It’s the first time she has said we are a team and fully meant it.
This is a turning point.
The moment where we lower all defenses and properly open up.
I need to deal with the vermin first and then have a real heart-to-heart with my wife.
“Yes,weare,” I say. Vulnerability splays across her face, but it’s laced with the kind of happiness I rarely see on her face. “That makes you happy.”
“It does,” she quietly admits, resting her head on my shoulder.
I wrap my good arm around her and rest my chin on her head.
“Don’t ever do that again, Massimo. I couldn’t bear it if anything happened to you.”
“Ditto,mia amata, and from now on it’s us against the world.”
“Yes.” She lifts her chin up. “I like that.”
“No more secrets,” I warn.
She gulps nervously, but her face is earnest and her eyes resolute when she looks at me. “No more secrets.”
* * *
“Talk, asshole,” Catarina says a half hour later when Ivanov has woken from whatever substance she injected in him. His arms and legs are tied to a chair in the middle of my living room. Our men guard the windows and the front door, checking for any sign of people coming for us.
“Who is this bitch?” Ivanov snarls, glaring at me.
I punch him in the face. “Disrespect my wife again, and I’ll drag this out forever.”
“Yourwife?” He spews the word like it’s poison. “Now that makes a lot of sense.”
I press my knife to his neck. “Start talking. Who put the hit out on me?”
Ivanov is not the sharpest shooter or the most brilliant strategist—as evidenced by his piss-poor execution of this job—but he’s not dumb enough to attempt to come after me himself. None of my ex-colleagues would. I imagine there were celebratory parties when I announced my retirement. Which is why it makes no sense that anyone would come after me. Unless someone is afraid I might divulge important information.
“I don’t know. Jacobi contacted me with the job. He said the client wanted to remain anonymous, but they requested me personally.” He gloats, like the stupid prick he is. Ivanov isn’t the most sought-after killer, so that can only mean it’s personal. I have my suspicions, but I’d rather not voice them until I’ve confronted Jacobi.
“If I find out you’re lying, I will gut every member of your family.” Ivanov comes from a large family, and I have the intel to get close to them if I need to. I have background information on every client, every colleague, and competitor and their families and friends. I have personally created each dossier with some support from Allante and Fiero. If there is one thing themafiosoworld has taught me, it’s that you always need insurance.
I show him the pictures on my phone, and his face pales. “I will ask you one more time. Who set me up?”
“I swear I don’t know. I swear it was Jacobi who hired me. He’s the one with the answers.” His Adam’s apple bobs in his throat. “I should have said no. My bad, but I swear if you let me go I’ll never cross paths with you again.”
“You have no honor, Ivanov.” I trail my knife lower on his body. “It’s no wonder the Bratva expelled you.” I push the knife in slowly, driving it deeper and deeper into his heart as his eyeballs bulge, sweat beads on his brow, and he spews obscenities at me in his native Russian. When the light dies in his eyes, I extract my knife, wiping it on the front of his shirt.
“What now?” Catarina asks.
“I’ll call a cleanup crew, hack into the necessary security systems to wipe all the cameras of evidence, line my London guys up to haul Jacobi in, and then we’ll get the fuck out of here.”
ChapterThirty-One
Catarina
“Enough! I’ve had enough!” Jacobi croaks, pleading with Massimo from behind bloodshot swollen eyes. Massimo’s UK contacts had the traitor good and trussed up when we arrived at the derelict warehouse fifteen miles outside London city center a short while ago. Massimo has been working him over for the past twenty minutes, knowing he would break eventually. “I’ll tell you what you want to know, but I need protection. For me and my family.” Jacobi’s English is good though his accent is distinctly German.
“You’re not in any position to make demands.” Massimo punches him in the stomach before stepping back to survey his handiwork.
