If the handsome man sitting next to me allowed me to leave his sight.
The silence as he drove was far too unnerving. “What did the bartender do?”
Jaxon exhaled, rubbing his jaw with his other hand while glancing into the rearview mirror, which he’d done several times since leaving Indulgence. “He was the mule for the drugs thatwere found at the warehouse yesterday. From what I could tell, he had plans on selling them on the street as well as inside the club. I couldn’t risk the drugs getting in the hands of anyone underage.”
His answer surprised me. “A man with a conscience regarding the illegal drugs he sells. How novel.”
“Believe it or not, even bad men have scruples. Donatello’s younger brother, Michael was at a party when he was fifteen years old. It was supposed to be chaperoned and it was, which was the only reason the kid was allowed to attend. He wasn’t like Donny. The kid was a brainiac, headed to MIT. Early admittance. We were all proud of him. Donny helped raise the kid. Anyway. There were some kids there with mollies. They claimed they were harmless. Peer pressure. You know? You pick on the kid who has no friends and tell him he’ll be a part of the cool crowd.”
I sucked in my breath.
“Michael knew better. I mean Donny spent time ensuring the kid knew that taking drugs wasn’t in his future.” He laughed bitterly as he shifted in his seat. I sensed how close he was to his friend and in turn, to the man’s younger brother. “Michael wanted to be that cool kid, so he took one of the pills. It was laced with fentanyl. By the time Donny got the call, Michael was already dead. There was nothing that could be done. You don’t know what it does to someone to see a big, strong man who never feared anything in his life break down. Something like that scars you for life.”
When I didn’t say anything because I couldn’t, he slowly turned his head in my direction. “I’m so sorry,” I managed.
He nodded. “We started phasing out drugs in our organization the day after that happened. With this incident, the decision was made we’d neither buy nor sell any longer. Yes, up to this point we’ve sold some to high-end clients, but they are required to go through some strict rules and we sell less and less. No drugs are allowed in our clubs. None. I don’t give a shit who you are.”
Very little surprised me any longer, but his words and his vehemence with what he was saying did. “That’s admirable.”
“I can’t bring Michael back, but I refuse to allow anyone to suffer like my best friend did.”
“I’m curious. Did you ever find out who supplied the drugs for the party?”
His snort was followed by another round of silence. “Do you really want to know, Anna?”
“Yeah, I do.”
When he twisted his hand around the steering wheel, the leather squeezed from the force used. “What you saw tonight was a reaction to you being under duress. That man had every intention of using you as a shield. I’m thankful you knew what to do. While I wanted to grill Damien regarding the person responsible for breaking his loyalty to the family, I had no intention of putting you further in harm’s way. That meant I needed a clean shoot without hesitation or utilizing my normal tactics in handling situations of that nature.”
“But…”
“But with the man we discovered had sold the kids the drugs, he spent some quality time in my presence and under my knife.” He swung his head over his shoulder once again to test my reaction.“And I assure you he suffered. If you had any question before about whether I was a decent man, I just answered it for you.”
I shrank further into the supple leather, still clinging to Zorro as if he could fix all the wrongs of the world. Meanwhile, my heart was thumping erratically against my chest. I concentrated on the sights outside the windshield and it took a few seconds to comprehend that he wasn’t headed back to Emmeline’s house.
“Where are you taking me?” For the first time around him, I was frightened. I could hear it in my own voice.
“Whether or not you were working with Damien or the Russo family remains to be seen. Regardless, your appearance and reappearance are cause for concern. You’re more than you say you are and I need to find out what you’re hiding.”
There was no way of arguing with him. How could I at this point? I sat back in the seat, uncertain what to say. “I’m a ballerina from New York.”
“By now, Sergio Russo and his brother, the Don of the Cosa Nostra currently residing in New Orleans are well aware that not only are they out several million dollars from drugs that were confiscated but also that several of their men are dead. Now, given your appearance this morning, the fact I allowed two of the men you noticed who were positioned on their knees to leave and what happened tonight, it won’t be long until a target is placed on your back.”
“What?” My God. I’d fallen into a situation of retaliation, one mafia and another. Italians. Cosa Nostra. Very few people understood the hierarchy of the Italian mafia. In order to be called a Cosa Nostra, syndicates had to pay homage to both the Five Families in Italy and to the boss of all bosses.
No matter the size of the organization, if they learned who I was, which was likely even though my father had ordained using a false surname to keep my identity hidden, the target would be huge.
I’d stepped into a pile of shit that I doubted I could break free of.
Close to hyperventilating, I studied the road while I tried my best to calm my nerves and figure out how I could get out of the mess I’d put myself in. There was no easy way with one exception. Giving up and returning to Italy. I didn’t want to do that.
“Where are we going?” I finally asked, considering jumping from the car. Oh, great. Then what? All my things were at his sister’s house. I was in the worst place I could be in.
“To my house. You’ll be safe there.”
“For how long?”
“For as long as it takes.”
