CHAPTER 7
Ellie
“Skulls, Mark! Arguably the worst mobster out of all four mobs! If we were waiting for a sign we need to pull her out, this is it!”
“Eleanna, mia vita, calm down.”
“Really? Calm down? You think telling me to calm down is the right move right now?” Mark winces and I go on, “You promised me!”
“I promised you we would do what we could for her, when we could. This is huge, this marriage. The Irish and the Italians merging, it’s going to change everything. We’re all reeling from this. Now is not the time to tell Luna the truth, not only could she use us as leverage with her father—”
“She wouldn’t!” I say
“She might. She wants to be don, she could hand us over on a platter in exchange for her throne. Plus, in a month she’ll be sharing a bed with the head of the Irish mafia.
Another place she’d want some bargaining power.
Telling her now would be suicide for us all.
” He softens his tone. “Think about it, sweetheart. Think about your friend. Luna’s personality, her history.
We can’t just rip off the bandaid with her. ”
He’s right.
I hate it, but it’s true.
My best friend craves power and control.
She could absolutely turn on us to gain both.
She would hate it, it would kill her to do it, because I’m her oldest friend.
But I could see her doing it anyway. Just like I lie to her everyday.
I slouch in my desk chair, next to Mark’s.
It’s still odd that I have a chair in his “war room.”
“Can you at least ask O to accelerate the timeline with her? Can she become a top priority?”
Mark grimaces and I look away because I understand.
My husband and his secret boss and their giant teams of people—spies—have priorities like infiltrating the cartels in the south, installing one of their own as the literal king of some small African country, manipulating the US stock market, the laws, the news.
That’s in addition to their work within the four syndicates.
“Okay,” I concede. “Forget about bringing her in. What can you do to stop this marriage at least?”
“Ellie—”
“No, don’t Ellie me. You have so much power! Use it to manipulate him, or manipulate Luna’s dad. There has to be some other way to appease them both outside of my best friend marrying that monster! Do something!”
“I’ll try but think about it. How exactly can I, Texas senator Mark White, get involved without it being fishy as hell?
Even—” I start to protest but he pulls my chair so I’m nestled in between his legs and he rests his palms on my thighs as he gently continues.
“Even if we don’t use me, let’s say we use one of our men on the inside with the Italians or the Irish, if we even have some in play right now, and if they could get in front of their boss.
Hell, even if we could pull the Russians in to object to this somehow, since they won’t like this merger at all, what can anyone possibly say to stop two ruthless, billionaire, all-powerful, untouchable dons from doing whatever the hell they want?
” A sob bubbles up in my chest at the hopelessness of it.
It’s just like Luna said. “The signatures have dried, mi amor, I’m so sorry.
Everyone in the world is going to sit and watch how this partnership plays out. Then we can start to make a plan.”
“Will you at least ask?” I croak.
“I will. I promise you,” he says with a scratchy voice as he reaches up to wipe a tear away.
“He’s evil, Mark. She can’t marry him.”
Mark lets out a tiny scoff. “We’re all evil, Eleanna. And I kind of get the feeling that if there's anyone who can go up against Skulls Quinn, it’s Luna Mancini.”