“I don’t know. He broke it and they know who he really is, so they sent me to take out one of his family members as punishment.” Alessandro shrugged. “I’m just doing my job, you know what it’s like, Murphy. Did you really have to go for the balls?” He touched himself to make a point and winced again.
“Yes, I did.” Ardan patted Alessandro down until he found what he was looking for—a phone. He passed it to the other man. “You’re going to call your contact for the Giordano family and tell them it’s done.”
“Why?” Alessandro took the phone off him, though, and was already scrolling down his contact list.
“Because that’ll give me time to figure out what’s happening. If you say anything about me, I’ll put a bullet in your head.” He tapped the muzzle against Alessandro’s temple and raised his eyebrows in warning.
Alessandro squinted at him and tapped on the phone screen. He pressed it to his ear and after a few dials, someone with a deep voice answered.
“Is it done?” the man on the other end of the line asked roughly.
Alessandro stared at Ardan, and Ardan sent him a look of warning. “Si. The sister’s dead.”
“Good. We’ll transfer the funds to your account by this afternoon.” The line went dead and Alessandro ended the call.
“Now what,amico? If they find out I was lying, they’ll have my head. There’s a reason they don’t ask for proof of life. They have a reputation for hurting liars.”
“That’s not my problem.” Ardan stepped back and emptied the Glock of its magazine, before passing it back to Alessandro. “But that family is under my protection. If you hurt one hair on them, I’ll more than hurt you. I will make you dream about death. If you know who I am, you know what me, and my company, can do to you. Who would you prefer gunning for you? The Giordanos, or the Killough Company?”
Alessandro placed the gun back in the holster at his hip and snorted. “Tough choice.”
“No, it’s not.” Ardan patted him on the shoulder. “Do us a solid, and I’ll owe you. Walk away, Alessandro Fontana, before you regret it.”
Alessandro tugged at his suit jacket and nodded. “Nice to finally meet the great Ardan Murphy,” he said before he strode out of the alley. Ardan followed him and watched as he headed in the opposite direction of the park. When he walked down the sidewalk, Ardan noticed the Sannas cars were gone, so he didn’t waste time. He stalked back to the hotel Gabriel was at and pounded on the door to his hotel room.
The door ripped open and Gabriel glared at him. He’d rid himself of that horrible black hoodie top, which left him in a plain white T-shirt and jeans. He looked good in them. “Didn’t I tell you I wasn’t interested?”
Ardan shoved past Gabriel and spun on his heel when the door shut behind him. “The Giordanos sent a hitman to kill one of your family members.”
“What?” Gabriel surged forward, seizing Ardan’s shoulders in a tight hold. “What the fuck are you talking about?”
“I was across from the park when I saw him. I cornered him and asked questions. He was sent by the Giordano family. It was a hit on one of your family members for you failing to keep your end of some contract between you.”
Gabriel stumbled backward and turned, hands gripping at his hair. “Fuck.”
“I told the hitman to call the Giordano contact and let him know it’s done, but that doesn’t give us much time. Care to explain what the hell is happening?”
Gabriel slammed his hands on the desk, making the lamp on it tremble under the force. He growled and straightened, turning to Ardan. “Thank you.”
“Thank me by telling me what we’re up against, Gabe.” Ardan strode forward and clasped Gabriel’s face between his hands. “What did you do for them?”
Gabriel let out a long exhale and closed his eyes briefly. When he opened them again, anger filled the dark depths. “You assume that it was the Russians that took Leo out. It wasn’t. It was the Giordanos.”
“What? Why would they take him out? They control Chicago, the Follieros have New York City. They’re part of the five families, why would they want to take Leo out?” Ardan frowned.
“Because they’re selfishmaiali. Pigs. They want more than Chicago, they’re vying for New York. They think the Follieros are weak, not strong enough to control the East Coast and they want to take over.” He leaned back against the desk and slammed his fist on it again. “I knew they were planning something, so when I decided to take out Leo, I approached them and we made a deal. I’d give them Leo’s location, help them take him, and only him, down. They considered it them doing a favor for me. In return, I wasn’t allowed to return to New York City and have any contact with the Folliero family or their allies.”
“Which includes Sloan.” The truth dawned on Ardan and he suddenly felt like a fool. Gabriel would have been an idiot not to accept the deal with the Killough Company, of course there was another reason behind it. “By working with Sloan, you’d be risking the Giordanos’s wrath and your family’s life.”
“I can’t protect them all the time. It was safer to stay away from that part of the business.” Gabriel’s eyes narrowed on a spot over Ardan’s head. “I haven’t had any contact with the Follieros or their allies. Unless….” He turned his attention on Ardan.
“Someone saw you with me and assumed we were working together. It’s the only explanation. We weren’t trying to kill each other at the Courtesan.” Ardan stroked his chin in thought, the hairs of his trimmed beard tickling his fingers. “Someone had to have seen us and thought we were working together.”
“Fuck. It won’t take long before it gets back to the Giordanos that the hitman didn’t kill one of them.”
“We could make it seem like he did.” Ardan grinned and nodded at the cell phone sitting on the desk near Gabriel. “You could call them, ask them if it was them who sent the hit. Accuse them of breaking the deal.”
“Then they’ll assume I’ll go catastrophic and put a hit on the rest of my family. It’s not worth the risk.” Gabriel ran his palms over his face. “This is a mess.”
