Chapter 29
TWENTY-NINE
Hades
A few weeks earlier in Greece:
“I don’t want to leave.” Capri rolled onto her stomach and cuddled against my side. Her long hair flowed down her shoulders and brushed against my chest. “It feels right being here with you.”
I gazed up at the ceiling, concentrating on the waves gliding onto the surf in the distance. I had to let her go for now. Leo expected her back in New York. If I didn’t let her leave, he would come to retrieve her. That was a headache I didn’t need.
I worked with too many influential clients who demanded discretion.
If I caused Leo and his associates to infiltrate my home and club, I could lose the trust of the men who put their faith in me.
Eventually, I would reveal myself to Leo.
He would know what I had done with his daughter, but I needed a few more days to figure out my plan.
“You’ll come back to me soon.” I twisted my fingers in her hair. “And then I might not ever let you leave.”
“Most girls would run from a man like you.”
“You’re not most girls.” I yanked her on top of me. “If you were, you wouldn’t be here.”
“Because I should have stayed away, or you should have turned me away?”
“A little of both.” I gripped her thighs and set them on either side of my legs, allowing her to straddle me. “Let’s make the most of these last few hours.”
I never should have let her leave.
“Hades.” Leo hustled into his study with a long, black bag. “Romero’s men delivered what you requested.”
An alliance with an arms dealer proved otherwise to be a solid choice.
Leo put the bag on the desk and unzipped it, revealing the rifle I had chosen for this job. It was known for its precision and would be quiet enough to use in a church with undeniable acoustics.
My only regret was Benny wouldn’t see it coming and he would never know it was me. That was how all of my hits went. But this one was personal. This mark took something that belonged to me. He had to pay with his life.
This particular job unsettled me for several reasons.
The most prominent being that there was no room for error or Capri could pay with her life.
I had no idea what we were walking into.
I had no time to plan and no room to screw up.
Romero provided discreet intel, but so far, he didn’t see anything out of the ordinary at the church.
Benny had seemed to go alone on this one, which didn’t sit well with me.
“Are you sure you can do this?” Leo asked.
“I’m the fucking best at what I do. This is my job, remember?”
“Yeah, well, my daughter’s life has never been on the line before.”
“Whose fault is that?” I took the gun from the case and lined up a pretend shot.
“That’s debatable,” he said.
“Are we going to fight now?”
“No.”
I familiarized myself with the weapon, going over different strategies in my mind.
I had no idea what we were walking into, but I had to be prepared for anything.
Leo would go in and assess the situation while I stayed in the shadows.
I had to find the perfect spot in case I had to do what came naturally to me.
Benny took Capri. As far as I was concerned, what I did next was justifiable. I never used my skills to take a life that didn’t deserve to end. Despite what people thought, I did have a code. No innocent people died by my hand. That was why when Leo asked me to kill Emilio, I couldn’t do it.
Leo didn’t have the proof I required to make someone stop breathing.
He had a hunch that Emilio overheard sensitive information.
Even if that was true, I didn’t work with hunches.
When Capri asked me how I could do what I did and come home and act like nothing happened, that was how I could do it.
If I had to eliminate someone, there was a valid reason.
I had turned down plenty of jobs because the client couldn’t meet my requirements.
“Why would he pick the church?” Leo asked. “After all this time?”
“He’s playing with us. Probably trying to throw us off our game.”
“We haven’t worked together in a really long time. He’s not stupid.”
“How did you get involved with him?” I held up my hand. “You know what, I don’t want to know.”
“Business has changed over the decade. It’s not the way you remember it.
A guy like me has to get creative to stay on top.
Bilotti runs things his way. He’s an arms dealer who happened to take over the city.
” He shrugged. “Before we didn’t need the cartels.
There weren’t cameras on every street corner.
Sports betting wasn’t legal back then. Neither was weed. ”
“You had to adapt.”
“Working with people like Benny seemed to be the solution.”
“I get where you’re coming from, but involving Capri should never have been a line you crossed.”
“Capri was a line you shouldn’t have crossed either.” He took a seat at his desk. “She’s so taken with you.”
“The feeling is mutual.”
“It seems as though we’ll never understand what the other was hinting when it comes to Capri.”
“Maybe we shouldn’t discuss my relationship with her.” I studied the gun one last time, memorizing the way it settled in my hands, calculating the weight in my mind, and anticipating the speed I would use when I pulled the trigger. “We have to focus.”
“There is one more thing I need to say,” he said.
“It’s not like I can stop you.” I smirked. “I never could.”
“I’m sorry for what happened with Emilio,” he said. “I was reckless and thought I could handle it.”
“If he were some scum you shot in an alley because he was a snitch or a liability, we could have handled that, but the way you went about it…”
“There wasn’t anything you could do by the time you arrived. Why did you stay quiet all these years?”
“In the beginning, I trusted you to do the right thing. After a while, I let the hate fester, and then one day I decided you weren’t worth the aggravation.”
“I fucked up and thought it was better to leave things the way they were,” he said. “You couldn’t have come back then. Not with the guys who were running things. Killing a priest was very serious to them and their code.”
“You had a lot of responsibility. You had a wife and a child. You were obligated to the New York families. They invested in you. If they knew you went rogue and killed an innocent man of the cloth, they would have killed you. I didn’t want that on my conscience.”
“For what it’s worth, I made sure they never came after you. After a while they let it go.”
“I made friends with some important men who helped me start over. I had to do a few high-profile jobs to pay off those debts.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Everything happens for a reason, Leo.” I ran my hand along the length of the gun. “I’m exactly where I need to be.” Where I want to be.
“I want you to know I am sorry.” He touched his forearm. “I kept my tattoo too. I needed it as a reminder to be a better person.”
“I needed mine too.” It’s how Capri found me. Now I need to get to her and prove to her that I’m the man she believes I am. “I’m willing to let the past go.”
“Me too.”
This conversation was too much to process right now. I had more important issues to concentrate on. While I appreciated the apology, we would have to pick it up another day. My priority was Capri. I couldn’t afford any distractions.
“The Bilotti brothers had Christopher picked up a few minutes ago.” I placed the gun back in the bag. “We can use that as leverage if we have to.”
“How did you get Romero to help us?”
“You’re not the only one who can make an alliance.” I zipped the bag. “Be glad he’s on our side. If Lazaro doesn’t hand Capri over, you can use the fact that we have Christopher as collateral. You’ll tell him his son’s life depends on it.”
“What if he calls my bluff?”
“It might not be a bluff,” I said. “But if it helps me get a clear shot, that’s all that matters. I can’t take the shot if Capri is in the way. Timing will be everything on this one. I won’t risk shooting her.”
“This is my daughter’s life that I’m putting in your hands.” The muscles in his face tightened. “My only child, who I love with everything I have. How can I be sure you can pull this off?”
“Because I love her too.” I yanked the bag off the desk and hoisted it over my shoulder. “That’s how you can be sure.”
“That’s enough for me.”
“Let’s get her back.”