Chapter 18

Chapter Eighteen

Anya

S averio’s withdrawal from me and Claire hurts. It’s like a blunt pair of scissors cutting me open, exposing my heart and leaving me to bleed out slowly. He acts like a living dead man, not like a man who should embrace the incredibly lucky second chance he was given. If only I knew how to get through to him. He locks himself in his study day after day while Livy and I work at After Dark and Claire steadily grows with the miraculous strength of a wildflower that beats all odds in cracks and concrete with no rain.

Worried about Elena, I keep tabs on her via Rachele. In the meantime, I trace the guy who made the fake passports, which isn’t difficult once I follow the money trail to his account. Doing the books requires access to all information and payments, even the cash that changes hands under the table. There’s nothing concerning the business that Saverio can hide from me.

I send the forger Elena’s photos and tell him I’m acting on my husband’s behalf. The man accepts the explanation readily. It’s no secret that Saverio doesn’t put a foot outside the house. The men accepted me as Saverio’s mouthpiece. Most of the orders come via Dante, but in the day-to-day operations, I make the calls.

I’m checking the fake document proofs on my laptop in the office when a bouncer tells me Detective Jordan would like to see me.

I swallow, glancing at Claire, who’s sleeping in her stroller next to my desk.

“Want me to kick him out?” the bouncer asks.

“No.” I sit up straighter. “You can send him in.”

A moment later, the detective saunters through the door with a cocky smile. A memory of Saverio telling me to call him if the cops want to speak to me flashes through my mind. The old Saverio wouldn’t have hesitated to bend me over and punish me for disobeying his order, and perversely, I miss that man.

“Mrs. De Luca,” Detective Jordan says. “I expected to find your husband here.”

“He has an appointment,” I lie.

“Pity.”

“What can I do for you? Did you find anything helpful with regard to the investigation?”

“Not on the attack during your wedding. I was wondering if you remembered anything, maybe something you forgot while you were in shock.”

My smile is polite. “I’m afraid not.”

Smirking, he nods. “There’s word going around that you’re running the show now.”

I raise a brow. “Am I?”

“Here.” He motions around. “At the club.”

“I’m just a paper pusher. Saverio is in charge.”

Silence stretches.

“Was there anything else?” I ask pointedly.

“The investigation into the murder of Justice Kearney was closed.” He glances at Claire. “I thought you’d like to know.”

“What happened?” I ask, my heart beating in my throat. “Did you find the perpetrator?”

“Actually, we did. We found electronics and jewelry that belonged to the justice in the possession of a felon who was out on parole after serving time for armed robberies and theft. A charge of murder was brought against him a few years ago, but it was dropped due to a lack of evidence.”

My heartbeat triples. Shit. They have an innocent man behind bars. At least, he’s innocent in Evan’s murder.

Detective Jordan raps his knuckles on the desk, startling Claire. “I wanted to share the information in person.”

“Thanks,” I say, battling to keep my voice even.

He stands. “If you happen to remember anything, you know where to find me.”

“I told you everything I knew.”

His smile turns sardonic. “I suppose it doesn’t really matter. Why waste my time? Maybe it’s better to turn a deaf ear to the rumors and give your husband and his enemies enough rope.”

“What rumors?” I ask, my stomach tightening with foreboding.

Obviously enjoying my distress, Detective Jordan leans closer. “That the gangs are stocking up on weapons. In my experience, men don’t buy guns unless they’re preparing for war. The way I look at it, if given enough time, your husband and whoever is out for his blood will kill each other without my interference. And I’ll be sitting back, enjoying the shitshow when it happens.” Saluting me, he heads for the door. “Have a nice day, Mrs. De Luca.”

My pulse drums in my ears, beating out a headache behind my temples. I don’t like what he insinuated. I know he was trying to frighten me in the hope that I’d give him a name, but I’m not stupid enough to believe that will save Saverio. Even if Detective Jordan manages to stop a war by arresting Raphael, Jordan will still go after Saverio. He won’t rest until Saverio is in jail.

I yank open the desk drawer and take out one of the burner phones from the stock we keep. Rethinking it, I put back the phone. Maybe the detective came to rattle my cage, and he has a van parked outside with listening devices.

Instead, I approve the false passport and send a link for a screenshot to the burner phone number Elena provided. Then I bite my nails until Dante gets back from procuring suppliers.

“Hey,” he says, throwing an apple at me. “Picked you up a snack.”

I catch it in midair. “Is it safe to talk here?”

He pauses. “Yeah. We have diverters in place that scramble any foreign signals. You never know who’s trying to eavesdrop.”

“Detective Jordan was here.”

“Motherfucker.” His nostrils flare. “What did he want?”

“Why did he say there’s a war in the making and that Saverio and Raphael are going to kill one another?”

Dante’s face goes blank.

I get up and round the desk. “Dante.”

