Wolfe
I pulled over at the rendezvous point, a forgotten road in a field with a decrepit house on its last leg.
I left the car and joined Don Russo in the street. All the other men were there, their vehicles damaged from the gunfire we’d just taken. Francesca’s men were there too, and Leo immediately headed over to them.
When I walked up to Don Russo, Francesca came with me and stood at my side.
“We should divide our forces. We hit him from the front, right through the gate, while the others sneak in at the back through the garden. Unless they have a snitch inside, they won’t know about the path through the garden. ”
“It’s a single-file line through the passage.”
“Doesn’t matter,” I said. “We’ll have the element of surprise. Have you spoken to Rosaria?”
He nodded. “They’re in the panic room.”
“How long will that hold up?”
“A couple hours. She can see the cameras and says they’re everywhere. She’s not sure if they’re aware of her.”
“Then that buys her even more time.”
“She says Icarus has killed most of our men who were there…”
I could see the pain on Don Russo’s face. I wasn’t sure how to comfort him. “Then we avenge them.”
He looked away and crossed his arms over his chest. “He got us good, Wolfe.”
I was a difficult man to outsmart, but Icarus had completely stumped me. He’d never intended to let me die. He respected me too much, and I should have seen right through that. It was a distraction on top of a distraction, all to gain access to headquarters. “I’m sorry.”
“We played right into his hands, didn’t we?”
I nodded because it was the cold hard truth.
“If my family makes it out alive, then I’m glad we saved you. But if they don’t…I’ll regret this for the rest of my life.”
I didn’t take any offense to that at all. Not when I would have felt the same if this were Francesca. “We aren’t going to let anything happen to Rosaria and the girls. We’re going to show that asshole what happens when you fuck with Cosa Nostra.”
“Then we’ll divide into teams. You take the front, and I’ll take the back.”
I nodded. “He’s more likely to come out and play if I show up.”
“Let’s head out.” Don Russo turned away and started to orchestrate with the other men.
I turned back to Francesca. “Take my Range Rover and head back to the vineyard. I’ll let you know when it’s done.”
“Excuse me?” Dirt was caked on her clothes, her hands, and her arms. There was even a little bit on her cheeks. “I’m not going to go home and sit on my hands.”
“You can go to the Palermo house, then. I’ll give you my key.”
Her eyebrows furrowed even more. “That asshole buried you alive. I want his head on a fucking platter. I want to shoot him to pieces until he’s fucking mush. I want that asshole to pay in this life and the next and then the next.”
I loved it when the Mafia side of her came out.
She was sooo fucking hot. I’d lain there in that coffin and dozed off because I knew she would figure out a way to get me out of there.
I wasn’t the least bit worried at all. I hadn’t slept well the night before, so I took a nice nap.
When I woke up to the sound of gunshots, I knew she was there.
I felt the dirt shift as it was lifted from the coffin.
Sounds from the outside world became more audible the more of it was removed.
I was pretty certain I heard Francesca’s voice when she yelled at Leo for something.
The pride I felt…was indescribable.
That woman was made for me. Fearless and feisty and no-nonsense…and she was my wife.
“Are you even listening to me?”
My attention snapped back into focus. I got lost in her angry eyes and the way she could produce so much hatred for someone so small. “I’ll handle it.”
“You call me a tough bitch then tell me to sit out?” she asked incredulously. “I can’t ask Leo and the rest of the guys at the vineyard to fight for you while I sit on my ass. I’m not one of those rulers who sends their army to do their bidding. I’m on the front lines like everyone else.”
Could she be more perfect? “I understand, but you’ve never been in this type of situation before—”
“I covered Leo while he dug you out of that hole. You tell me how capable I am, but then when I want some skin in the game, you tell me no.”
“This isn’t your fight—”
“Yes, it fucking is. I had to stand there and watch you be buried alive. You’ll never understand how that felt. You might have been lying there grinning like a psychopath, but I sobbed until my ribs nearly broke, so that son of a bitch is mine.”
“Baby—”
She jabbed her finger up at me. “Don’t baby me right now.”
“Time is of the essence. As much as I love arguing with you, because you’re so sexy when you’re pissed off like this, I don’t have the time. I know it’s hard, but you need to step aside—”
“No.”
“Francesca—”
“I said no.”
“I can’t do my job if I’m worried about you.”
“You don’t need to worry about me. I can handle myself. Or do you not actually believe in me like you say you do?”
“I absolutely do, but I don’t want to risk your life needlessly—”
“And why is my life more important than yours?”
“Because it is!”
She flinched slightly when I yelled at her—and I never yelled at her.
Our reunion should be a beautiful one, but we were thrown into another critical situation, so we had no time to savor the joy.
Leo must have been eavesdropping on our conversation because he came over with a tentative stance. “I’ll keep an eye on her. I’ve known my sister for a long time, and I know when she’s not going to change her mind.”
I didn’t appreciate his taking her side and ganging up on me, but I did appreciate the way he supported her.
“You know I wouldn’t let anything happen to her.”
I had a smartass comment to make, but I chose not to make it.
It would be easy to throw the past in his face when the past was so recent it nearly felt like the present, but that was combative and unproductive.
