Chapter Forty-One Enzo #3
“Don’t say it,” Luca warned darkly.
“Sofia,” Achilles enunciated, ignoring the warning, “hates your guts.”
“No, she doesn’t.” Luca’s words rang out in all their pathetic glory.
“What if she’s Tom’s insider?” Achilles asked.
“Achilles!” Tierney chided.
“I’m just asking,” he said, softly now.
“She isn’t,” Luca spat.
“But what if she is?” I asked.
Luca shook his head. “No.”
“Stop this.” Lila sounded distressed, reaching to hold Tierney’s hand. “Stop this right now.”
“We won’t make you kill her,” I stated.
The words made Luca jolt, as though stung by fire.
“I’m well aware, brother. I am your don, and if anyone—anyone—touches a hair on my wife’s head, I’ll be sure to kill them myself.
Very. Very. Slowly.” The words settled in the space between us.
His throat bobbed, and he struggled to put his game face on, but did, eventually.
“Now, stop all drug operations. Protection collection. We’re going dark, off the grid.
Hunkering down, and unloading all inventory wholesale until further notice. ”
“This is going to cost us millions.” Achilles nearly doubled over in pain from the prospect.
Luca’s gaze snapped to him. “Better to lose our money than our freedom.”
He was right. Jesus, what a mess.
“How much money are we talking?” Achilles demanded. Luca was the number cruncher. The chess-playing sage who always planned ahead.
“If we keep this up for two weeks, around thirty-four million dollars. A month—closer to seventy-four. Tax deductions and wealth management investments notwithstanding. However, I can shift things around. I’ve done it before.”
“Not to this extent,” Achilles pointed out. “You’re playing for time, but you don’t have a deadline.”
My throat felt tight.
“Who’s gonna buy the drugs wholesale?” Achilles thundered.
“Another, large-scale crime organization,” Tristan mused. “One that doesn’t compete directly with us.”
All of our eyeballs landed on Luca.
“The Outfit,” we all said in unison.
An imaginary sword was suspended over us, before Luca spoke. “I’ll speak to Alonso.”
The only semi-good thing about the entire situation was that my brothers were going to be way too busy mitigating this mess to care about my embracing my sexuality and its implications.
“We’re under siege.” Luca produced his phone, already starting to make arrangements.
“Any time you leave your apartments, I want to know about it. We’re switching exclusively to burners, which we’ll change daily.
No online communication, including the dark web.
No digital footprint whatsoever, and no paper trail. ”
It was the first time I saw him getting back to himself and actually going full-blown don since Sofia left him. Everyone nodded numbly.
“Tiernan, I need a favor,” Luca said.
“What?”
“I want you to tell me who’s Alex’s weakness so I can get my hands on them. We need a head start.”
Tiernan stared at him like he was insane. “No.”
“Is it Katya?” Luca ignored him. “Should we kidnap her?”
“I can do it,” Tristan volunteered.
“No,” Tiernan repeated, more forcefully now. “I’m not helping you fuck with Lyosha.” After a pause, he added, “But to answer your question, Alex has no weaknesses. None that I can think of.”
Luca and Achilles exchanged doubtful glances.
“Try to get your hands on his closest allies, just in case,” Luca ordered.
Achilles and Tristan nodded.
“Leave Katya out of it,” I piped up. Everyone looked at me. “She doesn’t deserve any more shit. I mean it.”
“You lost your privilege to ask for favors,” Luca hissed.
“Yeah, well, I’m demanding that you give me your word you’ll leave her alone. If not, I’m taking the plea deal.”
“You would never.”
“Wouldn’t I?” I thrust my chin forward. “Bet you didn’t imagine an hour ago that I’d break off an engagement, come out of the closet, or fuck a fed.”
This seemed to convince Luca I was crazy enough to consider anything, because he tossed up a dismissive hand. “Fine. Fuck. No Katya.”
“Thank you.”
“Killjoy,” Tristan muttered.
“We need someone from the inside to tell us what we’re dealing with from the feds.” Achilles turned to Tristan.
Tristan drummed his long fingers on the table.
Up until now, he’d been mostly watching our collective meltdown with detached amusement.
“I’ll see what I can do, but Rothwell keeps his cards close to his chest. Can’t you suck your way into getting us the information we need? ” He tilted a sardonic eyebrow at me.
Fucker.
“No. We’re done.”
“Crying shame,” he said flatly.
I was going to kill him one day.
Achilles and Luca were running around like headless chickens, speaking on their phones, paying me no attention. Tiernan was texting Alex, probably trying to convince him to spare his wife’s brothers. And Tierney and Lila scooted toward me, each of them holding my hand.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been so proud to call you a friend.” Tierney kissed my cheek. “You did it.”
But maybe coming out was the easy part, after all.
Because living authentically meant jack shit if I was going to do it in prison.