Page 66 of Cartel King

“Did you train your son to threaten people that way?”

“No. I didn’t have to. All my sons think that way.” She frowns. “They get it from me. Tim’s not a forgiving man if someone wrongs the family. He has plenty of blood on his hands. But he just gets on with it. His size intimidates people enough. If you know him, then you know Will’s built the same. So are Steve and Hunt. I’ve never had the size to strike fear in anyone, so I use my words and my expressions. My sons use all three. They want to make sure people understand their righteous indignation, their justification for righting the wrong.”

“Were you there to kill Ignacio all along, or did you decide after the hit on you?”

“All along. I’m certain Ignacio expected Tommaso to send someone for him. He wanted me dead to get the money back. He was probably pissed about the money but satisfied to have me out of the way. He didn’t know Tommaso sent me for both jobs.”

“You’ve worked all over the world then. You’re the one nobody’s ever found. The one who only worked for the Vizzinis.”

“Yes. There isn’t anywhere I haven’t been.”

“Is the story about Antarctica true?”

“I’ve heard various renditions of it. They’re a sliver. I threatened to divorce Tim and take the boys with me after that one. He knows I can disappear, and he knows I would do the same for our sons. It’s the one time he put his foot down and forbade Tommaso from sending me on another job like that. It was the first and only time he acted like a Mafia husband was supposed to. He didn’t keep me out when Tommaso came knocking. He didn’t stop him once we had Will. Having Steve then Hunt wasn’t enough for him to stop Tommaso. Three sons weren’t enough to stop Tommaso from demanding I work for him.”

“What did Tommaso have over you?”

“Everything. One word, and Tim would be dead. He could’ve stripped me of everything. He could’ve dumped me somewhere, and I would’ve never seen my boys again. He could’ve taken them from me.”

“You believed he’d do that?”

“Between Tori and Stella, no. I believe they would’ve stopped him. But the chance existed that they couldn’t. When he made the boys train, then go on missions, it became even more imperative I obey. I didn’t want a whoopsie, then me standing over a gravesite.”

If anyone can make Tommaso come to heel, it’s his wife. Stella Rizzo is the Chicago don’s sister. She married Tommaso while her father still ruled the Mafia there. Tommaso is ruthless like me. Stella’s his conscience. She’s like Ellie from the sounds of it.

“There’s more, Enrique.”

Of course, there is. How could there not be?

“My dad’s Pauly Luigiano.”

That name’s enough to send a chill down my spine. By day, he’s a trauma surgeon, like Ellie told me. But he’s a butcher by night. If Tommaso wants to exact the slowest, most merciless torture, then he calls Pauly.

“My dad’s the one who taught me to shoot. My mom’s nearly as good as me, but she’d only do it out of self-defense. With what he does for Tommaso, he’s feared someone would go after my mom or me. He insisted we know how to protect ourselves. When I was seventeen, my dad took me to the range. Tommaso and Frank, and their uncle, Don Manfredo, were there. I outshot everyone. I had no idea I should’ve held back. I wasn’t boasting. I just did what I thought I was supposed to. Manfredo took notice. Creepy old fucker. You know he was supposed to marry Stella, right?”

I nod. The man was beyond twisted. He reminded me of the old bratva leader. The one who trained Maks, his brothers, and their cousins. Manfredo had a plan to murder Stella and keep the dowry. He’d already killed two wives. Tommaso and Stella fell in love while he was her guard before the arranged wedding. It’s what kept her alive.

“The first time Manfredo propositioned me, it was for sex. I told my dad. He dealt with Manfredo. I don’t know what he said, but Manfredo never looked at me like that again. Instead, he wanted me to go with Frank to some horse race and deal with a bookie who wasn’t paying out like he was supposed to. My dad refused to let me go. Once Manfredo was gone and I married Tim, it was different. My dad tried to stop it, but I gave in to Tommaso because I wanted to make Tim happy. It all went downhill from there.”

“Nobody’s heard about you in a couple years. Not as the accountant or as a mercenary.”

“I was supposed to be retired.”

I look at her as though she grew a second head. There’s no such thing as retirement.

“Don’t look at me that way. There aren’t supposed to be Made Women. They’re few and far between. Female mercenaries are just as rare in the BostonCosa Nostra. I was never supposed to be part of the men’s business. Tommaso even signed a letter with plenty of witnesses that I was out. Once I left Tim, he had no hold over me except for my sons. He threatened to send one of my boys down there this time. They’ve been on plenty of missions where I didn’t intervene despite how much I wanted to. But Ignacio and Brazil were different. Not with Benicio around. I wouldn’t risk it. But it cost Tommaso and Ignacio a shit ton of money. The hits didn’t come cheap, and I forced Ignacio to pay me for wasting my time and for me smoothing things over with Tommaso. Or so he thought. Even if I didn’t need to deposit the money for Tommaso, I still would’ve stopped in the Caymans to deposit mine.”

She looks around her living room before focusing on me again.

“I can’t take the money to the grave, and it’s all blood money. I haven’t touched any of it in the nearly thirty years Tommaso’s been paying me. It’ll go to my boys when the time comes. They can decide what they want to do with it. Until then, it’s my rainy-day fund. This was my last job for Tommaso. It was the last time he holds my boys’ lives over my head. If he does it again, that’ll be my true starting over money. I’ll need it because Rocco and Dante won’t stop until they find me and punish me for killing their father.”

If she doesn’t kill me in my sleep, I’m marrying Ellie.

Chapter Thirteen

Ellie

He’s taking this way better than I expected.

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