Chapter Fifteen

~ Anthony ~

Things had happened suddenly and I was still reeling from them. I had noticed how attractive Vito was from the moment I laid eyes on him. His power and personality, not to mention how much he worried about me, had turned that attraction into something else.

I just hadn't been expecting it.

Hoping, but not expecting, especially since he had claimed to be fully in the closet. Now, he was walking down the grand staircase with me, his hand placed in the low of my back as if silently letting me know he was there to support me no matter what.

Why would I even consider giving this up?

The butler met us at the bottom of the stairs. "Mr. Luca and Mr. Nico are having breakfast in the dining room. If you'll follow me?"

I glanced at Vito, deferring to him in this situation. I didn't know what mafia etiquette was in a fancy place like this. It wasn't like this was my local burger joint.

Vito gave a barely discernible nod so I followed after the butler. He led us down the large hallway to a set of double doors. When we stepped inside the room, I gasped.

This was not a place I wanted to eat in.

I was afraid to breath let alone consume food.

Several floor to ceiling windows covered two separate walls, letting in a lot of sunshine. Vases filled with roses covered several different side tables. The large wooden table had to fit at least twenty people, if not more. Three crystal chandeliers hung over the table and there was a very ornate Persian-style rug under it.

I knew that from a magazine.

"If you'll follow me, sirs?"

Oh.

I quickly hurried to catch up with the butler. He led us through a doorway on the side of the room to a much smaller area, one that was more my style and not the King of France.

Luca and Nico were seated together, chatting as they ate.

"Good morning," Luca said when he spotted us. "I hope you had a restful night."

I didn't snort, but it was close.

"It was very nice, thank you."

"How are your injuries?" Luca asked as he looked at Tony. "You're looking a little better today."

"I'm still hurting a bit, and suspect I will be for the next week or so, but I definitely feel better." He smiled when he glanced at me. "Tony fixed me up pretty well last night."

I'd done something to him last night alright.

"Grab a plate," Luca insisted. "We can talk more in my study after we eat. As a rule, I don't talk business in front of Nico."

That made sense.

And, considering the appetite I'd worked up with Vito, I was all too happy to grab some food. I fixed a plate for Vito first, even cutting up his sausage links for him, and then plated my own food. When I went to take my first bite, I realized silence had fallen over the room.

I glanced up to find everyone staring at me. "What?" I hadn't eaten anything yet so I knew I didn't have anything on my face.

"Nothing." Vito bumped shoulders with me. "Eat your food before it goes cold."

Luca let out a little chuckle and then gestured to the steel carafe sitting in the middle of the table. "There's coffee if you want it."

These people were weird.

As we ate, Nico and I started talking about New York City and the places we had visited or wished to visit there. Turned out, while we lived in completely different neighborhoods, we'd actually been to a many of the same places.

I liked the man. He was timid and a little clingy with his husband, sitting very close to him and often looking at Luca as if needing his confirmation on his answer to my questions, but he seemed to have a good sense of humor and from the things we talked about, he was obviously smart.

I hated dumb people.

By the time we finished eating, I knew I liked the man and hoped that we could be friends despite being from different families. I didn't know that much about mafia life, but being enemies because of that just seemed stupid.

I wanted to say something about that, but wasn't sure I had the right to. I also wasn't sure if it would get me killed or not. Better to ask when Nico wasn't around. I didn't want to hurt him or make him upset.

That would definitely get me killed.

Luca leaned over and pressed a kiss to Nico's temple. "We've got to go talk business, cuore mio . I'll come find you when we're done. I don't want you leaving the estate today."

"Nonna and I are working in the greenhouse today," Nico stated. "We're getting everything ready for the new seeds we want to plant."

Luca's smile was indulgent as he ruffled the hair at the top of Nic's head. "Okay, you two have fun."

When Nico got up, Luca gestured to the tall silent man that had been standing near the doorway. "Go with him, Stefano. Be on your toes today. There may be trouble."

"Yes, sir." The man quickly turned and followed after Nico.

I waited until the both left before turning to look at Luca. "Nico has his own bodyguard?"

"He has several, but Stefano is his personal bodyguard," Luca replied. "I don't take any chances with Nico's safety. I already lost him twice. I refuse to lose him again."

