Page 95 of Mafia Darling

“None I’ll bother you with. I told you, stay focused on getting better.”

“Tell me.”

He shook his head, the bastardo. “Some people making plays, speculating that you’re too weak to stop them. Giulio and I are handling it. They all know he speaks for you.”

Cazzo. I’d wanted more time to groom my son, to guide him in what it meant to rule. To throw him in like this seemed almost cruel. “Bring him to me.”

Marco said, “I will. Maybe tonight, if you’re awake.”

“Wake me if I’m not.” I tried to speak the words urgently.

“Your wife will gut me if I do that. She’s been hovering over you at night like a mama bear.”

My dolcezza. The best thing that has ever happened to me. I loved her beyond reason. Which was why she needed to stay at the castello from now on. Coming here was too dangerous. “No more.”

“You mean no more visits?” When I nodded, Marco grimaced. “She won’t like it.”

“No more visits.”

“I’ll try, but I’m not certain she’ll listen to me. Between her and Zia, the two of them never leave you except when the other is here. Zia hasn’t let anyone come visit you. I had to threaten her just to get her to leave for a few hours.”

Picturing Marco squaring off with Zia would have made me laugh, if I didn’t hurt so damn badly. Francesca needed to obey orders. I was her husband and I made the rules. No more bending when it came to her safety. “What about Enzo?”

“Not a trace. If I had to guess, he’s recovering up in the mountains surrounding Napoli. What do you want to do? Hire a hitter?”

“Yes.” Francesca wasn’t safe as long as Enzo continued to breathe. I could feel my energy waning, the darkness calling me again. “Sicilians,” I got out. They had several snipers we could hire, competent men they used to take out politicians and Guardia officials.

“Good idea. You’ll owe them another favor, though.”

“Worth it.” I closed my eyes, unable to fight any more.

When I fell back under, my dreams were of blood and death.

* * *

Francesca

The conversation with Giulio bothered me all afternoon.

When my business calls ended, I decided to go to the hospital early. I needed to talk to Fausto about his son. I didn’t like the way Giulio looked. Perhaps one of Marco’s sons could help out, just until Fausto was back on his feet.

Nesto agreed to drive me, and he took two more soldiers along in precaution. Since the shooting, security at the castello had been beefed up considerably, all the men armed to the teeth. I wasn’t complaining. I still had trouble sleeping when I pictured Fausto on the ground, nearly bleeding to death.

In the back of the armored SUV, I closed my eyes and wondered how I could help Giulio. I knew he had Marco, but Marco was old school. Was there something I could do, something they hadn’t considered? I tapped my phone against my thigh, thinking. What about some cyber-stalking? While Fausto’s guys wouldn’t be stupid enough to have social media accounts, their relatives might. I used to follow David’s sister’s Instagram account back in Toronto because she posted way more personal information about their family than he did. It was how I learned he went to a party in Richmond Hill instead of staying home to study, like he’d told me.

So, maybe one of the men had a distant connection to Enzo we didn’t know about.

Giulio said Vic was on the cameras during my kidnapping but not when Enzo escaped. If he was any good at security and computers, though, he’d probably figured out how to access everything remotely.

I unlocked my phone. “What is Vic’s last name?” I asked the young men in the car.

“Benedetti, why?” Carlo answered.

“No reason,” I murmured. I began searching for bread crumbs, family members who might be on social media. I quickly found an aunt on Facebook without a private account. Perfect.

She was older and posted a lot of family photos. She also liked to share religious memes, but I ignored those. I even caught Vic in some, when he was a scrawny teen. I wouldn’t have recognized him if not for her caption naming everyone in the photo. I kept going back, waiting for the page to reload with more photos.

My eyes swept the posts, not sure what I was looking for except some connection to Enzo. A hint that Vic knew someone from the D’Agostino crew. A photo with a large group went by and a face caught my attention.

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