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Fuck, if he’s talking about who I think he’s talking about, I’m headed straight for the confrontation about Carina and Falco.
“Give me names.” Butcher cracks his knuckles.
“It’s not that simple.” Antonio shakes his head.
Butcher grunts.
“Who is it?” I ask.
“The Falcos.” Antonio’s eyes narrow. “Well, I don’t think it’s all of them. But I suppose we’ll have to cut the head off the snake and take them all out to make sure. Human trafficking is a scourge, and it’s one I won’t fucking tolerate, not in my city. I thought I’d made that clear when I cut all those holdings from the Larone portfolio. But I guess one family didn’t get the message.”
This is it. I’m at the moment where I have to decide if I’ll stay quiet and hide my relationship with Carina, or if I’m going to come clean. Because when I reveal what I know about Carson Falco, it’s going to domino into what happened last night. And I know the weight of what I’ve done. I’ve taken Antonio’s sister for my own without asking for his permission. It’s a major transgression, one that would lead to a date with a bullet in plenty of other families. But with Antonio, it’s different. We’ve known each other a long time. I only hope that the trust I’ve broken in claiming Carina is one that can be mended. After all, I fully intend on him being my brother-in-law in short order.
“Why do you look like that?” I realize Antonio’s been staring at me while I’ve been debating over confessing.
“It’s just my face.”
“Your face looks so strained it’s like you’re trying to shit out the entire Packers offensive line.” He points at me. “Spill.”
I clearly need to work on my poker face. On the other hand, it’s never been a problem before. Only when it comes to Carina does my mask slip. She’s also been under my skin, my little brat turning me upside down and inside out.
I take a deep breath. “It’s not the entire Falco clan. There’s only one bad apple in the bunch.”
“And how would you know that?” Antonio leans back, his gaze fastened on me.
“I have some inside information that–”
“From where?”
“A source.”
His eyes narrow. “Go on.”
“Carson Falco is trying to branch out from his family and work on new endeavors. Everyone we fired from the Larone trafficking systems–the ones we left alive–they work for him now. It’s been going on for a few months, but he’s already buying and selling women, probably turning a decent profit.”
“Carson Falco. The kid who came in here and said all the right things? The one Carina chose for a date?”
I nod. “It’s him.”
Antonio stares for a long time, no doubt going over the myriad of troubles that will arise from wiping out Falco’s operation.
“But there’s another wrinkle.” I have to take my licks. There’s no way around it.
“What wrinkle?”
I clear my throat. Generally, I’m not the type of man to be afraid. I logically plan out all the eventualities, which has kept Antonio alive and atop a thriving empire. I’m the reasonable one. I know that. But this thing with Carina, it defies all logic. It defies everything I’ve ever believed about myself. I think that’s how I know it’s right–Carina is the piece of me I never knew was missing. She gives me a spark of wildfire that seems to burn right through me, all the way to the center of my heart where she lives.
“Carina has gotten involved in trying to shut down the trafficking operation, and Falco made her from surveillance footage. That’s the reason she chose him for a date–he blackmailed her into it, and I have zero doubts he’d try to blackmail her into a marriage.” My teeth grind at the thought of it. “I wouldneverlet that happen.”
Antonio blinks slowly. “What do you mean ‘Carina has gotten involved’?” His voice is low, deadly.
I retell her clandestine operation with her friends from school, including their ongoing desire to stop Falco at all costs. When I’m done, Butcher has moved around behind me. The huge killer is practically breathing down my neck.
Antonio flips a quarter over his knuckles. Back and forth. Back and forth. His brows are wrinkled in thought. When he finally looks up at me, I can’t read what’s in his eyes.
“And how do you happen to know all this about Carina, Gilly? My second in command. The man I trust above all others? Howexactlydo you know what Carina has been up to right down to the fucking second?”
I’m sitting here looking into the barrel of a proverbial gun. If I tell the truth, it might go off. But there’s nothing for it. I love Carina. No bullet will ever change that fact.
