Chapter Sixteen

~ Vittorio ~

"Congratulations."

I was surprised at how good it felt to be accepted for being gay. Granted, considering Luca was married to a man, I hadn't expected him to try and kill us or anything, but he seemed rather happy for us.

That was new.

It wasn't something I had ever experienced before.

I liked how it made me feel, like I wasn't a defect or something for liking men. I'd felt as if there was something wrong with me my entire life. Now, that thing I'd always been ashamed of was not being praised exactly, but it wasn't being ridiculed either.

"Vito and I discussed it and we decided to just let nature take its course. Like he said, we're not going to make a big announcement that we're both gay and in a relationship, but we're not going to hide it from anyone either. They will either accept us or they won't, but that's on them."

"You know I don't have a problem with it, right?" Luca asked.

"No, I didn't think you would. We just wanted you to be aware of it."

"Well, I think signing this peace agreement is even more important now. All of these men are gay and most of them are married as well. Speaking for myself, I'd actually prefer to be involved with someone that understands the life I live and accepts Nico as my spouse."

"He falls under the family veil," I stated firmly. "Of course I accept him."

"Vinnie explained to me what that was and I fully support Vito's words. We will respect it when it comes to Nico and the other spouses. I don't care if it's a man or woman."

"I appreciate that," Luca replied. "While I don't think anyone is going to take Nico out, that doesn't mean they haven't been rude to him."

I narrowed my eyes, anger infusing me. "One of our people?"

Luca shook his head. "Members of the Romano family."

Tony snorted rather rudely. "Sounds to me like the Romano family needs to be taken down a peg or two."

"Unfortunately, we have no way of doing that," Luca said. "If we mess with them, they are going to mess with us and I won't put Nico's life in danger like that."

"Can we just stop inviting them to parties?" Tony asked.

"It's not that simple, Tony," I explained. "If we stop inviting them, they would get insulted and an insulted mafia boss is never a good thing."

"Okay, so, if Luca, Vinnie and the others agree, everyone that is signing up for this peace agreement is gay, right?"

I nodded, wondering where he was going with this.

"So, make it gays only party. If the Romanos want to participate, they have to send someone who is gay. From what I've heard so far, none of the Romano family would dare to show up. Wouldn't that makes things easier? "

I stared at Tony for a moment before a burst of laughter shot out of my mouth. "That's a brilliant idea."

It would drive the Romanos insane, but there wouldn't be anything they could do about it. The Romano family was even more homophobic than my uncle. They'd never send someone.

My uncle was going to have a shit fit.

"One of my guys is questioning those thugs right now," Luca said. "If there's any information to be had, he'll get it for us. He has unique ways of extracting information."

Okay, that gave me a little shiver.

My heart skipped a beat when Luca's phone rang. I didn't know where this premonition of doom was coming from. Maybe Tony was rubbing off on me.

"Hello?" Luca said after answering the phone. "Okay, hold on and I'll put you on speaker." He hit a button on his phone and then laid it down in the middle of the coffee table. "Go ahead, Vinnie."

"My friends were able to track some of the money based on the information I got from Franco about the thugs that took you two. They traced the wire transfer back to a bank in Genoa."

I was afraid of that.

"What was the account holder's name?" I asked. Maybe I knew who it was.

"That's the crazy part. There isn't one. It's under a shell corporation called Angel Unlimited. My guys are trying to track down the owner of that group right now, but it might take awhile. They said it's buried pretty deep."

"So, what's our next step?" I wondered out loud.

Before anyone could answer, the door crashed open and Franco came rushing in. "We're under attack."

Luca leapt to his feet. "Where's Nico?"

"I already had Stefano move Nico and your grandmother to the safe room," Franco replied.

Luca stalked over to the bookshelf behind his desk and hit something I didn't see. The bookshelf slid out of the way revealing a rack filled with guns. He grabbed one and started checking the magazine.

Tony jumped up and hurried over to him. "Got another one of those?"

Luca stepped out of the way. "Take your pick."

Tony grabbed three pistols and several extra magazines. He brought me one of the pistols and a couple of the magazines before sticking the others in his pocket.

"What's the situation, Franco?" Luca asked.

"Four SUVs pulled up in front of the gate two minutes ago. The people inside got out and immediately took our guards hostage. I had our guys hold them off, but they are demanding entrance. They haven't moved from in front of the estate so I suspect they are stalling until they can fully surround us."

"Do you know who they are?" I asked.

Franco shook his head. "I don't recognize any of them."

That wasn't good.

"Put more guards on Nico and my grandmother, and do you know where my grandfather is?" Luca asked.

"He drove into Messina on business," Franco replied. "He's not expected back until tomorrow."

"Call him and warn him. I don't want him unguarded."

"Luca, do you want me to have my grandfather send some of his men?" Vinnie asked through the cell phone.

"I doubt they would get here in time for the fight, but some backup wouldn't hurt just in case."

"I'll call him right now."

Once Vinnie hung up, there was dead silence in the room for a moment as everyone prepared for a fight that might or might not come.

Luca tossed me and Tony a couple of flak vests and then put one on himself. I'd worn one once or twice before. I hated them then and I hated them now, but they were useful, especially when headed into a tense situation that could quickly turn into a fire fight.

Before we headed out the door, I grabbed Tony around the neck and reeled him in, pressing a hard kiss to his lips. "Don't get dead. I have plans for you later."

Tony gave me one of his patented smirks. "I hope it's riding lessons."

Oh, he'd definitely be riding something.

"It will be."

"Then I won't get dead."

It was always nice to have something to look forward to.

"Sir, the surveillance from the front gate." Franco held a tablet out to Luca. "Another two SUVs full of guards have joined the first four."

