26. Zeke

26

ZEKE

D ominic Marchesi lived in an amazing historic town house. I reminded myself I could own something just as nice if I quit throwing my money away. Vito maneuvered the car into a parallel spot down the street.

We got out, and he beeped the lock, then offered me his arm. “Let’s go meet my family.”

“I’m nervous.”

“You’d be kind of stupid not to be. I mean, they are some of the most powerful men in the city after all.”

“Thank you. You’re helping me feel much better.”

“I’ve claimed you, that means you’re family now.”

“Vito, that’s not?—”

“Yes, it is. Things work differently in our family. I think you understand that.”

I did, or at least I thought I did, but everything felt crazy, like I was in a dream.

“Don’t let them intimidate you,” Vito said. “They’ll try, especially Lucien and my father. They’re going to assess you. Look them in the eye and don’t back down.”

“So, just like when I’m squaring up with another team.”

“Right, except now you’re playing for your life, not for a winning goal.”

“Fuck, you really know how to put a guy at ease.”

He chuckled and rang the doorbell as I prayed I would make it through this meeting. I wanted the Marchesis on my side, and I also wanted Vito to be proud of me.

Why did that matter so much? If I was just having fun and getting his protection….

You know that’s not what this is. You know you’re feeling so much more and so is he.

Was he really? I thought about the way he’d looked at me earlier, the way he’d told me he knew what I was feeling, the things I couldn’t say. Did he? Or did he just want to put me off? Was he hoping I wouldn’t say something we’d both regret?

He’s brought you to meet his family.

He doesn’t have a lot of choice.

He could’ve left you with the guards and come to this meeting on his own.

He could have. Val hadn’t wanted to let Liam come with him, but it had never been a question that Vito was bringing me.

The older man I’d seen with Vito at my game opened the door.

“Zeke, this is my father, Dominic Marchesi.”

He held out his hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

He had a firm, warm handshake. “I’m honored to be invited to your home, Mr. Marchesi.”

“Please, call me Dom.” He winked at Vito. “Good on the ice and nice manners. Aren’t you lucky?”

Without saying another word, he turned and encouraged me to follow him. I wasn’t quite sure what to make of his behavior. He seemed almost flirtatious. Would he flirt with me in front of his son? I mean, he was fucking gorgeous, but I’d fallen for Vito. I couldn’t deny it anymore. I’d fallen. Hard. There wasn’t going to be anyone else for me.

Dom led us to a beautiful room at the back of the house that looked out onto a small courtyard.

There were several men standing around holding drinks as if this was a cocktail party.

Dom gestured to the man I knew was Vito’s brother. “Zeke, this is my other son Val.”

Val smiled. “It’s nice to meet you, Zeke. Can I get you a drink?”

“I can handle that,” Vito said.

Val laughed at Vito’s insistence. “He likes you a lot.”

“He’s great,” I said not really acknowledging what Val said.

“He can be. He says you’re pretty amazing too. I have to admit I haven’t been a close father or a hockey fan, but I really enjoyed your game the other day.”

“Thank you.”

Val put his arm around the slender blond man standing beside him. “This is my husband, Liam.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” Liam said as he held out his hand for me to shake.

“It’s nice to meet you too.”

“Whatever Vito has told you about me is exaggerated at best and completely untrue at worst.”

“He hasn’t told me very much, but I’ll keep that in mind.”

Vito frowned him. “I have not said anything disparaging about you.”

“You’d better not,” Val said.

“These are my nephews,” Dom said, turning to the other men in the room. All of them were equally tall and incredibly gorgeous. Two of them could easily be mistaken for twins.

I learned they were Angelo and Devil. The man who was slightly shorter with perfectly styled black hair was Lucien, the head of the family. I hadn’t heard much about him from Vito, but I could tell by the way everyone deferred to him that he was someone to be reckoned with. I was glad he was at least supposed to be on my side.

“Vito was thrilled when you got traded from Vegas,” Devil said.

Angelo grinned. “He’s lucky we were already taken.”

Heat rose to my face, and I wasn’t sure how to respond. Vito returned with my drink and scowled at them “Enough of that.”

“He’s very possessive,” Devil said. “I’m looking forward to seeing what you can do this season.”

“Thank you. I’m hoping this is going to be a really good year.”

“You’re enjoying Boston?” Lucien asked.

It wasn’t easy, but I held eye contact with him like Vito told me to do. “Yes. I’m hoping to stay with the Badgers for a long time.”

Lucien smiled. “That’s good.” He immediately turned to Vito, saving me from needing to respond. “Uncle Dom has explained the situation with Benito, but I’d like to hear a little bit more about it from you since you are the one who saw him, and I’d like Zeke’s take on the situation in Vegas.”

“Can we sit down?” Angelo asked. “Or do we have to stay all formal and shit?”

Lucien gave him a scathing glance, then turned back to me and gestured toward the sofa. “Please, have a seat.”

I sat down on the sofa next to Lucien, and Vito took the chair on the other side of me. The rest of the men settled themselves into the other seats.

Vito explained what happened the night we caught Loony watching me, then saw Benito was waiting outside. When he’d finished, it was my turn.

