The four of us supplied the best cover we could, and at first, all the gunfire was pointed at us until more of our men made it into the roundabout. No doubt all of this was going to be covered on the news at some point, given the ruckus we were causing.
“Santino—your left.”
Santino ducked down behind the car and moved.
When the guy came around, I had my pistol ready and shot him in the head.
It was violent chaos, and of course, Icarus was nowhere to be found. He was either already inside, or this was somehow another trap of his.
“I’m gonna head in,” I said. “Cover me.”
“On it,” Cameron said.
I made it up the rest of the stairs and kicked the door open to get inside. It wasn’t locked, so it was easy to get in. Men were already placed there to fire, and I took a couple bullets to my vest before I shot the one closest to me and grabbed him to use as a shield before I took down everyone else. I held his weight with a single arm and felt blood splash all over me as he took all the bullets meant for me. Once all the guys in the foyer were down, I called for my enemy. “Come on, Icarus. Let’s play.” I headed upthe stairs to the next landing, knowing Don Russo’s family was on the top floor.
I cleared most of the guys on the second floor before I headed to the top floor. I barred the way with a dresser that I shoved into the staircase. It slipped a couple steps before it crashed and wedged in place.
There were two double doors that led to the third floor, and they were different from all the other ones because they were made of steel rather than wood, and they required a security code to pass. Unfortunately, someone had already bypassed it, judging by the technical equipment left by the disarmed keypad.
With my gun raised, I moved inside. “Icarus.”
Silence.
I swept through the hallways and checked the rooms, seeing no sign of Icarus or his men anywhere. It was a whole other floor with a private kitchen, a living room, a gym—basically an entire mansion at the top, so it took me a while to go through everything.
“Show your fucking face!” I yelled and heard my own voice echo back at me.
I knew where the panic room was, so with dread, I went to the primary bedroom, into the walk-in closet that held Rosaria’s clothes and shoes, and to the hidden door against the wall.
But it was already open, and no one was inside.
They’d either left willingly…or he’d gotten inside.
But how the fuck would he do that?
25
FRANCESCA
We entered the basement of the restaurant and crawled through the tight space until we were able to stand upright in the sewer system. Of course, it smelled like shit, and even breathing through my mouth didn’t prevent the humid sensation forming on my tongue.
Don Russo was in the lead with some of his men, and I stayed with Leo and Andre and Elio, who all stuck to me closely, Cosa Nostra and us combining in a way my father never would have imagined.
Don Russo knew where we were going, taking a turn and then opening a door that was locked with a combination padlock. He tugged the door open and then entered, moving up the vertical stairs, into another passage, and then reaching stone steps that led upward into the dark. A metal handlebar was welded into the ceiling, and Don Russo grabbed on to it and then began to slowly drag it backward, creating an opening that pointed right to the sky. Another guy helped him, sliding the door farther until the gap was big enough for people to climb through.
I’d never expected there would be a secret passageway when I’d had dinner in the restaurant a couple weeks ago.
“You can change your mind,” Leo said as he stood beside me and watched the men ahead climb up into the garden.
I turned to look at him.
“I go where you go.”
I stared at him in the low lighting, the sunlight a little too distant from us to blanket our features. I wasn’t sure if I saw fear or remorse in that stare. “He made me watch Wolfe be sealed in that coffin and lowered into the ground while a priest gave his last rites.”
Leo didn’t have a distinct reaction to that, but his pupils dilated as if that information was disturbing.
“It was worse than watching Dad get shot in the head. At least with that…it was over and done with. No suffering. I watched his life leave his eyes within a second or two. But knowing Wolfe was in the pitch-black and listening to the dirt fall on the lid… I can’t bear it. I know he would say he wasn’t scared and that’s the kind of adrenaline he used to chase, but I’m not sure I would believe him.”
