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“Sex injuries don’t count.”
“You’re bleeding,” she continued.
“It’s time, tesora. I can’t wait any longer.”
Wait, it’s time now? Tonight?” She sat right upright now, tension filling her brow. Then she pinned me with a look I knew I’d never forget. “If you want me to believe all those pretty words you said to me, I’m going need you to prove it to me.”
“Sure, let’s go and get married.” My suggestion was met with a slap to the shoulder. “Hey! I’m injured, remember?”
“Well, don’t be insane. You need to take me with you tonight.”
My heart dropped. “I can’t do that, Chiara. You could get hurt.”
“I’m going with you. It’s the only thing I want. Don’t treat me like a kid. She’s my mother, and he’s my brother. I’m going with you.”
CHAPTER15
Antonio
Chiara was quiet but resolved on the plane, staring ahead, her arms folded, and a muscle ticking in her jaw. Dressed all in black, she looked like a femme fatale, and I could hardly keep my eyes off her long enough to take in the plan. It wasn’t overly complicated. The next ones seldom were.
As someone with our passports traveled in the opposite direction, we headed to Chicago. Once there, we traveled toward the De Luca compound.
“Tell Franco we’re here,” I told Chiara.
Her inside man was our only contact and would ensure this went easily. I wanted to kill as few De Luca men as possible. It wasn’t their fault they had a deranged boss.
I watched Chiara as we spread out at the property line where we would enter. I was going right with a team, and Chiara and Luca were meeting Franco and going left. Their role was to extract Chiara’s mother and retreat.
Anxiety stewed in my belly.“Maybe this is a bad idea. You should go back to the jet,” I said suddenly, stepping toward Chiara.
She stared daggers at me. “Forget it. I’m here, and I’m getting my mom.”
Her eyes flashed, and I knew it was impossible to argue with her. Best to put her over my shoulder, tie her up in the car, and have someone take her back to the jet. I went to do just that when she anticipated me. She stepped toward the hidden hole in the wire—the same one she’d cut as a teenager—and blew me a kiss before ducking inside.
Motherfucker. Just like that, she was gone.
“Hurry up and follow her,” I snapped at Luca.
He was my most trusted man, yet it wasn’t enough. I needed to be with her, but I also needed to be the one to confront Giacomo. I growled in annoyance, startling the men beside me before striding in the direction we’d planned. I’d take my worry out on Chiara’s half-brother. That would make me feel much better.
“Let’s go,” I told the men, and like shadows dressed in black and armed to the back teeth, we slid along the dark lawns behind the compound.
Tonight, Giacomo De Luca’s reckoning was here.
* * *
An hour later,I strode along the hall toward the same place we’d snuck in. The plan had been not to draw attention to ourselves. The De Lucas were about to have a leadership contest underway, and I didn’t want to get in the middle of that.
“Antonio, wait,” one of my men spoke from beside me.
My hands were still wet with Giacomo’s blood. I’d tried to spare him after exacting my revenge, but he’d pulled a gun from a hidden slat on the floor and tried to shoot me. My men had silenced him immediately. I only hoped Chiara would forgive me. Whether she did or not, I had no intention of letting her go.
“What?”
“It’s Luca.”
At those words, dread filled my belly. I grabbed the phone and brought it to my ear.
