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“The hell I’m not!” I shrug out of his grip, my fist twitching. In another second, I’m gonna lay him out on that concrete floor, making him wish he’d just let me go by myself in the first place.
“No, you really aren’t.” His voice drops. “Look, I know you want to get Sloane out of there, but there’s a reason why we haven’t gone in yet.” Nico looks around and lets out a sigh. “The guys from the club are here because if things goes sideways, they’re the only way to protect the Salesi family from being implicated in this thing.”
“What are you talking about?”
Nico rakes a hand through his hair and looks at my dad, who hobbles over to an empty metal chair on the side of the space. He sinks into it, his face pinched with pain. “The feds are coming, just like I said. The Bonnaros set us up. That was their plan from the beginning. The Cinque family supplied the drugs and the women, and the Bonnaros found a few buyers. The plan was to have you show up when the feds arrived to make the bust. Everything would have pinned on us because the Bonnaros would have been long gone by then. Grabbing Sloane was just icing on the cake for them. They wanted to get to you and your father, at exactly the right time. And you were about to walk right into their trap.”
“Goddammit, I need to get Sloane out of there! I did what you wanted. I didn’t go after those bastards. I fucking trusted you and came here! So, tell me, Boss, how the hell are we supposed to avoid their trap?”
The scenarios run through my mind like wildfire, torching all rational thought. What if we’re too late? What if she’s already gone? What if something messed up their plans and the Bonnaros needed to make a run for it early? What if…?
No, I will not even think that.
I can’t.
“We avoid it by getting in there before the buyers show up.”
“How the hell do we know when that’s supposed to happen?”
“That’s why I was waiting for you, dickhead!” Nico yells. “Do you ever think that maybe I know what the hell I’m doing? You know, every once in a while? Just fucking once in your life, trust that I can run this goddamn show better than you can.”
“Sorry,” I grunt. “How long do we have to wait?”
“Not long at all.” Nico holds up his phone. “I just got the go-ahead. The buyers aren’t scheduled to show up for another hour, which means the feds will be close behind. We’re going in now, and we’re taking out Mikey and Gianni.”
“How do you know all of this? Who do you have on the inside?”
“The one person who can sell out the Bonnaros for us and crush their asses before they can ram ours.”
“That still won’t stop the Cinques. You know they’re a bunch of maniacs who’ll take out anyone they need to, with or without the Bonnaros. They’re fucking brutal, and they want blood…Viktor Ivanov’s blood because he crushed their drug business. That’s the only reason why they teamed up with Mikey and Gianni in the first place. Revenge. And they won’t stop until they destroy him. And you for working with him.”
“I know exactly what they want. But the Cinques are going to have big problems very fucking soon, something they’re going to find out when I decide the time is right.” Nico claps a hand on my shoulder and turns me toward the doorway. “I told you to trust me, didn’t I?”
“It would be nice if you trusted me a little bit, too,” I grumble. “Why do I always have to be in the dark?”
“Listen,” he says, stopping me. “I get that you want to be on the inside, but there’s only room for one. Me. The road to hell is paved with good intentions, Max, and I have a lot to protect. There are too many risks, too many threats. I have to keep this all very close. But I’ve got your back. I always have. And if someone ever had a gun to my head, I know you’d be there to take him out.”
“I would.”
Nico grins. “Good. I’m glad to hear you agree, especially before we move in on the Bonnaros.” He looks past me at my dad, who lets out a deep sigh and slowly stands. He faces Nico, silent.
“He’s in bad shape,” I murmur to Nico. “He shouldn’t be here right now. He’s really dragging, and I don’t know how much more he can take.”
“He needs to pay,” Nico grunts through clenched teeth. “He went too far, too many times.”
“I know, and I get how you feel. But just let him do this. He wants to help. Give him a shot to make up for all of it.”
“Look, you forgave him for everything, and I respect that. He’s your blood.” Nico narrows his eyes at me. “And you needed that closure. For years I’ve watched you try to get it, so I’m glad you finally did. But he’s not my father. He tried to kill my father, remember? He betrayed us over and over and over to our biggest enemies. That’s something I will never forget.” Nico walks toward Tony. “This doesn’t change anything between us, Tony. You being here…I know you’re looking to ease your own conscience, but in my eyes, you’re still no better than a rat.” Nico glares at my dad so hard that I fully expect to see him explode into flames at any second. “No,” he growls after a few seconds, his face twisting into a grimace. “Worse than a fucking rat.”
“I don’t expect you to let it go, Nico,” Dad says, resting against the side of the chair, his voice a bit breathless. “I know the way this ends.”
His words are dripping with regret and remorse, but as far as Nico is concerned, it’s too little, too late. The end is coming, one way or the other, and we all know it.
The how, though…that’s still up in the air.
“You walk in there, and you’re on your own. Do whatever you need to make yourself feel better about the shit you’ve pulled, but you don’t have my protection.”
Dad nods. “I understand.” He pauses, still looking directly at Nico. “And I’m sorry, for whatever it’s worth.”
