6. Isabella
6
ISABELLA
I f the doors of the Harlem Prince’s Hand Casino could shatter from ruthless entry, the glass would be all over the lobby floor. But my dramatic entrance is somewhat marred by the soft close feature.
Nonetheless, the few who are around to see me arrive stare openly, jaws dropping as I march right up to the reception counter.
Perhaps it has something to do with the fact I’m still wearing my dress from the night before. Or that the skirt is split straight up my leg from where I ripped it falling down the side of the Plaza Hotel . Or that I look like I’m about to murder someone.
“Where is he?” I snap at Simon.
He immediately puts the phone down, shock causing his hands to fumble. “Isabella!”
I don’t have time for this.
I walk past with a wave of my hands, bypassing the security gate with my middle finger raised at the guard, who makes a valiant step forward to stop me. He must be new, or else he has a death wish.
Storming through the casino floor, I note the usual crowd of gamblers huddled around the slot machines where they’ve likely been stationed since the night before. Unlike the staff, who I can sense whispering behind my back, they don’t look up as I pass.
It’s usually quieter in the mornings, and a part of me is grateful not to be making a complete spectacle of myself. But I’m sure the gossip will reach everyone in an unfairly short amount of time.
The premium poker rooms are unusually empty as I slip by, but will likely fill up again before nightfall. From there, it’s only a couple of swinging doors to the backrooms. Each bears a more aggressive “staff only” sign that I dutifully ignore.
Finally, I punch in the code to the door that will lead me up to the mezzanine that overlooks the casino floor.
My brother's favored meeting room allows him to stare down at his domain through eight inches of reinforced bullet-proof glass.
I make it halfway down the corridor toward it when the door is wrenched open.
“Isabella!”
Leon Natali looks like he hasn’t slept. His usually perfect dirty blonde hair is sticking out at odd angles, and it seems he’s worried his tie all the way off, revealing far too much chest to be considered proper.
“Jesus, Leon. You look like a pimp.” I roll my eyes as I approach.
The worry and relief in his eyes instantly give way to annoyance. “Have you seen yourself?”
“Still prettier than you, though.” I give his cheek a squeeze and he immediately tries to swat my hand away.
“What the hell happened, Issy?”
I glance over his shoulder into the meeting room and groan at the sight of my brother's assembled council.
“Nothing I couldn’t handle myself, ” I bite back. “Please tell me that’s not what I think it is?” I say, gesturing behind him.
“He abducted you, Issy. What was I supposed to do?”
“Let me fucking handle it!”
Leon puts a very firm hand on my shoulder, forcing me to look him in the eye.
“Handle what, exactly? Because I sure as hell didn’t give you permission to wander off into a fucking hornet's nest on my behalf.”
I meet his glare beat for beat. “You don’t give me orders.”
“So this was what? sSome stupid attempt to undermine me?”
“Actually, she got her orders from me.”
We turn in unison to see that someone else has approached the door.
Her slim frame is adorned as always with the very height of fashion. tToday she opted for a dark Chanel dress and matching Louboutins. Her silver hair is styled in a perfect blow-out, the very definition of aging with grace.
I can only hope that such good genes run in the family.
“ Mamma,” I greet her with a blown-out breath. “What are you doing in Harlem?”
She greets me with two brief kisses, one on either cheek. When she steps back, there’s a bemused expression on her face. “You smell like sex, bambina.”
I can practically hear Leon stiffening at my side. “I’m going to execute him.”
Without missing a beat, Leon storms back into the room, Every man at that table sitting straighter in their chair at the sight of his rampage.
“We attack tomorrow at dawn, starting at the fucking Candelabra and systematically burning down every property in the Guild’s portfolio,” he announces.
I share a look with my mother before we both follow him inside. To my dismay, this doesn’t seem to be an empty threat. Leon has the plan projected onto the back wall and the map of New York and Brooklyn in the middle of the table is riddled with marks.
“You’ve got to be joking,” I comment aloud, earning me a few wary glances from around the table. At least the men have enough respect– or fear– not to comment on the state of my attire.
“Vitale started this.” Leon points at me angrily. “I’m going to fucking finish it.”
“Jesus, Leon. This isn’t a schoolyard. You can’t just start a war with the Guild because you feel slighted.”
His eyes bulge at me. “Slighted? Vitale declared war on this family the second he decided to abduct you. He flaunted you, Issy. You think I can just stand by while he disrespects me like that?”
“I got away, didn’t I?” I fold my hands over my chest. “Which tells you what?”
“That he’s a fucking fool!”
I roll my eyes. “Now you get it. Teo Vitale is not a threat to you. He talks the talk but has no follow-through. Plus, he has the inflated ego of someone who’s been coddled by the Morettis his entire life. Starting a war would just be a waste of resources.”
“How did you escape?”
This question comes from my mother, now casually leaning against the wall near the door.
I turn to her with a knowing look. “He was very easy to distract.”
