“Oh. Yeah, no, I’m fine,” she calls from the doorway. “I got distracted for a second.”
She gives a weak laugh.
“There’s something else, too,” I tell her, blotting up the spill. “Armani and Clayton are heading to Vegas on Friday. Armani said he has meetings all weekend. I weaseled my way in.”
“Ah. Vegas. I forgot that was this weekend…” she says as she leads me to the living room and perches on the edge of her white sofa.
“Wait. You already knew about Vegas?”
“Sit down, Candi.” She pats the cushion next to her and takes a breath. “Let me ask you something. Are you already committed to accompanying Armani on this trip?”
I think of how he tried to brush me off and made it apparent that he didn’t want me to come along. I’d forcefully elbowed my way in, and he hadn’t had the chance to tell me no.
“Yes. Why?”
She frowns.
“It’s just…I know I’ve been badgering you to get something useful on the Bellantis. And the warehouse intel was a good start, even if it didn’t quite pan out like we’d hoped. But—”
“I still don’t understand why the cops didn’t arrest them, or at least seize the illegal goods,” I interrupt. “I know I mentioned it before, but like, I never heard anything on the news, or social media, or—”
“Candi, Jesus, we’ve been over this,” Juliana huffs. “Of course you didn’t hear anything, because the media never got wind of it. The Bellantis paid off the cops and they covered the whole thing up. That’s how the mafia works. Bribery and threats. They’ve probably got the entire Napa PD in their pockets.”
“I guess that makes sense,” I admit.
“Anyway. Like I was saying, you might want to sit Vegas out. It might not be safe.”
My pulse kicks. “What do you mean, not safe?”
“Uncle Sergio mentioned something about a setup.” Her voice is quiet, anxious. “An ambush. I don’t know if it’s actually happening, or if they’ll even be able to pull it off anyway, but I don’t want you anywhere near that kind of thing.”
Armani.I can’t let him walk into a trap. He could be injured, or captured. Or…worse.
He just had a baby niece. I think of how tenderly he smiled at Lili, how excited he is to be an uncle. A man who is bad down to the very dredges of his soul would not be able to look at a baby the way Armani did. But I can’t tell Juliana that.
I also can’t admit that I don’t want any harm to come to him. In fact…I don’t want any harm to come to any of the Bellantis. Which goes against everything I’ve been working for.
Juliana is watching me. I smile as if nothing is going on in my head.
“It’ll be okay. I’ll be careful. I just worry that if I suddenly try to back out, he’ll be suspicious. It’s probably best if I stick to the original plan.”
A crease forms between her perfect brows. “I don’t like it. But that’s a good point. We don’t want to tip him off that anything’s amiss. You’ll just have to keep me posted about anything you overhear. Maybe you can even tail him when he goes to his meeting.”
“Okay.” I nod. “I’ll do my best.”
Her phone rings, and she glances at it, her lips pressing into a hard line.
“It’s my uncle. I’ll be right back.”
She leaves me on the couch, and my thoughts instantly spiral. I don’t want to do this.
Trying to calm down, I remind myself that I have the upper hand. I’m in both Armani’s good graces and Juliana’s. Plus, sometimes these mob men are all talk. Like Jules said, this whole ambush plot could get aborted.
But it might not.
One thing is certain, though. I can’t leave Armani to walk into this trap all alone.
22
