Chapter 8
CHAPTER 8
EMILIANO
?“W hat the fuck do you mean, you couldn’t track down who’s doing all the killing in my fucking territory?”
Costa’s report is just a bunch of bullshit about the techniques and the links between all the girls who were killed. I didn’t want that. I wanted the fucking person who’s littering my city with dead fucking bodies and the only link is Lucio.
Costa leans back in his chair with a bored expression, unbothered.
“I don’t know what to tell you, Folonari. Whoever the fuck is doing all of this, isn’t someone easy to track. I don’t think anyone can track them. It looks like they don’t want to be found.”
I clench my jaw to stop myself from punching this asshole for pointing out the fucking obvious. Throwing the file on my desk, I run my hand through my hair.
“Why don’t you ask Matteo? He might be able to track whoever this is.”
Romiro might be right, but Matteo isn’t going to do this without knowing fully what he’s looking for. I don’t want Lucio to know that we’re looking for whoever is doing this, and so far, have come up with nothing.
“No, no, that won’t work. Matteo will only do the work if he knows everything. I don’t want this to get back to Lucio. He’ll tear the city bit by bit if he knows we can’t find the person. And whoever the fuck is doing this clearly doesn’t give a fuck about pissing off the Camorra.”
I lean back in my seat as I try to make sense of this mess.
“Costa, you can leave, but keep on the lookout. I want updates every once in a while.”
He nods and gets up, buttoning up his suit. Romiro follows to escort him out of the house. Who the fuck wants to get rid of girls Lucio is fucking? The boy is fucking nineteen. Everyone who might hold a grudge for the little massacre we’d gone on is long dead. And if anyone wanted revenge, why target the girls he’s sleeping with and not him? My phone rings on my desk, interrupting my thoughts.
“Yes, Silvio, what is it?” I put the phone on speaker as I sift through the file again.
“The camera and sound system are up and running. They’re both connected to the same camera system as the infra-red ones.”
“Good. Have you figured out what happened to the footage from the night Mara snuck out?” I ask. He pauses, trying to figure out how to answer my question.
“Honestly, boss, I have no clue. The most likely explanation is that Mara and Matteo were in on this together. Matteo is the only one who’s capable of pulling this kind of thing.”
He’s not wrong, but my men not being able to watch my two teenage siblings is quite pathetic. The twins are only eighteen, yet they still manage to fuck over every Made man in the Camorra.
“Figure it out,” I tell him before ending the call. A knock echoes in the silence of my office.
“Come in.” Lucio walks in, his posture tense and shoulders stiff. His blue eyes dart around the room as he runs his hand through his dirty blond hair. A nervous tick of his.
I narrow my eyes on him. He presses his lips into a thin line before he blows out a breath. Leaning back in my office chair, I continue to watch him for minute changes in his posture.
He opens his mouth, but then slams it shut before opening it again, imitating a fish. I know Lucio; he’ll spit out whatever he has to say in a matter of seconds. He’s always been easy to read.
“Valentina broke the plate that you gave her and she’s threatening everyone who comes near her,” he blurts out, and I stand abruptly, which causes Lucio to stagger backwards.
“What the fuck do you mean?” My chest heaves with the effort to control the absolute rage building in my chest.
“Did I, or did I not, order everyone one of you fuckers to stay out of that place and no one to approach her?” I ask. Lucio rubs his temple, trying to find an excuse for the blatant disregard of my orders.
I don’t wait for him to come up with one as I storm past him and out the door. Romiro is making his way up the stairs. His eyes widen as I pass him, taking the stairs two at a time.
“What on God’s given earth is going on?” I can hear him ask Lucio as they both trail behind me. I reach the landing and make it to the door within seconds.
“Eli, man, calm down,” he says. I don’t calm down, nor do I stop. I fling the door open to find one of my idiotic soldiers standing in front of Valentina with his hands up in a surrender position.
She stands in a defensive stance with a shard of the plate in her hand, pointing it toward him. Near them are some broken plate pieces. She doesn’t seem to notice that she is too close to the shards.
Engrossed in fending off the man, her face contorted in a snarl, she doesn’t see us, too focused on the idiot in front of her. At least not until I stand behind him, and her eyes fill with pure venom.
I growl at the soldier as he backs into my chest, “Out. Lucio, I want him alive.”
Lucio drags the soldier out and leaves, leaving Romiro, Valentina, and I in the room. She’s still holding on to the piece of shard, in a defensive stance. When I take a step toward her, she doesn’t cower.
Instead, she stands her ground, but when I go to grab her hand, she whirls around and faces the other direction to try to get away. I grab her around the waist before she can take another step. She struggles, thrashing around and nearly causing me to lose balance, but I don’t let her go.
“Eli.” Romiro’s voice is close, his steps echoing in the room as he comes closer.
