“This was almost thirty years ago, and my memory’s a little rusty. I was only asoldatoback then, and though Angelo often took Mateo and me into his confidence, we weren’t privy to all the facts.” Mateo was Don Angelo Mazzone’s eldest son. He was gunned down on the streets, in his prime, and that’s when Angelo yanked Bennett Carver from his normal life into this one. Ben had no clue he was Angelo’s bastard son or that his father was the most powerfulmafiosoin the entire US.
“From what I remember,” Leo continues, “it was Gino Accardi, Maximo Greco, and Angelo Mazzone who were mostly involved though all five families were there the day we annihilated the Barone in Jersey. A few might have escaped the bloodbath, but we thought we covered everything. Rizzo was only a kid then. Maybe ten?” He shrugs. “Anyway, we sent him,along with his sisters and his mother, to Italy, telling them not to come back.”
“I should have been informed,” Ben says, placing his palms flat on the table. “I could have kept tabs on them.”
“They fell through the cracks. Mateo died less than a year later, and we were all preoccupied.”
“We have to assume Rizzo came back from Italy and began rebuilding the Barone in secret,” Caleb says.
“How the fuck did we not get wind of it?” I ask, propping my elbows on the table. “Surely someone would have heard something.”
“It doesn’t make sense,” Cristian agrees.
“It does if the people who got wind of it decided to ally with the Barone and their partners.” Ben looks suitably worried.
“We have more than one rat.” Fiero verbalizes all our suspicion, articulating our worst fears.
“It’s safe to assume we have rats and informants in all of our families,” Massimo says.
A heavy silence descends over the room.
“They have been plotting this for years.” Ben raps his fingers on the table. “We’re not just talking about some drug war. We’re talking about the ultimate war.”
“They intend to take New York from us,” I surmise.
“Let them fucking try.” Caleb cracks his knuckles and grins. “They want a war. Let’s give them one.”
Everyone looks at his smiling face like he’s grown ten heads.
“What?” He throws his hands in the air. “Don’t pretend like you won’t relish gutting those motherfuckers.”
“Do I need to remind you we’re still completely in the dark?” Massimo says.
“Not completely,” I say. “Thanks to Gia, we now know about the Barone. We know Liam and his crew are allies and that there’s a big boss ruling everything.”
Massimo’s features soften. “I heard what happened last night. Is Gia okay?”
“What happened last night?” Cristian leans forward, eyeballing me with concern.
“Liam staked his claim very publicly in front of his men. He’s taken his gloves off, and he’s done playing nice.”
“Shit. How is she holding up?”
“She’s hanging in there. He commanded her to be at his place tonight to cook him dinner and stay the night. I think it’s time we pulled her out.” Gia will bust my balls if she finds out I went against her wishes, but I’ll take her vitriol over her being dead any day. “It’s too dangerous, and I’m not sure how much more useful Liam could be now we know he’s not the one in charge.”
“Liam could know a lot more,” Fiero says. “My money says he does.”
“So, let’s tell O’Hara we have the proof and haul the prick to the bunker. We’ll torture the intel out of him.” Caleb’s grin is now firmly planted on his face.
“We’ll show our hand,” Ben says.
“Our best option now is to pretend like we know nothing,” Massimo agrees. “Gia needs to stay on the assignment.”
“We’re risking her life,” I snap, digging my fingernails into my thigh. “I know she’s skilled and resourceful, but the stakes are too high now.”
“You need to separate your personal feelings for her,” Ben says not unkindly.
“If this has become a conflict, I can reassign Gia a new handler,” Massimo says.
