Chapter 19
NINETEEN
Marchello
The best laid plans didn’t always work the way they were supposed to, especially when the window of opportunity was so tight. Lately, my windows had been getting smaller and smaller.
In order for this to work, there could be no mistakes. No unexpected surprises.
I had minutes to walk into the Gallanti estate and pull the trigger. Our IT guy had disabled the security system with a quick surge, so the cameras were down, and Gian’s guards had been called to an emergency on the docks. He was inside the house with limited protection. Milo and my guys made sure we would not be interrupted.
I hurried up the stone path to the main house once Milo gave me the all-clear. The front door lock had been tripped, but it would only be a matter of time before Gian’s security firm realized the system had been breached.
My steady heart rate allowed me to move in a serene fashion. Anxiety was not permitted in these situations. I strolled up to the porch with a concise plan. Take out Gian and calmly walk back to my car that was waiting on the other side of the property line.
In and out.
I had been trained for this type of job since I was a teenager. This situation was no different than any other hit I had performed. I kept telling myself that, but it was only to get me through the task.
This time, when I looked into the eyes of my target, it would be more personal than usual. This assassination had the power to haunt me for as long as I slept beside the woman who had stolen my heart.
“Chello,” Milo’s voice came through my earpiece. “We have a problem.”
“No, Milo. There can be no problems.” I took a breath. “Resolve it.”
“Gian is not in the house alone.”
“What?”
“Lissia is in there,” he said. “She’s walking toward the door now. Our guy picked her up through the windows in the study.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?”
“I wish I was.”
“Abort this mission now.” I hurried up the steps. “Clear the property.”
I tugged the earpiece out and shoved it in my pocket just as the front door flew open. Out stumbled my defiant, disobedient mafia brat, clueless that she had bought her father another day on this miserable earth.
“Oh!” She raised her phone in my face, as if I was supposed to know what she was trying to tell me. “What are you doing here?”
You don’t want to know.
“The more appropriate question would be, what are you doing here?”
Waiting for her response seemed like an eternity, but within seconds she answered me with brutal honesty.
“I wanted to see my father.”
That statement was one of my biggest problems. She wanted to see him, and I needed to kill him.
I grabbed her arm and rushed her down the steps. We had to leave before Gian and his guards came out and realized what I had been up to. Once the cameras came back on, they would figure out something was amiss. I couldn’t be caught here.
“I thought I could make sense of what happened in Miami.” She kept up with me even after she tripped over her own feet. “Why are you walking so fast?”
“Because I can’t kill you here.”
We hustled down a path on the side of the detached garage and into a wooded area. This was supposed to be my escape route after I did what I came to do. The plan was brilliant. Too bad I couldn’t execute it.
“I know I shouldn’t be here, but I had to come.”
“You mean you had to escape again.”
“I planned on coming back, so technically, I didn’t escape.”
“What makes you think I want you back?” I hissed. “You’re too much trouble.”
“Why else would you be here?”
Do you really want to know?
“Why are you parked in the woods?” She gazed around. “Is this where you tracked me to?”
“What?”
“On my phone.”
That tracker I put on her phone gave me my alibi. I opened the car door and guided her into the passenger seat, looking over my shoulder to make sure we were still alone.
“I tracked you to your father’s house, but I didn’t think pulling up to his driveway after he already tried to kill me would be my best move.”
“But you thought walking up to the porch would be a better move?” She smoothed out her dress and then buckled her seatbelt. “You’re lucky there were no guards around.”
I’m the one who made sure of that.
I slammed the door, taking a few slow steps to the driver’s side, letting my anger simmer. I didn’t know if I was more upset over not being able to carry out my mission or by the fact that she was here.
Either way, my pending wrath wasn’t going to go well for her.
I got into the car and started the engine. Gripping the steering wheel as I stared out at the dirt path that would lead us to the street, I tried not to explode.
“I know you’re upset with me,” she said. “But I?—”
“Stay quiet,” I ordered in a low, steady voice as I threw the car into drive and made my way along the road.