There was a story there, but it wasn't my place to ask what it was. I liked breathing.

Luca stood and gestured to the doorway. "Why don't we go talk in my study?"

I followed Luca and Vito as they stood and walked out of the room. We headed out of the small dining room, through the massive dining room, and then down the hallway to the room we'd met in before.

Once inside, Luca waved us over to the seating area in front of the fireplace. "If you don't mind, I'm going to get Vinnie Borelli on the line with us. He may have some insight into what is going on."

"We don't mind," I replied. "Vinnie has been very helpful to us so far."

If it wasn't for Vinnie and his friends, we'd probably be dead already.

Luca dialed Vinnie and then put his phone on speaker and laid it on the coffee table between us. "Hey, Vinnie, I've got you here with Vito and Tony D'Angelo."

I smirked, liking the way that sounded.

"I'm glad you found Luca," Vinnie said. "So, can you tell me what is going on?"

"Well, we decided to get kidnapped along the way to Genoa," I quipped. "It sounded like a fun thing to do. I hear it's all the rage nowadays, especially in Italy."

I heard a couple of chuckles and one snort.

"Yes, well, it's not as exciting as it may seem," Vinnie replied. "Trust me on this."

"Oh, I am aware."

"I had my people trace the GPS on the car you guys arrived in and tracked it to a warehouse down by the docks," Luca explained. "We found four men there, one of them dead."

I winced and glanced at Vito.

"I had my men dispose of the body and clean up the scene so there won't be a problem there," Luca continued. "The problem lies in the fact that that warehouse is in my territory and those guys were local thugs, which means this looks like I did it in every way possible. I can assure you, I did not."

"I'm fully aware of the fact that you had nothing to do with this, Luca," I stated firmly. "I'm just trying to figure out why someone is trying to frame you."

"I figure I'm a scapegoat," Luca said. "I think someone wants to put the blame on me so they don't get caught."

"But why you?" I asked. "We were over six hundred miles away when we were kidnapped. Aren't there families closer than that? Why choose to bring us all the way here?"

"I think I can answer that," Vinnie stated. "It's two reasons really. One, Luca is the youngest family head in all of Italy. And two, he's gay. If they put the blame on him, it kills two birds with one stone."

"Boy, are they in for a surprise. Not only am I younger than Luca, but I'm gay. I'd like to see how they deal with that."

"Is there anyone whoever is behind this could know you were gay, Tony?" Luca asked.

I shrugged. "Got me."

"It was in none of the reports I received when I had you investigated," Vito said. "But there seemed to be a lot of stuff that didn't get into those reports."

"Like what?" I asked out of curiosity.

I ignored the part where he said he had me investigated. As much as I disliked it, it made sense to have me checked out before approaching me.

"Where the money went, your mother, and being in foster care."

I frowned. "None of that was in the reports?"

"None of it."

That seemed odd to me.

"Just how good were they guys you sent to investigate me?"

"I thought they were pretty good," Vito replied, "but apparently I was wrong."

"Not necessarily," Vinnie said. "If someone didn't want you to see part of the report, is there any way they could have tampered with it?"

"Who gave you the report and how many people had access to it?" Luca asked.

"My Uncle Carmine gave me the report," Vito said. "I don't know how many people had access to it. I'd call him and ask, but we're trying to stay off the grid at the moment."

"Well," Luca started, "someone obviously knows you're here or we wouldn't have had that incident with the doctor last night."

God, I'd totally forgotten about him.

"Were you able to save his family?"

Luca nodded. "His wife and kids are safe and we've got the guys that were holding them hostage. Low level thugs like the ones that had you detained at the warehouse."

"God, this is all such a fucking mess."

I felt Vito's hand land on my leg, giving me a little squeeze. "We'll figure it out, Tony."

I wasn't sure how. It felt as if we were no closer to discovering who was behind all of this than we had been from the beginning. There were no clues, no trail to follow, no...Wait.

"The money." My head popped up. "I know this is really out there and I've probably seen too many crime movies, but is there a way we can follow the money? Someone has to be footing the bill for all of this, right?

"Actually, let me make a phone call," Vinnie said. "I know some people that are pretty good with this stuff. Maybe they can find something."

