69. Leona #2
His eyes lingered on my wine, and I took another large sip. “I know. A product of my upbringing, I’m afraid.”
Greco snorted into his glass. “Now that I believe. I could always tell Luciano was two-faced. In front of me, he did as he was told and paid me the respect I was due. But behind my back, he was a weasel. Look at the way he treated the Five Families here.”
You have no idea, Greco.
“Neither of us has a good opinion of my father,” I replied. Keep him talking. “I swear that if you let me live, I would be a much better subordinate than he was.”
Greco tsk’d his tongue. “Unfortunately, I cannot accept your apology. You’ve done far too much damage. You’ve made me look like a fool, and you’ve flagrantly disobeyed and disregarded my authority.”
Keep talking.
Please keep talking.
“I know,” I said, raising my hands in front of my chest in a placating gesture. “But you’ve also seen what my men and I can do. You can use us. We can carry out your orders here in the States. You won’t have to worry about anything.”
He threw his head back and laughed. “You had your chance! I offered you that deal, and you spat in my face.” He stood from the table and trained his gun on my heart. “You chose Volpe over my offer. I hope it was worth it.”
My jaw ticked while I stared down the barrel of his handgun. One twitch of his finger, and all of this would be over.
“At least let me die on my feet.”
He shrugged. I slowly stood. A coldness spread through my chest. My fingers tingled and went numb. It wasn’t fear; it was…
The poison.
Fuck. It was in my glass.
“It was worth it,” I said softly. I had no more time to push him before he either shot me or I collapsed from the poison. I had to act.
Greco pulled back the hammer of his gun.
“I wish I had dessert!” I shouted—the codewords Badawi waited for. The hinge to spring the trap. I grabbed the edge of the table and flipped it up. A gunshot rent the air at the same time the glasses shattered on the ground.
Chaos erupted through the restaurant—Greco’s men and Enzo’s men started fighting—but I remained focused on Greco. He spluttered, blinking as he stared at the wine staining his white shirt. Distracted, he didn’t see me lower my shoulder and launch myself at him.
I only had a minute before the poison paralyzed me.
Badawi should show up any second, but I couldn’t let Greco leave.
The poison was a simple paralytic, but it was supposed to keep him from running.
If he escaped, if he knew the FBI was after him now, he’d disappear.
We’d never get this opportunity again. My men would be stuck in prison, and we would have truly lost.
“Puttana,” Greco spat while we tumbled together on the ground. His hands clawed at my torso. Pain lanced through my body, and I sucked in a jagged gasp.
“Get the fuck off me,” I hissed, punching Greco in the stomach. It knocked the wind out of him and let me roll us so I could straddle him. He blinked rapidly, trying to tear at my clothes.
He wheezed. “What the fuck did you do to me?”
I clasped my hands around his throat to strangle him. His nails dragged red trails down my arms, but I couldn’t let go. My stomach was fucking killing me. I looked and saw blood blooming across my side.
“No,” I whispered, eyes wide. The gunshot. He fucking shot me. The pain burned through my body, and I lost my grasp on his throat. The poison was kicking in.
The hands that tore at my jacket lost their strength and fell to the side.
“You poisoned me,” Greco gasped. “How?”
I groaned before weakly punching him across the jaw. “Poisoned us both, you piece of shit.”
I caught sight of the gun Greco must have dropped earlier, just feet from us. With every ounce I had left, I reached for it. He immediately did the same. Both of us clasped the cold metal at the same time.
A foot kicked the gun away. Pain rippled up my arm to the wound in my stomach, and I recoiled, collapsing to the side. My entire chest was tight and burning at the same time.
“Leona,” Enzo said as he kneeled by my side. He pressed a vial of something to my lips, and I drank it down. “Chiara would fucking kill me if you died. Here. The antidote.”
“You poisoned both glasses,” I choked. My head was fuzzy, my vision spinning. “Asshole.”
“It was the smart move.”
“You almost got me killed.”
“You’re fine,” he said, glancing at my stomach with a heavy frown. “I’d be more worried about this.”
Greco clutched his chest and moaned. “Give it to me. The antidote.”
“No fucking way,” Enzo said. He clasped my hand and pulled me into a sitting position. I let out a groan while my palm pressed against my wound. “We have visitors.”
I looked over my shoulder. Badawi gave orders to dozens of SWAT officers and other agents. They were already taking Greco’s men into custody. At least ten sat against the wall with their hands zip-tied behind their backs.
“Finally, they decide to show up,” I muttered. Black spotted my vision. I tried to stand, but my limbs wouldn’t respond. “Shouldn’t that antidote be kicking in yet?”
“Yeah, probably,” Enzo said. “Badawi! We’ve got a problem over here!”
The Special Agent rushed over, gasping when she saw the blood on my hands. “We need to get you medical attention.”
“That would be nice,” I said. “But maybe arrest that bastard first.”
Greco was on his stomach, crawling toward the door like a fucking dog.
Badawi yanked his hands behind his back and he yelped. “You’re under arrest, Greco.”
“Basta! You can’t do this!” He tried to shout, but it came out more like a rasp. There was no fight left in him, and he slumped. The paralytic was doing its job. “I’ll have your fucking head for this! Your bosses will bury you! How fucking dare you!”
Enzo pressed cloth napkins to my side. I couldn’t tell if the nausea was from the pain of the gunshot wound or the poison. “I’m fine.”
“I don’t think you are,” he said. “We need to get you to a doctor.”
I ran my hands over the wound. “Well, in my expert opinion, it just went in and out. Everything’s fine.”
“Right,” he said with a roll of his eyes. “Hold this. I’m going to find you a medic.”
He transferred the wad of napkins into my palm, and I winced at the pressure, but I did my best to push through it.
I struggled to my feet, sweat dripping down my temple.
Greco was still resisting Badawi with what little energy he had left.
She’d maneuvered him to a sitting position, using the fallen table to brace his back.
“Hey,” I said, kicking Greco’s foot to get his attention. I gave Badawi as strong a handshake as I could manage. “Thanks for coming through for me.”
She grinned while Greco stared at me with wide eyes, fuming.
“You think you’ve won?” he spat. “There are no places on this earth where my influence doesn’t reach.
There are no situations where my money and my connections run out.
You might put me in jail for an hour, but when that hour is up, I will hunt you down and make you beg for death.
You have no idea what you’ve just done, Leona Vero. ”
The laugh bubbled up from my chest. “Actually, I think we’ve outsmarted you. But I don’t think you’ll realize it until you’re sitting all alone in your cell, with no one to call and no one to help you.” Blood dribbled over my palm. “You want to know your biggest mistake?”
His nostrils flared, but he didn’t answer.
“That’s okay, I’ll tell you anyway,” I said.
“You underestimated me. You never thought that I could outsmart you, or that my men could overpower yours. Your hubris is your downfall. I’m a woman, and it never occurred to you I might win.
That’s on you. I would say that you should learn your lesson and do better next time, but this is the end for you, Greco.
Our new friend, Badawi, is going to make sure of it. ”
We had made arrangements for Greco’s jail accommodations, but I wasn’t going to tell him that. No, he’d find that out as our last little surprise.
Now, I just needed a little bandaid and everything would be fine.