29. Massimo
29
MASSIMO
My phone rang late afternoon the next day.
I held up one finger for Romeo and Elio to be silent as I answered the call, putting it on speaker.
“Andre. To what do I owe this pleasure?”
“Cut the crap, De Luca. I want my daughter back. I know you have her.”
“Your daughter? You mean the girl who escaped the Bratva and came to my territory for help?”
“You’re lying. Lina wouldn’t have done that. She knows what her responsibilities are.”
“Does she? Or do you think you’ve spoiled the girl a little too much? And the first time she doesn’t get what she wants, she throws a tantrum?”
“Tantrum,” he spat out on the phone. “If you don’t give me back my daughter back, I will fucking come and get her back.”
Elio grinned at Andre’s words.
“Then come and get her,” I said. “We’ll be sure to give you a warm welcome.”
I would fucking love for him to come into my territory, with all the might of the fucking Bratva and any traitors he had been able to lure away from Emilio.
He sputtered something unintelligible through the line, but I hung up on him before he could form words. I turned to my brother.
Elio chuckled darkly. “You think he’ll do it? For his daughter?”
“He is more concerned about what it will do to his reputation if word got out that I have his daughter than he is about her well-being. What would the men following him think?”
“That they have made a mistake,” Romeo chimed in. “And he would be dealing with nothing but chaos for a while.”
I nodded in agreement.
“What do you want us to do?” Elio asked.
“I want you to find where the Bratva is keeping their merchandise. I don’t think it’s in New York with them. At least, not after the initial inspection.”
Elio frowned. “You think he would use Chicago?”
“He does have Andre to show him all the good hiding places.”
“That’s risky. And stupid. If Emilio got even the slightest hint that it was in his territory, he would stop at nothing to get to it. Then they would be out millions of dollars.”
“It’s bold,” I said. “And it serves as a statement. It sounds like something Boris Novikov would do.”
“What, is the little shit calling all the shots now?” Romeo murmured.
I turned to my younger brother. “It wouldn’t surprise me if he was. Senior Novikov is getting up in age. And there had been whispers that his men were dissatisfied with some of his decisions lately. Like pairing up with the Devil’s Wings MC.”
Which wouldn’t have been such a bad decision, considering that they now have us surrounded on both ends. From New York to California, where the MC’s chapter was located, to some of Andre’s contacts in Chicago, had the Devil’s Wings MC’s president been anyone but Cameron O’Connor—a fucking traitor to the Irish Mob near the Canadian border.
No one had forgotten the embarrassment he caused the O’Connor’s name by getting scammed by the FBI and telling all of their secrets. He ran to California with his tail tucked between his legs. And if there was one thing that was unforgivable, it was working with the feds, knowingly or worse— unknowingly .
“Elio, I want you to contact Valentino and see if he could find anything. I don’t think the Novikov Bratva is hiding anything important directly in Chicago, but perhaps somewhere near it. Have him burn anything Russian . I want to draw them out to this war. If a runaway wife wouldn’t do it, a loss in merchandise will.”
So far, they had been quiet, even with news of Lina in Las Vegas. I was beginning to think Boris might not be too upset over her disappearance. I didn’t fucking blame him.
I looked at Romeo. “Would you be willing to take Lina in? Just for a few days before I send her to one of our safe houses.”
His eyes widened as Elio laughed and patted him on the back.
Romeo shook his head. “Not for all the cannoli in the world, brother. That’s your little problem.”
I let out a small sigh. “Even if I ask it as your capo?”
“You can have my head,” the little shithead said, knowing full well I would have chopped off my right arm first before I ever let anything bad happen to him.
I turned to Elio. He shook his head and started backing away. “I’ll go call Tino right away.”
Romeo followed him, not looking back, leaving me alone to stew in the silence.
It had been five days since the bitch arrived, and there didn’t seem to be a moment’s peace in my home. And I hadn’t fucked Luna since the night she saw Lina peeking in through our room. Even if my wife was getting more adventurous in the bedroom, she had refused with Lina around.
I clenched my fists.
Fuck, what a headache.
I came home to a quiet and dark house.
Unusual, but not concerning, considering I knew Luna was home and hadn’t left the house all day.
Lina either.
My wife was probably holed up in our room, hiding from her sister. Something I fucking hated. She was now hiding in her own home. I had half a mind to just send Lina back to Andre and wash my hands clean of it.
I walked into my office and headed straight for the bottle of scotch, pouring a generous amount and taking a huge sip. Movement by the door caught my attention, and I looked up to see Lina standing there in a thin short robe and a smile I didn’t fucking trust one bit on her face.
“What are you doing up?” I asked, keeping my eyes on her.
She sashayed her way over to me, the smile firmly in place. Would she smile so much if she knew how the sight of it turned my stomach?
“I can’t sleep,” she answered softly. Lina didn’t speak softly. In fact, her voice was coarse, almost grating to the ears.
I nodded, downed the rest of my drink, and walked past her for the door. “Well, good night.”
She grabbed my hand, halting me.
I turned around, looking at where she touched me, then back up at her. She quickly dropped my hand.
I nodded and moved to leave once more when her voice stopped me.
“You were supposed to be mine.”
