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Christian nodded, and Alessio stepped back into the room, staying beside the door. His eyes were narrowed and jaw clenched, and I immediately straightened. “You are all dismissed. Come to me if you have further concerns.” I didn’t give anyone a chance to speak further as I stepped into the hallway with Alessio and closed the door. “Did you get ahold of Caterina?”
“Yes,” Alessio said, shaking his head. “Mia said she was walking across the street to pick up food for them, and she hasn’t come back in a half-hour. She’s in the wind.”
13
MIA GENOVESE
I knew I had almost no time to talk to my dad. The only way he’d talk to me would be face-to-face and in his territory. He wouldn’t trust that I was alone and uncompromised, especially after I’d fought his men. The only choice I had was to go to him. When I’d heard about Vincent’s meeting, I knew it was my only opportunity to go, so I slipped Caterina and left. I caught a cab all the way to the west side and walked the last three blocks to my father’s manor, eyeing the people who passed by on the streets. Nobody seemed to recognize me until I finally reached the gates to his house, and they opened immediately for me.
I walked inside, and at the door I found one of my cousins sitting in a small alcove. He sat up and looked at me in shock, almost like I was nothing more than a ghost to him. “Benj,” I greeted. “Is he in?”
We both knew to whom I was referring, and Benji nodded, standing quickly and moving toward me. “Everyone thought he’d killed you. We heard that you were his new wife and fighting for him, but…Uncle Pete said it was all part of the plan. I thought for sure you’d been killed and he was covering it.”
I pursed my lips and continued striding toward where I knew his office was, not bothering to give my cousin another glance. I wondered how many different rumors were circulating about my whereabouts. I didn’t even think my father knew what was happening, though I didn’t doubt he gave the illusion that everything was perfectly in line with his plans. I didn’t bother knocking on his office door, knowing I had a severely limited timeframe. When I shoved open the doors, I saw my father sitting on the other end, leaning over a pile of documents. His eyes veered up to me, but they didn’t soften how I’d anticipated. Had they ever softened when he’d looked at me? “Mia,” he greeted, uncertainty clear in his gray eyes. Not worry. He didn’t even look me up and down to check for injury. “Why are you back? Is the job done?”
That told me all I needed to know about the inside person Vincent had been talking about.Iwas that person, and I was clearly doing a piss poor job at it. “No, I needed to talk to you about that. There are a lot of things I don’t think you know about them, and I’m not sold on the fact that killing Vincent would be the best option.”
He leaned forward slightly, and I knew I’d messed up by making my claim right out of the gate. But I didn’t have time to work around the topic. I didn’t have a chance to say anything other than what needed to be said and then return before anyone noticed I was gone. Frankly, they’d probably already noticed, and I needed time to get an alibi. This had to be settled quickly. “You’re on a first-name basis with our enemy now?” he asked. “I heard all about you fighting your own people for him. I assumed they had misunderstood the situation. Maybe you were trying to prove yourself to get closer to him. Was I incorrect?”
I paused. What was I to say? Ihadfought my father’s men, and I didn’t feel a bit of guilt about it. Not when their only message was that I was nothing more than a pawn to be used and discarded. “Are you not concerned about me at all?” I finally asked. “He took me, and he planned to kill me and send me back in pieces. You understand that, correct?”
He didn’t look even a bit horrified by my words, and I ground my teeth as he shrugged. “That was his intention, yes. But he ensured you were where you needed to be to get the job done. I need you to kill him, Mia. You’ve trained for years, and I know you’re more than capable.”
I wanted to argue that he didn’t seem to give a single shit about my well-being, but that wasn’t the focus of this conversation, and it certainly wasn’t important enough to mention right now when I had to convince him to change his plans. “I am capable,” I told him, crossing my arms. “But since being there, I’ve realized that killing the Colombo boss may not be the best tactical move. I know what you’ve told me about him and his crew, but it’s not all true. They’re—”
“They’re our enemies,” he said, his voice booming around the office. “They’ve never been anything less than enemies to us, even when you were betrothed to him for an alliance. You know that. You know who they bring into the mafia, and you know the consequences of it.”
I did know who they recruited, but now that I knew the reason behind it, I couldn’t fault them for what they did. It ended badly once, and Vincent’s father and sister paid the price, but it ended in their favor too many times to see it as a bad thing. They saved the lives of too many orphans to write it off as something bad. But even though I had that knowledge, I decided not to share it with him. “I don’t think that’s worth taking down an entireborgata,” I told him. “The hierarchies are too unstable, and there would be too many loose cannons vetting for Vincent’s place. There’s no saying who could become the leader next.”
