Chapter 53 Stan #3
“According to Korhonen, her assassination came as direct orders from his friends. Not the Albanians. Which I actually believe is a possibility because the Albanians are loyal to no leader. They go through them like I go through diapers for my kid.” She grunted.
“The Albanians are just the puppets and Korhonens’ people are pulling their strings, willing to kill whoever gets in their way. ”
Aidan drummed his fingers on the desk, but I could tell the words dug deep. “Why are you sharing this with me, Eva?”
“This is your official notice that we’ll be siding with whoever’s bankrolling the Albanians.” All of us jolted in bewilderment. “On the face of it. Hence the subterfuge in meeting. I heard you’ve declared war on the Albanians. We want in. From afar. Do we have an understanding?”
Silence settled between us, but Aidan eventually broke it with: “We do, but why are they so all-fired powerful? Enough for this deceit.”
“I’ve always hated the Albanians. When I worked the beat in NYC, there were only small pockets of them floating around the city, smaller even than the enclaves they established in our turf, but the lot of them were pigs.
“Then, when I gained my detective shield, I always knew there was something funky going on with that Nolita whorehouse. Just surprised it’s taken this long for it to come out. Should’ve trusted my gut then, but I didn’t, so I am now.”
“You were a cop?” Kitty burst out.
Eva chortled. “A good one. My clearance rate was 92%.”
“Until you were accused of decapitating—”
She tsked. “Do I bring up your ancient history, Aidan?”
For the first time, his expression eased as he laughed.
“Takes a lot to make my skin crawl, but the Albanians have achieved it. Our kids won’t be raised on turf that we share with those butchers—that’s our unofficial stance.
After repeatedly informing Korhonen that his offer was of no interest to us, he shifted gears.
Told us we could take out the Albanians for good.
Now, I just told you I have no love for those animals, but the lack of loyalty tells me this cabal is a piece of shit.
What’s to stop them from selling us out next? ”
“Agreed. They contacted you for a reason,” Aidan rumbled. “What’s their endgame, Eva?”
“Nationwide, the controlling factions consider the Albanians to be nothing more than vermin. They’re losing numbers hand over fist as your people and ours take them out.
This cabal obviously wised up that their foot soldier of choice comes with neither status nor willpower, and from what I picked up on via Korhonen, that matters. Image is everything.
“That they’re willing to shed them if we agreed to their terms tells me what I already knew—we’re bigger players and through us, they’d gain access to two major cities, but they won’t get it.
“Our time in the US is over. The territory we hold in the US serves a purpose—Martinez wants no more of it. On top of that, if Martinez wanted NYC and LA, he’d have taken them by force.
We’re Mexican. Our future is here. Not the States.
They’re offering us something that holds no interest to us and we told him so. ”
“Why are you calling me if this is a fait accompli?”
“When wheedling and whining didn’t work, Korhonen decided to resort to threats on our far-flung people. We don’t respond well to threats on family…”
Calmly, I inserted, “The Sicilian factions on both coasts will protect your family.”
“The Irish will in NYC,” Aidan confirmed. “We just need names if they’re not blatantly associated with the Lobos Rojos.”
“That’s what I wanted to hear. We’ll be taking out the Albanians, but these fuckers are cowards. Scared of their own men now that they’ve attained too much power.”
“I can’t say I’m surprised if they’re as crazy as you say they are,” Kitty tacked on.
“That’s their problem. Not mine. When I have something I want to share with you, I’ll go through you, Kitty. You’ll be my point of contact. These fuckers are about to learn that red wolves play with their kills—”
“Eva?”
The other woman paused at my duci’s interruption. “What?”
“How’s Beatriz?”
“Depressed. She has your number, Kitty. Storm gave it to her. Not all shit ends well even if we have the best of intentions.”
On that surprisingly kind note, she ended the call.
Aidan pinched the bridge of his nose. “Who’s Beatriz?”
“A mutual friend,” I inserted before she could answer.
The head of the Five Points pursed his lips. “Thank you, I suppose, Kitty. I assume you don’t mind being drafted in—”
“She might not, but I do,” I muttered.
“Stan,” she argued.
“No. This is dangerous.”
“It may be, but Eva made sure she’d have cross protection, didn’t she?
Kitty, through blood and… relationships, has ties to the Irish Mob, the Cosa Nostra, Camorra, as well as her sister-in-law’s links to the Disciples in LA.
Never mind the cavalcade of allies Aurora has collected over the years of her reign, Custanzu.
