Chapter 27
STEFANO
Saul Moscatelli’s hot breath hit the back of my neck.
“I got the most interesting phone call earlier tonight. A little birdie I know in New York called to tell me a nine-fingered, arrogant little pissant fuck, who didn’t know how to fall in line, planned to break into my house and steal my daughter.”
Edgardo Lordi, I wagered. A growl vibrated in my throat.
Moscatelli continued amusing himself with his monologue.
“At first, I thought he was full of shit. I thought he was stirring up trouble again, because that’s all he’s good for anyway, his childish pranks and schemes.
But something in my gut said this time he meant it.
So I thought about it. Did I know any man stupid enough, disrespectful enough, to attack my home? ”
No idea how he didn’t see the irony in what he’d just said.
“And you know what, son? I didn’t think anyone would really be so bold. I thought, as a man of my age, my stature, my respect in the community, no one would dare. Ah, but then I remembered the mouthy son of a bitch from New York who tried to buy my daughter but came up short.”
“Let her go,” I gritted out through my teeth.
“No, I don’t think I will. I’m not stupid like you, boy. I won’t piss off the Russians a second time.”
“How did you think it would end?” I snapped. “Why do you think the Italians don’t do business with them? Everyone knows Klimov can’t be trusted. You’ve signed your own death warrant. He won’t leave this house with her tomorrow before he kills you and your sons.”
“Why the fuck are you here?” Saul snapped.
Was he really so fucking stupid? I slowed my breathing.
“Give me the girl, and you won’t lose a son tonight.”
Saul chuckled. “You really are an arrogant son of a bitch, aren’t you, Vignali?”
Aris laughed his stupid fucking insane laugh, the sound of it grating my raw nerves.
“I have a gun to your bitch’s head,” he said, “and my father has a gun on your back, and you still think you’re getting out of here alive.”
Outside of the room we stood in, gunfire still popped, but fewer shots now. I could only hope my men were coming out on top against the Moscatelli soldiers.
I quickly searched my mind for a way to get Val and me out of the situation. The only option was to stall.
If my men managed to get a handle on the situation in the other room, they would come to me. I had to wait and stay alive long enough for that to happen.
“So what exactly did the Russians offer you that was better than my deal?” I asked. “I offered you ten million for her and exclusive access the New York harbor. No one else in Chicago will ever get that.”
Val raised her eyebrow.
I couldn’t stop myself from winking at her.
“You did,” Moscatelli said. “You made quite a compelling offer. If the Russians hadn’t already claimed her…” He shook his head. “No, I still wouldn’t have given her to you. I don’t do business with men who take what belongs to me.”
I scoffed. “Oh, come on, we both know the real reason you refused my offer. You thought Klimov would let you live. And aside from that, I didn’t take anything from you. I’d never even met you until you showed up in my home.”
“You’ve taken a lot from me. My daughter and her virtue. I wonder, boy, just what your role was early on. Did you convince her to fake her death, to disgrace her family, to run away with you? Now that people know she’s alive and no longer pure, her reputation is ruined.
“You know as well as anyone that a woman in this life is only as good as her virtue. So, yes, you took that from me, and you also shamed my family by making her carry your bastard.”
I could’ve pointed out that I had no idea she was a mafia princess until he showed up in my fucking house, or that I’d shunned this life during the time she faked her death.
I could have explained that women weren’t cattle meant to be sold to the highest bidder.
That I had no idea she’d carried my son.
But he would have only shot me faster.
“And,” he continued, “you stole Benedetta Capaldo.”
“Bene—what? You were trying to marry her?”
No way he was serious.
“Of course I wanted her. I had a sit-down with her father on her sixteenth birthday.”
Christ, this fucker was disgusting.
She’d grown up with his daughter.
He went on. “Do you know how much power that girl comes with? And that was before someone killed all her male relatives. Yes, she would have been a fine wife for me.”
Val glared at him through her swollen eyelids.
Maybe the old bastard didn’t yet know I would be the one to decide who Benedetta married now.
