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“Why would I tell the Feds anything?”
“So that they could raid our factory, shut us down, and arrest our people,” he yelled. “And you knew I was headed there tonight, but you didn’t realize that I didn’t actually go.”
My body froze as realization dawned on me. “There was a raid by the FBI?”
“Cut the bullshit, Anni.”
“I didn’t tell anyone, I swear. Maybe one of your men spoke to the Feds—”
“I trust my men.” His voice was as hard as nails.
“And, what, you don’t trust me?” I don’t know why I was asking this. After everything that had happened recently with Rita, it was clear he didn’t trust me.
“We told the details and location of our drugs factory to no one in the Imperiosi. The alliance was still too new to trust them with that level of information Then the raid was the day afteryoufound out about the factory—there’s no such thing as a fucking coincidence.”
Before I could say anything else, he grabbed my cell phone from the nightstand and stormed out of the room.
I wanted to run after him, to ask him what was happening and why he thought I was involved, but my limbs couldn’t move.
His anger toward me had been scary. And the fact that I didn’t understand what was going on was even scarier.
I wanted to call my papà or Christian, but Lorenzo had taken my cell.
I hurried out of bed and down to the den but he’d already taken my laptop and tablet. I checked all the landline phones in the house but he’d disconnected them and taken all the phones away. Damn!
I could see a line of light shining from under his study door and could hear him talking to someone.
Silently padding closer, I put my ear against the door and recognized Aloysius’s voice.
Slowly making my way back up to the guest room, I told myself that at least Lorenzo and Aloysius hadn’t been arrested. I shuddered and wrapped my arms around myself. If the raid had happened yesterday when we’d all been there, then I would have been arrested as well as them.
I didn’t fall asleep again that night. Instead, I racked my mind, trying to put together the few things Lorenzo had told me, trying to work out why he thought I’d leaked information to the Feds. I alternated between trying to figure this out, succumbing to tears, and raging that he trusted me so little.
I’d never wanted to become a Mafia wife at the age of twenty, but that’s what I’d become. And although I’d never admitted it to anyone, it had brought a whole new sense of purpose into my life. I’d become not just a wife to Lorenzo, but also a stepmom to two beautiful children. Two children who needed me—they needed someone to help them to pick up the pieces of their grief and lives and put them together into something meaningful again. And I suspected that even Lorenzo needed me…just like I needed him now.
Lorenzo was convinced that I was the leak…which meant he would probably kill me after this. But instead of thinking of myself, all I could think about was Clara and Clemente losing another parental figure from their lives and the devastating impact that would have on them.
And the other thing I kept thinking was that if Lorenzo killed me, then I also wouldn’t have him in my life anymore, and that made the tears start to fall again.
LORENZO
I was on the phone with Marco and had just explained to him about Anni being the leak.
“You’re sure it wasn’t anyone else?” he asked, his tone serious and terse.
“I don’t have any proof yet, but she has to be the leak. There’s no one else it could be. She says it’s just a coincidence that the raid was the day after she found out about the factory. But we all know that there’s no such thing as a coincidence when it comes to our business dealings. Once I get confirmation it was her, then I’ll deal with her.”
“Would she have made such an effort with your family if she was planning to shop you to the Feds all along?” Marco mused.
“Her family probably hadn’t let her into their plan at that stage, knowing that she wouldn’t be able to hide any such deception. You should have seen her when I asked her outside the factory what she’d just been talking on the phone to Christian about—she had guilt written all over her face. She must have mentioned something about the factory to her brother; even if she didn’t tell him the exact location, all he had to do was triangulate the location of her phone to find out where the factory was.”
“Okay. Get me proof and we’ll take it from there.”
I hung up my phone.
Raking my hands through my hair, I thought about the woman who was upstairs, rage burning inside me.
She’d never been cut out to be my wife. I’d been right all along. She was too young and too irresponsible. She’d allowed herself to be easily manipulated and persuaded by her family to turn on her husband and she’d never even really thought through the repercussions. She didn’t understand the meaning of loyalty—loyalty to me, and loyalty to the Fratellanza.
