Page 48

“They pulled him out of the Hudson about twenty minutes ago,” Luca continues quietly. “One shot to the head with Russo’s insignia carved into his chest. Somebody took their time with it and I don’t think the poor bastard was dead yet before they did it. It’s a message, Nico. Anybody who had eyes on that safe house is a target now. They wanted us to know.”

I don’t remember standing up but suddenly I am, my ears buzzing.

I have one hand flat on the desk to hold myself steady, phone pressed to my ear, and I can’t get a full breath in.

Dino was a goddamn good man. He was thirty-one years old.

His wife is eight months pregnant and they were going to name the kid after his grandfather if it was a boy.

He told me that a couple months ago, kind of embarrassed about it, at the last dinner we did as a crew.

“Where is he?” I manage, swallowing heavily.

“Bellevue,” Luca continues, sounding miserable. “I already made the call. They know we’re coming.”

I grope around my desk drawer, searching for my gun. “Come get me,” I tell my half-brother.

Luca sighs. “I was afraid you’d say that. I’m on my way. I’ll be there in ten minutes.”

Silence stretches between us and I know there’s something else Luca isn’t telling me. I brace for impact.

“Ana doesn’t know yet,” Luca finally says.

Goddammit. Ana, Dino’s wife, is about to find out her husband isn’t coming home. A sharp pain in my chest makes me sit back down.

“I’ll go to her myself,” I tell Luca. It has to be me. Dino deserves that respect. “After we leave the morgue. I’ll let her know and make sure she is aware we will take care of her.”

All I can hear is the sounds of Luca driving. “You sure?”

“I’m sure,” I tell him firmly. “She hears it from me.”

“Okay.” He pauses. “You okay?”

I let out a breath. “No. I’m really fucking not.”

Luca barks out a harsh laugh. “Yeah. I figured.”

I hang up before either of us has to say anything else.

I don’t remember getting in the car. I don’t remember Luca showing up at the estate to pick me up.

I remember the drive because I sat in the back with my phone in my hand and stared out the window at nothing. And I tried not to think about Katerina.

I couldn’t afford to think about Katerina.

I thought about her the whole way there anyway.

The guy at the morgue is somebody I’ve been paying off since the Bloomberg administration. He doesn’t ask questions. He just nods at Luca, unlocks the back cooler, and steps out of the way.

Dino is on the slab in the middle of the room. I stop in the doorway for a second while Luca closes the door behind us.

He looks smaller than I remember, but then again they always do.

His skin is that specific gray-blue that only comes from cold water, mottled at the temples where the blood settled.

His hair is still damp and stuck to his forehead in a way that would have driven him crazy.

Dino was vain as fuck about that hair, always pushing it back with his fingers when we were talking and telling me about the latest hair gel that was on the market.