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“When you called earlier and said you needed to see me, I thought you were joking.” Michael let the door fall open and headed back down the corridor.
I stepped inside and followed him into the kitchen, where he had tea and cookies on the counter. “Quite the welcome.”
“My daughter Caterina left an hour ago. She insists on these visits.” He gestured toward the place settings. “She thinks it makes me forget about her mother.”
“Such a devoted daughter.”
“What do you want, Vittoria?”
“I need your help.”
“Hell froze over, and no one thought to tell me?” He chuckled.
What I needed done required skill and zero regard for human life. I needed a cold-blooded killer. The irony wasn’t lost on me. For all the backstabbing we’d done to each other over the years, in the end, I could only trust Michael Alfera to help me fulfill my promise to Giovanni.
“I can come back later when you’re sober, if you want.” I made to leave.
“Stop.” He waved me over. “I know that look on your face. You wouldn’t be here unless you absolutely had to. You’ve piqued my curiosity. So, tell me, Don Salvatore. How can I help?”
“Before Giovanni died, he gave me a name.”
Michael’s face blanched. Even if the two of them had drifted apart in the past decade, Michael and Giovanni were great friends when they were younger. The Society thrived under their leadership because they complimented each other. We all learned to follow their lead.
His gaze darkened with the thirst for revenge. And that right there was the main reason why I’d come all the way to Brooklyn to ask for his help.
“I want him and his extended family wiped out.”
“Who is it?”
“Jimmy Gallo.”
“The Gallo family never deserved the honor of joining our ranks. I knew that fucking asshole would be the end of us one day. We should’ve killed him when we had the chance.” He gritted his teeth. “The kids all but served him to us on a silver platter. We let him walk away. And now here are the consequences.”
“You know we couldn’t do that.” I removed my coat and laid it flat on the bar stool next to me. Now that I had his attention, I knew I’d be here for a while. “We can’t go around killing Dons just because someone saw a compromising recording once. We needed hard evidence. We can’t have people running around making up stories about us.”
“Right. Treat traitors the way you’d want to be treated if you ever committed treason.” He waved his hand in dismissal.
“Something like that.” I rubbed my chest to ease the hollow pain that hadn’t let up since Giovanni died. “So, would you help me? It needs to happen in one night. I’ve gathered a list of targets, their locations, and daily schedules.” I reached in my purse and retrieved the flash drive with all the information I had on the Gallo family, both immediate and extended members. “Two-hundred-twenty-eight.”
His eyebrows went up in surprise. “You’ve put in a lot of work.”
“I’ve been planning this for six months.” I slid the device across the counter. “We can’t be anywhere near this. We’ll let our enemies take care of it.”
“I might be able to make that work.” He rose from his barstool and left. When he returned, he had a laptop with him.
The longer we spoke of revenge and murder, the younger he looked, as if going back to his mafia ways brought him back to life. Maybe it did. Michael Alfera didn’t know how to be anything else. If he was here in Brooklyn playing the good father, it was because his late wife asked him to.
“Let’s take a look.” He plugged in the flash drive. “You said enemies. Who did you have in mind?”
“All of them. We’re going to need an army to pull this off.” I leaned closer. “Call them all—the Irish, the Russians, the Cartels, the fucking FBI, I don’t care. I want these people gone. I want Jimmy Gallo gone for good.”
“Why did Giovanni keep this a secret?” He scrolled through the files. “Jimmy should’ve been tried by the Society.”
“He didn’t want Jimmy to know we were coming for him. He would’ve gone after Rex. It’s better that we do this in secret. No one can know how Giovanni died, or that Jimmy had a hand in it.” I swallowed my tears and the pain that consumed me every time I thought of how Giovani was killed. “They stabbed him to death.”
“You want him to know it was you who planned all this, don’t you?” Michael smirked at me. “What’s the point of revenge if he doesn’t know?”
I nodded. “I want him scared. I want him to run and run until he realizes he has nowhere to go.”
