Chapter 13
Enzo
As I drove away from the Romano family home in Carnegie Hill, Valentina started talking to me about a plan she was sure would save her father and get the hitman off our hands in one fell swoop.
It was clever, but risky, and I told her so. But in the end, she convinced me of its merits, and a few days later, we were making our way to the FBI’s main office in New York City, my lawyer accompanying us. Inside, we were let in to see one of their top agents, Agent Jasinski.
We got settled in Jasinski’s office, sitting down in the seating area in front of one of the windows.
Jasinski, who looked to be about fifty with graying hair, wasted no time beating around the bush. “I’ve spoken to admin about this visit, but I want to hear from you two what the nature of this visit is. Just so we’re not wasting each other’s time.”
Valentina glanced at my lawyer, Mario Lupino, the best in the business. We had decided to go with Mario instead of Frankie because Valentina’s cousin and the Romano family lawyer couldn’t be trusted. With Frankie out, Mario was in. Mario gave a curt nod, permission to answer the agent’s question.
My wife cleared her throat. I could see that she had her brave face on.
Despite her anxiety, Valentina was willing to walk into literal and metaphorical fire in order to protect those she loved.
My admiration expanded in my chest, and I had to resist the urge to take her hand.
I wasn’t going to let the FBI agent see any weakness in her, so I had to let her stand on her own as much as it killed me inside to hold back.
“We’re here because we want to protect my father,” Valentina said, choosing her words carefully.
“Your father.” The agent leaned back in his armchair, steepling his hands as he assessed her, suspicion plain on his weathered face. “You mean notorious crime lord Umberto Romano.”
“My father is a businessman,” she said smoothly.
“And what are you trying to protect him from?” the agent pressed.
“Well, the FBI has been investigating him and his business dealings,” Valentina answered. “We’d like to see that case dropped.”
“No, you want more than that,” Agent Jasinski said, shaking his head knowingly. “You want immunity.”
“For all family members of the Romano and the De Luca families,” she said, her tone businesslike.
“And you think what? We’ll just give you immunity out of the goodness of our hearts?
” the agent demanded. “Do you know what immunity means? It means no prosecution, no jail time for all of your crimes. And let me tell you, the FBI is aware that both of you and your families have a very long rap sheet.”
“If you had concrete evidence against us, the kind of evidence you desperately need, you wouldn’t be here in a meeting with me and my husband,” Valentina pointed out.
She was damn right about that. If the feds had anything concrete they wouldn’t have entertained this meeting.
They would have ignored our request to meet and kept on digging.
They’d likely hit a dead end with Valentina’s father, just like we had, but as long as they were still looking into Valentina’s father, there was a danger that they would finally find something to nail him with.
Which was why immunity was so important.
It meant that no matter what came out, the federal government couldn’t go after either family.
But the FBI had to want to make that kind of deal and I had to hope like hell that Valentina’s idea would work.
“Congratulations, by the way,” the agent said sardonically.
“Making our lives real easy bringing the two biggest crime families together like that. Means that you both have spousal privileges now. None of your communications with each other since your wedding can be used in a trial. Very cleverly done.”
There was no use telling the guy that we had ultimately married for love despite what the setup looked like to the outside world.
The agent wouldn’t care and it would just make him angrier.
Our two families burying the hatchet seemed to have pissed him off.
Probably because he would no longer be able to play the families against each other.
“Agent Jasinski, aren’t you curious about what we are willing and able to give in exchange for immunity?” Valentina asked. “You seem to know how my family operates. We wouldn’t ask for something without having something to give in return. We are fair in our business dealings.”
“Business dealings.” Agent Jasinski snorted and started muttering under his breath in agitation. “What are you offering?”
“We think we can get you the recent New York City bank bomber,” Valentina answered.
Whatever the agent had been expecting, it wasn’t that, because his eyes bugged out of his head.
He was clearly stunned. “The US National Bank Bomber? The terrorist who bombed a bank in the middle of New York City and just vanished into thin air? The guy national security has been after for weeks? That guy?”
