“Oh my God—”
“Call Armani,” she says, her voice sharp. “Now.”
Armani is at work, at the Bellanti offices on the other side of the property, but he answers in one ring. When I tell him what’s going on, he says he’ll be right over. I sink onto the floor beside Lili and put my head in my hands, trying not to be sick. And then Juliana comes out from the back room, rushing to my side when she sees me hunched over.
“What happened, Candi? Is everything okay?”
“I—”
But before I can explain, Armani bursts through the entry doors, followed by Dante and Marco. Dante takes one look at his wife and his face creases with concern.
“Where’s the bottle? Show me the blood,” he says.
Frankie gestures to the sink, and Armani goes behind the bar, grabs the bottle, and smells. His eyes flash as he whips Dante a look.
“It’s the real thing. Go check the cask. I’ll make the call.”
Dante storms out while Armani calls the lead vintner in the cask room.
“Open cask 515, the Brunello.” There must be some resistance because he tilts his head and then shouts, “I said open it. Now!”
A few tense minutes pass until Dante calls Armani to confirm what he already suspected: the cask is full of blood. Dante isn’t sure if it’s human or animal.
Either way, it’s enough to push me over the edge. I run to the sink behind the bar and vomit, turning the taps on just in time to wash it down the drain.
Juliana pats my back while Frankie barks at Marco to get me a glass of water and a clean dish towel to wipe my face, and then Jules helps me over to a chair. The rest of the family gathers around. Everyone is tense.
“I’m done. It’s time to get the fuck out of here and lay low,” Marco says. “How the hell did these people get into the cask room? And whose blood is that, even? It’s too much, Armani. We’ll come up with a plan, but we need to do it from the safety of a private, well-secured location. We can’t stay here.”
“You’re not going anywhere.” Armani’s voice is pure steel.
“The hell I’m not,” Marco shoots back. “I’m not going to sit around here waiting for the Bratva to attack and putting my wife’s life in danger. Not to mention our sister.”
Baby Lili begins to fuss in Dante’s arms. Frankie takes her from Dante and I don’t miss the way she locks eyes with her husband.
Dante clears his throat. As the head of this family, he’s the one in charge. Not Armani. And we all know it.
“I have a wife and a daughter to protect, as well,” he says. “I agree with Marco on this. We’re going to lay low, too. Juliana, the choice is yours. You’re welcome to come with us.”
“So you’re all leaving town?” Armani scoffs. “Fine. Go. But if you think the Bratva and the Brunos aren’t going to be following your every move, you’ve got another thing coming.”
He shakes his head. I’m dying for him to look at me so I can get a sense of what he’s thinking, of what our own course of action might be, but he won’t make eye contact.
Which tells me that he’s thinking the worst possible thing.
27
ARMANI
I might die tomorrow.I’ve come to terms with it. There’s no way around that simple fact.
The plan coming together in my mind will comprise the biggest risk I’ve ever taken, and also the option with the lowest chance of success. But it’s the one with the greatest potential benefit, far and away, and that’s what makes the risk worth it. I just need to pull this thing off.
My family’s life and livelihood depends on it.
And if I die trying to save them? At least I’ll go down fighting.
I pour myself a few more fingers of scotch and settle back into the leather chair. I’ve been in the war room all day, plotting and pondering, looking at this impossible situation from every conceivable angle. But there are no clear solutions. Just one hell of a gamble.
