Chapter 18
EIGHTEEN
Lissia
Climbing down a fire escape to elude the guards and calling a rideshare to take me to New Jersey probably wasn’t my best idea, but it wasn’t my worst either.
Standing on my father’s porch and trying to perfect my argument as to why he should cease this war with the man I loved might not even be a bad idea.
But doing all of this behind Marchello’s back… Well, that ranked number one as my absolute worst plan ever, especially if my efforts backfired. You would think my sore and welted ass might have stopped me.
It didn’t.
My father opened the door before I could knock. He stood before me dressed in his tailored suit and shiny black shoes. The quintessential gangster with a designer tie and fancy watch. I knew too many of those these days.
“This is a surprise,” he said.
“Where are the guards?” I glanced around the porch. “It’s quiet here today.”
“There was an issue on the docks. I had to send several of my team to assist.”
“You’re here alone?”
“Are you worried about me?”
I didn’t answer.
“I’m not alone.” He stepped into the foyer, motioning for me to come inside. “I could ask the same about you. Does the man you claim to love allow you to walk the streets without protection?”
“Marchello doesn’t know I’m here.” I hated to admit that.
“Trouble in paradise?”
“Not at all.” I entered my childhood home, taking in the familiar scent of fresh linen and lemon. The cleaning staff must have been here this morning.
“I am happy to see you.” He hugged me. “I was very worried about you.”
“When?” I asked. “After you had me shot, or after you threatened to cut me off?”
“What did you expect from me?” He released me from his hold. “You are literally sleeping with the enemy.”
“That justifies you shooting at me?” I glared at him. “I haven’t heard you apologize for that.”
“I didn’t shoot at you.”
“You ordered them to kill Marchello, knowing I could have been with him.”
“I didn’t know you would be with him.” He motioned down the hall. “Let’s go to my study.”
I followed him down the long hallway, noting the familiar boxes in the family room.
“You’re decorating for Christmas?” I asked.
“We always do the week before Thanksgiving.” He entered his study. “Did you forget?”
“No.” I thought for a moment. “I guess I lost track of time and didn’t realize Thanksgiving is next week.”
“Well, you’ve been preoccupied.” He sat behind his desk. “Will you be joining me for the holiday?”
“Not unless you can accept Marchello.” I didn’t see us sharing turkey and stuffing.
“That’s not going to happen.”
I plopped down in the chair across from his desk, looking around the room that used to seem so daunting as a kid. Now it was just an ordinary room that a ruthless man who was far colder than I ever realized occupied.
“What brings you here?” he asked.
“You owe me.”
“Do I?” He chuckled.
“In addition to getting me shot, you tried to marry me off to a crazy man.” I pointed at him. “That’s what started all of this.”
“Don’t point at me.” He sighed. “Your impulses started all of this. If you hadn’t gone running off to Marchello Accetti, I wouldn’t be in the middle of a war right now. You would be home where you belong, and I would be in a position to take over the New York organization.”
“It’s not yours to take.”
“Does your lover brief you on such matters?” he asked. “Are you running the business with him?”
“Of course not.” Although, I might be able to do a much more efficient job than any of these men could. “I see what’s happening. You and Danny went after Marchello, and he had to retaliate.”
“He took you.”
“You would have gone after him whether he took me or not. This had always been about gaining control. You want his ports.”
“Where did my shallow, spoiled brat go?” He leaned back in his chair. “The one who didn’t care about my dealings. Your number one priority is material items.”
“I’ve done some growing up in the last few months.”
“Then maybe you should come home and work with me. You’re a Gallanti, not an Accetti.”
“I won’t work against Marchello,” I said.
“But you would work against your own father?”
“No, that’s not what I want.”
“What do you want?” he asked.
“I want peace between our families. I want things to go back to the way they were before Nico left.” I stretched out my legs. “Before I went with Marchello.”
“Do you know how that would make me look to the other families? How would I appear in front of my own soldiers? Marchello has undermined me, disrespected me, and shares a bed with my daughter who he claims to have kidnapped twice.”
“We could put all of that in the past. If you agree to help me, I’ll talk to Marchello. I’m sure we can negotiate a treaty. You don’t have to look weak in front of anyone.”
“You have grown up, haven’t you?” He took off his glasses and set them on the desk. “I only wish you were fighting this way because you wanted to protect me.”
“I do want to protect you, but you made the first move when you ordered that hit. What were you thinking?”
“I was thinking I’d get you back.” He pounded his fist on the desk. “Do you believe that I meant for you to get hurt? Do you know what I’m going to do to that incompetent arms dealer when I find him? As soon as he saw you were on that terrace, he should have aborted the mission.”
“There should have been no mission.” I raised my voice. “You said you didn’t want to hurt me, but didn’t you think that by killing Marchello, I would have been devastated.”
“You would have gotten over it.”
“Who are you?” I got up from the chair and stormed closer to the desk. “This is not the man who raised me.”
“Lissia, this is exactly the man who raised you. I just had the sense to keep you out of my affairs. Don’t be fooled. You are my daughter or else you wouldn’t be here trying to barter some absurd deal between me and Accetti.”
“If I don’t do it, neither of you will.” I had to save them both because being in the middle was going to kill me. “You have to stop this war.”
“What do I get in return for that?”
“You get to keep me.” I gazed into his eyes, searching for the man who raised me. He wasn’t the best father in the world, often throwing cash at me and giving in to my every desire, but he always looked after me. It wasn’t until he tried to force me to marry Danny that things changed. “Isn’t that enough?”
“As long as you are with him, that will never be true. He would no more put the sword down than I would. There is too much at stake for him.”