“Yes.” Valentina nodded. “We believe we can get him. And you can help us do that.”
“I didn’t know you people had started making deals with terrorists,” Jasinski said.
“We have not knowingly worked with terrorists,” she said. “That’s a line we would never knowingly cross.”
“If what you’re saying is true, how are you so sure the can FBI help?” Agent Jasinski asked.
“We think he might have been feeding you...faulty intelligence about my family,” she said. “It’s possible he’s been acting as a mole in our family for quite some time.”
“You want me to believe that we, the federal government, has been getting intelligence from a wanted terrorist and we didn’t know about it?” Agent Jasinski’s face reddened as he started fuming.
Clearly, the agent didn’t want his mistakes pointed out to him any more than Valentina’s father did.
“He’s been able to fool a lot of people for a long time,” she said. “If you share the name of this informant with us, you’ll learn that he’s the one responsible for the—”
“I see what this is,” Agent Jasinski said, cutting her off. “You want the name of our informant so that you can disappear him yourselves. He’s a thorn in your side and you’re here fishing for information that will lead to identifying him.”
“No, you have that wrong,” Valentina said firmly with a shake of her head. “We have reason to believe that he’s been coming after both of our families for some time now.”
“What do I care?” Jasinski asked.
I clenched my jaw, scowling in Jasinski’s direction. Anger boiled through me. I was getting really fucking close to being done with the smug bastard’s tone. The way he was talking to my wife pissed me off. That was when I felt a gentle hand on mine.
Glancing down at my wife’s small hand, I took note of the wedding band on her ring finger.
That small, golden reminder that she was mine and I was hers.
We were in this together. I didn’t need to growl every time I had to act as her attack dog.
What I needed to do was trust her ability to handle the situation.
I’d growl and bite when she asked for it.
Jasinski was damn lucky I had married a reasonable woman with a good head on her shoulders.
I gave a slight nod in her direction. A subtle way of letting her know that I trusted her to continue. My family was in good hands and I trusted that.
“We’re not asking you to care about our wellbeing,” Valentina answered, slowly pulling her hand away. “If you won’t give us the informant’s name, then what we want is a deal.”
“How do you know this informant is our terrorist?” Agent Jasinski asked.
“Someone has been coming after both of our families,” Valentina replied.
“My father was shot, Enzo and I were nearly poisoned, a De Luca car dealership was attacked the very same day of the bombing, and you must be aware of the shooting at our wedding. We have reason to believe all these attacks are connected.”
What my wife didn’t mention was the fire that her father had ordered set at the safehouse.
Mostly because even now, Valentina was trying to protect her old man.
Since he’d been adamant about never revealing the name of whoever he’d hired to do the job, she wanted to respect his wishes for as long as possible.
If the FBI didn’t know about the fire, then her father’s secret would be safe—nobody would ever wonder if he had leaked the name of a hitman. His reputation would be intact.
Valentina and I had discussed it the night before, with me agreeing to not pushing for consequences for her father. Not because I liked the man, but because I loved his daughter. Respecting her father’s wishes was important to my wife and I’d do anything to make her happy.
“Yeah, everybody knows that some lunatic gunman shot up your wedding. We all saw it on the news. The FBI figured it was just more mafia BS. Another battle in the never-ending war between your clans,” the agent said. “But we’ve had zero intel about your father being shot.”
“My family chose to keep that confidential. For my father’s safety,” Valentina explained.
“You mean you didn’t want any mobsters coming after him when he was out of commission,” Jasinski observed. “Look, the FBI can’t go off on the word of a couple of gangsters. We have no reason to trust you. No prior relationship with either of you. Surely you see our predicament.”
“That’s understandable,” she said. “Which is why we’re going to bring him to you.”
Jasinski lifted his bushy gray eyebrows in surprise. “You’re going to bring in this supposed terrorist, whose name you still don’t know. How?”
“Leave that to us,” Valentina said.
