“You get the video?” I ask, this time looking at Bobby, who nods.
“As you expected, Dante figured out a way to cut the feed into a loop when he went up there. But with the second and third cameras you had us installed earlier this morning, on top of what we had already added in last week, we got both audio and video of everything from more than one angle.”
I nod. It hurts, but I do it again.
“Why are we saying Payton did this?” I look at Danny, and the big man winces. Actually winces.
“Because she shot him.”
“What the fuck?” I jack upright and then grab my side as I groan in pain from what I bet are broken ribs.
“She grabbed the gun that Dante must have had. She stood in my line of sight, so I couldn’t pull the trigger till I adjusted positions. By the time I was ready, she’d already taken a shot. It was wide, but the second and third shots hit him. Nothing fatal, so I finished it when she fired off her last ones. Mine counted. I don’t know where the rest went, but my team is sweeping the club. We’ll get all of her shell casings and clean it up.”
“If she’s reported as taking the shot, it reads as a woman defending her man. If it’s one of us, more people will start asking questions. Right now, we can spin this as Dante wanting your woman and going crazy when he couldn’t have her,” Bobby clarifies.
“Jesus.” I hate that she’ll be seen as a killer, but they’re right. A love triangle causes less chaos than the truth—that we’ve had a traitor in our house for longer than one should ever have been there.
She pulled the trigger. She held a gun and fucking pulled the trigger. Something she was terrified of doing. For me. She did it for me.
Sure, maybe herself too. He killed her parents, after all. But did she know? Did she hear any of that?
“Why was she there?” She was meant to go to my place. That was the plan. I wanted to keep her out of the club.
Bobby sighs and shakes his head. “That’s on me. My team knew I wanted her out, so they didn’t see any issue with her just walking away once she got her stuff from your place. She was deemed released, and to them, that meant she was done and out. Out of surveillance, out of protection, just out.No one followed her, and no one expected that she would turn up at the club of all places to get her stuff.”
“Seems she was taking everything that was hers. By the time we saw her come in, you and Dante were already talking. We couldn’t go in unless we blew the only lead we had. We chanced it.” Danny shrugs it off.
Just shrugs off that he might have signed her death warrant. Not caring for a second that she might have been seriously hurt or killed.
I glare at him but look away. I need to control my anger. It’s not directed at him, not really. Dante is to blame. Carl is to blame. Me too. I’m to blame.
I fell for a woman I knew very little about. I let my head get wrapped around her so much that I didn’t do my due diligence on her. I assumed she was good because I relied on another to check her out. A person whom I trusted but never should have.
“Can’t believe Dante was a Maranzetti,” Bobby says as he takes a seat in one of the chairs. It’s a cushy room with more amenities than most hospital rooms. I know we’re at thefamiglia’sprivate clinic and, from the looks of it, in a room reserved for Vinny. The others are more generic, but this one has polished wood and plush seating. Even the bedding has a higher thread count than sterile hospital issue.
When the door opens, all three of us watch Vinny come in alone. Doc must have already come and gone while I was still under.
“How is she?” I ask as soon as he closes the door behind him.
“Bruised but okay. Better than you. Doc says you got a few broken ribs.”
“I’ll live,” I huff.
Vinny stares me down, and I let the seriousness of this come into play rather than pushing it off like I usually do.
“That’s twice you’ve almost died,” he yells, and the room goes quiet. I swear the entire building goes silent.
I hold his stare for only a moment. Seeing the anguish on his face, the fear of losing me, hurts my chest. I know my family cares about me. I feel the same about them. But seeing it? Like this? Where Vinny lets his mask fall and a genuine emotion rises without any pretense to keep the masses happy?
It guts me.
“I handle it,” I mumble into the wall I’m staring at before looking back at him.
“Yes.” Vinny glances at Danny, who looks away. “Still, it was too close. You’re getting a full detail.”
I decide to speak up before he can blame this on Danny. It wasn’t his fault. The plan was solid. We didn’t expect Payton to be there, and we didn’t expect Dante to do… well, half the shit I eventually figured out. It was a good plan, and if it wentas planned, then I wouldn’t be here right now. But that’s the part about plans. They never goasplanned. I also really don’t want more bodyguards. It feels like a lack of freedom, even if it keeps me safe.
“Vinny—”
