21. Marcus
“ I ’m so fucking glad to get out of there.”
“I can’t disagree with you, Antonio. Things are fucked.” I grunt as I get into the SUV. “But, technically, we should be going our separate ways on this…”
“Eh, we will. I just want to look around first.” He takes out the crumbled piece of paper, humming as he goes down the list. “This is…quite the wishlist of people he wants us to spy on.”
“Ya think?” I snort and shake my head. “Police Commissioner, Police Chief, Fire Chief, and a fucking state representative. Not only that, he wants their families watched.”
“I guess we can be thankful there’s no senator or congressman on the list. But yeah, this shit is fucked. I’m not even sure what to do about the state representative. I mean, he’s not in a position where he’d get constant protection, but I’m sure he’s got private security—at least, at home.”
“Do I want to know how much you’re aware of who would qualify for protection?” I ask suspiciously.
“It’s not nearly as many as you’d expect. And to answer your question…no. Although, if you really want to know, you could always talk to Keegan.”
“Huh. You…have a point. That I’m going to try not to think about.” I make it onto the highway without a problem, and I carefully keep my speed in check. Now that it’s open season on us Martellis and the Amatos, I can't risk doing anything to fuck us over. Even if this is fucking boring.
Antonio goes to change the playlist, but I swat his hand away. “Really? You drag me with you and I can’t even choose the music?”
“No. What you can do is give me insight into what the fuck is going on with the Family.”
“Ah. So…you wanted to gossip.” Antonio turns to stare out of the window, although we’re passing nothing of value.
Sighing, I promise him, “If you give me your perspective, you can change the playlist. Because, suddenly, we have Carter staying in our suite, bunking with Cole.”
“You should have led with that! I hate to say it…but we’re fucked. Look, I’ve never known Lio to be pissed at Il Padrone—aside from at the very beginning, of course. But he seems to have drawn a line in the sand over this whole Ignacio situation.”
“I still can’t believe Cristian gutted him,” I mutter.
“Yeah…that’s pretty much the reason we’re fucked. From what I gathered—not that I actively spy on the Family, it’s a matter of keeping my skills up to par—Lio walked away from Il Padrone because he refused to do anything about it. Instead, Il Padrone is standing by Cristian.”
I let out a whistle, because that is fucking serious. “That’s not good.”
“Oh, it gets worse.” Antonio almost bounces in his seat. I tighten my fingers on the steering wheel, because if he’s happy, that means the gossip is gold. Fucker likes to know everything. “Benjamin stabbed Cristian.”
“What the fuck?!” I swerve in surprise and have to straighten out the SUV. Thankfully, there are no cops nearby. “That… Benjamin…”
“Yeah, so Carter left Cristian. Lio left Il Padrone. Ignacio was gutted. Oh, Tennant was stabbed. Also by Cristian. And now, Benjamin went ahead and stabbed Cristian. Isn’t it great?” My jaw drops and I can only make croaking noises. “So, can I listen to my music now?”
“Uh. Sure. Go ahead.” My mind races as I try to figure out some kind of strategy to fix this, but there’s nothing. “Fuck. I can’t even disagree with Lio on this. Il Padrone shouldn’t be backing Cristian.”
“Right? It’s going to be interesting. Thank fuck, Il Padrone hasn’t come searching for me. Yet. I don’t want to get involved in this.”
“Wait until family mealtime…” I cringe as I trail off. This is going to be beyond awkward.
Antonio switches playlists and I wrinkle my nose at his choice of music, but let it go. “We have a list of impossible targets. I’m sure I can be busy during mealtimes.”
“Smart.” I pull off the highway and slowly enter the residential area. “I’m doing the Fire Chief first. We’re supposed to only observe at this point.”
“It’s going to be way too slow to do that. Make a pass by his house, if it looks empty, I’m going to duck in.”
“Antonio…” I growl a warning, “Let’s not piss Il Padrone off anymore than he already is right now.”
“Do you want to spend weeks playing spy on the assholes, or get answers?”
“Fuck. Fine, but only if it’s empty.” I slow down to a crawl as we come up to the house and follow Antonio’s directions on where to park. He rummages inside the bag he brought, looking for a hat, sunglasses, and…a dog leash? “What the fuck, man?”
“I’m looking for my lost dog—duh.” With that, he hops out of the car and starts walking down the sidewalk, occasionally shaking the leash.
I stare in astonishment as he turns up the driveway that belongs to the Fire Chief. There’s no way he’d… Yep. He’s ringing the fucking doorbell. “Fuck, I hope they don’t have a door camera.”
When nobody answers, he disappears around the corner and I sit and wait, trying to keep my anxiety under control. He’s taking too much of a risk.
I watch the numbers slowly click over on the clock on the dash.
Time has never moved so slow before. When a cop car comes down the road, I think I’m going to stop breathing completely.
I carefully shift to check my gun, but the car doesn’t stop by me.
No, it’s worse. It stops at the fucking Fire Chief’s house.
Two cops exit the car and stroll up to the house. They don’t bother knocking, they just walk right inside. I don’t have any data on this. There’s nothing in the profile that said he had friends among the cops—at least, not on that level. What the fuck?
Grinding my teeth, my fingers hover over my cell. The problem is…if his cell isn’t on silent, I’ll alert the fuckers. I swear, when Antonio makes it back, I’m going to take him straight back to the mansion and tell Il Padrone he needs his ass spanked. Then again, that’s probably a reward for him.
Sweat rolls off me, as I can’t do shit. Finally, five minutes after the cops enter the house, the SUV door opens and Antonio slides in.
I don’t even know how he got here. It sure as hell wasn’t the same way he went in, but fuck if I'm asking.
I immediately put the car in drive and head out, my fingers flexing on the steering wheel.
“Oh, come off it,” Antonio grumbles. “I know you’re pissed, but the silent treatment?”
“You could have been found out! I don’t know who those officers were.
I had no way to contact you safely. It’s one thing when we do this and you have your earbud in, but this solo cowboy shit?
No. We’re not doing this again.” I turn onto the highway and floor it, having to fight myself not to go over the speed limit.
I need to get away from my asshole best friend.
“Whatever. Do you at least want to hear what I found out?” Antonio rolls his eyes at me.
Grinding my teeth, I hesitate to answer. I don’t want to feed into his bad behavior, but something doesn’t line up. Giving up, I gesture for him to continue.
“They weren’t there for the Fire Chief.”
“What?!” I exclaim as I glance over at him.
“Yeah, so…there may be someone in the basement. I don’t have all the details. I want to go back later and break him out. The cops weren’t getting answers from him—at least, not that I could tell. I wasn’t able to make out all the words. So tonight, let’s break him out.”
“Fuck. Alright, we’ll talk to Il Padrone. If they’re holding someone…”
“It may be our ticket. I know,” he states smugly.
Eyeing him, I shake my head. “You may be smug about it now, but remember, Il Padrone is in a pissed off mood. And you went against direct orders. I don’t think it’ll matter that the risk paid off…”
“Shit,” Antonio curses. “Fine. Let’s at least get it over with. I want answers, and I need to know who they have locked up.”
We lapse into silence as we continue heading toward the mansion. I hope by the time we get back things will have calmed down. Unfortunately, I have a bad feeling that’s not going to be possible… Hopefully, we’re not completely fucked.