Chapter 26
Catalina
With his wrists bound by zip ties, Rocco’s curses filled the air.
Piero ripped the sleeve from Rocco’s shirt revealing a bandage.
Holding Jasmine against me, I lifted my brow in question.
“He’s the man who tried to get to Jasmine,” Piero said. “The one I shot in New York.”
“Rocco?” How had he been in New York and gotten back to Kansas City before Jasmine? I knew the answer. Rocco had flown while Piero and Jasmine drove.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Rocco replied, his gaze filled with hatred directed at both me and Jasmine. He spoke to Armando. “Let me go. I’m the next consigliere. If you let me go, I might spare your life.”
When Armando turned to me, I shook my head and directed my message toward Rocco. “Dante is the next consigliere. When my husband learns what you’ve done, you’re going to wish you weren’t spared.” I turned to Armando and tilted my head toward his blood-soaked sleeve. “Are you okay?”
“Just a scratch.”
I hoped he was right. “Find out if Mia is really downstairs, and do whatever Dario would want you to do with Rocco.”
Armando spoke to Piero as the two of them wrenched Rocco to his feet. All the time, Rocco cursed and grumbled. At the same time, Contessa came rushing toward the elevators, one hand clenching her chest, the other over her lips. Her gray eyes scanned over the men and settled on me as I peered over Jasmine’s shoulder. The girl was still rigid within my embrace, holding onto me with all her strength. I whispered in her ear. “You’re safe. You saved us.”
Jasmine shook her head, her face buried in my shoulder.
Loosening my grip of Jasmine, I looked into her blue stare, seeing an array of emotions swirling within. “You did.”
“Where did you get a knife?” she asked.
Bending down, I picked up the knife Em had given me, the one Dario had encouraged me to learn to use. The blade was covered in blood. “It was a wedding gift.”
Jasmine’s cheeks rose. “That’s a weird wedding gift.”
“We’re a weird family.”
“Come this way,” Contessa said, leading us toward the kitchen.
Jasmine and I followed as Armando and Piero loaded Rocco onto the elevator.
“Are they both leaving?” I asked Contessa, a fresh wave of fright washing through me.
“We’ll be safe,” she said reassuringly.
Once in the kitchen, I used a dish towel to wipe the blade clean before reinserting it into the harness on my thigh.
Next, Contessa opened the door to the staircase that led to the wine cellar. Before I could comment about not being in the mood for wine, Contessa pressed a button, one I’d never noticed within the cellar, and an entire rack of wine slid backward, revealing another room.
“A safe room?” I asked.
Contessa nodded. “Let me lock the cellar from the inside. Only Mr. Luciano and I have keys. Even if anyone manages to get in here, they won’t know about the room.”
Jasmine and I stepped within, both of us looking all around. Illumination, triggered by a motion sensor, shone around the perimeter of the room at the junction of the walls and ceiling. The room wasn’t large, maybe ten feet by twelve feet. There were two twin-sized beds and shelves filled with canned goods and bottles of water. In the corner was a toilet and a sink. It looked more like a cell than a safe room.
Soon, Contessa was back with us, closing the secret door.
I remembered Dante complaining about the wine cellar taking away square footage from his apartment. It wasn’t only the cellar, but also this hidden room. I pulled my phone from my pocket and assessed the strength of the signal. The walls were undoubtedly reinforced, limiting my signal to only a few bars.
“Have you ever seen this room?” I asked Jasmine.
She shook her head. “Never.” A smile threatened her demeanor. “And after Josie caught me sneaking wine from the cellar, the door was always locked.”
“Maybe we should have grabbed a bottle before Contessa closed the door.”
“What you did out there,” Jasmine said, “with the knife, that’s what saved us. Where do you think he wanted to take us?”
“I don’t know,” I answered honestly. “All I know is that if the famiglia is divided between Vincent and Dario, Rocco was on Vincent’s side.” That thought and others scared me.
Is anyone on Dario’s side?
What will happen to us if Dario doesn’t prevail?
