family therapy session.”
“Tyler,” she exhales in scold, “you’re disappointing me.” She pulls her hair free from the tie binding it, and it drops in silky black ribbons over her shoulders. She runs her hands through it while giving me a dead stare. “Truly disappointed.”
“Sorry to hear that.”
“I was hoping this would go much differently,” she offers, seeming genuinely perturbed about it as she continues.
“I’ve been biding my time in Italy in wait for my father’s summons to earn my station, along with a window to come to you.
You created that window when you killed those two military officials he formerly had dealings with. ”
More confirmation.
“He suspects he’s on our radar and next in line,” I state.
“Yes, and now he’s becoming as paranoid as he was when you made a messy example of his former business partner.”
“Anthony Spencer,” I fill in.
She nods. “Spencer’s spectacular downfall is what got me sent to Barga.”
Her admissions confirm Ciro is the puppet master whose strings we cut with the takedown of Spencer and the officials. Puppets Ciro easily replaced before expanding his empire at the cost of so fucking many. Blood simmering, I keep my expression schooled. “How long have you been watching me?”
“Since I was seventeen,” she says as if it should be my natural conclusion, a statement which complicates things and doesn’t match the timeline in my mind.
She would have been around fifteen when her brother got recruited, but seventeen when he actually got inked.
But it’s not that fucking timeline that has me gnashing teeth.
Eight years.
She’s been watching us for eight fucking years.
Fury boiling, I manage to keep it at bay, at least in my demeanor.
“That’s a long time,” I relay evenly as failure streams down my spine, “and you never told your father?”
“You would have heard from him if I had, and no, I never told anyone but Tula.”
“Let me get this straight.” I cross my arms in disbelief. “You’re telling me you want to bring your own family down, the DiGiovannis are aware of this, and you all can’t manage it alone?”
“This is also how I prove my worth and value to Tula.”
“That’s a hell of a lot for a twenty-four-year-old girl.”
“That’s why I’m attempting to enlist a thirty-four-year-old ex-marine with the right skills, who also happens to have the manpower and experience to execute a task of this magnitude.
If the other families become aware of Tula’s involvement without a sit-down, things could get extremely messy.
It’s easier to come to you—a common enemy.
” She shakes her head. “Tula will not involve the DiGiovanni family unless her hand is forced. Though she loathes my father and desires his demise as well.” She steeples her fingers in front of her and looks over to me.
“It’s not such a simple feat, because Ciro is untouchable thanks to his connections here in the States.
Those connections are what’s kept him alive this long.
I have to say,” she relays with a sigh, “in one respect, I owe you all a debt of gratitude.”
“For?”
“Getting sent to Barga was my chance to escape Ciro’s cruelty, his conditioning, and his way of life. Ignacio was not as fortunate.”
“So you were keeping tabs on my ink from a continent away?”
“I had Tula to update me while in Barga and, at times, took extended visits home. I used them wisely.”
“To investigate my tattoo?”
“To understand who you all are. I wasn’t lying last night when I said I admired you, Tyler. I do. Immensely. Tula does as well, which is why we both agreed that when Ciro summoned me, I should come to you.”
“I’m flattered, and this is all pretty nice and neat, Larissa. Looks like we’re only missing the bow.”
“I realize that, and I’m prepared to give you everything I know about Ciro and the family, as well as his connections. But we have one shot at this, and it has to be exact.”
“And all you want is your freedom?”
“I’ll want an answer to the question I’m not asking until this is over, but yes.
” She holds my eyes. “I’ve spent the last eight years of my life in four square miles in Luca.
As beautiful as that land may be, it was still a prison.
I was educated there. Every party, dinner, and fabricated adventure I was allowed to partake in existed within those miles.
Even the church where I attended mass borders the grove.
Built right there on the land. It was the same here.
My entire life has been one long sentence I’ve served because of my name and birthright.
” She takes a step closer. “You tell me. If you had the opportunity to escape the prison of your name and a life of violence and, for once in your life, live the way you choose, wouldn’t you take it? ”