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But maybe I was seeing the whole situation through a lens that was easier for me to accept.
"Funny thing about being such an outcast," Primo started, and for a moment, I wasn't sure if he meant me or himself since the title clearly worked for the both of us. "You see shit that the insiders miss. Your old man and your brothers put on a good show, but they don't consider you a part of their Family. Maybe in the personal family unit, sure. You wedged your way in there, despite the circumstances. But not in the Family business."
"And yet here I am. Caught up in their Family business."
"No one would ever accuse me of being a fair man, Alessa. I hit where it hurts, and I hit it hard."
"You just said I'm..."
"A loved member of a family unit. Don't know much about that myself, but your brothers, especially, will fight for you."
"But why?" I snapped, waving my good arm out. "Why shoot me? Why kidnap me? What the fuck is the purpose of all this? You shot Salvatore too. So now you involved the Costa Family too. Do you have a death wish?"
"Salvatore will live," Primo said, shrugging like it was no big deal. "And we both know Costa will be involved because you're fucking him."
"Are you stalling, or just like hearing yourself talk?" I asked, getting a smirk out of him. Could a man smirk "darkly"? Because if one could, this one did.
"Seen your brother Ricco lately?" he asked.
"Ricco has been out of town for a couple weeks."
"Yeah, you know why?"
"I figured a job. We don't give one another a blow-by-blow on all our jobs."
"Ricco has been hiding out."
"Hiding out why?"
"You haven't asked me about my brother, Alessa. Rude, don't you think?"
My blood ran cold at his words, at the look in his eyes.
I knew without knowing, without asking.
But I asked anyway.
"How's your brother, Primo?"
"Dead, Alessa. Presumably," he added, jaw getting tight. "Ricco is too good at what he does to leave a body to be discovered. But I'm not a stupid man. I know Ricco put a bullet at the back of his head."
I wanted to say it was impossible, that he was delusional. But I knew how these Families worked. I knew that if the other Families had a sit-down about one of Primo's brothers, and decided he needed to be taken out, they would do it. Without hesitation. And Ricco would have been high on the list of men who would carry out a hit like that.
"Which brother?" I asked, brows lowering. Much like my own family unit, Primo's was full of sons.
"Due," he said, dark gaze unnerving.
I, unfortunately, didn't know nearly as much about the Esposito Family as Primo clearly knew about mine.
But Due was the second oldest son.
I felt like there was always more derision about him than any of the others, but I couldn't remember why.
"You seem real heartbroken about it," Primo said, tone dry.
"You'll forgive me, but you know as well as I do that if any of the Families puts a hit out on a made man, they had damn good reason."
"Yeah? What reason?" Primo asked. "You'd think if someone was going to hit one of my brothers, I'd know why."
"Well, like you said, Primo, I'm an outsider. They clearly didn't share that information with me."
"Yeah," he said, sighing.
"Why didn't you kill me?" I asked, watching his gaze go up over my shoulder for a moment before it landed back at me.
"Honestly, baby, because killing you would be more of a fucking hassle than it's worth," he declared.
"But you tried."
"Yeah, well, that was before my men recognized the crotch fruit," he said, making anger sizzle through my belly. "Then did some digging and realized you were working as a Costa bodyguard. That just gets messier than I'd like."
"But you took me," I snapped.
"Yeah. Well, had to smoke your brother out somehow, didn't I?"
"He wouldn't come out of hiding to find me," I said, shaking my head.
"Eh, you underestimate them, it seems. Way I hear it, he was on a plane as soon as he got word."
Shit.
"What's the plan then? To trade me for him? So you can kill him instead? Eye for an eye?"
To that, his lips curled up. "Think we both know that Biblical shit doesn't fly these days. The Commission isn't going to let me put a bullet in your brother's head."
"Then what? What the hell do you want, Primo? This is a lot of aggravation, and a lot more bad blood."
"I want a meeting. And I want to iron some shit out."
"What could possibly make this okay now? With your brother dead, me shot twice, Salvatore shot, and a poor kid traumatized."
"Please. At that kid's age, I had to hand my father the knife he used to cut a rat's tongue out."
