I ignore my brother, my head filled with a deafening roar as Lena stares at me like I’m a total stranger. Rage rims her eyes. “Tell me,” she demands. “Tell me what you did. What you were going to do.”
I open my mouth and the only thing I can manage is, “I’m sorry.” An admission of guilt if there ever was one.
Lena flinches, the force of it like a blow to the head.
Ari, helpful fucker that he is, is so pissed about the entire situation he can’t stop himself from answering her question. “Investigating. Stalking. Hunting. However you want to describe it, my brother has been on your tail for almost two months. Keeping tabs on our little criminal Lena. Yet, despite the evidence we have showing you colluding with the Paganos, despite the evidence we have proving you’re a threat to our family, Rem just wouldn’t pull the trigger. Because, and this is a direct quote, he ‘didn’t feel it in his gut’.”
Lena’s not looking at either of us. Eyes fixed on the floor, she stands completely still in my hands. Frozen in place. Not reacting to my brother. Not pulling away from me. Just braced for impact.
“Do you know what we are, Lena? What the 'Ndrangheta is?” Ari doesn’t wait for her to answer. “Forget the fucking Cosa Nostra and Camorra.Weare the are the most powerful Italian mafia in the world. The most powerful mafia full stop. We have our hands in every major country’s government. Control the largest drug trade in the world. Generate income so vast not even Interpol can comprehend the scale of it. And we have a code of honor so ruthless we’ll destroy anyone who defies us. Parents, siblings, children, friends. No one is safe from punishment when they betray the ’Ndrangheta. No one. And yet…”
Ari steps close, squeezes my shoulder hard. He’s cataloguing my every flinch, but everything he says is directed at Lena. “Do you know what my little brother here is infamous for? It’s called thelupara bianca—the ‘white shotgun’. A killing that leaves no body, that’s seen by no one. The very order he got for you. But my sweet, meticulous brother—at first, he was doing a good job following the rules. His rules, mind you, but rules nonetheless. He asked for time to confirm the intel we had against you. He tracked his target. All in the name of due diligence. Because he doesn’t believe we should be so old-school in the new country. No cold-blooded killing of women or children just because they are a threat to the Family.”
“No killing of women and children full stop, brother. Especially ones that are innocent.” I grit it through clenched teeth. “Here, now, in this era, we’re businessmen, not monsters. We can’t be monsters.”
“And I agreed, didn’t I?” he tosses back. “I kept Aldo off your back so you had time to follow your instincts. To prove once and for all that this woman is, in fact, a danger to our family. To plan the perfect kill. And what do you do?”
Ari waves an envelope in front of me then presses it to my chest. Dropping one hand from Lena’s jaw, I take it. Caught in a trance, Lena doesn’t seem to notice. I can’t even tell if she’sabsorbing what Ari is staying. “What is it that I’ve done, Ari? I’m sure you’re dying to tell us.”
“If only,fratellino. If I’d known how thorough your approach was going to be, I never would’ve agreed to it in the first place. Because you’ve actually proven Uncle and I right. Your wife here is more dangerous than we ever could’ve guessed. That envelope has the evidence to prove it. And what’s even worse is now she’s one of us.”
Ari sighs and he sounds as distraught as I feel. “Not only do you not kill her, brother, but you fucking marry her. Christ, you fuckingcareabout her. Talk about sleeping with the enemy.”
Lena’s been holding herself rigid but, at this, she breaks. A cry rips from her. She flattens her palms over her mouth, trying to hold it in. I want to slam my fists into my brother’s face but beating him bloody is only going to make this situation worse, no matter how much better it will make me feel.
“You are a fucking asshole,” I growl at him, reluctantly releasing Lena only so that I can grab Ari around the neck and drag him down the hall toward the front door. The arrogant shit doesn’t even fight back.
“And you are a fucking idiot who is only thinking with his dick.Vaffanculo. How could you fuckingmarryher?”
Frustration and rage boil in me. Once we’re out of Lena’s earshot, I slam Ari against the wall, relishing the cracking sound his head makes when it dents the wallboard. “What. The actual. Fuck?! Why would you come here and blow everything up like this?!”
Ari slams a fist into my cheek. The impact makes my jaw rattle. “I’m asking you the same fucking thing, Remus. Why would you bring that woman into our family? You know what she’s trying to do to us.”
“That’s the whole fucking point!” I shout back, shaking him by the collar. “Wedon’tfucking know. Not at all. In fact, I’vespent weeks proving she’s not the threat you and Aldo think. Not the way you think.”
The qualification slips out before I can stop it. It’s true; Lena hasn’t done the things Aldo’s evidence says she has. She isn’t colluding with the Paganos. She isn’t trying to help them in the turf war. She isn’t trying to bring our family to its knees. But she is connected to ourcapo’smissing woman and that alone could prove lethal.
Ari catches my slip. He breaks my grip on his clothes and gives me a hard shove. I stumble backward, my bare back slamming against the opposite wall. “So, thereissomething. We aren’t wrong.”
“There isn’t anything, brother.” I’m back in his face before he can press his advantage. “Not the way you think. She’s not a threat, Ari. She is mywife.”
I clamp my hands around the back of my brother’s neck, meeting his menacing glare with one of my own. “She’s. My. Fucking. Wife. And your fucking sister. I trust her. I care about her. I will protect her with my dying breath. And I expect you to do the same,fratello. Family above all else, remember?”
Ari punches my side once, twice. Not hard. He’s releasing his frustration, not trying to hurt me. We’ve been each other’s allies for so long—each other’s only living blood relatives for so long—we don’t need words to know what the other is thinking.
After a fraught moment, the tension drains from Ari. He rests his hands on my shoulders, his forehead pressed to mine. “You’ve gone off the fucking rails, brother. If you were anyone else?—”
“I know, I know. I’d be dead in the water. Thanks for making an exception.” I crack a weak grin.
Ari grunts in response.
“I’m close to clearing up the entire fucking mess, Ari. I swear. I’ll make everything clear when Aldo returns tomorrow.”
“You sound so sure.” Ari grips my neck, forcing me to lookhim dead in the eyes. “The info in that envelope says otherwise,fratellino. Be careful. If you fuck this up any more, I won’t be able to protect you from Aldo. We both know how unforgiving he is.”
“I know.” I step back, hauling in a deep breath as I shove my brother toward the front door and the guard standing dutifully by the entrance. Lorenzo has been there the whole time, but he knows better than to intervene where me and Ari are concerned. “Now get out of here. I’ve got work to do. And a wife to grovel to.”
Ari casts a look down the hallway. I don’t risk glancing over my shoulder to see if Lena is watching us or not. One look at her face and I’d lose what little composure I have left. Whatever Ari sees makes him tense. He turns back to me, his impenetrable mask firmly in place. “Twenty-four hours, Rem. Aldo will be back in twenty-four hours. That’s all that stands between you, Lena, and absolute fucking hell raining down on all our heads.”
