Shot Caller laughed. “When we find thatbitch, we are going to make her cry out the names of her husband and her father. She will beg us to kill her.”
A hand came down on my shoulder, hard. I looked up to find my father keeping me in place. Rocco was doing the same to Brando.
If we ambush them now,he signed to me,they will know about this property—tracker on the car. This is one of the safest places we have.
“The only bitch you’ll find back here is my gun, and she is pissed,” my great aunt said. Then she cursed him in Italian and gave him ten seconds to get off her property.
The men in the fields had been watching the entire time. Some of them picked up whatever they had and started to move toward the Russians. The men loved my great aunts. They respected them and our family, like we respected them. They were considered family.
The air went still. The heat felt like it was stuck in my throat. A bead of sweat rolled into my eyes, stinging. Shot Caller scanned the wall, his eyes stilling on the spot where I stood.
Come on, you motherfucker. I don’t even need a reason.
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Shot Caller nodded to the car. He said something in Russian. The men all filed in, one by one, eyes constantly roving from the wall to the workers and back.
The air moved, the heat lifted, and they left in a cloud of gold dust from the fields.
Chapter29
Saverio
No one knew how to speak or understand Russian as much as Scarlett. She’d learned the language when she went to Russia to dance when she was a girl. That was where she’d met Lev.
During the chaos when Bykov’s men pulled up to the gate, she’d slipped out of the villa and was listening.
She’d told us that they didn’t believe Mia was there. They thought it was women just giving them shit. But knowing that those women (my great aunts) and the workers could cause trouble for them, they decided to leave. Apparently, they had been fucking up lately and were worried Bykov would do damage to them for not getting the results he expected.
However, Shot Caller was on the fence at the end. He felt it. Something was off. I could feel the change in the air when his eyes had stalled on where I was positioned. It turned electric. Like the air before a storm over the groves.
He was afraid of Bykov, though, and that made him hesitate. One wrong decision and his boss would take action against him.
Arsenius Bykov was getting impatient. The Faustis were depleting his resources—fast.
For the next two days, I started turning over stones in my mind, wondering how they could have even wondered if this property was a hideout. The only sensible explanation was the article, when the photographer noted that Mia had two love interests. Maybe Bykov started to do some research on me, especially after I’d invaded his club without him knowing it. Anything to lead them somewhere.
People have a habit of going back to places that are comfortable.
My parents were married in Modica, at a church in the town. Followed by a reception at the property. Maybe Bykov found out and decided to check it out. Talk to some people in town about the sisters who owned the chocolate shop.
Mia had been quiet ever since. When the gears started to turn in her head, they never reflected in her eyes, but in her presence. Thoughtful. Almost too thoughtful. I didn’t like it.
“How did they find us, Rio?” She rocked slowly in the rocking chair.
It was the first time she asked. But the question was so blunt that I knew she’d been stewing on it. That was the natural course of things, to question, but not to keep it locked inside.
She knew the truth. She wanted me to admit it to her. But admitting it would only give her more ammunition. She was right. I had to be careful with my words with her.
I shrugged. “A connection.”