“Me,” he said concretely. “You know that’s the plan, and the Commission has all but approved it. If there’s too much instability, they’ll appoint me to keep the peace. You know this. You’re going to go back and follow through on our plans, because this is the only way to get what we’re owed.”
Something clicked. “Is this the biggest reason you want to pick a fight with the Colombos?” I asked. “Not because of the mistakes they’ve made in the past, mistakes that cost all of us. Not because of the pure-bred Italian legacy. You’re concerned with destroying them because of the territory.”
“You know that’s the reason for all of this,” he said back. “It’s always been the plan. If you would’ve succeeded in killing Vincent before the death of his father, it would’ve driven the oldborgataboss mad with vengeance, and he would’ve signed his own death warrant by retaliating. Killing the old boss and his daughter guaranteed that his son would act irrationally, and he did. He tookyou.”
I shook my head. “Have I been nothing more than a pawn to you in all of this?” I asked, my heart breaking. “I thought I was your heir. I thought I was the one meant to expand ourborgataand make history so we could do this together.”
His laugh came out hoarse. “I’ve never named you my heir. My underboss is my brother. You’ve never been in line, and I’ve never told you such a thing. I planned all of this out to work itself out in the end, and you’re the only variable going against my plans, Mia. You’re the one who can make or break this plan, and I can assure you that if you break it, there’ll be grave consequences.”
I’d done everything to make him happy for my entire life, never looking too closely at the dynamic between us. I’d stupidly assumed that I was more than a chess piece to him. I’d assumed that he was acting on a moral high ground, and the territory he’d gain was the biggest benefit. I’d assumed so many things that my head spiraled as I considered everything I had wrong. I couldn’t kill Vincent. I couldn’t kill their legacy when they had accomplished so many great things I’d been blind to until now.
“Get your ass back there and make me proud. Do what you’ve been trained to do.”Or else.I knew the words were implied, so I stepped back and nodded. One thing I knew about the man was his unswayable energy and the way he wouldn’t take well to a debate, so I moved from the room, my mind spiraling as I left the manor and made my way down the street and into a donut shop right inside of Vincent’s territory. I hardly heard my own voice as I ordered a dozen different flavors and paid using the card Caterina had given me.
I’d been lied to my whole life, I realized. And when he hadn’t outright lied, he’d deceived me into believing certain things. I’d always had an unwavering loyalty to my father, and as I thought back on the conversations we’d had, I realized that it had been me who deluded myself. He’d made it sound as if the Colombo family was cruel and harsh beyond my imagination, but he had never named me as heir, and I’d known in the back of my mind that I likely wouldn’t ever be named as such. But I had thought there’d be some level of honor once I’d completed this mission. Now, though, I was beginning to see the truth. I was a pawn now, and he’d make sure I remained that way as long as I lived. His message had been genuine the day I’d fought his men: he would use me as a bride and assassin now, and then he’d sell me off to the next highest bidder later.
I walked out of the donut shop and toward Vincent’s home, deciding against a cab this time. My head so far in the clouds, I didn’t notice anyone approaching until a firm hand pressed my chest into the nearest wall, and I dropped the box of donuts to the ground. “Where the fuck were you?” Vincent snarled in my face, using his other hand to pat down my body. I realized that he was looking for weapons, and I froze.
“Donuts,” I said lamely. I had this alibi, but the rapidness of his approach had me stumbling over my words. “I got donuts from my favorite spot. Caterina sent me out for food…”
“You arenotfree to go wherever you please. We may be treating you with a level of respect, but you are still our prisoner, and I don’t expect you to see yourself as anything more than that. Do you understand me?” he shouted. I only gaped at him. “I asked you a question.” His voice was louder and harsher than I’d ever heard it. I had never seen Vincent lose his temper in such a way. He’d killed people out of anger, and he’d been angry in front of me plenty of times, but he always maintained a cool and collected demeanor. This was different. This was frantic.
“Yes,” I whispered.
I followed as he dragged me toward a black SUV that he had haphazardly parked beside me. I’d been so lost in thought that I’d somehow not noticed him swerving toward me and jumping out. I hadn’t noticed anything. I’d been so caught in my father’s trap and all of his deceits that I had no idea what to think or where to turn. I had a lot of reflecting to do, and it all involved the man who was pulling me into the car and slamming the door behind me. The man who had a family who loved him. The man who donated to orphanages. The man who I had unwittingly come to care for in the past month.
What was I going to do?
14
