Page 21 of No Darker Temptation

“Hopefully.” I bite the tail end of the word, trying to keep the venom from slipping out. “Have a nice day, Sandro.”

He taps the brim of his hat and exits the ship without argument. Diego conducts a thorough sweep of the inventory while Antonio and Dimitrio survey the area. A few hours later, the four of us file into the Maybach and the rest of our security detail follows close behind.

“Which route did you take this time?” I ask.

“The one through France since there were issues passing by Algeria last time,” Antonio replies. “We ran into the French coastguard who nearly confiscated everything when lo and behold, Sandro happens to be there when our ship docks in Marseille. He gets us off the hook.”

“You think it was orchestrated?” Diego asks.

“Sandro doesn’t have that kind of pull with Le Milieu,” I say in regard to France’s organized crime system.

“No, but Regina does. You forget, she’s not really related to them. Her biological grandfather was Corsican, he used to run drugs from French Indochina into Europe with the Carbone family in the late sixties.” Antonio sighs heavily. “I don’t like the way he’s moving. We’ve never had a problem with the French before and he’s going to start one if he keeps pulling shit like this.”

“Why was he on the ship?”

“He insisted on traveling back with us.” Antonio’s voice is full of contempt. “Son of a bitch.”

“What do you think he’s playing at?” Diego muses aloud. “Has to be more than just territory.”

“I don’t know but I’m not looking forward to finding out. He’s capable of starting a war in the city just to get what he wants.”

Dimitrio looks up from his phone. “Do you want me to look into it?”

Teeth clenching, I glide my hand across the steering wheel as I make a left turn. After a moment, I nod. “But just between you and Beni for now. I need Oscar and Pedro on something else.”

He nods and immediately starts typing up a text message.

Every day I regret entertaining thoughts of legitimacy. All it’s done is destabilize my family and cause more problems than it was worth.

I pull up in front of El Aliciente and on my way inside, toss the keys to Joni so he can park the car. We make our way upstairs to the office and Dimitrio leaves to go find Beni. Diego closes the door behind us while Antonio beelines straight for my desk. He sits behind it and turns on my computer. “During inspection, Sandro allowed the French to confiscate ten containers.”

Diego frowns. “Why?”

“As a bribe, obviously. I can smell corruption from a mile away.” His eyes dart back and forth across the screen as he types something. “We lost almost all of the merchandise for Saturday’s shipment to New York.”

The loss stings. “The stuff for Vellucci?”

“All twenty-five million euros’ worth, yes.”

I approach the door and pour three glasses of rum. “All right…I’ll call him in a few hours. It’s still too early in New York.”

“Are we going to absorb the loss or still try to make the sale?” Diego approaches me and take the glass I extend to him as well as the third one on the bar. He walks it over to Antonio. “Salud.”

We clank glasses out of habit. Antonio’s glass is empty in a single swig. He cracks his neck and shifts uncomfortably in the leather seat, fingers gliding against the keyboard at a speed that makes his hands blur around the edges.

“I’ll absorb the loss…” I reply but my focus is on our cousin. “Anthony?”

“Hm?”

“Are you even listening?”

He hits one last key and collapses, hands gripping the armrests. “I bugged Sandro’s jacket.”

Diego and I both choke on our drinks. “You what?”

The two of us move around the desk as Antonio turns the speakers on. “How the hell did you manage that?”

Antonio doesn’t answer right away. “He said he was cold.”