* * *
Dario
Giovanni racedagainst time toward Lee’s Summit Municipal Airport. He wasn’t the only one trying to beat the clock. Holding my breath, I made a call to Jorge Roríguez. For a split second, I recalled the beginning of our alliance. I’d risked my life for our famiglia. This alliance wasn’t about weakness, but about growing stronger through partnership. In the grand scheme of both organizations, we had different goals. Yes, it all revolved around money—the more, the better.
The Roríguez cartel’s main income stream was illegal drugs. They dabbled in prostitution and gambling, where the famiglia sold illegal drugs and protection from the bratva. We used our businesses as a way to clean our income, better known as money laundering. Our established contacts within all levels of government and law enforcement allowed us liberties the cartel didn’t have.
Jorge answered his personal cell phone. “I’m disappointed.”
“Me too,” I replied. “Not like you think.”
His volume rose and his accent thickened. “You’d double-cross me?”
“No.” I took a breath. “We don’t have much time. Listen to me.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m now capo.”
Thirty minutes ago~
The realization hitlike the strike of his hand against a ten-year-old child. Our father was double-crossing Roríguez.
The alliance with Roríguez was why Catalina was mine.
Mine.
The twisting in my chest was a weakness. Love was a weakness. It was one our father had avoided his entire life, with his wife, mistress, and sons. I hadn’t been that fortunate. In the short time Catalina had been forced into my life, she’d severed the hard outer shell of my heart in a way I never thought possible.
“What will that mean for my marriage and my wife?” I asked.
“Fucking keep her or let her go. You could put her to work at Emerald Club. She’s nice on the eyes if you like that kind.”
The hilt of my knife found its way to my grasp.
Father laughed. “You can’t kill me. If you try, you’ll never be capo. Fuck, you won’t see tomorrow, and your wife and stray will be mine. Maybe I’ll fuck them first and decide if they should go to Herrera or maybe they have what it takes to work at Emerald Club.”
The blast of the gun ricocheted throughout the living room as spatter sprayed over the window, covering the smudge from earlier. Father crumpled in the chair, his body falling to the floor as he reached for the hole in his stomach. “You bitch,” he sputtered, blood seeping from his lips.
I spun with my knife at the ready as Dante did the same, his gun cocked and aimed.
Alesia stood, shaking, the gun still lifted as tears streamed down her bruised cheeks.
“Alesia,” I said in a calm voice, reaching forward. “Give me the gun.”
As if removed from a trance, her stare met mine. “It’s his gun.” Her arms fell to her sides. As if the gun suddenly weighed too much for her hold, she dropped it near her bare feet.
Dante ran to our father as I kicked the gun to the side of the room.
Alesia met my stare. “I don’t care if you kill me or have me killed. Just please make it quick.” She moved her gaze toward our father. “I wish he would suffer more.”
My lips twitched with a smirk. “You’re under our protection. What you did was self-defense. No law enforcement officer will deny you that right, nor any member of my famiglia.”
My.
The weight of responsibility fell hard onto my shoulders.
I was now capo dei capi.
After directing Alesia to a chair, I calmly walked toward my father. Dante was already kneeling near his body. Father’s fingers were covered in blood as he tried unsuccessfully to stop the bleeding.
“Get me help,” he gurgled, red covering his chin.
We could call the famiglia doctor or even an ambulance.
We weren’t going to do either.
I knelt and leaned my head over his until his orbs focused on mine. “I’ll see you in hell.”
His eyes opened wide. His words grew more difficult to understand. “You’d betray me?”
Dante turned to me. “He seems fucking surprised.”
“There’s your weakness, Father,” I said. “You taught us to be heartless. You were too good of a teacher.”
“Should have” —blood continued to slip from his lips— “gotten rid of that fucking stray” —bubbles of red punctuated his words— “long ago.” He closed his eyes. “Waited too long.”
“Josie.” Red was no longer relegated to our father’s blood. The color seeped through my vision, reddening my world.
“I took her from you.” He coughed. “Catalina is next.”
“You’ll never again harm what is mine.”
Father’s eyes sent the daggers his body was no longer capable of hurling. His features twisted in agonizing expressions, giving me hope that hell was welcoming him into the flames.
We waited.