“I understand why she didn’t contact Jennifer now. That would be too high profile. Lucas lives in my building and Kitty can clearly gain access to me without much fanfare.”
“Jennifer might still be at risk,” Lucas pointed out. “She’d be the obvious candidate for a go-between, Aidan.”
“True.” He deliberated, “Tell your brother, Custanzu?”
“I will.”
“Prepare to hear from me shortly. Lucas, see to my guests, if you would?” Aidan rolled his chair around to face the window behind him. “I expect news of an engagement soon, Custanzu.”
Kitty sputtered, “Aidan, you can’t—”
I tugged on her hand and fiddled with her ring. “Soon.”
She glowered at me, but I ignored it. Ignored Lucas’s satisfied smirk too.
As her brother led us to the elevator, he muttered, “What the fuck have you gotten yourself involved in, Kitty?”
She gnawed on the inside of her cheek as I pushed the button for the parking garage. “I don’t know. I’m not even sure why I came up on her radar.”
“Lies,” I half-teased, because I was pissed about this too. “You returned Beatriz to the fold.” At her grimace, I placed a hand at the small of her back. “We will keep you safe, won’t we, Lucas?”
“Of course we will.” He pressed his knuckles under her chin. “Keep it up, squirt.”
She shoved his arm on the way out of the elevator. “Jackass.”
“Just doing what I do best,” he hollered as the doors closed behind us.
Flipping him yet another bird over her head, to me, she tutted. “Engagement?”
“You knew it was coming,” I drawled, utterly unapologetic. “I intended on waiting until you were either pregnant or wouldn’t freak out about the length of our relationship.”
Before she could grumble further at me, my phone rang.
“It’s Luc,” I informed her. “Frate?”
“Aidan’s called another Summit. I assume it’s tied to his conversation with Kitty?”
“Probably. Eva called. Will loop you in in person. When’s the Summit?”
“This afternoon.”
“Cristu. Okay—”
“He’ll send coordinates later. Where are you?”
“O’Donnelly’s building.”
“I’ll meet you there. Kitty—”
“Comported herself beautifully.”
“Bonu. You can tell me more on the ride over to wherever the hell we’re going.”
“Speak soon, frate.” I cut the line then explained what was going down to Kitty.
“He’s acting fast.”
“He is. Too fast. Reacting instead of acting.” I pulled a face. “And you Irish say that we’re the hot-blooded ones.”
A smile danced on her lips before it faded into nothingness. “What’s going to happen, Stan?”
I cupped her chin. “There’s no way for me to answer that.”
“What do they want?”
“Inroads into the two biggest cities in the States.” I hitched a shoulder. “Even the rich and famous need access to hookers, guns, and drugs. The Albanians might be animals, but they have long-established trafficking routes and zero morals—”
Her expression turned glacial. “This is about you.”
“I doubt it.”
“Stan, get real. Red and C-L-O—”
“C-L-O is a closely guarded secret!”
“Just Red, then. It’s the new heroin, Stan. You single-handedly created a pandemic, and they want the cities where the Sicilians have massive footholds and you have no idea how many people are addicted—”
“It’s expensive! We priced out the majority of buyers.”
“And made it so only the elite can afford it. The elite who, for some reason, think only with their penises and their hindbrains.”
I let that sink in. “Fuck.”
“Yeah.” She rolled her eyes. “Not only that, but it’s a drug with wider potential. Especially if it’s tweaked. Maybe instead of coming up with a cure, you need to temper its effects.”
“You wouldn’t have a problem with that?”
“Down that path lies fewer deaths. I have to find comfort in that.”
I gripped the back of my neck. “Do you want to stay here? I don’t have time to drive you home, but I can call in Luigi.”
“Nah. I’ll go back to Lucas’s. Cat sit for him while he’s out on business.”
“He has a cat?!” I sputtered.
She snorted. “Sure does. Black as night. Neev calls Dubh1 his familiar.”
“I’m sure your very Catholic mother appreciates that.”
Her chuckle was music to my ears, especially considering how prickly she could be about Red.
“Oh, she’s a hypocrite. She came up with the name.
” She leaned on tiptoe and pressed her hands to my chest. “You’ll be safe?
” Her fierce tone filled me with relief—she hadn’t stopped caring. Despite my, well… everything.
If this whole goddamn mess did have anything to do with my creation, then…
Did I mention I felt like Frankenstein?
I deepened the kiss. “I have you to come home to now.”
Her eyes sought mine, and after endless moments of studying them for only God knew what, she whispered, “You do.”