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I don’t disagree, and as consigliere of the family I’d advise him the same. “No, you’re right. Let me get through tonight. She’ll write the story afterward. Give us tomorrow, and then I’ll work on getting her cleared. If she still wants to stay.”
His eyebrows raise. “With all she knows?”
He might be asking me a question or telling me leaving’s not an option. I don’t answer because either way, there’s really nothing left to say on the matter. He’s made his position clear, and I’m going to do what’s right for me and for Isabella. I’ll find a way to make it work. Salvatore did; Dominic did. Through all the adversity in their relationships, they found a way and so will I.
I glance at my watch. “Ready to roll?”
Salvatore and Dominic nod, and we head for the elevator. When we get to the outside entrance, just as planned, three black Lincolns are parked, ready to take each of us procession style downtown, toward the restaurant that after today will no longer stand.
Everyone in town should have gotten the message. No one serves or protects a De Rosa, and if they do, they answer to us. And if they didn’t get the message, or understand it clearly the first time, they’ll get it now.
We protect everyone unless they protect our enemies.
For most of the shop owners, that deal wasn’t a problem at all. It was more a blessing to have someone looking out for them who put their needs into consideration along with their own. But this De Rosa-loving-family scoffs at the orders of the Larussios. They thumbed their noses and futures up at us from afar by allowing the De Rosa bastards to gather for drinks and dinner in their restaurant.
That family will learn whose side of the table they should have sat at, because soon there will be no place to sit at all.
Darryl pulls out of the entrance and follows the cars carrying Salvatore and then Dominic. They all stop at the bottom of the resort driveway, waiting until all the traffic is clear so that we can pull out onto the strip as a combined force. All three united as we travel to watch the demise of our foe.
The drivers navigate through the congestion, inching their way through the early evening traffic to get to the other side of town. Darryl pulls in behind Dominic’s driver, bringing the car to a stop next to the curb not far from where the De Rosas plan to meet.
My phone buzzes, and I answer it absently, my eyes not moving from the restaurant, knowing our men on the inside are about to make their move. “Hello.”
“We’ve got a major fucking problem,” Salvatore growls.
“What’s going on?”
“Your woman friend, the one who knows far more than she should, just got picked up. The fuckers took Bruno out upstairs. He’s on the way to the hospital, Doc’s with him, but she said it doesn’t look great.”
My chest pounds with unprecedented fear. The kind that I’ve never felt before. If they have Isabella, there’s no doubt in my mind exactly what they’ll do to her, slowly and maniacally, each brutal act a fuck you to us and a reminder that they’re still very much in the game.
But the way they lay their hand doesn’t even resemble the way we will play, especially when Isabella’s life hangs in the balance. “They want their finance holds lifted. De Rosa can’t get to a cent right now. He needs money to pay off everyone to keep the infrastructure alive while he works things out,” I tell my cousin.
“I’m not giving him jack,” Salvatore says.
I don’t expect him to hand it over to them. It’s not our way. But still, my blood runs cold at the finality of his words.
The only way to outmaneuver the fucks who took Isabella is to make them think they’ll get their money back if they don’t hurt her, but if Salvatore’s not willing to bend, everything could go south. Especially for her.
We’ve disagreed before, and we always come to a commonality that’s best for the family. “If we play along, at least initially, it gives us two things. One, it gives us a chance for me and some men to get to Isabella. Two, we take him out along with the others. We don’t need him anymore, Salvatore. Keeping him alive is just ego on our part. He’s a snake with two heads, and only one of them is bound to die. While the other will rear it’s ugly head at some point in the future if we don’t take care of it now.”
He doesn’t even take a minute to consider what I’ve said. “No. He stays alive, just as we planned. He watches as his family and loved ones die, just like we were forced to do, and then he watches as we take over all of his distribution channels. Hell, he’s prouder of those than he is his own daughter,” he tells me.
That may be the case, but neither of those things helps me get to Isabella this minute. “I think this is where we respectfully agree to disagree. Let me take a few of the men and go get Isabella myself.”
Salvatore lets out a fast breath. “No, Lorenzo. We stay the course. You need to stay here, but we’ll send men to their warehouse at the same time.”
My chest tightens, and I find it hard to breathe. “I can’t do it, Sal. I love her, and I’m not going to sit idly by while some whack job tries to get our secrets from her. She knows too much, and they are going to make sure they get every last bit of information from her if I don’t go get her. Your choice, Salvatore. You’re either with me or against me because I’m going regardless of what you say. No disrespect, of course.”
“Of course,” he says. “Fuck!”
“Take Matteo, and go get your woman. I’ll hold the crews off here until we know more from you. But, Lorenzo, one thing.”
I tap Darryl on the shoulder and gesture to get the car going and spin around. “Yes?”
“No one lives to tell our secrets. She’s either with us or she’s not. Capiche?”
Chapter30
