Chapter 23
LEO
“This is a little much, don’t you think?” I ask, kicking a pebble and watching it skitter across the asphalt of the parking garage.
Dante scowls, which seems to be his default setting. At least his sister is still nice to look at when she scowls at me. “After Mia’s place got ransacked, I figured it’s best if we’re more careful.”
I cock my head to the side, adjusting my eyes to the dim lighting. “You hear anything more about that?”
“Only what Michael told me,” he responds, shoving his hands into his pockets. “I tried digging up some intel, but the guys involved were nobodies. Only been working for Enzo for a few months.”
“Why wouldn’t he send his muscle?” I ask.
“Why would you put her in danger in the first place?” Dante asks, his words causing me to ball up my fists at my sides.
“Your sister found out where Vince was shot and wanted to investigate the scene.”
“And who told her?” he asks, his voice getting deeper with accusation.
I grit my teeth and try to ignore the sinking feeling I get every time Mia’s trashed apartment flashes through my head.
“I told her what she needed to know to find his killer,” I explain, cementing my feet in place. “I never meant for things to play out the way they did.”
Did I want to use Mia for more than I originally said? Yes.
Did I expect to get attached this easily? No.
Now the mere thought of her in danger makes me want to peel my skin off.
I never carried a gun around before. Never wanted to. But now it’s attached to my hip, itching to splatter the brains of whoever is suicidal enough to go after her.
“She should be with me,” Dante says. “You can’t protect her.”
Within seconds, my body lights up in a fit of rage, and I take several steps toward Dante, prepared to sink my fist in the side of his face. But then Michael appears out of nowhere and steps between us.
His hand reaches out and presses against my chest, stopping me.
I look down, staring at his pale fingers tensed against my chest. Michael has only touched me during our sparring sessions, but I know he loathes physical contact.
It’s the only thing that makes me focus on my breathing long enough to take a step back.
Michael nods at me before turning back to Dante.
“Mia can’t stay with you because then Enzo will figure out who she is. We need to maintain anonymity for this plan to work. Besides, Leo’s townhouse has top-of-the-line security. It’s the safest place for her to be right now. And my guys are watching her.”
My fury is mirrored in Dante’s eyes. Everything I’m feeling, he’s feeling tenfold. “I want to see her.”
“It’s too risky,” Michael says, taking a step back. “Especially when we’re this close.”
I run a hand through my hair, finally feeling my heart rate start to drop. I have to push her face out of my mind just to calm down.
“Let’s just get on with it. Tell me what you have for me.”
Dante shakes his head and pulls out a cigarette from his pocket. He doesn’t light it up right away. He just rolls it between his lips like it’s a calming mechanism.
After a quick glance over his shoulder and a few deep breaths, he starts talking. “I did as you asked. I was able to plant some bad information with the crews I do have in. Just small things like wrong times, route changes, and police raid rumors. It spread from there.”
I lean against a pillar, crossing my arms. “Good. And you think it’s working?”
He pulls out a lighter and an orange hue illuminates his face as he takes his first drag. The smell of nicotine fills the air, making my skin squirm.
“There were already rumblings of people losing faith in Enzo. He’s getting old, and people are skeptical of his relationship with the pigs and people like you. My rumors just added fuel to the fire.”
Of course, I already knew about the distrust surrounding Enzo. His empire had gotten too big and his ego had blinded him.
People were ready for a change. But I didn’t care about that. I just want Enzo to burn for his sins.
“I’m assuming you’re being careful?”
“Of course. Every crew is getting a variation of the same lie. It’s close enough to be believable and off enough to cause real damage.”
I nod slowly, watching the smoke dance around his mouth. “Explain what you mean by variations.”
“Not all of my tips are fake,” Dante explains. “If everything’s a lie, they catch on, so I’m mixing in some truths here and there.”
“And?” I press.
“I’m good at what I do. Shipments are already being missed. Crews are pointing fingers at neighboring territories, believing someone is setting them up. And of course, guys are holding back on intel or not correcting people because they don’t want to get blamed. It’s a Jenga tower of stupidity.”
“How’s Enzo handling it?” I ask, feeling a little too giddy for my own good.
Dante takes a step back, studying me closely before continuing. “He’s already started making examples, which is causing more rifts.”
I push off the column and stretch my legs. “Anyone influential?”
“He’s being thorough. Cracking down on different crews—especially the Mariano’s who have been loyal to him since the beginning.”
I nod, filing away all this intel for later. The Mariano family runs most of Enzo’s underground casinos across the city, which is a significant amount of income for him. If he pisses them off, then he loses a majority of his bankroll.
“Sounds like the old man is getting paranoid.”
“Yes,” Dante confirms. “And paranoid men don’t think before they react.”
A smile tugs at my face. “He’s right where I want him.”