“You first encountered Benito in Vegas?” Lucien asked.

“Yes, sir.”

“Tell me everything you remember about that meeting.”

I took as deep breath and started talking. “When I realized I needed a loan, I asked a friend I’d gambled with who’d had big losses and recovered from them. He told me where I could get the money I needed, but he warned me that I better have a way to pay my loan back or I’d be sorry. I swore to myself I wouldn’t gamble anymore, and I was making plenty of money, so I could handle it. I called the number my friend gave me and arranged a meeting. There were two people there when I showed up, Benito and a short round man who wore glasses. Benito hovered behind him like he was his bodyguard.”

“What was that man’s name?” Lucien asked.

“He never told me.”

“Give me a better description.”

“He was wearing a tan suit with shiny gold satin trim on the lapels.” Lucien made a face, and I couldn’t help but smile. “It wasn’t a fashion choice I would make.”

Devil laughed. “Sounds ugly as shit.”

“He was bald on top with dark hair around the sides of his head and bushy eyebrows.”

“Fuck,” Angelo said. “It’s Gordy.”

Dom shook his head. “Jesus Christ, I should’ve killed him when I had the opportunity.”

Vito looked surprised. “You had a contract on him, Pops?”

“I wish. The job would’ve been done if I had, but he could’ve been collateral damage on a job I did out in Vegas about ten years ago.”

“I knew he’d been building power,” Lucien said. “But I hadn’t bothered to keep up on the details.” He focused on me again. “Benito was there when you signed the contract for the loan?”

“That’s right. He didn’t say anything. He just stood there like he was hoping to intimidate me, but right before I left he told me that if I couldn’t pay the money back, I’d answer to him. I’d thought he worked for the other guy, but the way he said it gave me the impression it was actually the other way around.”

“Fuck,” Lucien said. “How did he manage to work his way up that fast?”

Dom huffed. “Gordy is weak. He blusters about being in charge, but he can’t back up the power he claims to have. A man like Benito—who’s crazy as hell and willing to do anything and kill anybody—could easily take Gordy’s organization and set himself up in charge.”

Devil nodded. “That definitely sounds viable.”

“Either way, I’m going to kill him,” Vito said.

Lucien held up a hand. “We’re going to set up a plan.”

“I’m not letting him walk away.”

“We are going to handle this discreetly. I have no interest in the man taking even one more breath, but we’re going to make sure his death won’t blow back on us or on Zeke.”

“Thank you,” I said.

Vito huffed. “I won’t do anything to endanger Zeke’s career.”

Dom glared at him. “Or this family’s position.”

“Or the family, obviously. I want us protected.”

“Sometimes it’s not as obvious as it should be,” Lucien said.

A tense look passed between Vito and Lucien. I didn’t say anything else. I was sure Vito didn’t want me getting in the middle of it, especially when I might make things worse.

Lucien returned to questioning me. “Later, when you didn’t make payments, you saw Benito again?”

I shivered thinking about that awful night. “Yes. He broke into my apartment and demanded the money. I gave him what I had, but he said it wasn’t enough, so he broke my arm. I had to miss the end of the season. It’s probably part of the reason I got traded. I don’t mind the trade. Things weren’t great for me in Vegas, and I’m better off away from there, but?—”

Val snorted. “There was no reason for that. He obviously had an income and could pay. He only missed one payment by a few days. It’s hardly the first step you take.”

Devil shrugged. “Sometimes, you really got to make somebody know you’re serious.”

Vito scowled him.

“I don’t mean Zeke. I like Zeke.”

“Jesus, the things I put up with in this family,” Lucien said. “Did you see him again after that?”

“No, I got out of town as fast as I could and spent some time with a friend in Colorado that I played with on an AAA team. When I got the word about the trade, I headed to Boston as fast as I could.”

“So you never paid them back?”

“No. I tried to win the money, and I just got deeper in debt. I know it was stupid. I made a lot of mistakes. I’m trying really hard not to make any more.”

“Yet you came to us to borrow more money.”

A low rumbling sound came from Vito, and he moved forward on his chair.

Lucien held up his hand. “I know you want to protect your man. But I need to understand exactly where we stand.”

“I did because I started receiving threats from Benito’s organization. I knew they had people watching me. I got notes in my locker at the arena and in my mailbox at my apartment.”

Vito scowled. “You didn’t tell me he knew where you lived.”

Lucien cleared his throat. “I’m handling this.”

Dom glared at Vito. “Back off.”

Vito leaned back in his chair and gestured for Lucien to continue.

“Thank you ever so much,” Lucien said. “You were convinced that if you could get the money to pay them off in full, they would back away, then you’d only have us to deal with?”

“That’s right, and I had no idea Vito was a Marchesi. That was?—”

“Fate,” Vito said.

Devil snorted. “I thought you didn’t believe in shit like that.”

“So did I,” Vito said. “But Zeke changed me.”

“Not enough,” Val said.

“Stop,” Lucien growled. “I saw that you proposed a payment plan.”

I nodded. “Yes, and I will follow through with it.”

“Did you give him the money, Vito?”