Luca grabbed the tablet and stared down at the screen on the screen. "Has anyone tried to breach the walls?"

"Not yet, sir," Franco replied. "It's almost as if they are waiting for something."

"Or someone," Tony said.

We all stared at him.

Tony's eyes rolled. "Come on, you've been at this whole mafia thing longer than I have. Think. If four SUVs full of guards suddenly attack, but don't kill anyone, and they are not trying to break in, then they are obviously waiting for something to happen or someone to arrive."

Tony waved his hand toward the open doorway. "Has anyone gone out there and tried to talk to them? Ask them what they want?"

Again, everyone just stared at Tony.

Did he not get how things were done in the mafia? There were armed men out there, armed men that were aggressive and hostile. We couldn't exactly ask them in for tea.

"Tony—"

Tony's eyes rolled. "You guys are ridiculous," he said before spinning on his heels and storming out of the room.

"Does he not get how dangerous it would be to do something like that?" Luca asked.

"I don't think he cares," I replied as I started after Tony.

I had to run to catch up to him, but once I did I began walking casually beside him. "So, you know this is a really stupid idea, right?"

"Yeah, but I don't have a better one at the moment."

"You could maybe not confront the angry men with guns." I chuckled when Tony shot me a glare. "Just a suggestion."

"I'd take that suggestion, but they are starting to piss me off. I'm getting damn tired of people trying to kill me. If they want me so bad, why not make it easier for them?"

My heart leapt into my throat. "Tony, please, don't—"

Tony stopped so suddenly, I almost passed him up. "Do you trust me?"

"Yes, of course," I said without hesitation.

"Then trust me when I say I am not walking to my doom."

I didn't see how he couldn't be, but I did trust him and I'd seen him to amazing things. I was terrified that in this case he was wrong, but if I didn't trust him now, I was pretty sure I was going to lose him.

Might anyway.

"What do you need me to do?" I asked.

"Give me five minutes and then come down to the gate."

I swallowed tightly. I had no idea what his plan was, but he seemed confident in himself. I had to be, too. "Five minutes. Not a second more."

I had to be as crazy as he was.

Tony beamed at me, leaned in to press a kiss to my lips, and then hurried out the front door. I closed my eyes for a moment and prayed with everything in me that his planned worked and he came back to me unscathed.

"Where'd Tony go?" Luca asked as he reached me.

I opened my eyes and let out a big sigh. "You don't want to know."

I glanced at my watch to note the time and then walked out to stand on the front steps. I easily spotted Tony running through the yard, but he was headed to the corner of the property, not the main gate.

"What is he doing?" Luca asked just about the time Tony leapt over a bush, jumped toward the fence, and then climbed up the tall fence like he was Spiderman.

I'd never seen anything like it.

"I have no idea," I replied. "He said to come down to the main gate in five minutes."

I just hoped he was still breathing when I got there.

When Tony disappeared over the top of the stone fence I thought my heart was going to leap right out of my chest. It took every bit of control I had to stay standing where I was and not go running after him.

The waiting was agony.

When a lot of shouting erupted from the other side of the fence, Luca jerked and then started for the stairs. I quickly grabbed his arm. "Five minutes is not up."

Luca looked at me as if I was crazy, and maybe I was, but Tony said five minutes and I was going to give him those five minutes.

I glanced at my watch. Two minutes to go.

"You're not even going to go check?"

"I trust Tony," I stated no matter how much I wanted to go check.

"There are several carloads of armed men over there. What can he do? He's a single man. He's going to get himself killed."

I really wished Luca would shut up. I already had a million bad images running rampant through my brain. I didn't need him to be adding to them.

When a gunshot rang out, I forgot about my promise to Tony, only concerned with getting to him as quickly as I could. I raced down the steps and then ran as fast as I could toward the gate.

Five minutes be damned.

When I reached the gate, Luca was right there with me. He pulled out his gun and then gestured to the guard. "Open the gate!" he shouted.

"My five minutes aren't up," someone shouted from the other side of the gate. It sounded a lot like Tony.

Fuck the five minutes.

"Open the gate!" I shouted as loudly as Luca had.

The gate opened so slowly I wanted to scream. When I finally saw the scene on the other side, I felt paralyzed, unable to move a single muscle.

It just wasn't possible.

Tony stood there in the middle of a pile of bodies, his hair messed and blowing gently in the breeze. There was a slight sheen of sweat on his body and a few rips in his clothes.

Other than that, there didn't seem to be a scratch on him.

"You guys are ruining all my fun," Tony complained. He was frowning as if truly put out by us interrupting him.

"Tony!"

I darted toward him, catching him as his legs gave out.

"I need some water," Tony stated, his skin flushed a rosy tone as if he had run a great distance. "That took a lot of energy."

I slowly looked around, unable to believe what I was seeing. Not a single man was moving except for Tony. They all seemed to be out cold.

"Did you kill them?"

"Naw, I just put them to sleep," Tony replied in a casual tone as if this was just an everyday thing. "Since we don't know who these guys are, I didn't want to ruffle any feathers."

"How?" Luca looked around with a stunned expression. "How did you do all of this? You're one man against..." Luca frowned. "At least twenty armed guards. How did you knock them all out?"

Tony wagged his eyebrows. "I'm special like that."

I couldn't deny that fact anymore.

"Could you maybe keep this type of thing to a minimum?" I pleaded. "You almost made my heart stop beating."

Tony patted my cheek, smiling up at me. "For you, I'll consider it."

Pretty sure that was as good as it was going to get for me.

I swung Tony up in my arms and started for the villa. "Let's get you some water."

I also needed to do a full body inspection and make sure he didn't have any wounds I couldn't see. I wasn't about to lose him now that I had found him.