Wolfe
Don Mancini gave everyone the day off.
Francesca normally went to church with her family on Sundays, but it seemed like everyone wanted to sleep in instead of dozing off on someone’s shoulder in one of the pews.
That meant I got to wake up beside her and not rush off right away.
I should head home and work out because I worked out every single day, no exceptions.
But today felt like an exception.
I was awake before she was, and I stayed there for a while in case she woke up soon.
But when she started to snore, I knew she was knocked out cold.
I quietly opened the drawer she’d given me that held all my clothes and essentials so I always had stuff when I came over.
I put on my sweats and headed downstairs, the summer sunlight bright in all the windows.
I raided her fridge and found eggs and bacon and cooked them in the pan on the stove. There was a loaf of bread on the counter from yesterday, so I sliced off a few pieces and toasted them in the toaster before I plated everything.
I sat at the dining table alone and ate, looking at the flowers that bloomed in the terra-cotta pots outside the window.
She came down a couple minutes later, wearing one of my t-shirts that she’d collected. She had her own stash that she’d built when I wasn’t looking, picking her favorites and putting them in her drawer like they were hers.
Her favorites tended to be my favorites, but she could have them.
“Morning, baby.”
“Morning.” She came to me at the table and leaned over as she hooked her arms around my shoulders and squeezed.
I kissed her cheek. “There’s food in the pan for you.”
“I’m not hungry yet, but I need some coffee.” She went to her espresso machine and made herself a fresh cup of coffee before she sat across from me at the table. She must have washed her face before she came downstairs because her eyes were clean of mascara. “I have a headache.”
“Too much to drink?”
“No. I think I’m just tired. I don’t usually stay out that late.”
But she stayed up that late with me all the time.
She sipped her coffee in silence, her hair a slight mess from rolling around on her pillow.
But she’d never looked more beautiful to me.
I finished my plate then pushed the dish aside as I looked at her.
“So…?” she asked, referring to the conversation we never finished last night.
“Your dad didn’t appreciate how I handled the situation, and I explained to him that I, respectfully, didn’t give a shit.”
She released a loud sigh, and it seemed like she might chuckle.
“In the end, he knew I was right.”
“Public confrontations aren’t my father’s style.”
“Well, when someone starts shit with you, you have to finish it. If someone wants a problem, no problem.”
“I think my father hasn’t really had to deal with much of that in the past.”
“Well, everything’s about to change, and if he wants to survive, he’s got to accept it,” I said.
“No motherfucker walks over to my table and says shit about my woman and gets away with it.” I still got pissed off every time I thought about it.
How that scrawny little boy thought he could stroll over and poke a bear without getting a scratch.
“You don’t think my father suspects anything?”
I released a quick scoff.
“What?”
“He’s so fucking oblivious.”
“Why do you sound mad about that?”
“Because he said I care for you like a sister.” I felt a new wave of rage that was somehow worse than the last one. “A sister.”
She grabbed her mug by the handle and took a drink. “I still don’t understand why that makes you so angry.”
“It makes me angry because what I feel for you is a hell of a lot stronger than a sibling relationship. It’s stronger than family.
I’m not protective of you as a brother. I’m protective of you as a king who’s devoted to his queen.
So, yes, it pissed me the hell off because that’s not how I feel about you at all.
I almost told him point-blank right on the damn spot.
” But I didn’t because that was a guaranteed mistake.
He said I cared for his family like my own, and then I drop the bombshell that I’ve been fucking his daughter behind his back.
There was never a good time to tell him, only wrong times to tell him, but I was tired of waiting for the right moment.
“I’ve got to handle Warren, and once that’s done, I’m just going to walk into his office and fucking tell him.
I don’t care what mood he’s in—I’m fucking doing it. ”
“What do you mean, handle Warren?”
I was surprised she didn’t issue any objections, but she was probably tired of this limbo period too. “I’ve got to kill him.”
“Why?”
“Because if I don’t kill him first, he’ll kill us.”
A paleness slowly took over her face. “You—you think that would happen?”
“After I publicly humiliated him? Absolutely.”
“But he provoked us first—”
“That’s not how men like us think,” I said. “I wish I’d just finished the job then and there so I wouldn’t have to spend my time hunting him down.”
