Chapter 17
SEVENTEEN
Hades
Cooperating with the guards who stood watch at Romero Bilotti’s club immediately brought me back to my days of working for the prominent families. When Romero’s men asked for my gun, I had no choice but to hand it over. Atticus had to do the same.
Romero didn’t get as far as he had by letting a world-renowned assassin walk into his club armed. I respected his terms.
“Are you sure you want to take this meeting?” Atticus asked as we waited for Romero to greet us. “We’re down Zeus.”
It was better to have Zeus tail Capri. If I couldn’t be with her, someone had to be. I couldn’t leave her vulnerable to Leo’s poor judgment when it came to the Lazaro family.
“I don’t think Romero summoned us here to eliminate us,” I said.
“You’re right, Mr. Zikos.” Romero entered the empty bar area with two men. “I don’t have any intention of killing you.”
“I’m glad to hear that.” I extended my hand. “Mr. Bilotti, it’s nice to meet you.”
“Call me Romero.” He shook my hand. “These are my brothers, Gio and Rocco.”
“Mr. Zikos,” Rocco said. “It’s a pleasure.”
“Please call me Hades.” I shook both Rocco and Gio’s hands. “This is my friend Atticus.”
“Thank you for setting this up, Atticus,” Romero said. “I wasn’t sure you would meet with us.”
“I’ll admit, my interest is piqued.” I nodded. “Enough to get me here.”
“I want to start out by saying this meeting has nothing to do with what happened in that church all those years ago.” Romero glanced between his brothers. “That’s ancient history as far as we’re concerned. I run things now, and I don’t care what you did or didn’t do back then.”
“You’re a reasonable man then,” I said. “There are several people who wouldn’t have dropped that incident even though they didn’t have all the facts.”
“I’m not like most people.” He pulled out a chair, unbuttoned his jacket, and sat at a round table off the bar. “If I’m coming for you, you’ll know.”
“Have a seat.” Gio motioned to the table. “Can I offer you a drink?”
“I’m fine.” I sat across from Romero as the others took their places around the table. “I’m impressed with all you and your brothers have accomplished in the last few months. Taking over New York City is no small feat.”
“Thank you.” Romero tapped his fingers against the table. “As you can imagine, we were quite surprised when you resurfaced after all this time.”
“I was pretty surprised myself.”
“We were wondering if it was a coincidence when you and Benny Lazaro showed up around the same time,” Gio said. “I pride myself on being able to see things coming, and I have to admit, I didn’t see you coming face-to-face with Leonardo Ferrante.”
“I was at the hotel the other night.” Rocco set his phone on the table. “Leo had no idea you were at that hotel.”
“I didn’t announce my arrival.” I shrugged. “But Leo’s security is not what it used to be.”
“He’s been laying low for a few years. I thought he was planning to retire.” Romero motioned toward his brothers. “I’m sure you’re aware that your presence here doesn’t sit well with us.”
“I can assure you I’m not here to interfere with your business.”
“Are you here to do a job?” Romero asked.
“I am not,” I said. “My reasons for being here are personal.”
“Do those personal reasons include your goddaughter?” Gio smirked. “I’m not judging.”
“Gio.” Romero shook his head. “Please forgive my brother. He can be an idiot at times, but he does see things for what they are.”
“I’d rather not discuss Capri.” She was already a target for Lazaro. I didn’t need her on Bilotti’s radar too. The sooner I removed her from this city, the better off we would all be.
“I don’t care what you’re doing with Ferrante’s daughter. I don’t want problems in my territory.”
“Hades isn’t here to cause disruptions for you,” Atticus said. “We don’t plan on staying in America long.”
“Romero.” I could see his father’s fierceness in his eyes, but he had a more-controlled approach. The reason I agreed to take this meeting was so I didn’t have to look over my shoulder during my stay. “Is there something specific you need from me?”
“Not at the moment,” he said. “But if Lazaro becomes an issue for me, I need to know you will be available for your special skill set.”
