AllFreeNovel
Share Us
We began walking to the car. Giulio got in the back, as did Benito. The message was clear, but I didn’t mind. I would happily ride in the front. Giulio and I weren’t a couple at the moment. So if Benito wanted to play this game for now, I’d let him.
The streets were quiet and dark as we set off. Giulio lit a cigarette and cracked a window. “Tell me, Bennie.”
“It’s Golubev. Somehow the word got out. He raided two of the storage units today. I’m waiting for word about the others.”
“Motherfucker!” Giulio slapped the headrest of the seat in front of him. “How did he find out?”
“We don’t know yet. My guess is he has someone watching us closely.”
“Or someone on our team has betrayed us,” Giulio said.
“Could be. There are some new men who didn’t come with us from Siderno.”
“Cristo.” Giulio sighed. “I leave for one fucking day . . . .”
“How do you want to handle it?”
“Go find Golubev, obviously. I’m going to kill that Russian asshole.”
In the front seat, I bit my lip and tried to stem my smile. Killing Golubev was the right move, and I was glad to see Giulio making strong decisions to assert himself here. It was like watching him step into his father’s shoes.
“Do we know where he is?” Giulio asked.
“Probably celebrating,” I muttered.
“What was that, assassino?”
I looked over my shoulder at Giulio. “Golubev is probably out celebrating. Does he own any strip clubs?”
Benito said, “That’s too public.”
“That’s why he wouldn’t go to a nightclub,” I said. “But a strip club, likely in a back room.”
Giulio and Benito exchanged a look. “Alessio is very good at tracking people, Bennie. He’s probably right.”
Benito pulled out his phone. “Let me call one of our contacts. He might know which clubs Golubev owns.”
In a few minutes Benito had the name of Golubev’s biggest strip club and the one he visited the most often. We stopped to pick up more men and a fuck lot of guns. Giulio watched as I selected a few pistols and an automatic rifle. “How is your aim?” he asked quietly as we stood off to the side, away from everyone else.
“Better than yours, principe.”
He laughed and bumped our shoulders together. “Oh, fuck off.” Then he turned serious. “You know, you don’t have to come. I don’t want you to risk your life for this.”
I put my hand on his shoulder. “I have risked my life for far less worthy causes. And I told you, I’m not letting you out of my sight until you finish what you started in the farmhouse.”
“You just want to get laid.”
We both knew it was far more than that. But this was too fragile, too private to discuss here. “You gave me blue balls,” I said with a smirk. “You owe me.”
“Then I’ll just say thank you. This means a lot.”
I swallowed the emotions bubbling up in my chest and nodded once.
We piled into two cars and set off into the streets. I slowed my breathing and heart rate, focused entirely on what needed to be done. I wasn’t worried. I wasn’t kidding when I said I wouldn’t allow anything to happen to Giulio.
Once parked we all got out. I followed Giulio and Benito into an alley. There was a camera positioned on a steel door near some dumpsters. I held onto Giulio’s arm, then pointed at the camera. He motioned for everyone to stop. Taking out a switchblade, I climbed onto a dumpster, reached over and cut the camera wire.
I hopped down and said, “Now someone will come out to investigate. That’s when we go in.”
