“You’re late,” Vitale said mildly.
Enzo stopped a few feet away, still flanked by his escorts. His jaw was tight, his pulse steady only because he forced it to be. “I’m here.” He silently added,Stronzo.
Vitale smiled into his glass. “You are. And alive. That’s always encouraging.”
Enzo said nothing. He wasn’t here for pleasantries. He was here to end this.
Vitale finally turned to fully face his guests, his gaze sharp and assessing, the way it always was when he was measuring how much leverage he still held. “Did you enjoy France?” he asked. “Such a romantic country.”
“You sent men to kill me,” Enzo replied flatly. “On a train. In public.”
Vitale’s shrug was elegant. “You ran. That makes people nervous.”
“You broke our agreement.”
Vitale’s smile thinned. “No. You did. But we’ll come back to that.”
Enzo felt it then, a shift. The faint, unmistakable sensation of a trap tightening.
Footsteps rang on the terrazzo pavers behind him, but Enzo didn’t turn around. He knew those gaits anywhere. Rocco and Bianca. They moved around Enzo’s little group.
Rocco let out a small chuckle. “Well, well, well, look what the cat dragged in.”
Enzo studied his former boss. He wasn’t looking well. His face and waistline were puffy, and his eyes darted around like he was high. Coke, if Enzo had to guess. Rocco’s father always had a rule against using the product. Rocco didn’t live by that one, and if Enzo wasn’t mistaken, he was on the way to dying by it. He looked like he was in the throes of addiction. Not good.
“Bianca,” Enzo addressed his former girlfriend, “are you okay?” He ran his gaze over her. She looked much like she always did, well put together with her dark hair shining and her smile to match, but he knew her better than that. The lines around her dark eyes had deepened, and fear lurked withinthem. Her smile was brittle and pasted on. She was not in a good place.
Bianca let out a tinkling laugh. “Well, of course I am, sweetheart.” She came forward and kissed him on the cheek. “So good of you to come rescue me.” She moved away again, grabbing a drink off a table on the side and taking a seat, as if prepared to watch a show.
Vitale studied Griffin and then Callum. “You were…useful,” he said finally. He raised his chin. “Follow Juan, and he will pay you. Then you may leave.”
“What about the video?” Callum demanded.
Vitale’s smile was cold. “I think I will hang on to that a little longer. I might need your help again.” He paused. “Where is your sister?”
The pair remained silent.
Vitale nodded. “Fair enough.” His next words were deadly and low. “Leave now before I change my mind.”
Callum tensed beside Enzo, but Griffin merely turned on his heel and followed Vitale’s man off the terrace. Callum hesitated and then fell in behind his brother.
Rocco had taken a drink and sat down on a chair by his sister. “Enzo, you look like shit.”
“You’re not looking so hot yourself. Business not going so well?” He couldn’t help but needle the other man.
“Fuck you,” Rocco snarled. “I’m not the one who’s going to die here today.”
Enzo’s stomach knotted. Just as he’d expected. “You’re trying to blame me for this mess, is that it? It’s my fault. So you kill me to ‘save’ your sister? Oh. and I’m sure you’ve come to some arrangement with Alessandro here that will benefitLa Famiglia.”
Rocco grinned. “Why yes, actually. This is the best deal I’ve put together in a long time. Getting rid of you, a permanentthorn in my side, with the added bonus of new trade lines with the cartels. Who is the undisputed leader ofLa Famiglianow?”
Enzo glanced at Bianca. She was staring at her brother. “He didn’t fill you in?” Enzotsked. “Not cool, Rocco. Bianca, you should be worried. Your brother isn’t playing nice.”
She briefly narrowed her eyes at Enzo but remained silent. Then she went back to shooting daggers at her brother.
Enzo cocked his head. “Did Vitale tell you he owes big money to the cartels? One cartel in particular, actually.”
Rocco just snorted. “I know about it. It doesn’t matter.”