“You want to hire me?”
“You come highly recommended.”
“I didn’t come to the city to work, and it isn’t my intention to be here long.” I stood and buttoned my jacket. “But if I can’t resolve the situation that I did come here to put a stop to, then I might be in a position to work something out with you.”
“If you find yourself in that position,” Romero said, “you’re not going to get any resistance from me. I wanted you to know that.”
Eliminating Lazaro would work in Romero’s favor.
If Lazaro and Leo joined forces, that could cause problems for Romero and his organization.
The Bilotti brothers didn’t want competition.
Leo may have been an ally to them in the past, but if Lazaro stepped out of line, Romero wouldn’t hesitate to take Leo down too.
Another reason why I had to get Capri out of here.
If a war erupted, I could keep her safer in Greece.
“I appreciate that, but as I said, I’m looking to resolve this as quickly and as reasonably as possible.”
As much as I wanted to see Leo suffer for the things he had done to me, Capri would be shattered if her father became a casualty in the brutal life he had chosen. I didn’t want that blood on my hands.
What was Leo thinking when he joined forces with Benny? Why was he sacrificing his daughter? I didn’t really need the details. I just had to find a way to stop it, and today I learned that I had the backing of the most powerful man in New York.
“I respect you, Hades.” Romero stood. “Your reputation precedes you. I hope that I can call on you in the future should I require your services.”
“I appreciate you letting me know that there won’t be any pushback if I have to do what has to be done.” I shook Romero’s hand. “And I wouldn’t object to helping you in the future.”
“I had a feeling we’d be on the same side.” He patted my shoulder. “I had to make sure of your intentions.”
“I hope you’re satisfied that I’m back to take care of issues of my own. I’m not here to cause problems for you.”
“I am.” He pointed toward the hall that led to the exit. “Thank you for agreeing to check your weapons at the door.”
“One can never be too careful.” I headed toward the hall with Atticus by my side.
“Especially when meeting with an assassin of your caliber.” Romero smirked. “If you wanted to come at me, you would have found a way without your weapon.”
“Which is why I know where every one of your guards are positioned at this particular moment.” I gazed around the bar, making a mental note of how many men I would have been up against if I had made a move. Ten.
“Which is why I would hire you in a heartbeat if I needed you.”
“I look forward to a possible association.”
Atticus and I retrieved our guns from the guards at the door before leaving the club.
“That’s not how I expected that meeting to go,” he said.
“I wouldn’t have guessed a future alliance either.” I went down the steps that led to the street. “Maybe it was time for me to resurface.”
I had no intention of staying in the states, but it couldn’t hurt to have a friend in Romero. Now that Leo had unleashed Lazaro on all of us, there was no telling what the future held. I had to find a way to get Capri out of what he had promised her for. Romero could be just who I needed.
A large, black Mercedes SUV stopped at the curb in front of us as I put my sunglasses on.
“That’s a little ostentatious for the streets of this city,” Atticus said. “Do you want to take bets on who it belongs to?”
Before I could respond, Leo stepped out of the back passenger door and joined me in front of the club.
“You can’t seem to stay away from me, can you?” I asked. “What now?”
“Bilotti.” He thumbed toward the club. “What could you possibly want with him?”
“He requested I meet him, so the question you should be asking is what does he want with me?”
“I don’t give a shit what he wants with you.” He slammed his door shut. “But what I do care about is Capri.”
“That’s debatable.”
“Fuck you!”
“What do you want?” I glanced at my watch. “Because I’m ready for lunch. How about you, Atticus?”
“I could eat.” Atticus smiled at Leo. “Nice to see you again.”
“Gia told me that my daughter was in your suite again this morning.” Leo stepped off the curb, putting him eye-level with me. “What part of ‘stay away from her’ didn’t you understand?”
