CHAPTER 44 - RED
CHAPTER
Red
“ANOTHER ONE?” Arianna gasps in dismay, my news not what she wanted to hear.
The news isn’t what I wanted to hear either.
Her eyes dart toward the kitchen, where two of my handpicked security team have taken Maria. That woman hearing this would push her headlong into meltdown, and I don’t need that any more than Arianna does.
“When did this happen?”
“About half an hour ago.” Liam’s tense frame crams into one of the straight-backed armchairs designed for people who enjoy being tortured while watching television. “I got the news while me and the team were leaving.”
“Someone shot and killed the man as he left another of our delivery drops,” Oscar adds, his face as stressed as Liam’s. “This is getting fucking dire now, Red. Dire.”
Dire, it is. I glance at my watch, wondering whether this latest hit on one of my men coincides with Galvatore’s six-hour warning issued earlier. It appears Arianna has reached the same conclusion.
“It’s my father behind this, right?” she cries. “Six hours! It’s been six hours.”
Liam looks from Arianna to me. “What the hell is going on? What is this ‘six hour’ shit? Are you telling me this isn’t down to Matteo?”
Mentioning Matteo in front of Arianna, he shuffles awkwardly in his uncomfortable chair, but he doesn’t need to worry - Arianna has things fully under control now.
My eyes don’t move from her as she makes her way across the room to stand next to me. Loving the proximity, I wind my arm around the back of her waist, ignoring the slight confusion on the faces of my brothers as I knit my fingers with hers.
“I called Galvatore earlier this morning after your message, Oscar. As you can probably guess, he accused me of taking Maria and gave me six hours to return her.” I nod at the weathered carriage clock on the mantelpiece. “When our man was shot, that was almost six hours on the dot.”
“Fuck,” Oscar hisses. “So, this is Galvatore and his men, rather than Matteo?”
“It could be either of them.” I shrug. “But yes - despite his bullshit protestations, Galvatore senior could be in on this with his prick of a fucking son.”
“We can’t lose any more men,” Liam barks. “The grapevine is having a fucking field day, unlike our reputation.”
“Yes, and therefore we’ll be...” Clenching my teeth at the unwanted buzzing from my mobile, I glance at it, fully intending to ignore whatever it is for the time being. Until I see the screen:
[Message Received: Unknown Number]
“Hold on,” I mutter, opening the message. The last time I received a text from an “unknown number”, it was Matteo.
[Unknown Number – 16:56 25 Nov]
... whoops...
“Cunt!” I scream, throwing my phone face down on the floor. “The bastard! It’s Matteo. He did it. He’s taken out another of my men!”
Liam frowns as Arianna retrieves my mobile from the carpet and looks at the message. “So, this is either a coincidence or...”
“Or Galvatore senior and Matteo are definitely working together,” Oscar adds.
“Doing each other’s dirty work at everyone else’s expense.”
Liam completes the explanation, leaving me to tug the stubble on my chin. I want to rip both Galvatores’ faces off. I want to kill the whole fucking lot of them.
“Take one of Galvatore’s men out. It doesn’t matter who,” I snarl, glaring at my brothers. “We know for definite where his men are, so whether it was Emiliano or Matteo behind this latest hit, we’ll have one of Emiliano’s guys.”
Oscar and Liam stand up. “We’ll go there right away.”
“No, not tonight.” I shake my head. “Even though I want to retaliate immediately, they’ll expect it. Do it in the morning in broad daylight.”
“I’m not having this shit!”
Everyone, including me, stares at Arianna. She stands in the center of the sitting room, the phone in one hand, the other on her hip. “I’m going to see my father.”
“No way!” I shake my head. “We’ve had this conversation already.
You know what he thinks of you, and if you didn’t hear that yet again this morning, I did.
” I fold my arms. “Plus, it’s too risky.
He fired the first shot - him and his fucking son.
They’ve openly declared war, and I’m not having you anywhere near either of them. ”
Arianna faces me off with a steely look that I’ve seen before. I know what it means. It means she won’t back down, therefore it will be a battle between us. “Arianna, just list...”
“No, you listen to me!” She holds up the phone.
“Matteo sent this, which means he’s basically admitted to killing another of your men.
And,” she looks at all three of us in turn, “that also means there’s a high probability, if not a definite one, that my father is working with Matteo.
How else would Matteo have delivered the hit bang on time? ”
“Yeah, that’s the general gist, but...”
“But,” she continues, “my father is big on reputation, as you all are. I’m going to see him myself because I no longer wear rose-tinted glasses where he’s concerned.
” A cold smile forms on Arianna’s beautiful lips.
“Cull one of their men, regardless. It needs to be done, but in addition, I’ll do my part.
Knowing him as I do, I think I may have a way of making him think twice about any further hits, threats or bullshit he’s planning to throw our way. ”
She hands me my phone, her fingers remaining on mine. “Maria will be safe here now that your security team is with her. I’ll tell her I need to go out for a short while, but I won’t tell her where. Please fetch a car, Red. I want to go there straight away.”