“Let me be clear,” Jasinski said in a tone that left zero room for argument.
“Even if we were to agree to an immunity deal, we cannot be privy to whatever your plans are for bringing this guy in. This is not an FBI operation. Law enforcement cannot be involved in whatever citizen arrest you’ve got going through your head, Mrs. De Luca. ”
“Mrs. Romano-De Luca,” my wife corrected.
I grinned inwardly. Should have guessed that she’d choose to stick with both names, despite the combination now being long as hell. It was her way of showing that the two families were joined now. Our fates were intertwined. I wouldn’t have it any other way.
“Mrs. Romano-De Luca,” the agent corrected. “Whatever extralegal violence you’re planning...don’t. Your mafia tactics are not welcome in my agency.”
“We’re not going to use violence,” she said. “We are going to bring him directly to you so the FBI won’t have to do anything. We also plan on including evidence when we hand him over, that way we can bolster our case. Does that satisfy you, Agent Jasinski?”
“No, it does not. I won’t be satisfied until that terrorist is off the streets,” the agent said.
“Clearly, you want him far more than you want to waste your time with some businessman’s dealings going a little off the rails,” Valentina said.
“Your father is no businessman and you are no businesswoman,” Agent Jasinski snapped.
“You, Mrs. Romano-De Luca, are just as ruthless and violent as the rest. Funny thing is, if I weren’t so disgusted with what you people did for a living, I might admire that there was a woman running things the way you are.
You might say I’d allow myself to be impressed by you. ”
“A pity,” Valentina said.
“Yes, indeed. You’re fortunate that we want that terrorist far more than we want the mafia,” Jasinski said. “Organized crime is at least predictable and tries to avoid civilian bystanders. The public is far more likely to want a terrorist brought to justice and the FBI needs a win.”
“I know nothing about the mafia,” Valentina said innocently. “I’m a simple businesswoman trying to do the right thing.”
Jasinski sighed audibly. “What I can do, is hash out an immunity deal with your lawyer, Mr. Mario Lupino here. He’s credible. We’ve worked with him before and we like him.”
“So it’s agreed,” Valentina said. “Complete immunity from investigation, charges, or prosecution for all Romano and De Luca family members. The federal government drops every case it has against all of us.”
“The deal only takes effect when you bring that terrorist to us and we’re satisfied that he is who you say he is,” Agent Jasinski muttered.
“That’s fair,” Valentina said, reaching out her hand to Jasinski.
There she was, surrounded by a bunch of men.
A lone woman in a man’s world. Despite her father trying to isolate her and deny her power, she was wielding power far better than he was.
She was using it to protect not just her family, but mine as well.
Because she had decided to do what was right instead of merely choosing blind loyalty.
Both of us had refused to just go along with our fathers, and difficult as that was, we now had each other.
We would face both of our fathers together, the pair of us finally resisting them after years of going along with their misrule.
It was time for both of us to fix our fathers’ mistakes and set things right.
The agent looked at her in surprise, but he took her hand, shaking it momentarily.
“Mario and I will draw up an immunity deal for both families. However, the rest is up to you. There will be no immunity without the US National Bank bomber being handed over to the FBI. You have to be the ones to hand him over. If the FBI reaches him before you do, there’s no deal. Do we have an understanding?”
“We do,” Valentina said with a nod.
Valentina and I stayed to help write up the immunity deal with Mario’s help.
It was a good deal. Better than we could have hoped.
But as I helped Valentina into the front passenger seat of my car in the lot downstairs, I knew that time wasn’t on our side.
That meant our honeymoon was going to be delayed.
Because if the FBI got our hitman before we did, the deal was worthless.
That meant that somehow we had to outsmart the FBI, all while trying to prevent another attack.
But if there was one thing I knew, it was that if anyone stood a chance of catching our shared enemy, it was Valentina.
She could do anything. I’d seen that firsthand.
Between the immunity deal and trying to close in on the would-be assassin, my wife had gotten us this far.
I had to believe that we’d get to the killer before he got to us.