I shrugged. “I hear she’s still unmarried.”
“It’s too late now. See, I wanted a young wife like her not only for the power but to start the next generation of my family, but Benedict wouldn’t hear of it. Said I was too old for her.”
Moscatelli snorted like the idea amused him.
I bit down hard on my tongue and kept my mouth shut.
“I settled on another plan for Marco to marry her instead. It wouldn’t be as nice as having the girl warming my bed, but her power would still come to me. The real purpose, after all.
“So I bided my time and scared off suitors who approached Don Capaldo. Killed a few. When Marco was ready, I met with Capaldo and made the offer to join our houses. Ha, but he’d already made a deal that would keep his daughter in New York.”
“How the fuck was I supposed to know this, Moscatelli?”
“You should have done your homework, boy.”
I flexed my fingers around my gun. I hated him calling me “boy” as much as I hated Lordi calling me “son.”
“Oh, I did,” I said. “That’s why I murdered her uncles.”
“Did you bother asking about any other claims?” he asked.
“Capaldo came to me for a deal, not the other way around. If you have issues with the way he does business, take it up with him. It has nothing to do with me or my fiancée.”
Saul dug his gun deeper into my back, through my jacket, almost wedging it between two vertebrae, and I quickly schooled my expression, willing myself not to react. Saul couldn’t see my face, but Aris could, and he got off on others’ pain.
Val’s face, on the other hand, expressed my pain for me and warned me not to give her twin anything at all.
“All of this…” I said. “Making bad business deals, losing out on millions, getting in bed with the Russians, because you got your feelings hurt when Capaldo didn’t agree to either of your proposals? You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”
Jesus Christ, could my men take any longer to show up?
I grew tired of having this man’s gun buried in my back, and based on the looks coming from Aris, I wasn’t the only one losing patience.
The guy shifted from side to side on his feet and rolled his eyes at every word out of our mouths. Fuck. He better not put a hole in his twin sister just for something to do.
“This has nothing to do with my feelings,” Saul said. “It’s about you showing your elders the respect they deserve.”
Shaking my head, I lost control of a suppressed grunt.
Goddamn it.
“I never disrespected you. I didn’t know you. No one in New York gives a fuck what happens in Chicago. Not many of our families even know who the Chicago families are anymore. I didn’t know because I didn’t fucking care.
“Valerie—Valentina became mine the moment she had my son. She might not have understood that at the time, but it doesn’t matter. She belongs to me, and her father’s name makes no difference in the matter.”
I caught her stare. No disagreement in her eyes. Only fire.
I toed a thin line with my words, but I had to keep spouting shit at Moscatelli to keep his finger off the trigger and buy us more time until my soldiers arrived.
“Big words from a man with no family to back him up. Are you aware of the situation you’re in right now, boy?”
I nodded, my subdued rage fucking fuming.
“The situation? You mean watching a sadistic motherfucker with mommy issues hold a gun to my woman’s head? Or are you referring to the fat, arrogant prick pushing one into my back, because somebody hurt his feelings?
“You’ve overestimated your importance, Moscatelli, and because shit didn’t go the way you wanted it to, you’re throwing a tantrum like a child. It’s no wonder your son is a psychopath who belongs in a mental institution.”
Val’s expression hardened. Her chest pumped faster.
“No, he doesn’t,” she said. “He belongs in the ground.”
Aris snorted and rolled his eyes once again.
“Shut up. No one cares what a stupid cunt thinks.”
I glared at Aris, done. So fucking done.
“Saul, are you really ignorant enough to let this deranged animal roam the streets? Tell me, how many millions have you paid out in hush money to keep him out of prison?”
If Moscatelli planned to shoot me, he would have done it already. It seemed he wanted to hear himself talk more than he wanted me dead.
Men like him, who inflated their importance, preferred the sound of their voice to anything else. If I gave him something to talk about, he would do it for hours.
Thing was, I’d had enough.
I wanted this night over. I wanted Val in my arms where she belonged, then on board my borrowed plane. She and I needed to have a long talk, but not until I made sure she was all right.
