Chapter 4
4
DOMENICO
T he ride downtown to the restaurant took about twenty minutes because Magnolia Crest was at the edge of the town. When I pulled into the parking lot, a few of my enforcers were waiting by the door. Alessio (Alec) Dominici, Giovanni’s brother, was talking with another enforcer, Dante Cavalli, and Dario, Rafa’s brother and Lieutenant. They stopped speaking when we exited the vehicle and approached. I raised my brow at Alec, and he handed me a list.
“It was the best Marco could do in thirty minutes.”
I scowled at Rafa before leafing through the dossiers of the men Oswald had brought with him. They were all low-level thugs with no real training. It would make them easier to subdue, but it also meant they were unpredictable.
“Fucking hell,” I muttered.
“About sums it up,” Dario grunted, handing his brother a Beretta 92FS.
“Are they here yet?” Rafa asked as he shoved the gun into the back of his pants, under the suit coat he’d put on specifically to hide it. I had several weapons on my person, including my own Beretta tucked into a holster on my hip.
“They’ve been parked across the street for over three hours,” Alec informed us. “Elena is the hostess this afternoon, and she called me when she noticed the car hadn’t left after the lunch rush, and people were sitting inside it.”
“You sent her home.” It was more of a statement than a question. Elena was Matteo’s seventeen-year-old sister, and getting her out of there should have been the first priority for any of my guys.
“Of course. Gavin was working in the back office, so he and Elena went out this rear exit.”
I was relieved that she’d left with her twin. He was old enough to begin learning his place in The Family, but he was far from ready to be involved in any action.
The door creaked as it opened, and Caterina Cavalli—Dante’s cousin and the first female enforcer for the DeLucas—stuck her head out. “You all going to stand out here gossiping all day or come in and deal with the shit stinking up a very fine restaurant?”
“They're waiting on us, I take it?” Rafa clarified as he buttoned his coat, then fully opened the door so he could go inside.
“In the back booth on the left,” she muttered as she led the way through the kitchens and into the dining room.
The atmosphere in Cypress & Sangiovese was calm and classy during the day. Lots of windows let in natural light to keep the dark wood and deep wine-red decor from making it seem dim and claustrophobic. At night, candles were lit on each table, with a copper sconce hung overhead. There was often a live band playing blues or easy jazz. The food was decadent, and the wine paired perfectly by sommeliers we paid a fuck ton to lure away from our wineries in Italy.
The place could feel romantic as easily as it was business casual, depending on the customer's mood. We owned most of the buildings in town…in all of Camellia Falls, really. And if someone wasn’t renting the space from us, then we owned the business. Everyone knew that Cypress & Sangiovese was owned and operated by the DeLuca’s. Which was why it had surprised me when Oswald agreed to meet here.
As we approached the table, Caterina said in a loud stage whisper, “The big one almost lost an eye.”
My lips twitched at her comment, knowing from experience that it was a strategic move. Caterina was considered a very beautiful woman, and while I had hoped to add her to my team because she was lethal as fuck, I’d worried that she would get distracted by the leering and crude comments that she would inevitably encounter in our line of work. And as shitty as it was, they would sometimes be directed at her from clients or customers.
But she’d proven her worth a million times over. She’d been trained by Dante, making her one of the best assassins in the business. But that wasn’t the reason I’d ultimately gone to bat for her as an enforcer. It was when I saw how she handled herself around the scum that we encountered in our line of work.
She didn’t bat an eye at anything. Unflappable and cold as hell, emotion was never a factor in her thought process, she looked at everything through a strategic lens.
The only time she reacted unexpectedly was when she could use people’s underestimation of her as a tool. Her comment was an assessment of the man at the table and had nothing to do with his lecherous gaze.
One look at the “big one’s” eyes, and I knew he was high as fuck. Shit. He was a ticking time bomb.
“Handsy over here needs to keep mitts to himself.”
The guy next to Oswald had brass knuckles on under his gloves. Ameteur. However, he was beefy, clearly strong and muscular, despite being smaller than the other two men. If he was scrappy, he could do some damage before we managed to subdue him.
“And this guy is clearly hiding a sharp mind underneath all that greasy hair. A man with hair on his chest. Sexy, right?” She winked at Oswald, making him blush like a pussy.
