AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Unclear,” I answer. “Though, it did manage to have the gambling den put out of commission for the foreseeable future.”
“Think it’s Diaz?” Joseph asks.
Annoyance ripples through me. “It’s likely.”
One of my most trusted men whistles low, shaking his head. “That’s a bold move. Even for someone as ambitious as him.”
“Agreed. The fact he’s willing to damage one of the gang’s most profitable enterprises is also concerning. He behaves as if he has nothing to lose.”
“Well, we already know he has a shitty moral compass,” Jane clips with disdain. She has every reason to hate the aspiring gang leader after what we learned about his true dealings with Antony Salvatore, and she despises the fact we have to play nice with the deplorable man. At least for now.
“I don’t see why we can’t just take care of Diaz ourselves,” Joseph says. “He’s threatened us. If he were anyone else, he’d already be gone.”
“It’s because of his threat that we can’t do anything,” Jane reminds him. I lean back against the couch cushion and let my second explain our predicament. “He’s made it clear that if anything happens to him, Salvatore Furnari will find himself in possession of some incriminating information that will destroy the tenuous alliance between our families and throw us into a war with the most influential family in New York.”
“Surely we can explain the situation to Furnari—”
“You think anything we say will convince him what Diaz tells him isn’t true?” Jane lifts a brow. “Or that he will allow us a moment to explain before he orders his men to put a bullet between our eyes?”
Joseph crosses his arms and frowns. “We shouldn’t be bending to Diaz’s will like this. He has us over a barrel. We’re better than this.” His gaze lands on me. His words aren’t intended to be disrespectful, but there’s no way in hell he would speak to Colin MacKenzie this way. Even in my grandfather’s inner circle, he demands deference. I do things differently. I trust the loyalty of my inner circle, and I encourage their honesty. I attribute much of my success leading the family these past few years to this dynamic.
“I’m working on it,” I tell him.
“How?” Jane asks. “You haven’t asked us to dig for any more evidence linking him and Antony Salvatore ever since…” She trails off, giving me a pointed look.
“You can say it.” I keep my face neutral.
She sighs. “Since you met Catarina.”
She’s right.
For over a year, I’ve had my most trusted men and women discreetly search for the link that will indisputably tie Luis Diaz and Antony Furnari together. It’s something I should have done immediately after the latter’s death, but I foolishly let my guard down when months passed with no updates from either Salvatore or the police on what happened to the Italian patriarch’s eldest son.
It wasn’t until Luis Diaz showed up on my doorstep that I realized my mistake.
The aspiring gang leader told me he had information to pass on to Salvatore Furnari if anyone in my family thwarted his attempts to overthrow Enrique Santiago. It's made my alliance with the current Harlem gang leader complicated, to say the least.
“Speaking of Catarina,” Joseph clears his throat. “Where are Liam and Nolan right now? Do they know what happened?”
“No, they don’t.”
“Why not?”
“Because I need them focused on protecting Catarina.”
Joseph’s forehead furrows, but it’s Jane who says, “They aren’t amateurs, Declan. They can hear bad news and still do their job.”
She’s right, but that doesn’t change my mind. It’s become annoyingly clear that I don’t always think logically when it comes to Catarina Furnari.
And it started the night we first met.
“I’ll tell them when I need to. For now, we need to figure out if Luis Diaz is responsible for the explosion. And, if so, if he intended for us to be there when the bomb went off.” My gut tells me he did, but I’m not in the habit of lobbing accusations without proof.
Which is what got you into this mess with Diaz in the first place…
Jane opens her mouth to speak, but the sound of her cell phone ringing makes her pause. She pulls the device from her back pocket and her eyes blow wide as she looks at the screen.
Unease churns my stomach. “Who is it?”
