Chapter 23
Romero sprang into action, throwing open his drawers and pulling more guns out to load.
”When the fuck was someone going to tell me this?”
”Sir, they ambushed security outside. No one heard a damn thing.”
“Damn it to hell. The men in the back of the house?” he asked, dreading the answer.
”Dead. All of them. We”ve got maybe two dozen left on the premises right now, sir.”
Romero”s blood began to broil beneath his skin.
That mother fucker.
”He”s going to pay for this, little bastard,” he muttered under his breath.
”Romero?”
Lucrezia”s voice barely penetrated his skull as he loaded more guns, passing them to Victor and other men clamoring in the office, giving updates.
Esposito was banging on the front door. He could hear it through the commotion.
”Romero? What”s happening? Why is he here?”
Lucrezia hurried to his side, clasping his arm.
Her touch only hastened the blood vibrating in his veins, reminding him that his wife needed to be protected but that they were now down several men.
All on his watch.
Guilt began building in his gut like a black hole, but he couldn”t focus on that now.
He had to protect his family.
”Lucrezia, you and Mother need to stay here.”
”Romero, he”ll get in.” His little girl fisted his shirt, refusing to let him go.
”I”d love to see that little fucker try.” His mother pulled her own piece out of her glamorous handbag, cocking it with an air of confidence that both impressed and greatly worried him.
”Perla, listen to me. You need to stay here with my mother. Push whatever you can in front of the door, and do not open it unless you hear my voice. Do you understand me? If you hear anything or anyone else, I need you two to break that window and get the hell out of here. Run far away and fast, and I will find you. Am I clear?”
He pried Lucrezia”s fists off his clothes and took her by the upper arms, slightly shaking her when she wouldn”t respond.
”Lucrezia, answer me. Do you understand?”
”Yes!” She nodded as her eyes darted to the window.
His mother stoically cocked her head, telling him to go, though with a look of dread on her face. This was all too familiar to her, and he hated that she had to relive this.
”Stay!” Romero pointed to the ground before exiting the office and listening for them to lock it, which they did immediately.
He marched with the men he had left to the foyer, just in time to see Sal Esposito Jr”s goons break down the door. The wood splintered on contact with the floor.
The men behind each one of them drew their weapons at one another, all armed with the sole purpose of protecting their leader. All except for one, to Sal”s left, who refused to pull out his gun. He seemed familiar.
Romero also withdrew his weapon, but Jr. couldn”t be bothered, smoking his cigar with a shit-eating grin on his face.
”Knock knock.” He smirked, blowing smoke in Romero”s direction.
”What the fuck do you want, you piece of shit?” Romero spat.
”Well, I wanted to personally come by and inquire as to what happened to my hitman? Haven”t heard from him in weeks now. And since I haven”t seen your picture in the paper lately announcing your tragic death, I could only assume he failed and went into hiding or you got a hold of him before I could.”
He was just as animated as his old man, waving his cigarette around. An expensive overcoat hung about his shoulders. Come to think, he was well-overdressed for a man as slight as he was. He was just all tall as Romero was but lanky like a pole.
Jr.”s face was gaunt, with dark circles under his soulless eyes that matched his father”s.
”I think you can guess what happened to him. I would have allowed him to tell you about his failure himself, but he”s at the bottom of the Hudson River right now.”
”What”s left of him anyways,” his underboss quipped, narrowing his eyes.
”You could have afforded to hire a better man, Jr. He barely grazed me.”
Romero emphasized the name, making it clear that, in Romero”s eyes, he didn”t come to nearly a fraction of an equal as his father was.
Sal Jr. scowled at the insult, flicking his ashes by Romero”s feet before stepping through the threshold.
His minions followed, about a dozen of them. Romero got a closer look to the nervous man by his enemy”s side. If he didn”t know any better, he”d say that was Luca Romano, an old school friend.
When did he get with the Espositos?
”Maybe I hired him just to send you a message. Trust me, if I wanted you dead, you would be already. And you would have been dead years ago if it weren”t for my pops. I told him time and time again to finish what he and that uncle of yours started and just take you out. But he wanted to put the whole debacle behind him. ‘Didn”t have time for that nonsense,’ he said. He just wanted to live out his golden years in peace, listening to his radio and reading in his damn armchair or whatever the fuck old men do.”
Jr. stepped dangerously close to the muzzle of Romero”s gun, showing absolutely no shred of fear or any emotion at all.
”Exactly what message were you trying to send, shit head?” Romero’s consigliere spat.
