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“Good shooting. Stay high in case there are more.”
Teeny just grinned at me. “That’s the plan, brother.”
Celt and I ran out with our handguns up and ready to shoot. Unfortunately, everyone was already cleaning up. I wasn’t wild about killing, but standing there with a cold gun when everyone else’s were hot pissed me off.
Glad all my brothers were still walking and talking, and no one lost any fingers, I began helping clean up. Out of the men who tried to storm our clubhouse I counted nine dead and four survivors, all with gunshot wounds. Two bled out on the ground before we could save them, and one was looking none too good. The one remaining was smaller, with slicked back black hair and beady eyes. I didn’t like the look of him.
Chapter 14
Aprilia
Sitting in Hacker’s office watching the whole battle go down on several big screens had been a harrowing experience, enough that it made me regret insisting on being front and center. The computer genius of the club had drones and security cameras which gave a bird’s eye view from multiple vantage points. I watched as he monitored the security feeds and relayed the information to the Slayers in real time. By the end of it, I felt like I’d witnessed every single drop of blood get spilled firsthand. My stomach was churning with a sick feeling that drove home that I never really understood how awful the mafia really was. Did my father and grandfather do shit like this, roll up on innocent people minding their own business and slaughter them? The thought of that twisted my heart with misery.
I can’t believe I thought being sent to the Dark Slayers MC would be dangerous compared to being around lifelong members of the mafia. My world flipped upside down in an instant. If my loyalties were not as firm in my own head as I made them sound when talking to Storm, they sure as hell were now. Those men put their safety on the line to keep their town safe from the kind of shit that just went down outside the clubhouse.
A deep voice drew me from my internal musings. “Hey, you’re looking pretty freaked out. Are you alright?”
“Yeah, I’m okay. Don’t worry about me.” My voice didn’t sound convincing even to my own ears.
Hacker leaned closer and lifted my chin to look into my eyes. “Look, Aprilia, we all know you’re a strong woman. You don’t have to put up a brave front for any Slayer, least of all me. Being strong is all well and good, but it doesn’t make you impervious to the kind of violence we just witnessed. It was stomach churning for me too, and I’ve been on the battlefield more times than I care to remember. It’s okay to reach out for help dealing with this.”
I turned away and closed my eyes as I fought back the emotions rising in my chest. When I looked up at his worried face again, words tumbled out of my mouth. “What am I supposed to say? I’m mafia, but never fully understood the connection between our luxurious lifestyle and the violence and bloodshed that funded it. I knew my father did some shady stuff, but I guess I thought it was more money laundering, bribery, that kind of thing. Your club knows all too well how brutal the mafia can be. They don’t want to hear me whining about it, especially not after how hard they fought just now to keep Don Diavonte from killing every man in this club and taking over this town.”
Hacker sat back in his seat with a thoughtful expression on his face. “We’ve learned with Sophia and Eleanora that just because a woman is born into a mafia family doesn’t make her a gangster.”
“I wish I could say that was true in my case, but my father was very open about what was going on in his life. He just skipped over the bloodshed to talk about the end result. I shouldn’t have been so naive. Common sense should have led me to fill in the missing information. I was blind when I was growing up. Unfortunately, my eyes are open now and it’s just a lot to deal with all at once.”
“You’re not responsible for the violence wrought by others. Whatever happened in the past needs to stay in the past. Back then, you didn’t understand the full implications of participating in the system you were born into. Now, you do. When we know better, we do better.”
I nodded, feeling my anxiety slowly easing. “I definitely don’t want to do anything that might result in an innocent person being hurt or killed.”
“I can tell violence doesn’t sit very well with you, and I have every confidence that you will make different decisions in the future.”
Action on the screen caught our attention. Mason and Celt were dragging one of the men who attacked the clubhouse through the front door. He was fighting them every step of the way. I frowned, trying to place his face.
“Do you know who this guy is? He’s looking like the only survivor. Intel on him would be particularly useful about now.”
It hit me like a ton of bricks. “I’ve seen him before. I remember my father telling me he was Don Diavonte’s cleaner. I remember being terrified of him as a child because he almost never spoke and always had this dead look in his eyes. He creeped me out when he looked at me.”
Hacker asked, “I’m guessing by cleaner we’re not talking about polishing the family silver?”
My chin started trembling and the old feeling of being cold and terrified in his presence came back. “Yeah, he’s not a fighter, he just cleans up their mess however that needs to be done. He probably survived because he was hanging back, waiting to do his job.”
“What do you know about this cleaner?”
“Not a lot. I didn’t really understand what a cleaner was for a long time, believe it or not. I actually thought he cleaned the old man’s house. It worried me that Don Diavonte’s housekeeper looked like the Grim Reaper. After seeing what went down today, I have a better understanding of why he’s so creepy. He’s the guy who disposes of the bodies, and cleans away the blood, guts and DNA evidence that Don Diavonte’s men leave behind.”
“Do you remember his name?”
“Anthony. Anthony Akers. I was about ten years old the first time I met him. At that time, he had been working for Don Diavonte for about eleven years according to my father. I remember that because it was wild to me that he had been working there since before I was born.”
Hacker quipped, “If you’re good at what you do and make decent money, why take a chance on a new boss?”
“I suppose that’s true. Anthony is completely loyal to the organization. My best guess is he’ll die screaming before he gives up any useful information.”
“I hope that’s not true. We need to figure out whether he’s a friend or foe. It could be that he’s working for the Russo brothers. I’m sure Storm will want you to contact Nicco and find out what he wants us to do with him. If so, we’ll probably squeeze him for information and then keep him on lockdown until Don Diavonte is out of the way.”
“I don’t particularly care what you do with him as long as you keep him the hell away from me.”