He was packing a blade beneath his shirt. Not unexpected since they hadn’t been allowed to bring in their guns.
Finished with her assessment, Caterina moved to stand behind Oswald’s little friend, all pretense gone.
My team surrounded the table, faces impassive, arms crossed over their chests, feet braced apart. Once Rafa had pulled up a chair and taken a seat, I took my spot directly behind him.
“You requested to meet with me,” Rafa said without preamble. “You have five minutes of my attention.”
“I want Opal back,” Oswald snarled.
Rafa raised an eyebrow. “Who?”
“My sister, asshole!”
I narrowed my eyes at him but didn’t otherwise move. Rafa could handle himself as well as any of our enforcers, so I wouldn’t intervene unless it became necessary or I was specifically asked to handle something.
Oswald glanced at me nervously, then refocused on Rafa. His doped-up companion was shaking, and I lifted my chin at Alec, who stepped closer and placed his palms on the back of the seat behind the druggie. If he made a move, he’d have Alec’s hands around his throat before he could take his last breath.
“I know you took Opal. She belongs to someone, and he wants her back.”
He stopped and blinked a few times, his eyes darting nervously around the room. Seeing all the people seemed to give him courage, figuring that we wouldn’t step out of line with so many witnesses. He threw his shoulders back and leaned in, locking eyes with Rafa. “I know she isn’t dead. Somehow you faked her murder, and I can prove it.”
“Is that so?” Rafa leaned back in his chair and rested an ankle over one knee, the picture of relaxed. The predator hid just beneath the surface. “Enlighten me, Oswald.”
“I don’t have time for this shit, DeLuca,” Oswald spat. “I’m here to deliver a warning. You return my sister in forty-eight hours, or I’ll trade him yours instead.”
Rage like I’d never experienced engulfed my body, and I was hit with the desire to gut this guy like a pig while he squealed for mercy. Thankfully, I’d spent a lifetime learning how to control myself, so my only outward reaction was to clench my fists so hard that my short nails bit into my skin.
“Did you just threaten my sister?” Rafa asked in a deceptively calm voice. The merciless King of the South had made an appearance, and Oswald’s life was nearing its end.
“You heard me. My sister for yours.”
Before we could say anything else, the bell over the door jingled. My gaze never left the men at the table, but from Alec’s vantage point, he was able to see what the commotion was about. His face darkened into a murderous scowl. He dropped one of his hands down onto the shoulder of the druggie but didn’t move the other one from the back of his seat. He was simply holding the man in place, not threatening him. It was an action meant to protect others in case the meth head flipped his shit and managed to get his hands on a weapon.
Caterina lowered her hands to the shoulders of the “handsy” one, and he winced when her thumbs dug into just the right spot, hitting a nerve that made his arms go limp.
Dante, who was directly behind Oswald, shifted to the same position as Alec.
When I knew the three men were secure, I twisted my head around to look toward the front entrance.
“ Merda. ”
A group of high school girls spilled into the restaurant, all laughing and innocent, with no idea what they had just walked into.
“Can I help you?” Desiree, our day manager, asked hesitantly. This wasn’t usually the kind of establishment where you would find a younger crowd—especially ones who weren’t old enough to drink.
Desiree briefly glanced over at our booth, then shifted so that when the girls looked at her, they were facing away from us. Bene, Desiree.
“We heard that someone famous would be eating dinner here!” one of the girls practically squealed as she bounced on her feet.
“I heard it was the singer Griffith Thorne!” her friend shrieked.
“But my friend told me it was Austin Hayes.” Another girl pouted. “I loved his last movie.”
“Wouldn’t it be awesome if it was Prentice Wright?” suggested a girl wearing a New York Nighthawks jersey. “I heard he has connections to the Mafia!”
The teenagers started squabbling about rumors and reality, throwing out more suggestions while more high school students appeared at the door.
“Can we get those tables over there?”
“I want to be able to see when they get here.”
“Oh, maybe they’ll come in through the back. Can we sit near the kitchen?”
With an annoyed grunt, I turned my attention back to Rafa. He’d also been observing the crowd, and when our eyes met, I could see his matching frustration. There would be no sneaking Oswald and his guys out any exit. We didn’t want to take a chance of anyone seeing our guns, or worse, one of the thugs using a kid as a shield or a bargaining chip to go free.
