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1
CARLO
“Go, motherfucker, go!” he shouted. He gained nearly fifty-five yards before the defense tackled him. Hunter pumped his fist in the air before falling back on the couch with a whoosh of breath. “Jesus, that was the comeback they needed.”
I didn’t bother telling him that the Giants weren’t going far this season, not with their streak of losses. I didn’t care either way. I took a long swig of my beer. “It’s a good game,” I commented.
“No shit,” Hunter replied, glancing at his watch and sighing. “Sierra was supposed to be here for this one, but she has some big-wig contract she started last week, and football doesn’t rank as high as work these days. She said she’d come, but she’s probably still at work.”
I nodded, clenching my jaw at the thought of my best friend’s sister. I’d hardly seen her in years, despite living beside her brother. I couldn’t remember the last time she’d been here, and it was best that way. She had a spiffy new life with a whirlwind of success, and looking back wasn’t in her best interest. People around me got hurt and died, and maybe she left because she could sense that. Or maybe it had nothing to do with me at all. Hell, I’d been the one to stay away.
“I’m proud of her, though,” he said with a shrug. “Not many people manage to get in with that Virgil Lucchese. He pays top dollar for his shit, and it’s competitive. I can’t believe they chose her.”
I stiffened at the name.Virgil Lucchese.“She’s working on the house across the river? The one in New Jersey?” I asked, my grip on my can tightening as I considered.Say no,I internally coaxed.Tell me she’s far from that hellhole and that murderous prick.
“Yeah, you know the place?” he asked, running his hand through his long, dark strands of hair as he glanced over at me.
“I do,” I said, unable to focus on the conversation with Hunter. I’d gone through too much shit to see Hunter’s sister fall into the hands of aborgata’s boss—especially one like Lucchese. It wasn’t my job to keep tabs on her anymore, and she’d made it clear by leaving that she wasn’t interested in that anyways.
Unfortunately, I could see the opportunity for what it was. Virgil Lucchese had been after ourborgatain the years since my father’s death. We’d been successful in avoiding his attacks with my oldest brother as the newest boss. His brutal reputation kept the Luccheses at bay, but that changed two weeks ago when he nearly killed my youngest brother. Now, we needed to find a way to get the threat off the table. He was getting bolder, and we needed to end it. He’d played it too carefully for an outright attack, but we needed a way in.
“Sierra’s enjoying her job over there? What’s she doing for him?” I pushed.
“A full house renovation. She’s doing most of the legwork, but it’s big enough that she has a team doing some things. She’s there damn near every day.” He shrugged, focused on the television. “I admire the girl’s drive.”
She was our way in. She hadto be our way in, whether she liked it or not. WhetherIliked it or not.
* * *
“There’s no fucking way.It’s too good to be true. You know how this business works—there’s no such thing as coincidences, and situations that look too good to be true probably are,” Frankie said as I leaned into his desk, explaining the information I’d discovered. “Who’s to say she’s not a narc? Or worse, already in cahoots with theirborgata?”
I gave him a dry look. He’d lived here just as long as me. He had seen the goody-two-shoes girl next door for just as many years as I had. “People change,” he said in response, shaking his head. The black of his hair had started fading into silver on the sides over the past five years, and I knew it was conversations like this one that had done it.
“Not Sierra,” I said.
“Have you even spoken to her in the last five years?” he pushed, leaning into the desk and raising a brow. “I’m not a fool, Carlo. I know why you decided to stay away from her. I know you wanted to protect her, and you wouldn’t have given in so easily. She could be fucking one of Lucchese’s men now, and that could be how she got the contract. Maybe she’s their spy. You just don’t know.”
But he didn’t know why I had decided to stay away from her. Keeping her out of our life of crime had been part of my reason, but the devil was in the intimate details, details he’d never know. We all faced individualized hellscapes with our father, and we never spoke about it, not ever five years after his death. I may have been tortured and branded, but Frankie wore similar scars. We all did, and it had been an unspoken rule never to speak of it.
“We have no choice but to explore all the options—even this one,” I said, pushing away from the desk and turning toward Louis. “Am I wrong?” I asked. “You’re the cynic here. Is this too risky?”
My younger brother looked me up and down, staring at me with his usual tight-lipped expression. He was always the overthinker. Frankie could be counted on to do dirty work—to torture people for information and utilize cruelty that most wouldn’t even consider. It was what made him such a good boss. Louis was the one who would find the holes in our plans and decide whom we could and couldn’t trust.
Louis saw what he needed in my face before he exhaled deeply and looked at Frankie. “He has a point. It’s a possibility.”
“And if she’s with them?” he pushed. “What then?”
The thought of Sierra willingly working for any part of the mob sounded unreal. The woman I’d known five years ago would have never aligned herself with something illegal. Hell, she wouldn’t even drink the beer I’d offered her at nineteen.
“We question her first and get her to agree. We don’t have a choice. Virgil’s getting too close, and we can’t let somethingelsehappen,” I said. My words lingered in the air around all of us for a few seconds before anyone reacted. We all knew the reason we needed to end this. Tommy still slept upstairs, healing from three bullet wounds that should have taken his life. It could have been any of us, but Tommy was the most unguarded, and Virgil knew he was the easiest target. He needed us all out of the picture to make his move, and Tommy was the first step.
If he was in the position to take the shot on one of us, it would only be a matter of time until he made his move on all of us.
“You kept her out of this for years only to bring her into it now?” Frankie asked. “Why?”
“You know why.” He did, but he needed to hear me say it for whatever twisted reason. Frankie was the only one to see how much I’d cared for her before I let go of the foolish idea of being with her. Before my father stripped that possibility from me. “Tommy was almost killed, and I’m not letting you or Louis be the next target. Sierra meant something to me years ago, but shenevermeant as much to me as my brothers. If I have to put her on the chopping block to protect you guys, I will.”
“How sweet,” Louis teased.