“She came to me, but I would never turn her away.” I shrugged. “You might want to tell that wife of yours to tone it down, because the more Gia fights me, the harder Capri is going to resist.”
“I don’t need parenting advice from a man who thinks it’s perfectly acceptable to fuck a woman young enough to be his daughter.”
“Actually, she’s my goddaughter, so…”
It was wrong to use Capri in that way, considering I didn’t see her as anything other than a strong, intelligent woman who went after what she wanted.
My admiration grew for her every day. Because of those feelings, I couldn’t kill Leo, but I could provoke him enough for him to reveal his true colors.
“You’re sick.” Leo pointed in my face. “Call that brute of a guard off of her. She doesn’t need your protection.”
“I disagree.”
“I don’t care what you think. I don’t need a professional diamond thief guarding Capri. What I do need is for the three of you—” He glanced at Atticus. “—to get the hell out of my town and go back to Greece.”
“That’s funny.” I ran my hand along my chin. “The last time I checked, it was Romero’s town. From what I can see, he runs things now. I don’t know why you stopped climbing the criminal ladder in your own city to associate with the cartel, but that isn’t my problem.”
“Nothing I do should concern you.”
“That would have been true if you didn’t involve Capri.” I tried to keep my composure, but the more I thought about Leo using her to unite his family with Lazaro, the more I wanted to kill him. “I’m the only one looking out for her.”
“She doesn’t need anything from you.” He clenched his jaw, igniting memories of the two of us working together to take down anyone who stood in our way. Now we were in one another’s way, and one of us had to move. “Stay away from her.”
“You know how dangerous that family is. How they treat their women.” In the last two years, one woman had gone missing and another was found at the bottom of a lake. “Is it because you think that since the man you’re sacrificing your daughter to has a law degree from Yale, he won’t hurt her?”
“Don’t stand here and pretend for a second that what you’re doing is protecting Capri. You’re the one using her. You’ve let this grudge fester for almost twenty years. All you needed was something to get to me.”
“Revenge happens when you least expect it, Leo.”
“Forget Capri exists.”
Too fucking late.
“Go home before I send you back to Greece in a body bag.”
“There’s the man I remember.” I pushed my sunglasses on top of my head. “I was wondering when you were going to join the chat.”
“Leave her alone or I’ll make you more than remember who I am and what I’m capable of.” He opened his door. “I’ll fucking show you.”
“Do your worst.” I laughed. “It won’t take me long to show Capri who you are and what you’re capable of. I can convince her of what you’ve done and to who you’ve done it to. Father Santiago might not be able to speak, but I can.”
“You’ve been warned.” Leo slid back into his SUV. “You should have stayed where you were. You asked why I would associate with Lazaro? It’s good to have men like him on your side.”
“Some of us don’t need men like Lazaro.” I waved at him. “Some of us are brave enough to handle our shit on our own.”
Within seconds, his driver maneuvered into the hectic city traffic and sped away.
“You’ve made your point,” Atticus said. “It’s time to take Capri to Greece and get her away from Lazaro. You’ll handle the fight on our turf.”
“You’re right.”
“I’ll make the arrangements for us to leave immediately.”
“There’s one more thing I have to do before we go.”
“I’m afraid to ask what that is,” he said. “You’ve been more erratic than I would like.”
“I have to attend a birthday party tomorrow night.”
“A what?” Atticus sighed.
“Capri is turning twenty-one and she invited me. I can’t disappoint her.”
“Do you have a fucking death wish?”
“I want to see the look on Leo’s face when I show up as Capri’s plus-one in front of the man and his family he’s trying to marry her into.” I ran the back of my fingers along my jaw. “I don’t want anyone to doubt who she belongs to.”
“That’s a death wish.”
“No, old friend.” I patted his back. “It’s vengeance. Twisted, sick, and long overdue.”
“You’re lucky I’m loyal.”
“I’ll buy you lunch.” I walked down the humid city street. “I’ve worked up quite a thirst for revenge this morning.”