“Don’t, stay back, I can handle this,” I say, my voice strained. The only reason there’s a struggle is because I don’t want to injure her.
I manage to grab onto her fist to pry the shard out of it. Instead, she digs the shard into her palm, breaking her skin. The shard presses into my palm too after loosening my grip, deep enough that my blood slowly seeps out of the cut in my palm and drips to the floor.
Romiro grasps her arms by the elbow swiftly, and I take the opportunity to snatch the shard from her. She thrashes around, trying to get free but, ultimately, she fails.
“Take her to see Alessia. Make sure that she doesn’t get an infected wound,” I order him as I head toward the door. My cousin, Alessia, should be able to fix her up.
“What about you? You’re bleeding,” Romiro counters.
“Go and take that brat to Alessia. I’ll deal with my own cut.” My voice is sharp, leaving no room for arguments. I make my way to the kitchen, where we keep an extra kit of first aid.
The kitchen is empty, the silence welcoming. Releasing a breath, I grab the first aid kit and get to cleaning up the cut. I don’t know whether to be impressed or to be pissed at the brat’s resilience. I wrap up my hand in some gauze after cleaning it up.
“Oh my God, what happened, Eli?” Ma’s worried voice fills the kitchen. She rushes to my side and takes my hand in hers. Her eyes narrow as she examines my hand. I go to pull it away, but she just tightens her grip on my wrist.
“Who did this?”
Ma has always been protective of us, and it only got worse after she lost Dad.
I shake my head as I say, “Ma, I’m fine, it's just a little cut.” Her eyes become slits as she narrows them at me. I breathe through my nose, trying to figure out how I’ll explain it to her.
“It was Moretti’s daughter. She had a piece of a plate she broke and she refused to give it up without putting up a fight,” I tell her. Ma’s face becomes blank as she assesses how to deal with what I told her. Face twisting, she gently drops my hand.
“Was she hurt, too?” she asks. I nod, and her lips set into a grim line. She runs a hand over her face as her eyes search mine.
“I’d like to talk to her. What she did wasn’t okay, but in retrospect of everything that she’s gone through, I can sympathize with why she’d felt the need to do it.”
“Fine, but I’ll go with you.”
She shakes her head.
“No, Emiliano, I want to speak to her alone. You being there will only set her on edge.”
I grit my teeth, not liking the idea of my Mom alone with Satan’s spawn.
“As you wish, Ma. It’s your choice.” I sigh. Her face glows as the corners of her mouth lift.
“But I want Alessia to stay in the room with both of you.”
She nods and says, “Lead the way.”
I shake my head as I make my way out of the kitchen, already regretting my decision. It doesn’t take us long to get to Alessia’s office. The door is open, and we can hear them talking. Romiro is leaning on the wall, his eyes on Alessia with a small smile on his lips.
“Yes, I know. I had to tell him to mind his business.” Alessia is talking animatedly with Valentina, who’s nodding with a small smile.
Alessia and Satan’s spawn turn their heads when they hear Ma say, “I see you ladies are getting along.” Valentina’s eyes narrow as she sends a glare my way. I return it with a sarcastic smile.
I take a couple of steps toward Romiro and lean next to him on the cream-colored wall, and Ma steps closer to Valentina and Alessia.
“What did Alessia say?” I ask him as we both watch the three women talk in hushed voices.
“The cut wasn’t too deep; she didn’t need any stitching.”
I nod, still watching them as they throw glances our way.
“What are you guys talking about?” Romiro asks after they look at us for the third time.
Ma waves her hand at Romiro before saying, “None of your business, Romiro. Now you boys leave us alone. We want to talk about things that don’t concern you.”
Both Romiro and I get off the wall and head out the door, but I stop.
“Behave yourself and remember that you’re not a guest,” I warn Valentina. Ma looks at me, her eyebrows raised and eyes wide while Valentina gives me a blank stare.
“Emiliano Folonari, I did not raise you to behave like this,” Ma scolds me as I leave the room and close the door behind me. Romiro gives me a suspicious look that I choose to ignore.
“Anything I should know about?” I ask him as we make our way into the living room. Romiro doesn’t reply until we’re sitting on one of the couches.
“The doctors said that Dominico might be waking up sooner than they thought.”
“Any news on Thalia?”
Dominico’s wife has been in critical condition for the past two months, and it doesn’t look like she’s improving any time soon. She was already stressed about Dominico’s coma when she herself was shot by the Terranovas.
“No, man, I really hope she gets better, or Dominic will wipe out the entire Terranova clan,” he tells me.
I blow out a breath, trying to find a way to get us out of this mess. The Terranova clan ruled over a large part of New York before the Camorra swiftly disposed of most of them. They still control some important routes that we occasionally use, and we’ve been in a silent truce for the past seventy years, but Thalia had been in unchartered territory when she was injured. This is going to be a problem if we want to maintain control without stretching our resources.