Jr. inhaled again, blowing right in Charlie”s face.
”Well, it”s a bit complicated. See, a little birdie told me that you finally got married. I was rather hurt at not receiving an invitation to the wedding. I heard it was quite a party.”
Romero”s jaw popped, and he tightened his grip on his weapon. It wasn’t hard imagining what Jr. would look like with no head on his shoulders if Lucrezia”s name passed his lips.
”What happens in my private life is of no concern to you.”
As if Romero never even spoke, he continued as he puffed on his cigar.
”I have a few real estate dealings in some smaller neighborhoods. Not nice ones like this, obviously. Other side of the tracks if you know what I mean.” He tilted his hand back and forth.
“One of my tenants has some neighbors, an older couple that has a daughter. And he tells me that this couple told him how their daughter married some rich guy that lives on this real nice estate with tons of cars and art all over the place. They described you perfectly.”
Jr. pointed toward Romero”s chest with his cigar.
He felt his arm cramp up as he trembled with white hot fury, still holding him at gunpoint.
”Then he tells me that this little lady was already married once before. And her husband had this rather...unfortunate accident on this man’s property. Fell off the roof and busted his head in, something like that. And this powerful business man just swoops in like a hero and marries her practically then and there.”
Romero”s entire body burned. Fire exploded in his chest as he began imagining every single way he would make Lucrezia”s parents rue the day they ever spoke of their daughter”s marriage to him.
He bit down on his tongue too hard, spurting blood in his mouth.
”So then I remembered something-” Sal Jr. stepped closer, prompting Tony to meet him where he was, preventing him from coming any closer with the muzzle of his own gun.
”One more step, fuckface, and I”ll put one right between your eyes,” his cousin threatened with venom in his voice.
”I”ll blow your brains out before you can even pull the trigger, bud,” one of Jr.”s sharply dressed bodyguards remarked back, cocking his own weapon.
Luca Romano crossed his arm over the guard’s, gently pressuring him to lower his weapon.
”We said this wouldn”t escalate, boss.” Luca glared at Sal Jr., who practically ignored him.
Romero’s nemesis calmly raised both hands.
”As I was saying, my tenant tells me that the name of this mystery girl”s first husband was none other than Carlo Russo. I take it you”re familiar with that name?”
”And if it is?” Romero asked through clenched teeth.
”Well, I might as well tell you that I”m intimately familiar with him. Let”s face it, the man was just a weasel with a nasty gambling habit. He probably owed every man within a twenty mile radius of Staten Island money. He was in the hole with me about five grand. But then again, lots of people owe me money. Hard to keep track, you know how it is. But he rang a bell specifically. Because see, the last time I confronted him, I was offered something that took me aback.”
Romero felt his heart sink into his bowels, ready to vomit. Lucrezia immediately came to his mind.
”He didn”t.” Romero lowered his weapon just slightly, anticipating an answer he knew he wouldn’t like.
”Oh, he did. Carlo Russo offered me his wife. Lucrezia Sindetti. The same lady that my tenant tells me who married you conveniently shortly after Mr. Russo met his demise in this house.”
Romero had half a mind to order one of his men to dig up wherever they buried Carlo so Romero could chop up whatever was left of him to bits. Incinerate him, grind him, he didn”t fucking care.
That piece of shit gave him his house and planned on giving Lucrezia to Sal Jr., then ride off into the sunset not giving a single fuck what happened to her.
The thought made his blood run cold.
”Do not ever mention her name again.”
Once again ignoring him, Sal Jr. began looking around the foyer.
”So, it is true! Where is the missus, anyway? I never got a look at her since I rebuffed Carlo when he offered her to me. What good was some jilted wife from a poor neighborhood to me? Even if she was still a virgin.”
Unable to control himself any longer, Romero manhandled his enemy, dragging him to the nearest wall and pressing the muzzle of his gun into his temple, daring him to open his mouth again.
He heard the men behind him square up with each other, some of Romero”s urging him on and telling him to shoot the fucker. Some, including Tony, were begging him to reel himself in, lest another war be started.
Luca Romano”s voice commanded Jr.”s men to stand down, emphasizing that there was to be no bloodshed.
Romero blocked out all other external noise
”You will not say another fucking word. Do you hear me? Not one more word about my wife. Whatever deal Carlo Russo tried to make with you is null and void. She”s MINE.”
”But is she, though?”
Jr. gently pressed his hands against Romero”s chest, slithering his skinny ass out of his grip like the snake he was.
”She was promised to me first before she even met you. I had a claim to her long before you did. I just chose not to take Carlo up on that offer. But I think it’s still on the table, though.”