She didn’t look all right.
He’d beaten her severely again.
After she healed, no more fucking surprises. If I had to lock her up, I would do it. Hell, I would put a fucking GPS chip in her neck to keep her from vanishing again.
Never again would she get away from me. Not ever.
The time had come to lay all our cards on the table. My cards and hers, and we would figure it out.
“What do you think, Father?” Aris asked. “Which one should we kill first? On one hand, if we kill her first, Stefano will die knowing he failed. He’ll get to watch the light fade from her eyes and know it was his fault. But if we kill him first, then she’ll know her son will be alone.”
Aris leaned in to whisper in her ear but spoke loud enough for us all to hear him.
“At least until I take that trip to visit my nephew. I could kill him, or I could make him one of us.”
The blood drained from Val’s face, the same way it had when she’d heard Marco’s voice in our home.
“You wouldn’t,” she said, her voice shaking.
Aris tilted his head. “You know I would.”
If he wasn’t still hiding behind Val, I would’ve taken my shot right then, even if Moscatelli killed me afterward.
Enzo would be safe if Aris was dead.
“My offer is still on the table, Saul,” I said. “Ten million, wired to the Cayman Islands as soon as our plane lands in New York. Then you can export whatever the fuck you want through the New York harbor.”
“No,” he said.
I shook my head at his belligerence.
“It’s a damn good offer. Far more lucrative than anything the Russians will give you. So why the fuck are you taking the lesser deal? Do you not want to leave your heir with anything? Are you content letting the Moscatelli empire die with you?”
“It is a good offer,” he admitted, “but do you know what the Russians will do to me if I turn my back on them now?”
“No, tell me,” I said.
I was running out of ways to buy more time.
Gunshots coming from the front were fewer, but I still didn’t know which side would come out on top. I listened for movements and voices.
It had been a while, and there was a possibility of police involvement soon. We’d been there a lot longer than I intended, and I didn’t know the details of Moscatelli’s arrangement with the Chicago PD.
Saul huffed out a breath stinking of bourbon.
“They would wage a bloody, savage war against me.”
“So you’re afraid of the Russians?” I asked.
“It’s not that,” he lied.
I could hear the fear in his voice.
“It’s about respect, something your generation just doesn’t seem to understand.”
“It has nothing to do with respect,” I said. “I can smell your fear. If you’re so fucking afraid of the Russians, why would you do business with them in the first place?”
“What’s my other option? I’m supposed to trust you? Because I don’t trust you. You steal from your betters.”
Moscatelli spoke in circles, around and around, and no one could reason with him or Aris.
I had very little left in my repertoire to distract him.
The gunshots up front slowed down more.
It would end soon.
Val wouldn’t meet my gaze, her head down, her breath shallow and fast, in full panic mode, likely thinking about our son.
I wished for a way to tell her that he would be okay without revealing how in front of her father and brother. Tony planned to take care of Enzo, raise him right, and protect him from her family. I couldn’t make her see that if she wouldn’t look at me.
“Can we just kill them already?” Aris whined. “This is boring me, and my high is wearing off. I need another bump.”
“No, you fucking idiot,” I snarled. “You can’t kill her. Killing her is as bad as not delivering her to the Russians. You need her alive. And killing me starts a different kind of war that you’re not equipped to handle.”
“The Russians don’t need you,” Aris sneered. “And I’m not afraid of anyone who would align with you.”
“That’s right,” Moscatelli said behind me, and I could hear the smile in his voice. “No one needs you, Vignali.”
Finally, Val looked at me, her eyes wide and glassy.
Saul cocked back the hammer on his gun.
‘ I love you, ’ I mouthed to her.
My last words to her.
I braced myself for the bullet’s impact, waiting for the pain or darkness or whatever the fuck dying brought with it.
The shot fired.
Blood covered my back, the side of my face.
The metallic scent of death filled the air.
I looked at my hands, still gripping my weapon.
The blood didn’t belong to me.