“Not yet. Once I realized Benito was involved and we would need to eliminate him, I wasn’t sure what the situation with his loan would be.”

“No use paying a dead man,” Angelo said.

Lucien gave a put-upon sigh. “So you’re holding off on making a payment until the situation is resolved?”

“That’s right, but I’ll clear my debts to them and to you. I don’t want to owe anyone.”

“You’re going to owe us a hell of a lot,” Lucien said. “But that’s not necessarily a bad thing.”

“It’s not.” Liam spoke for the first time since we’ve been introduced. “They are a lot of trouble, but it’s worth it.”

Val gave a look of mock offense, but Angelo and Devil just laughed.

“I suppose my husband would say the same,” Lucien said. “We do protect everyone in our family, and if Vito has claimed you, then you are included.”

That was far more than I’d expected from him. “Thank you, sir. I appreciate all that your family has done for me so far.”

“And we will appreciate any assistance you can give us in bringing Benito to justice.”

“Our kind of justice, right?” Devil asked.

“He married a cop, you know,” Angelo said.

My eyes went wide as I stared at him. “Seriously?”

“He quit the force before we got married. But I mean, when I seduced him, he was a cop.”

“I’m telling Joe you said that,” Lucien said.

“Go ahead. It’s the truth.”

I could see how his family, especially Lucien and Dom, could scare the fuck out of anybody, but I liked them. I hadn’t expected that. I’d assumed Vito was some sort of anomaly, but they were all fucking charming.

“Can we figure out exactly what we’re going to do to eliminate Benito and everyone who’s taking up with him?” Vito asked. He was obviously itching to get on with planning the main event, not that I wasn’t, but I’d actually been enjoying myself talking to his family.

I reached over and laid a hand on his thigh. “We’ll get there.”

“Damn fucking right we will.”

“Patience has never been your gift, has it?” Dom asked.

“Fuck, no.”

“Such disrespect.”

“I’m sorry, Pops. I’m anxious. I want this done.”

“We all do,” Lucien said.

“Why don’t you take the floor, Dom.” Lucien motioned to Vito’s father.

“With the information we got out of Benito’s allies who were watching us at the arena, we know where he’s staying in the city, and we know most of the other key players.”

“Any way we can deal with them all at once?” Val asked.

“Possibly. We could stage the takedown at Benito’s house if we could make the others believe he’d summoned them there. That plan has a lot of chance to backfire if too much communication is made between the players. I don’t imagine Benito is the kind of guy who says things more than once or allows back-and-forth chitchat from the men who work for him, but it’s definitely a risk.”

“I don’t love it,” Lucien said. “But I think we could pull it off.”

“The other option is we lure Benito to a spot where he thinks he can take us. He’ll bring his key men with him, and we’ll be ready for them. We might not get them all, but we can track the others down.”

Val shook his head. “That’s too fucking risky.”

“What if you told him you were going to turn me in?” I asked.

Vito rose out of his chair. “Fuck no!”

I gestured for him to sit down. “It is an option.”

“You have a fucking game tonight.”

“After the game.”

“No. Anyway, he’d rather have us than have you.”

“But what if he thought he could get the whole package? Or what if he thought you were willing to make some kind of a deal?”

“I would never make a deal with him. We’re so much stronger,” Vito said.

Devil shook his head. “Benito’s crazy. He isn’t likely to use the logic, is he?”

“Yeah. You’re crazy, and you rarely use logic,” Angelo said.

“See. That’s what I mean.”

Vito looked like he wanted to murder them. “Zeke is not going to be involved.”

“But you think we should try the second plan?”

“Yes, but we’re not using Zeke or anyone else as bait.”

I glanced at the time. I needed to leave, but I didn’t want to. Vito was struggling to restrain himself, and I had no idea what kind of insanity he might agree to.

“I’m sorry to leave early, but I have to get to the arena to do my pre-game workout.”

“Of course,” Dom said. “I’ll have one of my men drive you.”

I glanced at Vito. “I’ll take you if you need me to.”

I couldn’t ask him to leave. He needed to be here making plans, so I lied. “I’ll be fine.”

I reached out my hand and he squeezed it.

“We’ll take care of him,” Val assured me.

“Thanks.”

Vito huffed. “I can take care of myself. Zeke, I’ll call you when we’re done here.”

“And tell me everything you have planned?”

He frowned. “I’ll tell you everything you need to know.”

“Which won’t be a tenth of what you’re planning.”

“See,” Liam said. “It’s not just me who gets irritated at being left out.”

“Don’t even think about calling Peter on this one,” Lucien said.

Liam just smiled. “We’ll see.”

“And if everyone’s going to be busy, then I suppose I should go to the game tonight. I could bring Peter with me.”

“We’re not leaving the arena unguarded.”

“Obviously,” Pops said. “We’ll figure out the details.”

“My main goal is to get rid of Benito and make sure Zeke is safe from any further harassment. Whatever it takes to do that needs to be part of the plan.”

Pops laid a hand on my arm. “We’ll discuss the scope, but those are our goals as well.”

Vito surprised me by rising from his chair and pulling me into his arms. “Be careful. We’ve got plenty of men watching you, but you watch your back too.”

“I will.”