Chapter 27
27
Finn looked out the window as the helicopter hovered over the compound below, its rotors drowning out everything else. They’d been given headsets when they’d boarded the chopper but hadn’t said a word to each other since the helicopter took flight over Rome.
Finn couldn’t speak for anyone else, but he wasn’t eager to let the leader of the Syndicate overhear anything they had to say to each other.
Finn had expected to drive, but Ronan explained that private vehicles weren’t allowed in or out of the compound. Finn couldn’t help wondering if Vitale was paranoid — justifiably or not — about car bombs detonating near his family.
They’d left the Ferrari outside the penthouse and walked to a private helipad. Vitale’s chopper had picked them up five minutes later and they’d risen like an eagle, the city stretching below, its ancient architecture merging with towering churches from the seventeenth century and modern office buildings.
It had taken less than half an hour to reach the compound, the main house as big as a Tuscan villa and surrounded by smaller buildings. An array of gardens and walking paths wound around the property, and a pool glistened like an oasis between the leaves of the trees that provided aerial cover.
The helicopter landed with a jolt, and a few seconds later a man in sunglasses, a button-down shirt, and trousers opened the door and helped them out onto the helipad. Finn pegged him as security from his efficient movements, but he wasn’t like any security Finn had ever seen before.
The helicopter’s rotors came to a stop, the sudden silence every bit as deafening as the sound from the chopper had been a minute earlier.
“Follow me,” the man said in accented English.
They followed him down a gravel-lined path that wound through the trees and spilled out onto a patio sheltered by a pergola covered in grapevines.
Two men were waiting, as stylish as the guard who’d helped them from the helicopter. One of them indicated that Finn should step forward.
“Raise your hands please.”
Finn followed the instructions and waited while they patted him down. Ronan went next. Finn was bracing himself for the search of Elise, but when she stepped forward, the guard shook his head.
“That won’t be necessary, Signorina.” He looked from her to Finn and Ronan. “You may follow me please.”
They wound their way around another path, a child’s laughter echoing from somewhere on the property. The laughter got louder and was accompanied by the sound of splashing water as they approached the end of the path, something Finn understood when they spilled out onto a patio with a large classical pool.
A blond child stood at the deep end, speaking in Italian to a woman who was quite obviously her mother, sitting on the edge of the pool, her long legs dangling in the water.
The woman responded and the child dove into the water in a clean arc. The woman clapped, beaming when the child’s sleek head emerged from the crystal clear water.
The woman beamed. “Buon lavoro, tesoro!”
She must have heard them approach, because a second later she turned to face them, then jumped up from her spot at the edge of the pool.
“Hello!” she called out, hurrying over to them. She slid her sunglasses onto the top of her head to reveal startlingly green eyes and chiseled cheekbones. She wore a one-piece black bathing suit, her fair hair long and wavy around her shoulders. “You must be the Murphys.” She looked at Elise. “And Elise.”
Elise looked surprised the woman knew her name. “Yes, hello.”
The woman extended her hand. “I’m Angel Vitale. It’s nice to meet you, and so nice to have company from back home.”
Elise shook her hand and Angel Vitale made the rounds, greeting Ronan and Finn every bit as warmly.
After a couple of minutes had passed, Angel looked at Elise. “Can I get you something to drink? We can sit by the pool and chat, if you don’t mind keeping me company that is.” She laughed. “I’m desperate to speak English for awhile. I’m afraid my daughter Stella speaks better Italian than I do. Keeping up is a full-time job.”
“Something to drink sounds nice,” Elise said.
“Wonderful.” She looked at the guard. “Marco, would you mind taking Ronan and Finn to see Nico? We’ll be right here if he needs us.”
Marco ducked his head. “Of course, Signora.”
Finn looked down at Elise, who still looked a little unsure. “You okay?”
She smiled. “I’m fine.”
He didn’t want to leave her, but he had a feeling she was in good hands. “Be right back.”
He and Ronan followed the guard named Marco into the main house. Their feet echoed on the marble floor as they made their way past a gourmet kitchen and a massive but well-used living area. They started down a hall, then turned right and walked through a pair of open glass doors onto a wide piazza with columns wider than Ronan and twice as tall.
It was a breezeway of sorts, connecting the main house to a smaller structure. They reached the end and another pair of glass doors, one of them open, a soft breeze blowing through the sheer curtains on the other side.
Marco rapped on the doorframe.
“Yes?” The voice from inside was slightly distracted.
“The Murphys are here, boss.”
“Bring them in.”
They followed Marco into a large, paneled room, the walls lined with shelves groaning under the weight of more books than Finn had ever seen in a place that wasn’t an actual library.
An ornate wood desk dominated the area in front of a window that gave a view of the pool area through the trees. He strained for a glimpse of Elise, then gave up when Nico Vitale rose from behind the desk.
“Good afternoon.” He nodded but made no move to shake their hands, gesturing instead to the chairs opposite his desk. “Please, sit.”
They did and Finn used the time they spent getting settled to study the man Ronan said had reimagined the Italian mob, ousting the former leader and taking over with Farrell and two others a few years back.
He was larger and more imposing than Finn had expected, with thick dark hair and eyes that reminded him of a lion. He wore gray trousers and a white button-down that Finn guessed cost as much as a first-class ticket to Bali, and when he lowered himself to the chair behind the desk, Finn was struck by the elegance with which he moved.
He didn’t know what he’d expected in a mob boss, but Nico Vitale wasn’t it.
“Farrell says you need a favor,” Nico said, getting right to the point.
Ronan nodded and explained: the murders in Ukraine, the invasion of the mountain house, Aldrich Cromwell pulling all the strings as Achilles.
When he was done, Nico stared at them a long time. “This man ordered the murder of a child’s parents in front of him.”
Ronan nodded. “Finn was there when it happened, with the boy.”
Petro’s face flashed in Finn’s mind.
“And these people were innocents?” Nico asked.
“Yes,” Finn said without hesitation.
“Forgive me if this is a crass question,” Nico said to Finn. “But why didn’t Cromwell’s men kill the boy?”
“I hid him,” Finn said. “In the woods.”
Nico seemed to consider his words. “There was a time when the Syndicate wouldn’t involve itself in such affairs. A time when it might even have participated in them.”
“It’s my understanding that time has passed,” Ronan said, his voice like steel.
“The withdrawal of protection is a serious thing,” Nico said, his voice low. “A dangerous thing.”
Finn heard the menace in it, understood that while Farrell Black might be a machete-wielding devil, Nico was a surgeon with a scalpel.
They were different, but both could be deadly.
Ronan nodded.
Nico studied them for a long moment, then reached for a notepad. He slid it toward Finn with a pen. “Write this man’s name down please.”
Finn did, then slid it back to Nico, who rose to his feet.
“I’ll need a few minutes. Can I get you something while you wait? A drink? Coffee? Tea?”
“We’re good,” Ronan said.
Nico turned on his heel and left the room.
Finn looked at Ronan. His brother met his stare in silence.
They were in it now. Nico would either agree or not. If he did, they would go after Cromwell, end this once and for all. If they didn’t, Finn would have to decide if he was willing to defy someone like Nico Vitale.
He thought about Elise, about the future they’d finally agreed to share. For once, he felt like he had something to lose.
It wasn’t a decision he wanted to make.