His blood darkened as it pooled near his body and urine saturated his pants. It wasn’t uncommon for a body to release fluids upon death. Seeing our father this way was more satisfying than I’d imagined. A full minute passed before I pressed the tips of my fingers to his neck. “No pulse.”
Standing, I turned to Alesia. “Wait a half hour before calling the police. I want some time before this news gets out. Tell the KCPD what you did, what he’d done, and if they ask about time, say you don’t recall. You were in a stupor or something. Dante and I left before you shot him.”
She nodded.
“Call no one else.” I meant her brother, Tommaso, and she knew it. “Follow my orders and you have my word: you’ll be under our protection. All that he afforded you—the apartment and an allowance—will remain. Betray me, and your wish will not be granted. You’ll suffer.”
Alesia shuddered. “You have my word.” Her bloodshot eyes came my way as her forehead furrowed. “How is it possible to love and hate at the same time?”
The same person?
I didn’t have an answer.
When it came to my father, I couldn’t recall any emotion other than hate. Maybe, just maybe, one person could have those two conflicting emotions within themselves directed at different people.
Hate - love.
Honor - betrayal.
Cruelty - kindness.
The list went on and on…
Leaving Alesia’s question unanswered, Dante and I washed our hands and calmly made our way to the elevators. Once the doors closed, Dante turned to me. “Do you think we can trust her?”
“I do. She could have shot us both. She didn’t.”
He nodded. “Mom will be pissed.”
I scoffed. “That our father is dead? Fuck no.”
“No,” Dante said with a laugh. “That Alesia will be under the famiglia’s protection. She’ll throw a fucking party that Father is no more.”
“They call it a wake.”
“And it will be bigger than your fucking wedding.”
Once the elevator opened, we approached the SUV.
Giovanni rushed around to open our doors. “Mrs. Luciano is trying to reach you.”
Sitting in the back seat, I pulled out my phone. I’d missed two calls from my wife. “We need to find Carmine and Salvatore,” I said to Dante before hitting the call button.
“Are you safe?” my wife asked as the call connected, demonstrating her ability to care and love above all.
“Cat,” I said, using her shortened name, wanting to reassure her of what I wasn’t certain. “There’s a lot…”
Present time~
“You’re capo?”Roríguez questioned.
“You’re the first to know,” I said, looking at Dante. Technically, Jorge wasn’t the first, but the first outside the famiglia. “You and I have an alliance that my father was ready to end. I stand by it, meaning the Luciano famiglia, Catalina, and the Roríguez cartel. If you believe me, I’ll tell you what I know.”
Roríguez sounded skeptical. “Vincent said you wanted out. Wanted to rid yourself of Catalina.”
I clenched my jaw. “She’s mine. No matter what happens today, that won’t change.”
“Tell me what you know.”
As quickly as I could, I let Jorge know my father’s unwillingness to step down, his unexpected demise, and about the Herrera double cross.
My uncles were ahead of us, reaching Lee’s Summit Municipal Airport before us. If Dante and I were correct in interpreting what Father was saying, the Ruiz men were about to land in an ambush. We had to get there before the plane.
We were almost to the airport when Armando called. I put the call on speaker. He’d started talking before I could let him know about Father. With each of Armando’s words or phrases, I gripped the phone tighter. The damn thing almost crumbled in my grasp.
“Take him to the basement in the club,” I said, speaking of Rocco. Turning, I saw the glint in Dante’s eyes. “We’ll question him after we have this situation taken care of. Where are Catalina and Jasmine?”
“Contessa took them to the safe room.”
“If Dante and I don’t make it back, get Mrs. Luciano to her family. She isn’t safe in the famiglia with anyone else in charge.” My father was included in that scenario, but obviously, no longer a problem.
“Yes, sir.”
After the call disconnected, I spoke to my brother. “You’re now my second. My consigliere. If I die today, give me your word you’ll make sure Catalina is safe.”
“You’re not dying today.”
Inhaling, my nostrils flared.
“I heard what you said to her on the phone.”
I swallowed.
Dante went on, “You said you love her. Jasmine too.”
“Protect them both.”
“You’ve got that handled, but you’re damn right. I’ll be there too.”