We’ve always been able to communicate like this, small looks that share what we’re both feeling. I suppose it comes from years of being under her near-constant tutelage, hoping to shape me into her own little protégé.
I don’t suffer under any delusion that our relationship is, well, different from most mothers and daughters. For one thing, Ida looks quite proud that I was able to do what needed to be done in order to escape.
From what I’ve gathered, most mothers don’t encourage their daughters to use their bodies to get what they want. But we’re not like most families. And I will always be grateful that she trained me to be a weapon in my own right.
Daughters are too often neglected in favor of nurturing the male heir. I like to consider myself quite lucky.
“Isabella is right, Leon.” Ida turns to address the room. Her voice is quieter than Leon’s angry shouts but holds no less authority. “There is no point attacking the Guild now that she’s been safely returned to us.”
Leon glowers at us both, clearly feeling somewhat outnumbered despite the fact the dozen or so other men in the room are quite literally at his beck and call.
Finally, his gaze lands on Ida. “Why did you tell her to go?”
Ida moves to the head of the table, her movements so graceful I could have sworn she was floating to Leon’s side.
“Whether you like it or not, the Guild has a chokehold on Brooklyn. The only reason they haven’t crossed the East River is because of our alliance with Giuliano Moretti.” She spells it out as if she’s speaking to a child.
This seems to infuriate Leon more. “I know, but?—”
“It is in our best interest not to go to war, Leon,” she snaps over his interruption, “because, quite frankly, I’m not sure you’d be able to win.”
This clear display of defiance immediately increases the tension in the room tenfold.
“You underestimate me, Mother,” Leon replies through his teeth.
“I appreciate you perfectly. If you want to take down the Guild, fine. But you need to be smarter than,” she gestures with an unimpressed look at the plan to set seemingly the entirety of Brooklyn on fire, “this. Besides, your sister can handle herself.”
Ida is right, of course. But her dressing down only seems to aggravate the issue. I note the way several of the men exchange glances.
It’s not an ideal situation. My father’s death had been rather abrupt and Leon’s ascension to don hadn’t exactly been a smooth transition. And, with my mother perched on Leon’s shoulder, the seeds of dissent will quickly spread.
They’d tolerated it with my father, but it seems the Prince’s Hand wasn’t keen to have their don puppeteered by Ida Natali again. It’s inherently sexist, really. But I’ve seen organizations crumble under lesser circumstances.
That’s why I find myself playing peacekeeper so often.
“Why are you here, Mamma?” I say firmly enough to snatch everyone’s attention. “If you knew I’d be fine, you shouldn’t have left the safe house.”
Ida smirked. “Your brother was considering handing over information about me. I needed to talk him out of it.”
“A phone call would have sufficed,” Leon grumbles, despite us all knowing that was most certainly not enough to stop him when he got angry like this.
I nod, taking an empty chair at the opposite end of the table, suddenly feeling entirely exhausted. “Well, at least we know what Teo is after. He had both Leon and I in his grasp, but didn’t take the opportunity to kill us.”
“I think I’d prefer death over whatever he did to you,” Leon declares, also taking a seat.
I pointedly ignored him. “He’s after you, Mamma . This means that he’ll be tracking all of us and attempting to infiltrate our systems to get your location. You need to leave New York as soon as possible and triple your security.”
Ida sighs. “I hate having to hide away all the time.”
“As long as he can’t find you, we have an advantage.” I turn to look at my brother. “You want to smoke Teo out and take your revenge? All you need to do is bait him.”
Leon nods. “Could you make a trail to one of our locations?”
I shrug, my skills with a computer are well known at this point. Feeding Teo information would be childsplay.
“If we can get him to cross into our territory, then he’s fair game,” Leon adds.
“To do what?” Ida interrupts. “Beat him to a pulp?”
“What I have planned is far more excruciating.”
I feel an odd sensation come over me, something akin to dread, perhaps. The thought of Teo and Leon fighting is…unsettling, to say the least.
I tell myself it’s because I’m not sure who would win.
“Teo is still the don of the Guild,” I point out. “If anything happens to him, they will seek retribution.”
Leon glares at me. “It’s bad enough that my mother thinks so. But you? You think I couldn’t win a war?”
“You won’t win a damn thing if you’re dead before it starts,” I snapped right back.
Leon throws his hands in the air. “Fine, so what, we lure him here and just talk to him?”
“No,” Ida interrupts once more. “There’s no way he’d be civil with our family. We’d have to force his hand somehow.”
“He’s not going to agree to an alliance,” I tell her.
Ida shakes her head in agreement. “We might have had hope with Giuliano’s son, but the Vitale family have had a vendetta against ours for half a century.”
A cool shiver runs down my spine. I don’t need reminding about our history. The cruelty of the Vitales has been keeping me awake at night since I was a child.
“So our only choice is to dismantle them,” Leon decides firmly.
Finally, Ida seems to agree with him. “It is possible, with preparations and an upper hand. If we lure Teo here, there’s only one thing we can hope to get out of him.”
“... more time,” I finished for her.