He raises his hands. “You better talk to Sav about that.”

My already racing pulse goes into overdrive. It’s true. I sense it. “Tell me, Dante. Claire and Livy are implicated. So am I. We have a right to know.”

“Talk to Sav,” he stresses.

“Dammit, Dante. You know Sav isn’t going to tell me anything. You’ve seen how he is.”

Dante purses his lips.

“Please, Dante. Don’t leave us in the dark. I can handle whatever you tell me. What I can’t handle is being stupid and helpless because I’m uninformed.”

He hesitates, working his jaw, and then he curses under his breath. “How did Jordan find out?”

“He didn’t say. He just said there was word on the street about the gangs stocking up on weapons.”

“Fuck.” He brushes back his fringe. “Anya, I?—”

I make my voice hard. “Just say it.”

“Yes, goddammit. Saverio is planning an attack.”

Everything inside me goes still. For a moment, I can’t breathe, and then adrenaline hits my bloodstream, making me woozy. “When?”

His voice is resigned. “I’m not sure. Soon. Sav hasn’t shared all the details with me yet.”

I push down my mounting anger and anxiety, trying to keep calm. “How’s it supposed to work?”

He sucks air through his teeth, fixing his gaze on the window before he looks back at me with a labored exhale. “Sav is going to set a trap. He’s going to let information leak about a meeting with the cartels opposing the Morellis at an abandoned location. When Raphael strikes, he’ll have him and his men surrounded.”

I know exactly what weapons we have at our disposal because I saw the lists that went with the payments, and it’s not nearly enough. With the territory Raphael stole from Luigi, the Morellis’ area is twice the size of Saverio’s now. Plus, they have the cartels backing them while we have a vastly diminished and weakened army.

“There’s no way Saverio can go up against the Morellis and win.”

Dante only watches me.

It takes me all of a second to understand. “No.” I back up, shaking my head. “Saverio is going to sacrifice himself.”

“You don’t know that.” Dante’s argument is weak. “Sav has always been a clever strategist.”

“He’ll be totally outnumbered,” I exclaim. “I know him, Dante. He won’t offer up his men. He’ll never lead them into a death trap. He’s going in alone. He’s going to walk into that fake meeting, luring out Raphael, and die in there to give his men a chance to surround from the outside.”

Dante studies me with a brooding expression.

“Where are you supposed to be when this ingenious plan goes down?” I ask.

“Leading the men from the outside,” he says with reluctance.

“Exactly.” I nod several times, close to tears. “It’s a suicide mission.”

“You don’t know that,” he says again.

“How could you let him plan something like this?” I cry out.

Dante stands there stoically, compassion washing over his features. “He wants what’s best for you and Claire.”

“Getting himself killed is not what’s best for us.”

“Raphael won’t stop, not until he has everything. And God forbid the day that happens, because he doesn’t take prisoners. If he ever manages to get his hands on Sav’s territory, he’s not going to mercifully let you live. People like him don’t fuck with revenge. They don’t take chances. He’s too thorough to leave any loose ends.”

“I won’t let Saverio do it.” Inside, I’m hysterical. The fact that I manage to continue calmly is a miracle. “Saverio doesn’t have to be bait. We can attack and fall back, letting them waste their ammunition while saving ours. Then we hit them before another shipment arrives.”

“You’ll never deplete their bullets and grenades with a single mock charge.”

“But a series of attacks will. If we target them every time they’re on the move and push them into a corner, they’ll have to fight back.”

“They’ll go for Sav, and if they can’t get to him, they’ll go after you and Claire. They’ll use anything and everyone he cares about.”

I lift my chin. “They won’t.”

Dante laughs. “Don’t you get it? They’ll torture you. They’ll send him pieces of your body until he gives himself up, and then they’ll kill you.”

The thought makes me shiver. “It won’t get to that.”

“What makes you so sure?”

Needing the contact, I lay a shaking hand over the blanket that covers Claire. “I won’t let it.”

He gives me a baffled look. “How exactly are you going to wangle that?”

“I’m going to make his pregnant wife disappear.”

Dante reels. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me.” I square my shoulders. “I’m going to take Elena.”

“Jesus.” He puts a hand on his brow and turns in a circle as he digests my meaning. Facing me again, he asks, “Are you out of your fucking mind?”

“No.” I hold his gaze, my heart thumping between my ribs but my voice remaining even. “Saverio gave up on finding out how big Raphael’s arsenal is, didn’t he? That’s why he came up with this ridiculous plan of offering himself as bait instead of planning an attack that he can actually win.”

Dante doesn’t reply, giving me the answer with his silence. After a beat, he says, “No intelligent man will go into a war unprepared. If we don’t know what we’re facing, we’ll be going in blind. That’s why Sav had to change tactics. Raphael is biding his time. Like Sav, he’s in the dark. He doesn’t know how much resistance to expect from us.