She didn’t drink her coffee again. Her hand rested on the top of the mug, the steam rising through the gaps in her fingers. “I wish that had never happened.”
“More shit like that is coming our way.”
Her eyes lifted to mine.
“As the gangs comply or resist the Skull King’s demands, your father is going to come out as the top player in arms. They’re going to do whatever they can to take it from him.
Publicly talking shit at a wedding is child’s play compared to what’s coming.
I’ve got to kill Warren to show the others not to fuck with us.
Outsmarting the Lombardis made everyone take us seriously, so that probably prevented unwanted bloodshed. ”
“But you’re the one who did those things.”
“I know.”
She stared at me across the table.
“Your family wouldn’t be alive if it weren’t for me—and your father knows that.”
We had a meeting in Don’s office. Francesca was absent because she had a meeting with a potential client. Don Mancini stood in front of the desk and leaned against it, his arms crossed over his chest.
“I need about twelve guys.” I stood in front of Don Mancini while the guys had gathered in the room in armchairs and standing behind the couches.
“We head to his place, hit it hard, and then we’re home by dinner.
Pretty straightforward.” We should have taken care of this yesterday, but everyone wanted the day off.
“You know where to find him?” Don Mancini asked.
“Yeah. I’ve got my sources. Who’s with me?”
The guys volunteered, bringing the crew to twelve.
“I don’t like this,” Don Mancini said. “I don’t like killing my countrymen.”
“You kill him, or he kills you,” I said. “Simple as that.”
“But maybe there would have been another option…if things had unfolded differently.” He didn’t regard me with his resentment, staring at me like this was still a dialogue.
“He walked across that terrace with one intention—to fuck with you. He tested you and wanted to see exactly how far he could push your boundaries until you snapped. He’s a predator that likes to play with his food.
That’s all there is to it.” I turned to the guys.
“We’ll leave in a couple hours. Let’s prepare the vehicles. ”
We stocked the cars with our guns and ammunition and then prepared to make the ninety-minute drive.
When I turned back to the house, I saw Francesca on the steps with her hand on the stone banister.
She wore a white dress with yellow and blue flowers embroidered on the material.
Concern was written all over her face, like she would give anything to kiss me goodbye.
I wanted her to.
To walk over here and make her public declaration.
She moved down the stone steps and then headed to the road where the vehicles were in a line. Leo told Andre to bring the grenades before he turned to his sister.
“Be careful, okay?”
“I’m not worried about it,” Leo said.
“Well, you should be worried.”
He gave her a quick pat on the shoulder, a brother-sister gesture of affection. “You worry too much. It’s going to give you wrinkles.” Then he walked around the other side of the vehicle.
She continued to look at me where I stood in front of the other vehicle.
I waited for her to come to me. Waited for her to close that distance between us and kiss me exactly how she wanted to.
But then her dad appeared from the rear and headed for me, passing his daughter without recognizing the connection between our stares.
Don Mancini drew closer, and I was forced to rip my gaze from hers. To not stare at the way her hair fluttered in the warm breeze. The way that long dress made her look like a beautiful bride missing a veil.
Don Mancini stopped before me. “Keep an eye on Leo for me.”
“You know I will.”
His hand moved to my shoulder, and he gave me a gentle pat.
I almost told him right then and there. Almost blurted it out like I couldn’t contain it within my chest. I was so tired of living with the deception. It was forbidden and taboo, so all this sneaking around should be exciting…but it wasn’t at all.
It was fucking torture.
Then my eyes shifted back to Francesca.
She gave a slight shake of her head, like she knew.
She fucking knew I was about to explode.
My eyes turned back to his. “I’ll tell you when it’s done.”
I drove with Leo in the passenger seat. Andre and Salvatore were in the back. It was quiet in the car, and then Leo turned on the radio and cranked up the volume. His arm was propped on the armrest, and he leaned toward the window as we watched the landscape pass us by.
The line of SUVs was behind us. It was past sunset, so only a little bit of light was left before the darkness fully took over.
I got tired of the music, so I turned it off.
“What’s your problem?” Leo asked.
“We’re about to blow these guys to pieces. What’s your problem?”
Leo rolled his eyes and looked out the window again.
