I shake my head. “I’m not sure I want either of you risking your lives again. You’ve done enough for me. I’m doing this alone, I think.”
Stefano narrows his eyes. “We’re getting our fucking revenge. No one does this to us and gets away with it. Roberto and Enrico won’t let you go alone, either.”
I shake my head. “I can’t—”
“You need us,” Luciano says. “You know I used to work for the Rizzos.”
“But that was a long time ago,” I tell him.
“Not so long,” Luciano protests. “I still remember the layout of the Rizzo estate quite well. I have a back way in. But we’ll need a distraction.”
Stefano presses his lips together. “Leave that to me. I have three good men I can bring with me, we’ll assault the front gate. Distract them.”
Luciano shakes his head. “You don’t know how many guards the Rizzos have. Three men won’t be enough. Shit, if we brought all our men, it still wouldn’t be—we need all the men we have to go with us. The frontal assault will have to be a different group.”
“I can reach out to some of the other families we work with,” I suggest. “But it could take some time to arrange something. I don’t want to leave Angela in the Rizzos’ possession for too long. In fact, I want to do this either today, or tomorrow.”
“Then we have a problem,” Luciano says. “We need more manpower.”
“Can’t we break in at night?” I ask. “Just the two of us.”
Luciano shakes his head. “They have more people patrolling at night than in the day. They have military-grade equipment, too. Night vision goggles. Thermal imaging scopes. You name it. Plus they have security cameras and sensors all over the place. We’re going to need all our men, like I said.”
“What about the Amatos?” Stefano suggests.
I give him a questioning look.
“He’s maybe the one person just as invested in Angela’s safety as you are,” Stefano explains.
I can feel my brows scrunching together. “I’d rather die than ally with that fucker. Besides, Giovanni Amato was already planning to marry Angela to The Cleaver anyway, to stave off a war with the Rizzos. So why would he help?”
A wave splashes him in the face, and Stefano coughs for a moment. Then he says: “You forget, The Cleaver killed his favorite dog. He hates the Rizzos more than ever before, and he’ll definitely blow his top when he finds out they have her. The last thing he wants is her to marry him.”
I study him for a moment. “Did you move up the meeting with the Amatos, too? Or is it still scheduled for one thirty?”
“Still for one thirty,” Stefano replies.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” Luciano asks. “You’ve hated Giovanni for a long time. Eight years of hate isn’t going to go away in an afternoon.”
“If it means saving her, I’ll ally with anyone,” I tell him. “Even if it means making a deal with the man who tried to kill me.”
We make our plans.
Shortly after, I hear the repetitive thudding of a craft bouncing across the waves. The sound rapidly increases in volume until I spot an incoming speedboat.
Enrico and Roberto sit in the front seats with grim expressions. When they see us their faces slacken in relief.
“Took them long enough,” Luciano comments.
The pair haul us aboard.
“We saw everything from shore,” Enrico says. “Tell me you have a plan to make the Rizzos pay.”
“We do,” I reply.
“Good,” Roberto says. “Because we want in. So what’s the plan?”
“We head to Palermo,” I reply. “We have a meeting with Giovanni Amato to make.”