“You go with Don Russo through the garden while I hit them from the front with the others.”
She nodded. “Thank you.”
I turned to Leo. “Let anything happen to her, and I’ll skin you alive. You want that responsibility?”
He nodded. “None of us would let anything happen to her.”
I didn’t like this. I didn’t like my wife being separated from me during a fight, but it would be stupid to have her with me when I crashed the gate and came at everyone head on.
My intention was to draw Icarus straight to me while Don Russo secured the house from the rear and got his family out. Francesca was safer with them.
I shifted my gaze back to Francesca.
Leo took the hint and walked off.
“Are you sure about this?”
“Yes,” she said without hesitation. “Nobody—and I mean nobody—touches my man and gets away with it.”
I drove with Santino in the passenger seat, other guys in the rear. I was driving an SUV with damaged windows, while Francesca and Leo went with Don Russo and the others. For the whole drive, all I did was worry about her.
The drive was spent in silence, all of us thinking about what we were preparing to overcome.
I wanted to kill Icarus to honor my debt to Don Russo, but in truth, I just needed him dead.
He was smarter than I gave him credit for, realizing he hid his intelligence behind his psychopathic demeanor.
He pretended to be unpredictable and unhinged, but he was playing the long game before anyone else knew the match had even started.
I respected him—but I still wanted him dead.
Santino lifted his phone toward his face to read a message. “Don Russo is in position. They accessed the passage.”
“Alright, then we move in.” There was an underground passage that led from the garden, under the road and partially through the sewer system, to a basement that connected to a restaurant a couple blocks away.
All they had to do was use that passage to reach the garden, and with everyone focused on us, they should be able to do a lot of damage.
Santino’s vest wasn’t strapped tight, so he fastened it into place before he made sure his handgun was loaded. Everyone else in the car did the same, and a line of cars was behind me as we approached headquarters in the center of Palermo.
Icarus would know we were coming from a mile away.
I turned the corner and came onto the street where headquarters were located.
I spotted the limestone that surrounded the property in the distance, and the closer we came, the more I could see the armed men blatantly standing on the sidewalk even though it was only nine in the evening.
It was dark, and no tourists were on the road, probably because of the gunmen stationed there who obviously weren’t police.
“Ready, boys?” I asked.
“Ready,” Santino said. “Not gonna let this asshole take our home and the boss’s family.”
I floored it, and the second I was within distance, they lit us up with bullets. All of our automobiles were bulletproof, though after so many rounds, the integrity of the vehicle would become compromised and vulnerable, but we still had time.
They shot our tires and the engine, whatever they could do to slow us down.
I approached the gate and expected it to be closed, but it was bashed in from Icarus’s initial conquest. I drove onto the paved roundabout, and more bullets struck the car.
I kept the car moving as we were sprayed with gunfire.
Drove right up the steps and ran over an asshole so we could get close to the front door. “Go.”
Santino hopped out first and used the car for cover to shoot at the guys near the front. I came in after and took my position by the hood, using the scope of my gun to pick off the guys near the gate to cover my men as they came in behind me.
The four of us supplied the best cover we could, and at first, all the gunfire was pointed at us until more of our men made it into the roundabout. No doubt all of this was going to be covered on the news at some point, given the ruckus we were causing.
“Santino—your left.”
Santino ducked down behind the car and moved.
When the guy came around, I had my pistol ready and shot him in the head.
It was violent chaos, and of course, Icarus was nowhere to be found. He was either already inside, or this was somehow another trap of his.
“I’m gonna head in,” I said. “Cover me.”
“On it,” Cameron said.
I made it up the rest of the stairs and kicked the door open to get inside.
It wasn’t locked, so it was easy to get in.
Men were already placed there to fire, and I took a couple bullets to my vest before I shot the one closest to me and grabbed him to use as a shield before I took down everyone else.
I held his weight with a single arm and felt blood splash all over me as he took all the bullets meant for me.
Once all the guys in the foyer were down, I called for my enemy.
“Come on, Icarus. Let’s play.” I headed up the stairs to the next landing, knowing Don Russo’s family was on the top floor.
I cleared most of the guys on the second floor before I headed to the top floor. I barred the way with a dresser that I shoved into the staircase. It slipped a couple steps before it crashed and wedged in place.
There were two double doors that led to the third floor, and they were different from all the other ones because they were made of steel rather than wood, and they required a security code to pass.
Unfortunately, someone had already bypassed it, judging by the technical equipment left by the disarmed keypad.
With my gun raised, I moved inside. “Icarus.”
Silence.
I swept through the hallways and checked the rooms, seeing no sign of Icarus or his men anywhere. It was a whole other floor with a private kitchen, a living room, a gym—basically an entire mansion at the top, so it took me a while to go through everything.
“Show your fucking face!” I yelled and heard my own voice echo back at me.
I knew where the panic room was, so with dread, I went to the primary bedroom, into the walk-in closet that held Rosaria’s clothes and shoes, and to the hidden door against the wall.
But it was already open, and no one was inside.
They’d either left willingly…or he’d gotten inside.
But how the fuck would he do that?