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It was up to the Costas how we dealt with our business. Belemonte should have known that.
“Fair enough. I had one of my men follow the young lady. She took a cab straight to a hotel—the Hilton Hotel.”
Fuck.
And then it hit me. That’s why Raven had looked familiar. I couldn’t put a name to her, because maybe I’d never met her before in my life, but her features were one hundred percent Luciano. High cheekbones, pale blue eyes.Aslightly stubborn chin. A small, slightly upturned nose. Raven was a Luciano, just like Maria Luca had been before marrying Vincent Luca.
Were the Lucianos trying to pit one family against another? And if so, what was Raven’s role in it?
“Thank you, Belemonte. I appreciate the information. I won’t forget it.”
I hung up the phone, trying to ignore the grimy feeling of being indebted to the man. A snake might have its uses, but it was still a snake.
“Problem?” Gabe asked, eyeing my white-knuckled grip on the wheel.
“The Lucianos are up to something,” I said, pushing down on the accelerator and veering across traffic, which elicited angry beeps from the cars behind me—not that I cared.
A plan had already begun to take shape in my mind.
“How do you know?”
“Because a woman showed up at the club last night. A Luciano woman—who was also looking for information from Belemonte. She mentioned the Costas.”
She’d looked so innocent. She’d seemed so honest. How had I missed what had really been going on?
“Does this mean they’re working with the Lucas?” he asked, though I could hear the real question he was too good of a brother to ask:Did the Lucas and Lucianos murder Aunt Isabella and Abruzzo?
The Lucianos? Maybe. There could have been a parting of ways between the families. A long shot, perhaps, but it was more plausible in my head than laying the blame on the Lucas. It just didn’t sit right.
“Okay. Then what do we do now?” Gabe asked.
“I need you to look into who’s been trying to scoop up our territory, Gabe. If we could find this Berlusconi guy, then maybe we could figure out who he was working for.”
The Lucianos? Or was the sly kitten up to something else?
Gabe nodded. “What is it you’re going to do?”
“I’m going to look into our Luciano problem.”
I still needed to figure out Raven’s game.
Was it her job to get me distracted? To collect intel?
Either way, I was onto her. I held all the cards. I could use her to steer the Lucianos in the wrong direction. Everything was fair game now that they’d made the first move.
And the idea of playing with Raven while I used her as a pawn? Well, it might just turn out to be the best game I’d ever play.
Chapter Fifteen
Nico
I dropped Gabe off at Onyx and drove the few short miles to the Hilton. I had no doubt she’d still be at the hotel. It didn’t do the Luciano family any good for their little seductress to disappear. But what to do with her? Wining and dining her at some fancy-ass restaurant left her with too much comfort, too many ways the Lucianos could be keeping an eye on her. There was only one place I could think of that would knock her right out of her comfort zone.
I typed in the phone number for the caterer my family had used often in the past and grit my teeth through the ringing, trying to focus on how the benefits of my plan outweighed the drawbacks.
My home was a private retreat from the horrors of the rest of the world. I’d never allowed another living soul to set foot in it. But now, if I wanted to throw Raven off her game, I’d have to let the enemy walk right in. It was a calculated move, I reasoned. No one was forcing me to do it.
I wanted Raven out of her element and one hundred percent at my mercy.
