AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“We have the men that attacked you,” Dominic says looking strained, sitting beside me.
“They’re still alive?”
“One of them is in better condition than the other. He said to Rafael he has information you might like to hear.”
“I doubt it.” I say brushing him off, but his expression is stony.
“I think you should hear it,” Franco says walking into the room and clearing his throat.
“Where were you?” I say frowning, the last time I spoke to Franco he was at the office.
“Dominic wanted me to check out what this assassin was saying to Rafael, while he stayed here with you, it’s about Sophia.”
“What about her?”
“I don’t know where to even start.” Franco says quietly.
“Tell me,” I say sharply.
“This life of ours, this is a wonderful life. If you can get through life like this and get away with it, hey, that’s great. But it’s very, very unpredictable. There’s so many ways you can screw it up.”
—Paul Castellano
IWATCH FRANCO CLOSELY AS HE CLEARS HIS THROAT, HIS EXPRESSION IS UNREADABLE.
I have seen him shoot men at point-blank range without breaking a sweat. What exactly is so bad he can barely speak?
“Spit it out,” I say impatiently.
“The man who tried to assassinate you is called Ivan Romanov, the brother-in-law of Artem Romanov. Most of what he is saying was bullshit but when we pressed him harder, he said that the reason why Paolo Falcone went to war with the Bratva is, because…” He trails off and I look at him to carry on, but he pauses.
“Get on with it, Franco. What the fuck is wrong with you?” I ask, a sickly feeling churning away at me.
“Because his daughter ran away with the son of Artem Romanov, Anton. Paolo caught them about to get married and killed Anton as well as the witnesses who were there,” he says looking at me square in the eye. I can tell how much he doesn’t want to be the one to deliver this news.
“Have you checked this out for sure?” I say, the knot in my stomach growing because I know he has.
“Yes.” He says uncomfortably. “Paolo wiped out anybody who was involved but when I dug a little deeper, I found an application for an Illinois wedding license. It never went ahead but it was close, so it makes sense why Paolo never wanted to offer Sophia’s hand. He didn’t want the truth getting out,” he says in a small voice. “Rocco,” he starts to say something, but I motion for him to continue, “this kind of thing would destroy Paolo Falcone’s reputation forever if the other families ever found out. His own daughter running off with the son of the Bratva…” Franco says trailing off again.
“She has a tattoo with the letter ‘A’ on her wrist.” I say thinking aloud.
“Anton Romanov, Artem’s heir,” he says, shaking his head as if in disbelief of what he’s saying.
“He’s dead?” I ask tentatively, because if he were alive, I would kill him and make him fucking suffer.
“Shot to death by Paolo alongside his brother Andriy and numerous other members of the Romanov family.” Franco says as if reading my thoughts. “Paolo didn’t want to leave anything to chance.”
“Do you think Sophia is double-crossing me?” I say clenching my teeth.
“It’s inconclusive right now.” he says impassively.
“Franco.”
“It’s plausible, but we can’t prove anything yet.” he says lighting up a cigarette.
“Do you think she set me up to be killed?” I say quietly.
“Let’s not jump to conclusions,” Franco says firmly and exhales a cloud of smoke.