"It would be appreciated, Vinnie," Vito stated. "I feel like we're not even out of the starting gate and the race is almost over."

"I'll call you back just as soon as I find anything out."

"Thank you, Vinnie," I told him. "You and your friends have been a really big help when you didn't need to be."

"Does that mean you'd be interested in a peace treaty between the Borelli and D'Angelo families?"

I glanced at Vito, who nodded at me with his eyes wide and rounded. "Yes, I'd be very interested."

"If I'm not sticking my nose in, I'd be interested in signing one as well," Luca said. "Nico has taken a shine to you and there are not a lot of people he is comfortable around."

This time, my eyes rounded as I nodded. "You get something together and I'll sign it."

Having a peace treaty with two of the four families in Italy could only work in my benefit.

"A peace treaty between the Borelli family, the D'Angelo family, and the Sabatino family." Vinnie let out a small chuckle. "Man, the Romanos are going to shit themselves."

I knew nothing about the Romano family so I couldn't comment.

Luca snorted. "The Romano family can sit and spin for all I care."

"Bad blood?" I asked.

"Snobby assholes," Luca replied. "At the last conclave, which we hosted, one of the nephews tried to bother Nico. Stefano had to put him on the ground. The guy didn't take the rejection very well and tried to raise a stink, but we had video surveillance to back up Nico's claims of harassment. He went away with egg on his face and a very bad attitude. I've had trouble with them ever since."

"Yeah, let's leave them out." Nico was a nice guy and he didn't deserve that kind of treatment. I also didn't want to have anything to do with assholes. I had enough morons in my life.

"Since we're on the topic," Vinnie said, "I know you have some business dealings here in the states. I could talk to Petrov, King, and Díaz, see if they would be interested in signing a peace treaty as well."

"I can talk to Hu," Luca added in. "If you could get a peace deal with the five families in New York, it would make business dealings there go a little easier."

I glanced at Vito again to see what he thought, but the man was just staring at Luca, his mouth hanging open. "Vito?"

"Yes, please, if they are interested, we would be, too." Vito grabbed my hand as he turned to look at me. "Most of our business is in Europe, Los Angeles, and Chicago, but we do have some dealings in New York City. At the very least, signing an agreement with them would make it easier to go back and visit if you wanted to."

I wasn't sure I did, but it would be nice to have the opportunity if I wanted it. I was pretty partial to Italy at the moment, at least the parts of it I'd seen. I'd like to see a bit more before making a decision, most importantly the place that was supposed to be my new home.

"I'll give them a call and get back to you," Vinnie said before hanging up.

"A peace agreement between all of us could stop a lot of the infighting," Luca stated. "I also think we need to meet up as the heads of the families more than once a year. Vinnie told me they regularly get together once a month back in New York. Would that be something you'd be interested in?"

"I would," I stated before glancing at Vito to make sure I was saying the correct thing. He smiled as he gave me a nod. "I don't really know how things are done in the mafia, but I think things would go a lot easier if we could all be friends."

Before Luca could say anything, I held up my hand. "I know, that's not the way the mafia thinks. I get that, but I'm not mafia. Or, at least, I wasn't forty-eight hours ago. It's going to take me some time to get that mafia mindset."

"I'm not really sure you should," Luca said. "While there are some things you can't get away from, I've found that most mafia thinking to be from the Dark Ages. Maybe it's time for a new mindset to be established."

While I agreed, I wasn't sure if it was possible.

On the other hand... "That was something else I wanted to talk to you about. I've already spoken briefly with Vinnie about it."

Luca clasped his hands together and rested them on his lap, giving me his full attention. "I'm listening."

"I'm gay."

"Yes, I know. You already said that."

"I'm gay as well," Vito said. "Although, no one knows except the three of us."

"Okay, so what's the problem?" Luca asked. "I won't share your secret."

"It's not going to be a secret much longer." Vito held up our clasped hands. "Tony and I aren't going to make some big announcement or anything, but we're not going to hide it either."

Luca's eyebrows shot up. He pointed a finger between me and Vito. "You two are...?"

"In a relationship," Vito stated firmly.

I beamed at the man. I knew how hard it was for him to step out of his comfort zone like that, and he was doing it for me.

I couldn't be happier.