“Marchello.”
I slammed my foot on the brake, causing her to jolt forward. Glaring at her, I pushed my finger against her lips, warning her not to speak.
She swallowed hard as she gazed into my eyes. Hers were wide and unsure.
“Perhaps you didn’t hear me—or maybe you don’t want to listen to me—but I promise, if you defy me now, it’s only going to be worse for you later.” I kept my finger on her lips. “And I’m not talking about the way you’re used to me punishing you. Do you understand?”
She nodded.
“I should leave you here,” I said. “Maybe then you’ll realize how far you’ve taken this.”
I continued down the access road that led to the main highway. I had been so wrapped up in my plans this morning that it didn’t even occur to me to track her phone. Why would I? No one at the penthouse alerted me to an issue.
“How did you get past the guards to get here?” I asked.
“You’re not going to like it.”
“Do I ever like anything you do?”
“I can think of a few things you like.”
“How did you get by my team?” I raised my voice, not in the mood for her nonsense. “You didn’t walk out the front door so… Oh, fuck, are you crazy? You left from the fire escape.”
That was the only reasonable explanation for her disappearing act.
“Lissia?” I shouted.
“It wasn’t that bad.” She glanced down at her high-heeled boots. “I went slow. I only slipped twice.”
“Do you know how dangerous that was?”
“I didn’t give it much thought. I just did it.”
I twisted my fingers around the steering wheel in a death grip. My knuckles were white, and my forearms ached from the tense hold. It could be worse. It could be her neck.
“I called a rideshare,” she said. “I wasn’t gone long. I didn’t expect you to come for me.”
She would have gotten away with it if I hadn’t been here to kill her father. Talk about timing.
“Why wouldn’t I come for you?” I’ll always come for you. Why don’t you know that?
“I only meant that I wasn’t here that long, and since the guards didn’t know I was missing, I thought I could get back before you realized I was gone.”
“Were you going to climb back up the fire escape?”
“I didn’t think that far ahead.”
“You’re a risk I don’t need.” I turned onto the road that would eventually lead us out of the gated community and back to the penthouse.
“You don’t mean that.”
“I told you before, I can’t play these games with you. You’ve already stopped me from bringing my father home, and now you’ve… What else are you going to do to me?”
“I’m trying to?—”
“Don’t you fucking say you’re trying to help me. I don’t want your help.”
“Why? Because I’m a Gallanti? The daughter of your sworn enemy?”
I swerved onto a dirt road without taking my foot off the gas of my Porsche. Lissia screamed as we barreled into the woods. I hit the brakes, stopping inches from the tall, thick tree in our path, kicking up dirt and leaving a cloud of dust around the car.
“What is wrong with you?” She smacked my arm. “You almost wrapped us around that tree.”
“What is wrong with me?” I put the car in park and unbuckled my seatbelt. “I have a blind spot when it comes to you. That’s what’s wrong with me.”
“I don’t want you to blame me for your father having to stay away,” she said. “I didn’t make him leave.”
She may not have been responsible for him leaving, but if I hadn’t focused so much of my time and energy on her and fighting Collins and her father—and now dealing with Lorenzo and his cartel—I would be in a much better position to get my father home.
“Why were you there?” I asked. “What was so important that you had to sneak out of the penthouse and go to him?”
“I needed to see him.”
“Even after knowing he was the one who shot at us?”
“Knowing that was why I had to.” She tapped her hand on her thigh. “You might not want my help, but I had to help myself. I want peace.”
“How do you think you’re going to get that?”
“I don’t know.” When she didn’t make eye contact with me, it was clear she was plotting something irresponsible. “I went to see my dad on impulse. I didn’t think anything through, and I didn’t accomplish anything.”
“What did you want to accomplish?”
“I don’t want one of you to kill the other,” she said. “There has to be a way out of this.”
“When someone comes after an Accetti, we have to retaliate.”
Why couldn’t she get that? Why couldn’t she give me permission to finish this?
