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“Giving her to us was performative, since she wanted to be here. Am I right?”
“Yeah, that’s about the size of it. All three of her brothers even came to her wedding here at the clubhouse.”
“Do you want me to work with them? If so, I can do that. I’ve got no great love for mobsters, but Sophia’s a mighty fine lady, so I’ll find a way to work with her brothers.”
“No. Sophia’s brothers cannot be caught communicating with us. It seems that one of the brothers is engaged to Sophia’s childhood friend, a woman by the name of Aprilia Agazzi.”
I found myself smiling. “Her old man must have been a biker to have named her after an Italian motorcycle manufacturer. They don’t suit my personal style, but they’re nice bikes.”
“Agreed,” Storm responded. “As far as their don knows, Aprilia is coming out to visit with her longtime friend Sophia.”
I jolted forward in my seat. “And we’re just gonna allow her to come here? We don’t know anything about her. I gotta say, boss, this doesn’t sound like a great plan to me.”
“It’s going to give us a way to keep in the loop about what Don Diavonte is up to. She’ll be a conduit for information between us and the brothers. She and her fiancé, Nicco, have worked out a secret code which she will use to help us coordinate a plan of attack.”
“There are about ten better ways to communicate than some convoluted process like that.”
Storm nodded. “Agreed. I think they just want her somewhere safe while they take down their don.”
“Well, that’s understandable,” I agreed.
“I want you to be her personal protector while she’s here. Those brothers are the key to winning this war with the mafia, and Aprilia is the piece that enables us to communicate and coordinate a plan of attack. No matter what, she must be protected, and I think you’re the man for the job.”
“I assume she’ll be staying here at the clubhouse.”
Storm took his feet off his desk and leaned forward to look me in the eye. “Aprilia’s safety couldn’t be guaranteed if she were staying someplace else. So, the two of you will be taking Celt’s old suite. There’s a bedroom, living room, and private bath. It’s the nicest space we have to offer. The sofa in the living room pulls out into a queen-size bed. You’ll be very comfortable there. I’ve slept there myself on occasion.”
“You want me with her twenty-four hours a day?”
“Absolutely. I have a short list of three brothers who can give you short breaks, but the bulk of responsibility will fall on your shoulders. If anything goes sideways, call me directly. I won’t insult your intelligence by warning you to keep your hands off Nicco Russo’s future wife.”
“You know that sounded like a warning, right, boss?”
Storm shot me a lopsided grin. “If the shoe fits, wear it, brother.”
Chapter 4
Aprilia
Idecided to drive myself to Griffinsford in my old Honda Civic. I’d put nearly two hundred thousand miles on this car. My dad bought it for me when I turned sixteen. It was now a decade later and my Civic was still going strong.
I was old man Agazzi’s only daughter. I might have had my mother’s auburn hair, but everything else, right down to my proud Roman nose, was from my dad. He always called me his pride and joy, and I was the world’s biggest daddy’s girl. Now he was dead, and I was all alone.
I was sure Don Diavonte really thought he was doing me a favor by fixing me up with Chester. If my father had taught me one thing in life, it was that mobsters always put business first. When our don saw an opportunity to get information on the Dark Slayers, he didn’t hesitate to send me into the heart of darkness. That fact alone told me that any concern for me was merely performative. Don Diavonte didn’t care about me.
Nicco and his brothers were cut from the same cloth as Don Diovante. They were all gangsters, and that was the reason I didn’t entirely trust them. God knew I didn’t trust the bikers I was about to spend who knew how long with. When Titans clashed, mere mortals like myself often got crushed in the process. That’s why I needed to be smart, keep my wits about me, and carefully navigate my way through these three powerful groups of men who were all intent on using me for their own purposes.
Don Diavonte had called me to his office to explain in detail the kind of information he wanted me to gather. Nicco stood at my side, pretending to be the dutiful husband who was concerned about his young wife-to-be being sent into a nest of bikers. It was an easy story for my long-time friend to sell because a small part of him did harbor some concerns about the situation.
After we left, Nicco quizzed me on the list of code words he’d given me to memorize. He was pleased when I aced his little test. Then he took my cell phone and turned on the location app for himself and the Slayers that was tasked with protecting me. Not that the app could literally protect me. Maybe help them find me if things went bad… or my body. Of course, I wasn’t naive enough to think the man assigned to be my protector would put me first when things got dangerous. To him, I was just a job.
When I rolled into Griffinsford, my first stop was the gas station. The last thing in the world I wanted was to end up at the Slayers’ clubhouse with not enough gas to escape in the event that things went wrong.
The moment I pulled up to one of the fuel tanks and got out of the car, I realized I wasn’t in a good part of town. I quickly pulled out my credit card, paid for my gas, and started filling my tank up.
Having been taught to always maintain an awareness of my surroundings, I counted three men in my immediate vicinity who seemed seriously sketchy. One was inconspicuously taking puffs from what appeared to be a crack pipe hidden in his hand as he gazed at me with a vacant expression in his eyes. Two more were standing closer, under a streetlight. They were passing back and forth a bottle wrapped in a brown paper bag. One of them lunged at the other. When his friend jumped, the first man threw back his head and laughed. His friend surged forward and pushed him, sending him reeling backward until his ass hit the pavement.
I looked around to see if there were any employees present, but there was only someone pumping gas into a Jeep at another pump nearby. It was an older man with his head down, presumably just trying to pump his gas and get the hell out as well.