He shrugged his shoulders, pocketing his hands, and balancing on the balls of his feet.
”What the hell are you talking about?”
”Well, since I need to spell it out for you, fine. Plain as I can make it. The girl wasn”t worth anything to me as Carlo Russo”s wife besides a few good fucks. But as your wife-”
He pointed his bony finger right into Romero”s broiling hot chest.
”She”s worth substantially more. In the event of your unfortunate death, of course. What”s your net worth exactly, Romero? What does she stand to gain if you die before she does? You are older than her after all. Maybe your health isn”t as robust as you”d think.”
Romero snarled, advancing on Jr. again.
But he forced himself not to pull the trigger.
He thought of Lucrezia in his office mere feet away. As badly as he wanted to, he couldn”t hurt Sal. Not yet.
This would be exactly what he wanted. An excuse to prove Romero to be out of control and use it as a reason to take him out.
And if he did, Lucrezia would be alone. A widow again with a fortune that any crime boss in New York would try to grab up by any means necessary, even if it meant forcing her to be theirs.
No. That wouldn”t happen.
That would never happen.
”You listen to me, Esposito. You”re nothing but a boy trying to prove himself a man. Face it. Your father was a cold son of a bitch, but he had honor. Do you think this is honorable? You think this is finally stepping out of your old man”s shadow? Trying to take another man”s wife for yourself?”
Sal Jr.”s face slowly spread into a sick grin.
”That”s what you did, isn”t it?”
Just like that, Romero”s blood curdled.
”Come on, Mancini. It was obvious what you did to Russo. A bullet to the head is real easy to hide when you pay off the right undertaker. You saw an opportunity, took him out, and married his sweet little widow yourself. You probably fucked her right then and there once Russo was dead. Face it, Romero. You”re just as much of a monster as I am. Now I”m kicking myself for refusing Russo”s offer. Cause she”s got to be a stone cold fox to kill for. A shame I didn”t get to have her first.”
Romero wiped the smile off his face with the butt of his gun, knocking his enemy to the ground.
Jr. lost all the color in his face as Romero loomed over him, aiming to unleash his fury upon him until there was nothing left.
Romero felt hands on his body, forcing him back up. Tony was in his ear, and his rough hands were on his face, compelling him to think about Lucrezia.
Luca Romano and some other men helped Sal Jr. up as he wiped his bloody lip on his sleeve.
”Damn you, Sal!” Romano chastised him in Italian as they dragged him out.
”We”re done, we”re leaving!” Luca innocently held his hands up, making his coat ride up. He carried no weapon on him.
Before the rest of Sal”s people could escort him to his car, he turned back on more time.
”Think of this experience as another warning, Mancini. I”m giving you two months to give your wife to me. Do it willingly, and you”ll never see me again. I just may go easy on her. Refuse me, and I”ll come collect her myself and make you watch.”
Jr. spat blood on the ground by Romero’s feet.
Romano pushed him to the car, cursing him again before they got in, leaving behind a broken down door and half a dozen bodies in Romero”s front yard.
He shakily exhaled as he took in the scene.
The good men he had personally hired were sprawled randomly throughout his yard, still holding their weapons as if they never even saw it coming.
”Oh, Jesus.” Tony put away his gun and scrubbed his eyes.
”We have to make some calls,” Romero heard Johnny say.
Romero could only stand stoically in his broken down doorway, feeling as though his world, and the empire he worked years to rehab from the ground up, was crumbling around him.
His failure fell on his shoulders like a half-ton weight, crushing him.
He let his tired lids close as he dropped his chin to his chest, saying a silent prayer to the good men he lost.
”Get them to the morgue. Inform their families if they had any to speak of. I”ll personally pay for any services.”
His small army obeyed, already rounding up whoever they had left to carry out the removal of the bodies.
”I want this door replaced immediately. Nothing short of impenetrable. I want it done when my wife and I come down by morning. Pay double. Triple. I don”t care. I want it done.”
He felt rather than saw Tony nod.
”Have someone go to my mother”s house. Bring her things here. She”ll be under this roof for the foreseeable future.”
Romero coldly turned, walking through the path his men made for him to retrieve his wife.
He knocked on the office door, already feeling the dread of anxiety when she didn”t open it right away, even though it was exactly what he had told her to do.
”Lucrezia, open the door. It”s me.”
In half a second, his wife flung it open and flew into his arms.
Romero only wished the feel of her body against his was enough to quell his dread of what he was about to tell her.