“He’s careful for now, but sooner rather than later, he’s going to grow impatient. He’s going to manage to buy intel on how weak our defenses are or, more likely, he’s going to torture one of us until he gets the information he wants. Whatever the case, he’s not going to wait much longer before he finishes what he started.”

“I’m going to get that damn inventory so that we know exactly what we’re up against, and then we’re going to do a series of well-planned guerrilla attacks that will force them to use maximum arms while we save ours. We’re going to snatch away Raphael’s wife and his unborn child right from under his nose before all of this happens. That’s the sword we’ll hold over his head.”

“He’ll come for you,” Dante says, shaking his head. “He’ll kidnap you in exchange for his wife.”

“Not if his wife tells the world she came to us willingly.”

“What are you talking about?”

“If Elena makes a video that states she ran to Sav to escape her husband, Raphael will never live down the humiliation.”

“True,” he says with a question in his eyes, scrutinizing me.

“We show Raphael the video and tell him we’ll release it if he comes after us. If that video gets out, he’ll be the laughingstock of New York City. The cartels won’t have confidence in a man who loses his own wife to his enemy.”

“He’ll kill Elena if he ever finds her.”

“Then we better make sure we win.”

“Or all of us are dead.”

“We’re dead anyway. You said yourself it’s only a matter of time. So what can it hurt to try?”

He stomps to the window, staring out for a second before turning back to me. “You won’t be dead if…”

“If you and Saverio sacrifice yourselves?”

“You’re a mother. You have a child to think about.”

“I am thinking about my child. That’s exactly why I’m doing this. If I don’t, Claire will never be safe. There will always be another Raphael who’s too greedy for money and power. I’m not an expert in your business, but I’ve been here long enough to know one thing. The only way of surviving this kind of life is to be stronger and cleverer than everyone else.” He opens his mouth, but I don’t give him a chance to speak. “But I’m also thinking about you, the men and their families, and Saverio.” I add in a softer tone, “Maybe I’m also thinking about myself for once, and I don’t want to live the rest of my life as a widow.”

“Anya,” he says with frustration.

“It’s a good plan, Dante. It can work.” I advance on him. “Admit it.”

Dragging a hand over his head, he blows out a long breath. “Say you manage to pull off all that shit, why would Elena agree to do something like that? Why would she make a video to humiliate her husband in front of the whole world?”

“Because I have something she wants.” I add quietly, “Desperately.”

“Fuck, Anya. I don’t know.”

“I’ll get the inventory and the video. That’s a good starting point, right? Once that’s done, we can take it from there.”

“No.” He studies me with a solemn expression. “When Elena disappears, it’ll be too late already. Raphael will hit back. By then, our strategy has to be in place. Even better if we can strike in the midst of the chaos when he finds out Elena is gone, long before he’s had time to digest his wife’s betrayal.”

“Then you and Saverio have your work cut out for you. I’ll handle the inventory and Elena.”

He doesn’t sound convinced. “How?”

“Don’t worry about the how. I’ll manage. Just do the rest.”

“Okay, so say I buy into this plan of yours, there’s still one snag.”

I raise a brow.

“Convincing Sav isn’t going to be easy,” Dante says. “He’ll never let you put yourself at risk.”

“Then don’t tell him where the list and the video will come from.”

“Sav is more than my boss. He’s my friend. I’m not going to deceive him.”

“Listen to me, Dante. We don’t have a choice. If he knows what I’m planning, he’ll try to stop me. You can say you’re getting the list and the video. Saverio doesn’t have to know I’m involved. We’ll tell him the truth when it’s all over.”

“Why don’t I just get the woman and the list? Why not let me in on your plan? Better yet, why not let Sav carry it out?”

“Because Elena won’t trust you or Saverio. She knows Saverio is going to avenge himself on her husband, and she believes she’s a target too. Raphael didn’t care that his attack would take me out. I was collateral damage. Elena thinks Saverio will make her pay to get back at Raphael. An eye for an eye. As Saverio made a point of not denying it when Rachele brought up the subject, Elena must be convinced her death is imminent. She won’t come anywhere near Saverio or any man who works for him.”

“Fuck.” He drops his head between his shoulders. “I don’t like this.”

“But you know it can work. It’s a much better plan than letting my husband commit suicide.”

“Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.”

A smile plucks at my lips, because I know I’ve won.

“But,” he says, holding up a finger, “if anything goes wrong, I want you and Claire out of the country. I’m going to put a backup plan into place, and you’re going to promise me you won’t give me any problems when I have to put your ass on a plane.”

“Promise,” I say, crossing my fingers over my heart.

“Fuck, Anya,” he says again, looking frightened.

And that’s saying something, because in all the time I’ve known Dante, even when that grenade rolled down the aisle and bullets rained on us, I’ve never seen him scared.