“Do you have a death wish?” Valardi’s voice was icy.
“What are you talking about?”
“That stunt on the road to Milano. You tried to kill us? I won’t forget that. You’ve signed your death warrant.”
His heart hammered like a jackhammer. “What the fuck are you talking about? We took the train to Milan. We didn’t try to kill you? Why would we? We have a deal.” His brain raced. What the hell was Valardi on about?
“You tried to run us off the road,” Valardi said it as a statement, but it was more of a question.
“No, we didn’t. I told you we took the train down.” He took a breath. “Look, your reputation precedes you. I know who you are and what you’re capable of. I’m not an idiot. I wouldn’t try something like that. We have a deal, and we’ll stick to it. I don’t know who the hell tried to run you off the road, but it wasn’t us.”
It was Valardi’s turn to be silent. Then he said, “Tonight. Seven p.m. in the piazza between the Duomo and the Galleria.” The phone went dead.
He blew out a breath and stared at the wall. It was a damn good thing his siblings were out getting some supplies. Thatcall would be enough to make his sister lose her shit. She was balanced on a razor-sharp edge these days. Whenever one of them was in trouble, she felt it in spades. She worried enough for all of them.
He glanced at his watch. He’d called their client a while ago and had endured a long diatribe of insults. He’d assured her of results. Now it was time to make that happen.
He pulled up a map of the meeting area on his phone. Time to start planning. He was going to have to be extra careful if he was going to make this exchange happen without anyone getting killed.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Enzo watched Kathleen bite her lip and wipe her palms on her pants, her nerves showing more than she probably realized.
“You can always go back. You don’t have to be here, Kathleen,” he reminded her.
“I do have to be here. I explained all that,” she shot back.
He frowned but gave a small shrug, choosing not to push further even though every instinct told him to. She was stubborn and taking a risk that could get her killed. But he understood that look in her eyes; she needed control. Needed to feel safe on her own terms, not because some man promised to keep her that way. He couldn’t blame her really, but he also knew if anything happened to her, he was a dead man, so he was determined to keep her safe. He’d seen too many people underestimate danger because they wanted to prove something to themselves. He was not letting that happen tonight.
He scanned the square. The Duomo glowed under the night lights, and despite the late hour, it was packed with too many tourists. The crowd made his skin prickle. There were eyes everywhere, hands everywhere, and he didn’t like that Kathleenwas this exposed. He had men watching, positioned on the edges of the square, each one wired into his comms. She didn’t know the full extent of it, and he hadn’t told her. Some things were better left unsaid when nerves were already frayed. If he could have managed it without anyone noticing, he would have had twenty men surrounding them, but he knew that wouldn’t fly.
He looked around the square and then spared another quick glance at Kathleen. She’d agreed, albeit reluctantly, to follow his lead tonight. He wasn’t convinced she’d stick to their agreement, which made him even more uneasy.
The crowd surged, pressing closer, and his jaw tightened. Anyone could hide in that mass of bodies. Anyone could be the one sent to finish what had started earlier today. It made him want to grab Kathleen and haul her out of there, but he knew she would resist.
He leaned slightly toward her. “Do you see him?”
“What?” Her eyes flew up to his face, startled.
“The guy from the alley. Do you see him anywhere?”
“Oh.” She started scanning, eyes darting from one shadow to the next. He watched her closely, waiting for a flicker of recognition.
“No,” she said finally.
A burst of laughter from a nearby group of teenagers made her jump. Enzo’s gaze flicked toward them. Just kids. But even that fact tightened his nerves another notch. He turned back, and that’s when a man stepped out of the crowd, right in front of them.
“Do you have it?” the man asked.
Enzo glanced at Kathleen, and the recognition on her face let him know that this was the man from the alley. The guy was an inch or two shorter than Enzo but was wider in the shoulders. He had a powerful build. Not someone who would go down easy in a fight. The hat he wore was pulled down low over his eyes, so itwas hard to get a good look at his face. Enzo had instructed one of his guys to take pictures. Hopefully, he would manage to get a useful one of this man’s face.
“Yes, we have it. But first, you’re going to tell me why the hell you guys tried to kill us today.” Earlier, the man had said they hadn’t tried to run his car off the road. But doubt nagged viciously at the back of Enzo’s mind.
The man blinked, and his mouth tightened almost like he was surprised. “Kill you? What do you mean?”
“Don’t play dumb. On the highway from Lugano.”
“I told you before. I have no idea what you’re talking about. I didn’t try to kill you.”
