29. Switch

29

SWITCH

" Y ou okay?" I ask Catalina an hour later.

Sweat is on her brow, and her usually tan skin looks gray and pale. She's lucky it was a through and through to the fleshy part of her waist. I'm confident no major organs were hit, but I'll keep an eye on her.

"Okay, enough. Don't let him…do anything he'll…regret."

I check the drip I got in on the second attempt and add some pain relief. "Sleep, Cat. I'll make sure he's okay. I promise."

I close the door to the medical room and sprint across the lot to the shed where Luca and Leo and what's left of their men were taken.

When I push the door open and step inside, there's a dead man lying on the floor in front of me.

King has a blood-covered Niro's head in his grip, forehead to forehead. Saying something in hushed tones that the rest of us can't hear.

Because Catalina being shot has sent him spinning off into another universe.

What I wanted to do was be a part of this. To ensure the men who had attempted to take my wife got what they deserved. But my training kicked in. It was as the doctor had said, that part of my memory was like a muscle that remembered exactly what it was supposed to do.

The moment I saw Sophia was alive and unharmed and Catalina was in pain, nothing else was more important than making sure I could treat Cat, who had refused a trip to the hospital. She had been reluctant to go, not because she was worried about the cost or trying to explain to them what happened but because she had wanted to stay by Niro's side.

And I understood that desire to put other people first. It made me think that my need to be a medic was something more than a decision. It was a calling, something I had always been unable to resist.

I only hoped my wife would see it the same way, considering that I chose to care for our friend before I sought out revenge.

But now that I've done that, there's a rising compulsion to teach these fucks a lesson.

Leo and Luca are both suspended by their hands, which are tied to a beam that runs through the center of the shed. Luca is unconscious. Blood pours from a wound on the side of his head. It drips silently onto the concrete floor and forms a puddle by his feet.

Leo glares out of the one eye that remained open. "You may think you have gotten away with this, but you're going to die for it."

I walk straight up to the motherfucker and punch him in the stomach.

Hard.

Hard enough to rearrange his internal organs.

I jump back just in time as he pukes.

"She's your fucking sister. She's told you she doesn't want to come back to you. And yet you try to pull some shit on us at the docks as a distraction. Why the fuck can't you let this go?"

Leo huffs. "Like you don't have club rules and club politics. She's promised to another family."

I get close to him. "Yeah. Well, she's my fucking family now. And we have a rock-solid case to get your father's guardianship over her removed."

"And what? You gonna take it over and control her to control us?"

I shake my head. "Don't need manipulation to keep you fuckers in line. The fact you're in my clubhouse—" I look up at the ropes eating into his wrists "—tied to my beams, your brother unconscious and not receiving any medical help, proves that."

"Proves shit," Leo says.

Vex comes into the shed holding a phone he offers to King. "Their famiglia is on their way."

King is still focused on Niro. "Go to her." Those three words snap Niro out of whatever mist descended over him.

"Fuck, Cat," he mutters, as if he just woke up and remembered something important. "Where did you take her?"

"She's in the medical room getting some sleep," I say.

"She good?" he asks me hoarsely as he walks by.

"She will be." I look down at his hands. "Wash those cuts with the disinfectant I left on the sink."

"You sure you want to do this?" King asks me as he comes to stand by my side.

"I am. Don't want Sophia's immediate family's death on my hands." I glance at the body on the floor. "The rest of them, do whatever you want."

Leo looks at me. "You think you can get away with?—"

I pull my arm back and punch him hard, knocking him unconscious.

King throws his arm over my shoulder as we move out of earshot of the Sicilians. "Welcome back."

I give him side eye, and he chuckles.

One of the injured Sicilians tries to stand, and Spark kicks him down and places a boot on his chest. "I'm getting tired of this shit," he grumbles.

"So much for some time off," Clutch says.

"You think Cillian is right?" I ask.

"In what way?" King replies.

"That we need a show of force. It feels like people are starting to creep around our edges. The Brotherhood got a bigger piece of us than they should have."

"You remember that?" King asks.

