14. Obi
OBI
“Come with me.”
Volpe sat on a stool in the kitchen, his head in his hands. I’d given us both an hour to cool off before I’d sought him out.
His bleary eyes looked up. “What?”
“Come with me,” I repeated. I didn’t wait for his response. I turned on my heel and led him through the house to the library in the back, where I’d become comfortable working. It didn’t have the extensive collection of books I had back at the penthouse, but I’d rebuild it eventually.
“Are you going to kill me now?” he mumbled as I pushed open the door and walked over to the antique wooden desk.
I was pleased that this desk was left behind in the estate.
It reminded me of the one I had sourced for the penthouse, but this one was wider and thicker. Studier. Leona and I would enjoy it.
“Are you?” Volpe asked again. His shoulders were tense as he stared out the wide windows and into the darkness beyond.
I picked up the glass of liquor I’d been nursing since Ciel texted the video to our group chat and downed the rest of it. I poured myself another finger.
“If I was going to kill you, I certainly wouldn’t tell you about it in advance.”
He nodded like I had a point. “You are an assassin.”
“The best.”
He collapsed into the chair across the desk with his shoulders hunched. The low light of the room shadowed his bruises.
“So then what the fuck do you want with me?”
I placed the glass on the desk, turning the crystal absentmindedly. “You are a tool. I will use you however I can.”
Volpe and I had already started working together over the last few days.
He’d provided any information I’d requested so far, and we were building a plan to interrupt the Camorra’s smuggling operations.
If we could destroy their storage, steal their weapons, and prevent new shipments from arriving, it would put a significant dent in their income and their reach throughout the city.
“You’re not mad at me about the RICO case?”
“Oh, I’m furious. But that doesn’t solve the predicament.”
The corner of his mouth pulled up, but he didn’t respond.
“Tell me what you know about it.”
His eyes were vacant while he chewed on his thumb—a habit he unfortunately shared with Leona. “I already told you everything I know about it. I’ve had some people trying to get more information, but it went nowhere.”
“So you just ignored it?” I asked. “Buried your head in the sand for the last four months and pretended it didn’t exist?”
His eyebrows pinched together while he frowned. “No, I simply accepted the inevitability of my eventual demise, tried to keep control over a dying Family threatened from all sides because of my predecessor’s failures, and did my best to keep Leona out of it.”
“Clearly, that failed.”
“Clearly.” Silence stretched between us while we stared each other down. I didn’t move, and neither did he. “All I know is that Luciano was trying to take all the other Heads down, and I know he was gunning for me the most.”
I had been preparing to call Samuel when Ciel texted the video to our group chat, which I was trying not to think about.
Instead, I typed out a text to our lawyer that I needed to speak with him as soon as possible.
He didn’t respond immediately, so I left the phone next to my computer and sat in the desk chair.
“You guys have a lawyer?” Volpe asked, eyes flicking to my phone.
“Samuel Achebe.” I took a drink. “He is the best.”
He whistled briefly. “He’s really good. I’ve seen some of his cases.”
“He is good,” I agreed. “But depending on what the government already has, he might not be enough to stop this.”
The government structured the RICO laws to give them a win against undefeatable mafias.
The law benefited them, not us. But if Leona’s and my suspicions were correct—that the government’s interest in interviewing Leona stemmed from its desire to use her testimony, rather than charge her—we might have a better chance at holding them off.
“What do you think they have on us?” My fingers twirled around the top of the glass. “Or on her?”
He sank deeper into the chair. “I’m sure they have plenty on me. If they’ve been hanging around you guys recently, like Leona said, they probably are at least suspicious she’s involved in the mafia. If they had her connected to Ryuji, and they know who he is, then I’d say we’re all fucked.”
I let out a heavy sigh while I tried to wrap my head around the possibilities.
The likelihood that they had mountains of evidence against the Shadows as an organization was slim, but if they’d seen Leona with us, and seen Leona committing crimes as a member of the mafia, then they could make the case that the rest of us were part of the mafia, too.
“I expect you to work with Samuel however he needs,” I told Volpe. His jaw clenched as he stared out the window again.
“If things get worse…” he began before he trailed off.
“Yes, Volpe?”
His palm pressed into his side, over his wound, while his voice dropped low. “If things progress with the case, I will do whatever I can to keep her out of it.”
I leaned over the desk, bracing my palms on the wood. “What, exactly, does that mean?”
He met my stare. “I’ll take the fall for it.”
“You would do that for her?” My head tilted to the side. “For us?”
“Of course, I would,” he replied quietly. “Saving her from it, from all of this shit, has always been my goal.”
I considered him, and the way he stared back at me with almost lifeless eyes. Resigned. Like he’d already given up. What was the extent of his feelings for her? Was he rejecting her because he had planned to sacrifice himself for her?