Romiro continues, “We can’t afford two wars on our turf. We need to make our demand clear with the Morettis so we can get our revenge.”
Our revenge . God, it feels like everything is finally falling into place. I nod and place my elbows on my knees.
“Mara wants to go back to New York. She said she can’t keep doing online school,” Romiro says, and my nostrils flare. The reason I moved them to New Hampshire is to keep them safe. After my pop’s death, New York had gone through so much to the point it became unsafe for them to even be in our territories.
“Fuck no, not yet. We still need to establish power over New York. Everyone thinks they can fuck with us because my dad is gone,” I say. Romiro leans back and sighs.
“Listen, Eli, I understand your apprehension, but life goes on. And if they want to attack, let them, and we’ll fucking show them who the Camorra is. Besides, I’m sure everyone isn’t too keen on getting your attention, not after that day,” he says, running his hand through his hair. I grind my teeth as I let what he said seep in. Romiro rarely mentions the Fourth of July massacre. So, the fact that he’s mentioned it twice is suspicious.
“Is something going on? This is the second time you’ve mentioned the massacre in two days.” My voice comes out casual, but Romiro knows better than to think that.
“You seem on edge. You have that wild fucking look every time you talk to Valen-”
I lift my hand up to cut him off.
“Don’t mention her. Her name being said is enough to make my fucking blood boil,” I say harshly. Romiro’s face is a mask of cool indifference.
“See, you’ve got that look again. Listen, I'm just saying, the faster we can get what we want from the Morettis, the better for us.”
We’re interrupted when my ma, Valentina, and Alessia walk into the living room, still talking.
“Who said she can leave the fucking office?” I stand up, my voice full of rage.
“I did, so stop your bitching. I didn’t raise you like this.” Ma’s voice is sharp as she makes her intentions clear.
“I don’t want Valentina to go back to the cell.” She crosses her arms over her chest.
“Ma, you can’t seriously suggest she doesn’t go back to the room she was in.”
Ma narrows her eyes. “That ‘room,’ as you like to refer to it, isn’t a room. It was a cell. You know it, I know it, Romiro knows it. Everyone knows it. She’ll be staying in Mara’s wing.” Hell will freeze over before I let the enemy sleep in my house comfortably, let alone my sister’s wing.
“No. She will not.” My refusal makes Ma harden her expression, “If you insist she doesn’t go back to the cell, then she’ll stay in my wing. No one else's.”
Ma looks appalled by the suggestion, Valentina looks like she’s plotting a painful death for me, and Alessia is wide-eyed as she stares at the three of us.
“She cannot stay there. She isn’t related to you, and she isn’t married to you either. Tradition doesn’t allow for that, Emiliano. Besides, she’s engaged,” Ma argues. I shrug my shoulders at her.
“I don’t give two fucks what tradition says. If you don’t want her to go back to the cell, that’s the only option.” I can see she doesn’t like anything that I have just said, her mouth set it a line.
“Fine. I want the lock on her door to stay,” Ma concedes. My eyes widen at her agreement.
“What?” I breathe out. I feel cheated. She wasn’t meant to agree.
Ma gives me a smug smile. “You thought that I wouldn’t agree and you’d get your way. Emiliano, don't forget I was married to the Capo, your Pop. Whatever he taught you, I have seen. Don’t take me for a gullible woman.”
Great, I'm stuck with Satan’s child in my wing, and she’s plotting the best way to kill me. I’m so fucked.
“Don’t I get a choice?” Valentina speaks up.
“No,” I say as Ma also says, “Of course, you do.”
Ma sends me a glare, and then smiles gently at Valentina.
“I don’t want to stay in his wing. I’d rather go back to the cell.”
My ma’s smile falls as she tries to understand why Valentina is reluctant to stay in a comfortable bed and room.
“Valentina, are you sure?” Ma tentatively reaches her hand and grabs Valentina’s. Valentina looks at me, but then quickly averts her eyes to look at my ma again.
“Yes, I’m sure.” Her voice is soft and low. Where was this attitude when she’s with me?
“She’ll stay in my wing, then.” Ma’s head snaps in my direction as she declares her solution. I shake my head again, amused at her insistence to get Valentina out of the cells.
“She will not.” My tone makes my decision clear, and my Mom’s face crumbles, her eyes appearing glassy as she sniffles. Great, I’ve upset my Mom. I rub my temple, feeling a migraine coming on.
“Fine, but there will be a guard staying in front of her door. And if she tries anything, she’ll be hanging in the cells by her feet.” I say the last part while looking into Valentina’s eyes. She just wrinkles her nose and sends a scowl my way.
Ma rushes in my direction and wraps her arms around my midsection. I return her hug while sending a glare at Valentina over Ma’s head.
“Thank you, Eli.”
“Anything for you, Ma, anything,” I mutter into her hair.
I have a feeling I’ll be regretting this decision.