“That’s why you have to be the one to do it.”
“No!” He clenched his fists. “How dare you come here on his behalf. He has cost me too much as it is. I won’t allow him to take any more.”
“He was defending himself.”
“And now you’re defending him.” He knocked a pile of papers to the floor. “This has to stop.”
How ironic that my father would say I was defending Marchello. Hadn’t I done the same for him against Marchello?
“The man you come here to defend would kill me in a heartbeat. I hope you know that. If someone calls you and tells you I’ve been murdered, you’ll know it was by the hands of an Accetti. Will you defend him then?”
“I’m trying to stop both of you from killing one another. Please help me.”
“How do you propose I do that?” He stood and then bent down to pick up the papers he had pushed to the floor. “I know you have an impulsive plan. You always do.”
“I’ve given this one some thought.”
He came around the desk and stopped in front of me.
“Do you know why Nico is off-the-grid?” I asked.
“I’ve heard rumblings that his own cartel forced him underground.” He leaned on the edge of his desk. “When that happened, it left his territory open. A few other families could have joined forces with me and stepped in, but they refused. I don’t know if it had anything to do with why Nico went missing, but some know more than others.”
“Could you find out what they know?”
“Why would I do that? They have already agreed to leave the path open for me to take Nico’s position. All I have to do is remove the two brothers in power.”
“I don’t want you to do that.”
“What do you want me to do?” He grinned. “I’m curious, Miss Mafia Heir.”
My pulse raced. My father could betray me after I told him what I knew, but I had to take the chance if I wanted a future with Marchello.
“You’ve come this far,” my father said. “You might as well present the negotiation. It’s the only way you’ll know if I’ll cooperate.”
“If I tell you why Nico left, can you help me bring him back?”
“So, I bring you the information and what do I get?” He tapped his fingers on his desk. “When approaching your enemy, you have to come from a position of strength.”
“Are you my enemy?” The crack in my voice threatened to expose my fear.
“I don’t want to be.” He pointed at me. “You are my flesh and blood. Ask me what you came here to ask me.”
“How can I ensure you won’t betray me?”
“You can’t.” A smug curve in his lips dominated his features. “But you can come from a place of control. When negotiating, make sure you have something the other side can’t resist. What would make me want to help you? What do I get out of it?”
What was it about him trying to teach me that was so enticing? Was he really looking for a protégé?
“Well.” I gazed down at the floor.
“No.” He tilted my chin. “Look me in the eye. Don’t back down.”
I straightened my posture and stared into his eyes. I could see myself in them. “There is a man named Miguel Sanchez. He is the nephew of the cartel Nico works with. He went missing. I don’t know if he’s still alive, but the cartel wants to know what happened to him.”
“So they sent Nico to find out?”
“He’s been following leads and trying to do it undercover.”
“That way no one knows who is asking, but a man as powerful as Nico can get answers that others can’t,” my father mused.
“I guess, I don’t know much.”
“The cartel sent Miguel here, and he was compromised or something else happened to him on Nico’s watch. That’s how the cartel forced Nico to take responsibility for this.”
“You know about it?” I asked.
“No, but if I were the head of the cartel, I would make Nico responsible. I would make him show his loyalty by either bringing my nephew home or finding out what happened to him.”
“Do you think you can help?”
My father looked at the ceiling for a moment, lost in thought or plotting. “This is the part of the negotiation when you offer me something that entices me to help you. Sometimes that could be a threat, but let’s be realistic, what are you going to threaten me with?”
“I don’t want to threaten you. I want you to help me as my father.”
“You’re in a tough position because you’re asking me to help bring Nico home. Why would I do that when it is far more beneficial for me to keep him out of my way?”
“If you help him, Marchello will be grateful to you. I can make sure of that.”
Shit! Why am I promising that?
The words kept coming. “I’m sure he would clear some of the ports for you to move your merchandise. He could probably work with the Argentina cartel and…”
Stop it!
My father laughed. “Your negotiation skills need serious help.”
Why did I come here? I glanced at the floor. This was a bad idea.
“I’m going to do a little digging,” he said. “I’ll see what I can find out.”
I looked up at him with hope.
“Don’t celebrate anything. I’ve turned the tables, and now I’ll be able to come to you with my demands. Do you see how this works?”
If he found something that could get Nico home, I didn’t care what I had to do to get that information.
“The information you gave me might have violated Marchello’s trust in you.” He shook his head. “You took a huge risk, and I admire that.”
You would.
“I’m doing this for all of us,” I said. “Nothing good can come from this war, and I don’t know why you can’t see that.”
“I see a lot of things, my beautiful child.” He kissed my cheek. “Now I just have to get you to see them.”
“I haven’t forgiven you for anything.”
The lights flickered and the house made a strange noise, almost as if a surge of energy jolted through it. My father glanced around but didn’t seem bothered.
“I need to get back to work.” He motioned toward the door. “I’ll be in touch.”
“Okay.” I grabbed my bag from the chair and hurried out of the study. I wasn’t ready to accept defeat. If I could pull this off and get Nico home, I could make up for all the trouble I had caused Marchello and his family.
I needed to get back before Marchello realized I was gone. I dug through my bag, searching for my phone as I swung open the front door. When I stepped out onto the porch, I smacked into Marchello.
“Oh!” I held up my phone, remembering he could track me. Shit! I had hoped I would be in and out of here before he even thought to do that. “What are you doing here?”
He glared at me. The vein on the side of his head twitched and his jaw clenched.
Shit! Shit! Shit!
“The more appropriate question would be, what are you doing here?”