I shake my head. "Not yet. But I've learned enough." I rub my hand over the scar on my skull. "Should go check with Sophia. She felt something was off. That this was nothing to do with the marriage, but perhaps her father."

"She wanted to marry him," Luca says hoarsely as he lifts his head. "That's why we keep coming. We know what she actually wanted. And it wouldn't be you. It wouldn't be this."

"Like fuck you do. She told you she doesn't want to be married to a stranger."

"No?" Luca says and holds my gaze. "‘Cause she knows you so well?"

Deep down, I know exactly what he's saying, and it reverberates through me. I say nothing in return, but don't look away.

The motherfucker wants a stare down, I'll give him one.

Knowing they are defeated, the Sicilians settle while we wait for Vincenzo Viscuso to arrive. But we're disappointed about forty minutes later when it's Alessio Viscuso who arrives in a flashy-looking red sports car.

A second car pulls up alongside it, and two men in black suits get out first. Then Alessio pushes open his car door.

Tension crackles through the lot. While only three of us stand outside to greet them, I know Saint is positioned on the club roof. Clutch, Halo, and Vex remain with the tied-up hostages, and Bates remains locked in the medical room with Niro and Cat to stop Niro from coming for a piece of Alessio.

Two vans pull up opposite the curb. There appears to be only one driver in each, and while this could quite possibly be a Trojan horse, they'd be foolish to pull that shit when Clutch has two Viscuso brothers in his sight. We instructed any vans to remain parked down the road.

Also, per our request, he raises his hands as he walks toward King, Spark, and me.

"Are my brothers still alive?" he asks. While I have no sympathy for him or his family, I can place myself in his shoes if this were my brothers. It's the only reason I don't pull my weapon.

King nods. "They are." His words come out with little white puffs in the bitter night air. "Some of the others are not."

I want to tuck my hands into my pockets but keeping them free to grab my weapon should I need to is more important.

The look of relief on my brother-in-law's face as he absorbs the news is palpable.

" Grazzi a tia ," he says, then rolls his eyes at our blank faces. "Thanks to you. My father is old-school. And impulsive."

"If that's your pathetic way of apologizing for this fucking shit show…" Spark says.

Alessio glances at Spark but then turns back to King. "Can we talk? Man to man?"

"We've been clear with you," I say without waiting for King to respond. "Sophia is married to me. We're in the process of revoking the guardianship you have over her. You need to leave her alone."

Alessio rubs a hand over his face. "You are fortunate to not be so governed by the old ways. My father does not want to lose face. Sophia is promised to my father's best friend's son. One of the oldest families who can trace their entire genealogy to a single town in Sicily."

"So inbred then?" Spark asks and chuckles.

Alessio looks over to one of the vans on the street. "An illustration?" he says, then steps right into Spark's space. There is barely an inch between their chests. "You might think you have the upper hand here. Your lot. Your rules. Your space." A whirring sound starts. "But we no longer bring a gun to a pissing contest; we bring drones."

"Ballsy statement given you're the one truly standing in our lot," Spark says. He looks over Alessio's shoulder to the two men behind him.

"You'll still be dead before one of those fuckers takes me down," King says. "And we have cameras. If you think the men currently holding guns to your brothers' heads won't pull the trigger if they see anything happen to us, you're delusional."

Alessio smiles grimly. "The end of your life is not determined by where you are standing. If you think I wouldn't take at least one of you down with me before you attempted to kill me, you'd be mistaken. I'd prefer it wasn't my new frati. My sister can hold a mean grudge, and killing her husband would definitely set her off. But if it was either of you two"—he looks between King and Spark—"I think she'd be okay with it."

The crack of a bullet ricochets around the lot, and the drone drops to the floor. "Guess I'll take a sniper over a robot any day," King says.

The two men behind Alessio go for their weapons. Spark goes for his holstered gun, but King puts out his palm and stops him from moving forward.

Alessio takes a step back. "Besides, I have an offer. Marriage was supposed to create a partnership. It's our goal to manage the New York side of the docks. You wish to run the Jersey side. Perhaps we could work together."

I glance at Spark, who looks back my way, realizing at the same time as I do that he and I are married to women on opposite sides of this fight.

