* * *
“Are you going to tell me why you look close to puking?” Renzo asks the second we emerge from the elevator into the underground parking garage under Anton’s building.
“Dario needs to hear this too,” I explain, nodding at Ezio as he opens the door for me. “I’d rather not repeat myself.”
The ninety-minute journey back to Philadelphia is quiet but fraught with all the things I haven’t yet revealed. I need this time to come to grips with the solution in front of me. It’s the obvious answer, but it will take iron-strong willpower to pull it off, and I’m not sure I have it within me to go through with it.
A layer of stress lifts from my shoulders as the car approaches the high wooden gates surrounding my two-story modern home. Nestled in a secluded area within the affluent Chestnut Hill area of Philly, it is my sanctuary, the one place where I can fully let my guard down and relax.
It’s a glorious July evening, and I’m itching to pour a glass of chilled wine and sit out in my beautiful, landscaped garden, but this is the kind of conversation that must take place indoors. Even with all the security measures I have in place and the twenty-four-seven team of men stationed around the perimeter of my home, one can never be too careful. Drones are getting more sophisticated, along with surveillance equipment and other monitoring tools.
“You look pale, Donna Conti,” Dario Agessi says, greeting me in the hallway of my home, when we step foot inside.
“You will understand when I tell you the latest development.” I don’t miss the concerned look Renzo shares with myconsigliere, and I don’t think it takes much for either man to connect the dots.
There is only one topic that has the power to rattle me, even after all these years.
Renzo, Dario, and his wife, Nicolina, know the truth about what Carlo Greco did to me when I was thirteen. Anais—my sister—was too young to understand, and I never told her when she got older.
No point in giving her nightmares too.
Her father—my stepfather—Saverio Salerno, the Las Vegas don, has been blackmailed into keeping silent, and Cruz DiPietro, my brother-in-law, is the only other person who knows, but I trust him to keep it a secret. He has his own ambitions and a vested interest in playing this game. He’s pissed at the Mazzonefamigliafor several reasons including my sister and her inability to keep her legs closed when it comes to Caleb Accardi. Caleb is Natalia Mazzone’s stepson, but she is now Natalia Messina having married Leo—her brother Bennett’s underboss—six or seven years ago.
It’s a complicated mess that is vastly getting out of control, and I’m a complete bitch for stoking that flame to aid my agenda.
You won’t hear any apologies from me.
Vengeance has no conscience, rules, or limits, and it is the greatest form of freedom. There is little I won’t do to have my revenge.
“Tell us why you are so shaken,” Agessi says when we are seated in my office, nursing matching glasses of scotch.
“There is good news and bad news.” I pause to take a long drink of my whisky. “The good news is, we have a way to legitimately infiltrate New York.” My gaze bounces between the only two men I trust in the world. I know this will not go down well with them. “The bad news is, it involves marrying into the Grecofamiglia.”
Shocked silence initially greets me. Renzo recovers his voice first. “No fucking way!” He grips the arm of his chair with tense fingers. “You are not marrying another weak pathetic piece of shit, and you are not putting yourself directly in the line of fire.”
“I don’t like it any more than you do, but this is too good of an opportunity to pass up. This is what we have been working toward all these years. Everything we have put into motion has led us to this point. Only a fool would turn it down.”
“Everything we have been working toward is of no use without the woman who spearheaded this from the start,” Agessi says, piercing me with troubled blue eyes. “The personal cost is too great. It is something we can’t ask of you.”
“I’m not asking.” I drill both men with a sharp look. They advise and support me, but ultimately, the decision will be mine.
“Think about this logically,” Renzo says, his Adam’s apple jumping in his throat. “How could you ever step foot in that house again without revealing your true identity? How could you fuck that man knowing what his brother,that fucking animal, did to you?”
“I didn’t say it would be easy, but it’s mind over matter, and I have had years of practice handling the fallout from those seven months. I didn’t endure the things I’ve endured to give up now I am getting closer and closer to my end goal.” I throw back the rest of my scotch and stalk to the liquor cabinet to refill my glass.
I am careful when it comes to alcohol, always remaining in control because my enemies can strike at any time. But tonight, I need to get blistering drunk. I want to blot it all out before I am forced to confront it.
“Gabriele may be weak, but he is not unkind,” Agessi supplies, already reading my determination clearly. “If the rumors I have heard recently are true, I don’t think you need to worry about him sharing your bed.”
I have heard those rumors too, but that is neither here nor there. “Mazzone isn’t seeking a marriage contract for Gabriele Greco. He is looking for a bride for his younger brother, Massimo.”
“The Ghost?” Renzo blurts, his eyes popping wide. “You’re considering marrying a man no one knows any fucking thing about?” His tone rises with every word, and I can’t recall the last time I saw him so agitated.
I dump more scotch in my glass and bring it to my lips. “I’m notconsideringit. I’m doing it. And there is nothing you can say or do that will stop me.”
ChapterTwo
Catarina
