CHAPTER 62 - RED
CHAPTER
Red
DARIO VEZZOZI regards me with wariness, but not at the level I’d expect from someone waltzing into the headquarters of an enemy labeled with being his boss’s killer.
Without taking my eyes from the big man, I casually pick my way around boxes of cleaning supplies, mops and buckets and nod towards one of two plastic chairs in the corner.
Eyeing a metal bucket full of cigarette ends, I swallow a smile. If my cleaners thought I didn’t know they locked themselves in here for cheeky smokes, I do now. But their little get-up has proved useful. “Take yourself a pew.”
Pulling the other plastic chair towards me, I sit down and spark up a cigarette, waiting as Dario sits on a chair that looks suspiciously ill-equipped to withstand his muscular bulk.
I cross my ankle over my opposite knee and tentatively lean against the wobbly plastic back of the seat. Falling on the floor right now would not be an image I want to present. “What do you want?”
“To warn you.” Dario’s voice is low and thick, the slight hint of an accent underneath.
I raise an eyebrow, my lips curling with a sneer. “Warn me? Warn me about what? If Luca’s sending his threats via you, then he...”
“I am not here on Luca Bristoni’s behalf. I’m not here on anyone’s behalf.” Dario’s dark brown eyes hold mine without a waver. “I’m here on my own behalf - as honor bound, I felt you should know.”
This time I can’t stop the sarcastic chuckle escaping my mouth.
“Honor bound? That’s rich coming from someone who works for Matteo Galvatore?
Or should I say, did work for Matteo Galvatore.
..” Tapping my ash on the concrete floor, I bide my time, almost enjoying this.
“How is Luca these days? Getting on okay now he’s on his own? ”
Dario’s eyes darken further, and his hands tense as he fights the urge to form them into fists. I’ve hit a nerve there for sure.
I stub my cigarette out. “Let’s ditch the shit. Why don’t you get to the point about what you’ve been sent to warn me about?”
“As I’ve already said, Mr Bateman, I’ve been sent by no one.
I’ve come here of my own volition as a man with a personal code of conduct to follow.
” Dario’s voice is cold and edged with irritation.
“But if you insist on treating me like a piece of shit, then I’m wasting my time and have weighed you up incorrectly. ”
I’m intrigued. Few would deem it wise to speak back to me, especially under these circumstances, and for that show of backbone, I’ll hear the guy out. I incline my head, acknowledging him to continue.
“You are correct that I worked for Galvatore. But it was Emiliano I worked for. He is an old friend of my father. Matteo handpicked me only recently, along with several other men, for a new project.”
“I gathered you were working for Matteo when you were spotted driving away from here after delivering an envelope.” I allow Dario to hear the venom in my voice.
“That is true. I did deliver a letter here for you as requested.” Thick sinews tense in Dario’s neck. “That was before I made the decision to defect.” His eyes hold mine. “I defected when I discovered what was planned for Luca’s estate.”
My senses switch to high alert. Defected? Is this a setup or is this man being straight? “Were you present when Matteo and Luca were holding my wife captive?” My hand moves to the gun in my waistband. I won’t hear anything a cunt who was part of holding my Arianna against her will has to say.
“No. I knew nothing about that at the time. I was only transferred to Matteo’s team when they moved to Carnforth House.”
“You were there the night he was shot dead?”
“No, I’d walked away by then. Once I learned of their plans, that was it.
” Dario shakes his head. “That shit is not something I would work with or for.” He rubs one of his big thumbs against a callous on the knuckle of his other hand.
“I did go back once I’d heard what happened though and cleared up. ”
“You returned Matteo’s body? Why?” I frown. “Why do any of that if you’d decided to cut ties?”
“Because the old man is decent. Emiliano had no part in Matteo’s plans, but I knew, like all Italian families, he’d want to bury his son, regardless of Matteo’s... morals.”
I study this man. “So, I return to the same question. What is it you want to warn me about?”
Dario folds his tree-trunk arms across his chest. “I’ve heard that Luca is regrouping...”
“Yeah, with the men who jumped ship from Emiliano the minute they guessed he was going down. We figured that out.”
Dario hesitates, gauging whether he should continue or not. I want him to tell me - my instinct is screaming that this man is genuine. “Go on,” I press.
“You’re right that Luca has Galvatore’s men who jumped ship on side, but he isn’t just regrouping. There are whispers he’s joined up with a branch of the Eredità della Luce.”
“The what?”
“Eredità della Luce. It’s an order with similar aims to Matteo,” Dario explains. “An ancient order that’s been around for years where I came from. Traditionalists, violent, obsessed with purity and bloodlines. They stop at nothing.”
A prickling sensation threads along my veins as Dario continues.
“They’ve wanted an English order for a long time. Matteo wanted his own, but now he’s gone, well, in a way you’ve done the Eredità della Luce a favor and opened a space for them.”
“And Luca Bristoni has grasped their offer with both hands?” I ask, things suddenly becoming worryingly clear.
“Luca alone isn’t particularly a problem.” Dario accepts a cigarette from the packet I offer. “But with this order, he will be. This order - they erase people and don’t lose.”
My forehead creases with thick lines. They will this time.
I sit back in the chair, past caring whether it falls apart. If what Dario Vezzozi says is true, and it seems likely, then the war is still coming, just from an unexpected angle.
And if that is the case, I’ll need all the men I can get.