"I think what we need to do is discuss what the fuck happened tonight," King says. "There have been penalties delivered. You don't get to attack us while we're carrying out business on our side of the harbor, and then say, ‘my bad', and offer a deal."

"Then discuss," Alessio says calmly.

"You tried to steal from us," King says. "If it weren't for Switch, we'd all be fucking fish bait in the harbor. But maybe I'm feeling generous. A wedding gift, of sorts."

"It depends on who you killed."

"Is that what people are to you?" I ask, thinking about Sophia. "Disposable assets to be swapped, shared, or disposed of, as long as the goal is the same? To come out on top."

Alessio steps up to me. "Perhaps your brain injury has led to you forgetting what this life is really about, brother ."

"Fuck you."

King steps between us. "We'll bring your brothers, the men we hold, and the bodies and lay them out on the concrete. Once we have moved inside, you can come claim them."

"Was anyone of yours hurt?" Alessio asks.

"A woman," I reply. I can still feel the way Catalina gripped my wrist as she begged for pain relief I was trying to administer.

"My apologies. Perhaps we can consider this an even score. You keep Sophia. I take my brothers. And then we can work together."

"You're lucky we're letting you leave with your life," King says. "You'll owe us. I want payment. Repair of my property. And the agreement you will never come for our side of the docks."

"Fair," Alessio agrees.

"In that case, we'll bring your men around," King says.

Alessio looks to me. "I need a word with Switch. Man to man. Nothing to do with any of this. No weapons. You have my word he's not at risk."

I nod to King. "I'm good."

Alessio watches until Spark and King are a safe distance away. I'm on edge, because while my Spidey senses say Alessio is a man of his word, I wouldn't put it past him to pull a knife on me. But I'm reassured that Saint has me covered.

"What?" I ask.

"I want to see Sophia. I want to talk with her. Is she okay?"

I shake my head. "You ask me that after you just had a fucking goon squad try to take out the men protecting her and her friends so you could get to her? I'm sure she's fucking great and having a party right now, knowing we beat the shit out of her brothers."

Alessio looks up and takes in a deep breath before exhaling it into the night sky. "My father puts too much trust in my younger brothers' skills."

"Let's just add that to his list of mistakes."

Alessio tips his head in the direction of the clubhouse. "Is she in there?"

"No."

"I want to meet with her. She isn't returning my calls. Can we arrange it, you and me? You choose the location, and I will meet you, alone. I only have your word for it that she is here voluntarily, and we have zero grounds to trust each other. I need to know that she wants to stay with you in a place where she can walk away with me if she wants to."

I huff at this. "Given tonight's activities and the bomb you threw at our building, you've proved that you would happily hurt her to get what you want."

Alessio curses and runs a hand through his dark hair. I can see the resemblance between Alessio and Sophia. Similar nose. Similar jaw. "She was never meant to get hurt."

"And yet you did it anyway. Here's the thing: Sophia is in charge of her own fate. I'm not going to conspire with you to set up a meeting. I"—I nearly say the word love but catch myself at the last second—"respect my wife too much to do anything that could undermine her trust in me. So, no. I won't. But I will tell her you are concerned about her. And that you asked after her. And that you think her brothers are a fucking goon squad. If that means anything at all to her after today, I'm sure she'll call you."

Alessio shoves his hands in his pockets as Vex and Clutch drag Luca and Leo around the corner of the clubhouse.

" Porca miseria! " Alessio snaps. No idea what it means, but by the tone, he's pissed off. "Get them into the truck," he says to the two stooges standing by his shoulders. Then he reaches into his pocket.

Swiftly, I reach for my gun and aim it at Alessio.

"Steady, biker. Give Sophia this. I was unaware of what was going to happen tonight. And I think Sophia is the key to understanding why my father is so obsessed with getting her back."

It's a white envelope. When I take it from him, it feels as though there is a key inside. "What is it?"

"It's for the storage locker of her things. She might want to collect them."

As Alessio follows his brothers back to the van, I stand looking between him and the clubhouse, wondering where all this ends.