My sources had told me Warren’s personal address.
It sounded like he lived there with his elderly mother.
We’d just have to make sure we spared her from the storm of bullets when we took over.
He didn’t seem like the kind of guy to care about anyone but himself, but he was still Sicilian, and to us, family was everything.
We approached the outskirts of Palermo, houses along the road with rolling hills of vineyards and farms.
“Five minutes out,” I said.
The guys started to strap on their vests in the back seat.
Leo didn’t put on a vest, but he grabbed his pistol and placed it on his lap.
“Put on your vest, Leo,” I ordered, already having mine on even though it added an extra twenty pounds to my frame.
He turned to me. “Did my dad tell you to watch me or something?”
“Put on your fucking vest.”
“Cristo…” He grabbed it from the floorboards and put it on. “Happy now?”
Was this what being a parent felt like? Because it sucked.
When we approached the property, it was dark.
Like all the lights were out and no one was home.
Or at least he wanted us to think that. I pulled the car over on the side of the road, and the rest of the SUVs followed suit.
The plan had already been decided before we left, so the guys secured the bomb to the outside gates of the property and detonated the explosion.
One of the doors snapped off the hinges and the lock was busted, so we were able to manually tug the other door open.
Armed to the teeth, we marched onto the property and spread out, surrounding the house in the distance. If anyone was home, they knew we were there, so we expected gunfire at any moment. We kept low as we approached, ducking behind statues and trees and pausing as we waited for a response.
“Looks like no one’s home to me,” Leo said as he remained crouched behind the wall.
I peeked over the edge then motioned for the guys to go farther around the rear. They didn’t have the same training that I did from Cosa Nostra, where they utilized tactics employed by the military. I shared my knowledge with them to keep them alive during times like these.
I listened to them break down a door in the rear through the comms.
“Doesn’t look like anyone’s here,” Hugo said over the system.
I rose to my full height. “Let’s move in.”
We all converged on the house. Some shot out windows to get inside. I didn’t have to break down the door because it had been left unlocked. I entered and took a quick sweep with my gaze, not stepping any farther in case it was wired.
One of the guys scanned the house with his system. “The place is cold.”
Once it was cleared for entry, I moved through the house, finding his bedroom on the second story. The drawers were empty, the closet had barely anything in it, and it looked completely cleaned out…like he’d already left.
I stepped outside and called one of my informants. “You said Warren would be here.”
Charlie was in one of the smaller gangs in Palermo. I let him off the hook for stuff in exchange for information, but he seemed to have given me shit intel this time. “You asked where he lived, and I gave you the address.”
“Well, it looks like he moved out. Give me another residence.”
“He just has the one.”
“Well, he went somewhere, didn’t he? And his ma ain’t here either.”
“I don’t know what to tell you, Wolfe. I asked around, and everyone said that’s where he lived. Maybe he knew you were coming, so he booked it.”
“And how could he have known that?”
“I don’t know,” he said with a sigh. “But I didn’t say anything. You know I don’t want to be on your bad side, Wolfe.” I hung up on him, stepped farther away, and entered his gardens. It was a nice property, lots of land and landscaped gardens with a big house and a beautiful pool.
I called Don Mancini next.
“Is it done?”
“He’s not here.”
“He’s not?” he asked in surprise.
“He knew we were coming.”
The don was quiet.
“It’s possible Warren left because he assumed I would track him down. It’s not an unreasonable assumption. But it doesn’t make sense for him to run instead of hit us first. It makes me think someone tipped him off—and it has to be someone in our camp.”
He remained quiet.
“I know it’s not you or me or Leo. The rest of the crew seems trustworthy, but it has to be one of us.”
“That’s not a scenario I’d like to think about.”
“But it has to be the case. We need to figure out who it is, Don. Who has the most to gain from a betrayal like this?”
He didn’t answer right away. “The reason could be based on a number of things. They might be paid a fortune to snitch. Or maybe they’re a planted mole. The last new addition we had before we suspected a snitch is you.”
“Well, it’s not me.”
“I know,” he said without a doubt.
That lack of hesitation meant a lot to me.
“Head back, and we’ll figure it out.”
“We need to be prepared for a hit that could happen anywhere at any time until I track him down.”
“I know.”