Page 554 of Sinfully Savage Mafia

“Zeno,” Gallo rasps, shifting in the chair so he can look up at me. “I’m an adult. I can make my own decisions. You need to stop beating yourself up over that night in Palermo.”

“I can’t,” I say, my shoulder muscles aching. “You could have been killed. And it would’ve been on my head because I’m the one who?—”

“Wanted to protect the family,” Gallo finishes. “That’s why I went with you. Because it’s our responsibility. Ours, not only yours.” He pauses. “And let’s face it, nobody took the threat seriously enough. What were we supposed to do, wait around for Domenico Messina to steal every last euro from us?”

“Why do you have to be so fucking rational?” I grunt.

“It was a dangerous play, I’ll give you that. But it had to be done, no matter what Papa and Ciro think. That’s why I went. I backed you because it was the right move for our family.” He lets out a shuddering sigh. “I stand by what we did, and I’m prepared to pay the price for that ambush. Even though we didn’t get Messina.”

“That’s the thing,” I say. “We did. Or, actually, I did.”

“Well, don’t leave me in suspense. You’ve gotta tell me what happened so I don’t die with any questions.” Gallo quips.

My chest tightens as my eyes skate over his battered flesh.

I let him down.

I let everyone down.

“You really wanna hear how I fucked it all up?” I grunt. “How I tried to do the right thing and ended up in chains?” I grit my teeth. The metal chains are wrapped tight around my wrists, digging into my flesh. It hurts, but not nearly as much as it will our family if I don’t get us the hell out of here before they can broadcast our collective demise. “It was a hit on Messina.”

“I think those chains are cutting off the blood circulation to your brain,” Gallo says. “We got away. Nobody was killed. Messina didn’t even show. It was a setup?—”

“That night, yeah. But once I got here to the States, I was ordered to do a hit. You know how Pop has been cozying up to Joe Salesi for the past year so they could partner on the casino and other business deals?”

“Yeah…”

“Well, Salesi ran into his own problems with Messina. Said he’d been fucking around in their territories, trying to strong-arm Salesi into working with him. So Joe asked if Pop could send Messina a message to make him lay off. Pop volunteered me, so I made the hit.”

“Okay, so they’re pissed off about the hit?”

“More than pissed off. I didn’t just take out Messina’s men. I killed one of his sons and his nephew. Salesi never told me the truth about why he wanted to attack Messina. The reason he gave to Pop was bullshit. Joe wanted to make the hit because Messina tried to have his daughter kidnapped. It was retaliation and he didn’t want it traced back to him, so he had me do it instead.”

“And Pop didn’t know?”

“Pop still doesn’t know,” I say. “I just put all of the pieces together a few hours ago. But there’s more.”

“Oh, Christ. Do I want to know?” Gallo mumbles.

“Salesi’s daughter? She’s here in Vegas. Going to school. And Messina? He’s targeting her, too. She escaped when I got taken or else she’d be tied to a chair right next to you. They want to kill all of us. Revenge times three. See why I wanted to keep you away from this shit?”

“Well, it’s a little late, don’t you think? I mean, they knew I was with you in Palermo at the casino. That’s why they grabbed me.”

“Speaking of grabbing, how the fuck did you let that happen, G? Were you paying any attention at all? I may not have taught you the things that can help you run the world, but I sure as hell taught you shit that’s supposed to keep you alive!”

“I was a little more focused on my dick than on my safety when I was in the men’s room taking a leak after the flight. What can I say? They caught me by surprise.” Gallo lets out a shuddering sigh, wincing as he shifts in the chair. “Damn, I think they broke ribs. And one of them might be puncturing a lung. I’m gonna die a slow death of asphyxiation.” He snickers. “At least they don’t have me hanging from a wall.”

“Thanks, you’re so lucky.” I swallow hard. Nobody knows where we are, and nobody will be able to find us before it’s too late.

We’re both fucked like a whore in a brothel.

Every which way.

“Would you do it over again?” Gallo asks. “Would you have gone after Messina if you knew this was gonna happen?”

And for a second, I allow all of the memories of the past eighteen hours to come rushing forth.

The pit bull, the hackers, their scam to take down our casino, Lily in that red dress, escaping a sea of gunfire that was intended to pepper me with so many bullets, I’d resemble Swiss cheese.

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