Chapter 21
Chapter Twenty-One
KEANE
“I’m not asking, Carmine,” I tell the old man on the other end of the phone who has been pissing me off for the last ten minutes with his excuses.
Max and the Rossis had been allied with the two northeast syndicates controlled by Carmine Ricci and Marcellus Barone for the past twenty years. They’re who Max was meeting with when Levine took him and the other capos out, and when the entire shitshow with Andie happened.
Little do Ricci and Barone know, everything is about to change. Declan Levine has already infiltrated their organizations with his own men, much like he did with ours. But this time around, we’ll be allied with Levine, and when Andie is ready, we’ll strike and cut off the heads of the old guard and replace them with others who are loyal to us. Anyone in their organizations who doesn’t like the new changes will get a bullet in the head.
That’s what’s supposed to happen. But I don’t trust Levine. I don’t trust his intentions, and I certainly don’t fucking trust him with Andie. She may very well be his real daughter, but I can’t stop the niggling doubt in the back of my mind that says he’s using her. For what? I have no idea. Until I find out, Levine is my new best friend, and I will do whatever I have to do to protect Andie. Is this how Rafe felt? This piercing clawing inside of his chest for her? That he would be willing to go against his brothers, be willing to give up everything for her? If so, Rafe, Jax, and I aren’t that different. What Rafe did—how he betrayed us… But isn’t it the same thing I’m doing? Duplicity when weaved like a tangled web is a very tricky thing to navigate.
I cut Carmine off as I walk into the back room in the west wing. “I don’t give a shit. Ortiz came at us knowing full well I would retaliate. Max wouldn’t let that shit slide, and neither will I. And I don’t need your fucking permission or your opinion.”
I can hear the impatience in Carmine’s voice when he says, “We can’t afford to start a war with the cartel, Keane. Levine is who we should be focusing on. Marcellus and I have sent men to help find the girl. Max and Ortiz had a deal, one that will be honored. You’re the one who fucked up by letting Levine get his hands on her. Perhaps you are not ready to handle the position you now occupy.”
I bite back the fuck you I want to say to that. Marcellus has made it clear that he doesn’t want me taking over as don. His excuses are that I’m too young, too inexperienced, with no blood tie to the Rossi family. Kellan was supposed to be the next in line. He’d been groomed to be the next Rossi don since the day he was born.
I hear a slow exhale over the line as Carmine puffs on one of his fancy cigars. “We’ll find the girl and Rafael. Until we do, send Ortiz a peace offering as an apology from the families with the assurance we are taking care of the matter.”
I’m not giving that piece of shit a damn thing.
Disconnecting the call and pocketing my phone, I blow out an irritated breath. “You okay?” I ask Jax.
Hollis is finishing up a stitch on his shoulder where a bullet grazed him. Hollis has been on the Rossi payroll for a while. He’s a private practice cosmetic surgeon who asks no questions and is paid very well to look the other way.
Jax tips back the bottle of vodka he’s holding, chugging a generous amount to help numb the pain.
“He’s almost done.” He looks at Hollis, and I swear the guy’s hands shake when Jax stares at him. “Right?”
“Yep,” Hollis answers, cutting the thread and applying some ointment and a gauze bandage over the stitches. “Keep it dry for a few days. The stitches will dissolve on their own over time. You know the drill about signs of infection.”
Jax stands up, shrugging the stiffness from his shoulder and cracking his neck.
I pull Jax in and grip the back of his head, touching our foreheads together. “Glad you’re okay, man.”
I can’t lose another brother.
“How’s Enzo?” Jax inquires, reaching behind him to grab his shirt and pull it over his head.
Enzo is in the next room, sleeping. I’d checked on him earlier and only left him when Carmine called. Hollis was able to remove the bullet from Enzo’s hip. Through and through with no injury to anything vital, thank God, but he’ll be out of commission for a few weeks.
“Sleeping. Hollis gave him the good shit, so his ass will be knocked out for a while.” Turning to the doctor, I thank him.
“Call me if anything else comes up. I left enough pain meds and antibiotics to last a month,” he replies as I hand him an envelope full of cash. Hollis gives us a nod and promptly leaves. Dante is waiting outside in the hall to escort him to his car.
“Carmine and Marcellus are sending men to find Andie.”
Jax scowls as he takes out a rolled joint and lighter from his pocket. “Well, that’s fucking inconvenient.”
“As much as I want to kill Julio, we need to take care of the problem of the other families first.”
Jax blows out a ring of smoke and offers me the joint, but I decline. I don’t need to be in a mind fog right now. I have too much shit to take care of, and time is running out. My phone vibrates but I ignore it, not in the mood to deal with either Carmine or Marcellus anymore today.
As we walk out of the room and down the hall, I consider my options. Part of me wishes that I could turn my back on this life. Rafe had always wanted out. Wanted to live a normal life. Get married. Pop out a few kids. Enjoy the mundaneness of a nine-to-five job. But men like us never get a happy ending. Our souls are too black, and our hands are too bloody. There is no normal for us.
Jax stubs out his joint on one of the marble busts that sits on a pedestal inside a curved niche inset into the wall. Max was always buying stupid crap like that.
“I want her back here with us.”
“You prepared to knock her ass out and drag her here against her will?” I ask him.
Because that’s what we’d have to resort to. Andie made it clear that she wanted to stay with Declan and Rafe. After everything Max put her through, I don’t blame her. This house represents him and the abuse she endured at his hands. The cage and the beatings. The rapes. I’m surprised she hasn’t sent Declan to burn the entire place down yet.
My phone vibrates again just as Jax’s phone rings. “Ignore it,” I tell him.
He looks down at the screen in confusion and puts the phone on speaker.
“Alejandro and Julio just made the biggest fucking mistakes of their lives,” Andie clips out, her voice raw and husky as if she’s been crying.
Jax and I look at each other.
“Alejandro came after me, and Rafe was… he may not…” Her breath comes out ragged, and she doesn’t finish her sentence.
What the ever-loving fuck? I don’t realize I’m cracking the screen of Jax’s phone with the grip I have on it until he quickly extricates it from my hand.
Andie’s voice snaps over the speaker, “Now open the fucking door.” The line goes dead.