I turned amused eyes over to her, looking her up and down. “Is that so?”
Her eyes turned predatory, so unlike her sister. “It is so. We were supposed to be married.”
I laughed.
Her face pinched at the sound, and she crossed her arms over her chest. “What’s so funny?”
“Even if you hadn’t backed out of the marriage and put your sister up as some sort of sacrificial lamb to me, we wouldn’t have married.”
“You agreed to the arranged marriage before you’d even stepped foot in Chicago.”
I nodded. “True. I did. And I would have walked into Lombardi’s house, saw Luna, and demanded she take your place instead.”
Her eyes darkened, and her skin took on a deep red. “You’re lying.”
“I’m not.”
“But why?” she hissed, her composure cracking. “I’m better than her. I look better in your arms than she does. That meek little mouse couldn’t even suck your cock off without your instruction! I’m the one who was groomed for this role. Luna was never meant to?—”
The fact that she even mentioned seeing us in our most intimate moment sent waves of anger through me.
I cut her off with a sharp laugh, even if there was nothing humorous about the situation. “You think so? Better?” I scoffed. “The moment I saw Luna, I knew she was the one I wanted. You?” I gestured dismissively. “You’re exactly what I expected. Calculating. Cold. Someone I would never be able to trust, let alone love.”
Lina’s eyes flashed dangerously. “You love Luna?” She shook her head as if in denial. “Impossible.”
“I love my wife. With everything in me,” I said softly, thinking of my wife’s warmth, her genuine kindness. “She is everything I could hope for and so much more.”
She’d managed to do the impossible and got my dead heart beating again. How could I not love her?
For a moment, Lina’s mask slipped, revealing a cocktail of emotions—envy, rage, and something dark and desperate. The illusion her parents had tried so hard to paint for her was slowly crumbling.
Then those emotions disappeared, replaced by a plastic smile.
“I can give you everything she can’t.”
She raised her hand, making a move to touch me. I grabbed her wrist, preventing her from doing so before pushing her away. “You would never match up.”
She opened her mouth, about to say something, when a voice rang out from behind me. “Enough.”
I turned around to see Luna there, anger marring her face. She pointed a finger at Lina. “I want her out of here, now.”
“Done,” I answered, pulling out my phone and bringing up Romeo’s contact, ignoring the piercing scream Lina let out. He picked up on the first ring. “I need you to come over and escort Lina to one of our safe houses. She can stay there for as long as she wants, but the moment she leaves, we are no longer responsible for what happens to her.”
Lina screeched and made a move toward Luna. I grabbed the girl and held her off. “Calm down,” I said.
She didn’t calm down. If anything, her screams got louder.
I pulled her over to the office chair and grabbed the duct tape in the drawer, tying her hands and feet together and taping over her mouth. She glared up at me.
The whole time, Luna stood and watched us stoically.
Thankfully, Romeo was close by. It only took him ten minutes to get here.
His eyes quickly assessed the situation as they moved from Luna to me and finally to Lina. The girl struggled harder at the sight of my brother. Romeo let out a small sigh, not saying anything as he moved over to Lina and lifted her up. He grunted when she wiggled in his arms, and he nearly dropped her.
He was gone just as quickly as he entered. I barely glanced over at them, keeping my eyes on Luna. The expressionless look in her eyes worried me. Was she angry? How much had she heard? And did she know just how impossible it was for me to ever choose anyone else who wasn’t her?
I hadn’t known that first moment I’d met her, but I had felt it. Felt the fact that her mere existence had somehow fundamentally changed me, and I had been scared shitless.
Scared and unable to let her go.
Agreeing to Enzo’s arrangement during the meeting that day had been to give myself some time and think about the marriage in case I needed to call it off. Seeing her that first time had made it impossible for me to even think about calling the wedding off.
I had wanted her badly.
I still wanted her.
Slowly, I walked over and wrapped my arms around her waist. She seemed to come alive then, wrapping her arms around me and burying her face in my chest. I let out a small sigh of relief, holding her just a little tighter against me, not wanting to let her go any time soon.
Forever with her, I imagined, would be just enough time for me to let her go.
“What was that?” I asked when I heard her mumbling something against my chest.
“You love me,” she breathed out, her animated gray eyes telling me she couldn’t believe it.
I frowned. “You seem surprised?”
She shook her head and shrugged, not saying anything.
“Then I must not have been doing a good job of showing you just how much I fucking love you,” I said. That had been a mistake on my part. One I wouldn’t be making again.
Her bottom lip trembled as tears filled her eyes.
“Baby,” I said, feeling my heart shattering at the sight of her sadness.
“I love you too.”
“Fuck,” was all I managed to get out, feeling all the air depleting from my lungs. I leaned down and pressed a hard kiss on her lips, reveling in the feel of her in my arms.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered against my lips when I pulled away.
“Why are you sorry?”
“For inviting Lina into our home and putting you in a position of having her harass you.”
My eyebrow rose over her words. I wouldn’t quite put it as harassment. More like an annoyance.
“Doesn’t matter,” I said, pressing my finger to her lips when it looked like she wanted to say something to that. “It really doesn’t. All that matters is you and me. Understand?”
She smiled softly at me, making my heart beat heavily in my chest. “Understand.”