Chapter 27
Chapter twenty-seven
Secrets are always fun until the walls give out and there’s nowhere to run.
Secrets can be some of the most frustrating things to decipher, especially when one wrong move can lead to death.
A few days have passed since the encounter at my house. I’ve been busy running the empire, and Dominic has had to work some of his other cases.
Now it’s Thursday and I’m happy to be back in his company. We are driving to Valerio’s to pay him a visit. I’m unsure what I’m going to do if Valerio is the one behind all of this.
Dominic seems to feel the same way I do, his finger tapping on the wheel is a dead giveaway.
The low purr of the Maserati is the only sound between us. Each of us lost in our own thoughts.
“Are you ready for this?” he asks, keeping his eyes on the road.
My fingers play with the diamond pendant around my neck. “Readiness is a survival trait in our world. If you’re not constantly alert, you’re dead.”
He shakes his head, eyes still locked on the road. “That’s what I hate about your world.”
My fingers tighten on the pendant. “What?”
“The constant state of war. The paranoia. The innocent blood that’s shed. Killing for no reason. Breaking the law. Racketeering. Instilling fear in the hearts of others just to gain power and money.”
I’m a little taken aback by his comment. I wasn’t expecting bitterness and insults this morning. “Well…it’s not always about that…it’s about tradition…family…”
“You mean the poison disguised as tradition?” Dominic snaps. “Many times the mafia will eat its own to gain profit. They sucker you in and promise you the world, only to make you bleed.”
Damn, what crawled up his ass and died this morning.
Dominic has been known to run hot and cold.
A part of me wants to defend the family legacy out of loyalty to my father, but in some areas, Dominic’s not wrong.
But I have a feeling this isn’t about me or my family.
I clear my throat. “If you’re referring to what happened to your brother and cousin, that has nothing to do with me. Not all families want to shed blood. However, many times we have to in order to protect others.”
Dominic snorts. “Protect others? Yeah, right. Most of the time these families only want to protect themselves, no one else. I did a background check on Valerio and the list of the things he and his family are rumored to have done and gotten away with disgusts me.”
“Yeah. A lot of these families have a cemetery’s worth of secrets in their closets. I understand your hatred for the mafia, but I can’t hate it. It’s too late for that anyway. I didn’t choose this life, it chose me. If I let it go now, I’ll lose everything I bled for.”
“Personally, I think you’re bleeding now and pretending you’re not,” Dominic retorts.
“Well, I was bleeding. After all, I did get shot.”
He grips the steering wheel tighter. “You don’t understand. You were never meant to live like this, Cipi. You were meant to burn brighter, not just outlast others.”
“Dominic, you don’t understand. Once you’re in this life, you can’t just walk away.
There are serious consequences. Once you’re in, you’re in until you die.
And I can’t let someone else take the throne my father wanted me to have.
” I pause. “I’ve been angry with you for a long time, but now I don’t blame you for walking away and not wanting to share this life with me. ”
“I didn’t walk away from you, Cipi. I didn’t want to leave you. I walked away from the version of you who thought blood was currency.”
“It still is,” I murmur.
His jaw tightens. “You think I like seeing you all bandaged up, a half step away from death. Being shot in your own home around people you trusted. Always on edge. Trying to find a killer before he finishes you off.”
“It’s the price of power, Dom.”
“It’s a fucking prison, Cipi.”
“Well, we all can’t be like you. You had a choice about what you wanted to do with your life. My choices died with my father.”
“That’s another reason why I left. I couldn’t bear to watch you turn into your father.”
I don’t respond because he’s right. While my father was a kind man to those who were close to him, he was a ruthless leader and killer who would shed blood first, then ask questions later.
He had become one of the most notoriously vicious capos in Chicago.
After all, he did wipe out a whole family and didn’t even shed a tear.
Throughout the years, my heart had turned cold.
I became my father, not as ruthless but as Gigi refers to it, I wear lipstick when I pull the trigger.
“I’m sorry, Dominic. The mafia is who I am and there’s nothing I can do about it. I know I blackmailed you into working this case with me, and I shouldn’t have done that. If you don’t want to continue, you can turn the car around and drop me off. I’ll figure something out.”
Dominic exhales through his nose and grips the wheel tighter. “No. I’m still in.”
“Why?”