A sliver of me respected him for the thought.
Either way, I could use him. If it came down to it, if it was our future against his—Leona’s life or his—I would sacrifice him in a heartbeat.
“Greco must have contacts he can rely on if he was both aware of the RICO case and thinks he can use it against us,” I said. “Powerful connections.”
“Yeah. I’m surprised, but not. In Naples, they control the local government.
They basically are the government. People from every department are on their payroll.
So I’d guess that their connects are likely more political than law enforcement-related.
Omertà still stands. He doesn’t work with the police. He owns them through other means.”
I nodded. “My thought was that it could be in the mayor’s office—”
“And the mayor’s deputies. Probably the commissioners.” His elbows rested on his thighs while he leaned forward. “Maybe even the police commissioner. At the Bureau, he might have even higher contacts.”
I had been thinking the same thing.
I leaned back in my chair. Volpe and I thought more similarly than I had originally expected. “Did you ever work with the commissioner?”
Volpe rubbed his chin. “No, but Luciano bribed the previous commissioner. We got away with a lot under that administration.”
“He bribed him?”
“Yes, but that was over a decade ago, at least according to the records from his office.” Volpe hissed in pain as he readjusted in his seat. “The newer one hasn’t bothered us too much, as long as we keep a low profile.”
War was coming. There were bound to be casualties. “I doubt we’ll be able to keep a low profile.”
“No,” he said with a shake of his head. “But if we need leverage against Greco, I’d start with the mayor and the police commissioner. We need to get to them before the Camorra does.”
I flipped open my laptop while my mind mentally went through my lists of contacts and favors. Volpe stood from his seat and walked over to the window.
The police commissioner was, thankfully, one of my contacts. We’d done a job for him a few years ago and he owed me. It would be easy to get control of him.
“What happens if you kill him?” Volpe asked, looking over his shoulder at me. “What then?”
“What do you mean?”
He scoffed. “An organization the size of the Camorra doesn’t just wither away and disappear. Someone else steps in to take their place.”
I stayed silent.
“How will you dismantle it?” he pressed, walking back to stand in front of me. “It’s global. How can you ensure that no one else, especially not one of Greco’s heirs, won’t take it over and come back after you again? After her?”
I drummed my fingers on the desk. “That will not happen.”
“If you kill him, you’re creating a generational vendetta,” he said. “They would never stop hunting you. They’d go after you, your children, your family.”
Leona.
My jaw clenched. “I’m aware of how vendettas work.”
Volpe’s eyes flicked over mine, back and forth. Watching. Thinking. He laughed bitterly. “Bullshit. I can’t believe this.”
I finished the liquor in my glass. “What’s the problem, Volpe?”
“Here I thought that maybe, just maybe, you had the balls to get rid of them. Take them all out and be done with them,” he said.
“But no. You want the Camorra and all its power for yourself. Well, if there’s one thing I learned from watching Luciano run our Family into the fucking ground, it’s that greed will always stab you in the back. ”
“I am not greedy,” I spat. My fingers twitched, itching for a weapon. “The only way to protect those I love is to be in the greatest position of power. Otherwise, it will never be true safety.”
That day in Italy, when the entire world moved around Greco, I saw that truth. When my parents died because I wasn’t strong enough to save them, I saw that truth. When that boy I’d asked to wait in my place died because of me, I saw that truth.
Without power, there was no safety.
“And how far are you willing to go to achieve that power?” he asked. “Will you sacrifice her for it?”
“Never.” I stood to meet him face to face. “This is all for her.”
“This is for you. Because you’re too afraid to live in a world that you can’t control.”
“You know nothing about me, Volpe.” I crowded him, forcing him to take a step back.
His eyes were as hard as steel. “Then what is it you actually want?”
“I want everything Greco has because that is the only way we all survive,” I answered.
“You’re lying to yourself if you—”
The door creaking open cut him off. Both our heads whipped toward it.
“Obi?” Her voice was quiet, with a tremor in it. She stood by the threshold, one hand braced against it, while she watched us with a frown. I recognized Caspian’s shirt hanging over her frame, her thighs peeking out from under it.
“What’s wrong, nke’m?” Her eyes flicked to Max and then back to me, but her lips pressed together. The paleness of her cheeks clued me in. “Nightmares?”
She nodded tightly.
“You have nightmares?” Volpe asked, voice tight.
She ignored him and looked at me. “It’s late. Sleep with me?”
“Of course.” I walked to her so I could thread my hand through her hair. “My room or yours?”
“Yours,” she said. “I just want to lie down.”
I glanced over my shoulder. “Go to your room, Volpe, and stay there.”
He glared, but he didn’t argue. With one soft look to Leona, which she ignored, he sat back down and braced his head in his hands.
I wrapped my arm around her, and together we left.