Rafa rubbed a hand over his face, then pushed to his feet and shoved the chair away with his foot. I stepped back to give him more room, but not so much that it exposed him.
He turned to face Oswald, then placed both palms on the table and leaned in until their heads were inches apart. Suddenly, Oswald was staring into the face of the devil. “It’s your lucking fucking day, pezzo di merda . If I never see you again, you’ll keep breathing. But if I catch a glimpse of you, no matter where or when it is, if it’s an accident or on purpose, I will not give you another chance.”
Rafa’s eyes darted up to Dante for just a second before locking with Oswald’s again. He waited until Dante’s knife was poised at Oswald’s throat, making sure it was fully blocked from any onlookers.
“If I so much as dream that you’re considering harming my sister or any of my family, your blood will paint the walls of whatever dark place I decide is the perfect spot to dispose of your body. Do I make myself clear?”
Oswald’s face had drained of all color, and he looked around wildly, unable to move because Dante’s blade was pressed against his neck, over his carotid artery.
“Yes,” he finally hissed.
“Excellent,” Rafa said smoothly as he stood upright, his face unreadable once again. His ability to be so closed off that there was no way to predict what was coming was one of the most frightening traits Rafa possessed. He could be standing in silence, simply watching you, and then slice your throat, all without changing his expression. It was chilling to watch, even for someone who knew him as well as I did.
Then he canted his head toward the door and said, “ Levati dal cazzo .”
“That means ‘get the fuck out,’” Caterina deadpanned as she released the little one’s shoulders.
All three men scrambled from the table and rushed over to the door. But before he left, Oswald turned back for a last look. His expression didn’t hide anything, and with all the vicious emotions boiling inside him, I knew he wouldn’t make the smart choice.
“Idiot isn’t going to back off, is he?” Alec muttered.
I shook my head.
“Now we wait for him to make a move,” Dario chimed in as he walked up to the table from where he’d been watching in the shadows. He rubbed the back of his neck and blew out a breath. “You got Gabriella handled?” he asked his brother.
I bit my tongue to stop myself from demanding that he use the shortened version of her name. I hated when anyone besides me called her Gabriella. But it would give too much away. It was common in our family for men to show their possessiveness over their women by only allowing others to call them by a nickname.
“Domenico will handle her security personally,” Rafa confirmed.
Dario nodded. “Marco and I will keep a closer eye on Lucia and Chiara. Gavin will spread the word to the rest of The Family’s kids in their schools.”
“I have people who will step in as substitutes,” I informed them. “There won’t be anywhere the girls can go that they won’t have eyes on them.”
Rafa raised an eyebrow. “I hadn’t realized you set that up. I should have thought of it.”
“It’s my job, boss,” I said dryly.
One corner of his mouth twitched—his version of a laugh.
I looked back to Dario and advised, “Let me know if you think they need a permanent shadow.”
The noise in the restaurant was slowly increasing to an obnoxious level, so we saved any more conversation until we were in the back parking lot. After another fifteen minutes of discussion, we went our separate ways.
Rafa held his hand out for the keys to the car, and I scowled in silent protest.
“Keys, Domenico,” he said in a steel tone. It was my boss’s demand, not my friend’s.
I tossed them over to him and grudgingly got into the passenger side once he unlocked the SUV.
We drove in silence for a few minutes, then he said, “I was serious about you handling Gabbi’s security personally.”
“I’ll make sure she has the best of?—”
“ You are the best, Domenico,” Rafa interrupted. “She will be your personal responsibility until I put Oswald in the ground.”
Once again, I had to bite my tongue. I wanted to shout that it was my right to take out anyone posing a threat to my woman. Except Gabriella wasn’t mine.
Hold up …
“You want me to be her personal bodyguard?” I asked, keeping my face and voice completely neutral.
“I don’t trust anyone else to protect her more than you, fratello . Dante can step in as my bodyman. Until this is resolved, you will be her fucking shadow.”
In a shocking twist, my emotions bubbled up inside me. Staying close to her meant I would know without a doubt that she was adequately protected and not be distracted by worries about her safety. But being so close to Gabriella all the time would test my control, and I wasn’t certain that my desire for her wouldn’t crush it.
Protecting Gabriella was my duty. Wanting her was a betrayal.