Dante doesn’t return my smile. He just throws his cigarette on the ground and smothers it with the toe of his boot. “He’s still a wild card. When men like him start lashing out, they don’t care who gets caught in the crossfire.”
Mia’s face flashes in my mind.
I push it away.
“Then we won’t give him a reason to look our way,” I say.
“What do I do when he starts tightening his circle? He hasn’t been the king for as long as he has because he’s dumb. He’ll start pulling back crews and vetting jobs himself. It’s going to get harder to make waves.”
“Yeah, I know,” I say, scratching the back of my neck. “Which means we need to move quickly. Does he have any big jobs coming up?”
“Tomorrow night,” Dante responds. “They’re moving a high-value shipment. I don’t know what it is, but he’s using his best guys so it must be important.”
I step closer, eager to latch on to anything useful. “Do you know the route?”
“No,” he replies coolly, “but that’s because there may be three different ones floating around.”
I grin. This time it’s sharp and ready for the kill. “You’re smarter than you look, Russo,” I say, rolling my shoulders back. “I think we can kill two birds with one stone.”
Dante’s cocks his head, narrowing his eyes. “Meaning?”
I scan the shadows for Michael before signaling him to come closer for this next part. “Meaning we tip off the cops.”
Dante huffs out a quiet puff of air. “And what good would that do? I don’t trust the pigs. It’s bad enough my sister sold her soul to become one.”
Michael can sense my irritation, causing him to move closer to me in case I decide to strike again.
“Here’s the deal, Russo. Right now, there’s doubt.
Whispers. And if this shipment is really that big of a deal and gets hit, rumors become real, and his guys start to feel betrayed.
They’ll start reassessing their boss’s ties with the police…
and Enzo? He starts questioning them right back.
Either way, it fractures trust. That’s a win. ”
Dante mulls over my suggestion, rocking back on his heels. “What happens when Enzo starts looking for the rat?”
“Because of the controlled chaos you’ve started, he won’t look outward first. He’ll look at his own crews and maybe he’ll even start assuming someone close to him is the culprit. Someone who’s looking to take his spot.”
Michael clears his throat, stepping into the light. “It will force him to take action.”
“And he’ll overreact,” I add. “We want him to pull back. Tighten his circle. Cut people off. Because the second he does that, he loses control of the bigger picture.”
“Or he’ll lock everything down so tight we’ll never be able to touch him,” Dante responds, his voice layered with skepticism.
“No, he’ll isolate himself and isolated men make mistakes. And when he makes a big mistake, we’ll be there to make him regret it.”
Silence fills the empty space. The only thing I can hear is the muffled sounds of the city beyond the confines of the parking garage we’re in.
“What if he connects things with Mia? She can’t hide her identity forever. He’ll find out she’s a cop and will start to realize something is off about her.”
I push out a low breath, my hands shaking at my sides. “I handled it. She’s getting some much-needed distance from the NYPD.”
“What did you do?” Dante grunts, stepping forward.
“I did what I needed to do to protect her,” I answer.
It wasn’t an easy decision, but after last night, she needed to pump the brakes. All I did was submit an anonymous tip to the commissioner’s office, and that was enough to buy me some time while we got this mess sorted.
Dante’s eyes soften, and for the first time I see the similarities between him and his sister. They both have a hard exterior but were undoubtedly soft on the inside.
Michael is the next person to speak. “We don’t have time for this bullshit. If we’re doing it, we move now.”
I nod once, agreeing with him.
Dante drags a hand across his jaw, letting out a muffled curse word before pulling out his phone. “I’ll confirm the route and get it to you by the end of the day.”
“And I’ll handle the tip,” I say.
Michael’s gaze lands on me, his charcoal eyes looking somber, but steady. “What do you need from me?”
“Check on Mia,” I order, grabbing my own cellphone from my pocket. “I want to gauge her mood before I see her later. I’m sure she’s pissed.”
Michael doesn’t say anything. He just shakes his head, confirming that he heard me, and vanishes without so much as a footstep echoing off the cement walls.
“It’s been a pleasure, Russo,” I say, turning on my heel. But before I can walk to my car, he clears his throat, prompting me to turn back around.
“If this blows back on her—”
“It won’t,” I snap, as if the mere idea is an insult.
His eyes flash with the same softness from before, but it’s fleeting. “You care about her.”
I bow my head, biting the tender flesh inside my cheek as I debate my answer. It is still hard to say out loud. Because the second I do, my feelings become real. And so does the realization that I might lose her someday.
I lift my head, staring him straight in the eye. “It doesn’t matter. All you need to know is I will keep her safe.”
“You better,” Dante grunts, “because I’m not losing another sibling to this. And if I do, it’s your head, DeLuca.”
“I know,” I say, turning before he has a chance to respond.
And it’s true.
Because if Mia doesn’t survive this, neither do I.