20. Wolfe #3
I took the call and put the phone to my ear. “What’s happening?”
“A lot. Icarus took out Carmelo and Nino. Demanded our surrender, we said no. Now I have a tip-off from Giuseppe that he’s gonna hit us in a couple of hours. We need all hands on deck.”
I wasn’t sure why I needed to be there for that.
One man in a battle wouldn’t tip the scales in either direction, and I felt like I was just risking my life needlessly.
I hadn’t thought being married would change me as a person, but I could already tell I processed risk-and-reward situations a little differently.
But I was a man of my word, and I would honor my vow.
I looked at her before I breathed a sigh. “I’ll leave now.”
“Alright.” He hung up.
I set the phone down on the table.
Francesca was stiff and still, her eyes showcasing all the turmoil that bubbled in her heart.
I didn’t have the words to make this better. She obviously didn’t want me to go, but she didn’t dare ask me. The only reason we were sitting at that vineyard was because Cosa Nostra had helped get it back for us.
She continued to stare at me.
I stared back.
She hadn’t blinked once, her food untouched because her appetite was immediately destroyed. “Please be careful.”
“You know I will.”
She finally closed her eyes as she tried to fight her devastation. She was like a wife about to watch her husband be shipped out to the front lines to fight for something bigger than himself.
I wanted to make this better, but I had nothing to offer.
“Take some of the guys with you.”
“This isn’t their fight.”
“It’s not yours either.”
“It kinda is. Because if he wins, it’ll only be a matter of time before we hear from him again.
” Even if we stayed out of the powder business, I would always be on his radar after that conversation we’d shared.
He clearly respected me, but he was also a psychopath, so he might want to kill me anyway. “I have to do this.” I rose to my feet.
She did the same, petite compared to my stature. She rose on her tiptoes and moved in to kiss me before she hugged me, her face buried in my chest.
I enveloped her in my strong hold and squeezed her tightly, my chin resting on her head. “Love you.”
She took a heavy breath as she stayed against me. “Love you…”
I finally let her go and walked off, not looking back because it was too hard to see the heartbreak on her face. When I made it to the bottom of the stairs, I passed Leo.
Leo did a double take, like he saw the turmoil on my face. “Something going on?”
“I’ve got to kill Icarus. Look after your sister if I don’t make it back.”
I drove like hell in my Range Rover, trying to make good time because it was such a long drive. I wanted to make sure Icarus lost his head so I’d never have to be in this position again, being at Don Russo’s beck and call like I was in Cosa Nostra again.
I was about halfway there when a call came through. I didn’t recognize the number when it popped up on my center console, but I took it anyway because any call could be life-changing. “Wolfe.”
There was a pause on the line.
“Yes?”
“Your voice is just as lovely over the phone as it is in person.”
I didn’t have to ask to whom I spoke. It was fucking clear. “Can I help you with something, Icarus?”
“Well, I just wanted to touch base. You know, to see if you’ve given my offer further consideration.”
The final warning before he made his move. “You already know the answer.”
“Damn, that’s quite the shame.”
“It doesn’t have to be this way, Icarus. You could be a top lieutenant for Cosa Nostra and make more money than you could ever spend.” I continued to drive with one hand on the wheel, checking my rearview mirror over and over to make sure no one suspicious was on my tail.
“It’s never been about the money. I know you understand that.”
I stared straight ahead and waited for the call to drop.
“I’m really sorry to do this, Wolfe…”
I wasn’t the kind of guy to get bumps on my arms or feel something drop into the pit of my stomach, but my fight-or-flight system suddenly kicked in at his words.
“I’m really, really fucking sorry.”
The adrenaline flooded my system, but it wasn’t the high I used to chase. Now it was just stress and terror…and mayhem.
“But now I have to put your pretty wife in my cemetery.”
There was a bit of shoulder along the road, and I instinctively hit the brakes and pulled over.
“I wonder how long she’ll last before she suffocates. Hopefully long enough to haunt the night…”
I grabbed my phone and pulled up Francesca’s location in the hope she would be at the vineyard, that this was a bluff or a threat that hadn’t come to pass. But she wasn’t there. She was about thirty minutes inland.
My heart dropped like a bag of grenades and exploded.
I didn’t have time to panic or lose my mind.
Every second counted, and I had to make them work for me while Francesca was alive. “Icarus—”
“I really am sorry about this, Wolfe.”
“Icarus—”
“Better get here quick. Because if she panics, she has enough air for minutes or maybe an hour…if she’s lucky.” Click.