“Do you have to retaliate with guns?” She threw her hands in the air. “When will enough be enough?”
“When the war is over.”
“When will that be?” She rested her forehead in her hand. “You’ve already lost your mother and unborn brother to this brutal world. Ricardo lost his father. How many others are there? How many others have to die?”
“That’s not a question I can answer,” I said. “My mother didn’t deserve to die. My father carries that burden every day.”
“He didn’t have to pass that weight on to you and Milo.”
“I stand with my father because I want to.”
“You stand with your father out of duty.”
“Don’t!” I hit the steering wheel. “Don’t put this back on me. I didn’t come for your father. He was free to use the ports like all the other families, but he got greedy. He brought in Collins. He brought in Lorenzo’s cartel. He started this when he came after my family.”
“And now you have to finish it?”
“If I want to remain in power.”
“I thought it was your father who was in charge.”
“The territory goes to me and Milo next.” I might not have asked for that, but it was my birthright. I had an obligation to this family, and I would see it through.
“Is that what you want?”
“Don’t deflect,” I said. “You’re the one who screwed up today.”
It didn’t matter what I wanted. This was who I was. She could either accept the fact that this was how things would be or she could go. I couldn’t force her to stay. I never could.
The problem was that I didn’t want her to go anywhere. I wanted her to stay. She needed to accept who I was. But how could she? Five minutes ago, I was going to kill her father. If she hadn’t inadvertently intervened, I would have succeeded.
My business problems would have been resolved, but how could we move forward?
“I shouldn’t have snuck out,” she said.
I stared into the woods. Gian came after me. He could have killed me, Milo, or Lissia. I couldn’t let him go for such a despicable act. I couldn’t give him the opportunity to try again. And he would try again.
“You shouldn’t do plenty of things, but that never stops you.” I leaned my head against the headrest. “We’re a lot alike that way.”
“I’m sorry for defying you.”
“You’re a liar.” I laughed quietly. “You do what you have to do without hesitation and without regret. That’s what I love most about you.”
“You’re not mad at me?”
“I’m furious, but not because you wanted to see your father.” It didn’t sit well with me that she had a reason to come here, but blood was blood. I had to accept that. “I’m angry because you did it behind my back.”
“I had to.”
“You climbed down a fire escape, got into a car with a person you didn’t know, and you left without any guards to come to a place where you didn’t know you would be safe.”
“Every time you summarize my adventures, you make me realize how stupid they are.” She unbuckled her seatbelt, maneuvered over the control panel, and then slipped into my lap.
“Perhaps if you ran these ridiculous plans by me before you did them, we could save a lot of aggravation.”
“But then they wouldn’t be spontaneous and impulsive.”
“Exactly.” I gripped her face between my hands. “My line of work is too treacherous for me to have unexpected surprises like the one I got today.”
What if she had walked in on me shooting her father?
“I want to be with you,” she said. “I’ll do whatever it takes to make that happen.”
“It can’t happen if you’re dead.” I closed my eyes. “Or if something happens that we can’t come back from.”
“We can come back from anything.” She turned her head and kissed the inside of my hand. “I’m just trying to stop the bad from happening.”
“You can’t.”
Having her close to me calmed my murderous intentions toward her father. Killing Gian would only destroy her and ruin us in the process. That was obvious, but what wasn’t so clear was how I was going to resolve this without carrying out my father’s orders.
“You’re not as ragey as I thought you’d be over finding me here.” She kissed the corner of my mouth. “How come?”
If she knew the real reason I had come here, she would know why I couldn’t take out my aggression on her. As mad as I was at her for being so irresponsible, I couldn’t be unreasonable. I had my secrets too.
“Why did you come here?” I asked, ignoring her question. “What were you trying to accomplish?”
“I told you, I wanted peace.” She pressed her lips to mine and kissed me softly. “We need that.”
I released her face from my hold and circled her in a tight embrace, breathing in the comforting strawberry aroma that was her.
“Baby, as long as we’re together, there can be no peace.”