“Because despite everything, I still give a damn whether you live or die. I would never allow you to go see a mafia king by yourself. I know you’re a queen and have your fair share of bodies, but I’ll rack up a few if anything happens to you.
I know there is a mafia code and all that, but you still shouldn’t see him by yourself if he really is the one behind this. ”
I sigh. “Even the Devil wears a suit if the fit is tailored just right.”
“This isn’t a joke, Cipi. Valerio is dangerous.”
“So am I.”
“If he really is the one behind the trigger, that means he has to be working with someone in your circle.”
My throat tightens. “I know. No matter what the outcome is, someone on the inside is out to get me. I just wish I knew who.”
Dominic doesn’t reply. He pulls up to a set of iron gates that are sealed shut. A booth next to it contains a guard.
“Can I help you?” The guard asks.
“We’re here to see Valerio Neri,” Dominic replies.
“He isn’t seeing anyone at the moment. He is very busy.”
“Call up to the house and tell him that Cipriani Capuano is here and needs to have a word now,” I interrupt.
The guard gives me a look then closes the window on the booth. Through the glass, I see him picking up the phone and talking to someone. Then he reopens the window.
“Mr. Neri will see you now.” He presses a button and the gates open.
The Maserati rumbles up the cobblestone driveway.
“Wow, Cipi, that was impressive,” Dominic glances at me. “I may hate the crown, but you make it look sexy when you put it on. I wouldn’t want to mess with you.”
I smile. Once again Dominic is proving how hot and cold he is. “Don’t make me hurt you, Dom, I’m sore but still armed,” I joke.
He chuckles. “You always know how to spice up my life.”
I grin. “Well, maybe when we finish work, I’ll light it on fire for you.”
“A very intriguing offer, boss.”
I laugh. Looking through the windshield, I catch sight of Valerio’s Romanesque mansion built of marble and stone. Gargoyles are perched along the edges of the roofline, their faces leering down at us.
Dominic parks the car near a circular fountain.
We get out of the car and walk to the massive oak doors.
Before we reach the top step, the entrance opens and a butler smiles at us.
“Good afternoon, Miss Capuano and Mr. Cartieri, Mr. Neri will see you now.” The lines in his face crease like an accordion as he smiles. Then he turns and beckons us to follow him.
As we follow him through a grand foyer dripping with chandeliers, my mind races.
What am I going to say to him?
Part of me just wants to call him a liar and tell him I know he tried to murder me. But I am in another mafia leader’s territory without backup. That was a pretty stupid decision. I should have thought this through, but Valerio doesn’t scare me.
I can’t come out and accuse him of trying to off me. He would find that insulting and it might make me look bad in the eyes of the other families. I roll my eyes. There always has to be levels to this shit.
Glancing at the portraits of the Neri family lining the walls, my stomach twists as I see the majority of them feature Valerio.
Of course that snake would only hang portraits of himself on the walls.
Dominic’s eyes also scan the photos.“Someone’s a little bit full of himself, isn’t he?”
“Narcissist is the word I’m thinking of,” I whisper.
The butler ushers us through dark maple doors into a sitting room. Valerio Neri sits in a leather armchair, swirling a glass of wine in his hand.
His presence reminds me of a villain in a movie. Dark hair slicked back, navy suit fitted to his frame, gold jewelry and expensive watch glint in the dim lighting. His gray eyes are cold and stare at me with disgust.
“Ah Signorina Capuano, and Mr. Cartieri.” He rises to his feet to shake our hands.
“I didn’t think I would see you together after the gala but here you are, together again.
You’re not going straight on us, now, Cipriani, are you?
The underworld would hate to lose such a valuable person as yourself. ”
“Dominic is not in the FBI anymore and you should know that,” I shoot back.
“Of course, of course, he runs that little investigation firm for all the rich people.” He places his glass on the table next to him and gestures for us to sit down on the sofa. “Well then, sit down and let’s get this over with. I had a feeling you’d be appearing at my door.”
“You did?” I settle into the couch. “Rachel talked to you?”
“Yes, she phoned me after you two left my penthouse. It’s almost cute how the two of you are tag teaming this.”
Dammit, I knew Rachel would never keep her mouth shut. Now how should I word this?
“Since you know we paid Rachel a little visit, then you can explain why you paid to cause a distraction at my house.”
His eyebrows arch. “I did no such thing. Rachel is young and sometimes gets things mixed up. You know she loves to hit the wine extra hard after a long day.”