Page 136 of Savage Enemy

Enzo would be safe if Aris was dead.

“My offer is still on the table, Saul,” I said. “Ten million, wired to the Cayman Islands as soon as our plane lands in New York. Then you can export whatever the fuck you want through the New York harbor.”

“No,” he said.

I shook my head at his belligerence.

“It’s a damn good offer. Far more lucrative than anything the Russians will give you. So why the fuck are you taking the lesser deal? Do you not want to leave your heir with anything? Are you content letting the Moscatelli empire die with you?”

“It is a good offer,” he admitted, “but do you know what the Russians will do to me if I turn my back on them now?”

“No, tell me,” I said.

I was running out of ways to buy more time.

Gunshots coming from the front were fewer, but I still didn’t know which side would come out on top. I listened for movements and voices.

It had been a while, and there was a possibility of police involvement soon. We’d been there a lot longer than I intended, and I didn’t know the details of Moscatelli’s arrangement with the Chicago PD.

Saul huffed out a breath stinking of bourbon.

“They would wage a bloody, savage war against me.”

“So you’re afraid of the Russians?” I asked.

“It’s not that,” he lied.

I could hear the fear in his voice.

“It’s about respect, something your generation just doesn’t seem to understand.”

“It has nothing to do with respect,” I said. “I can smell your fear. If you’re so fucking afraid of the Russians, why would you do business with them in the first place?”

“What’s my other option? I’m supposed to trust you? Because I don’t trust you. You steal from your betters.”

Moscatelli spoke in circles, around and around, and no one could reason with him or Aris.

I had very little left in my repertoire to distract him.

The gunshots up front slowed down more.

It would end soon.

Val wouldn’t meet my gaze, her head down, her breath shallow and fast, in full panic mode, likely thinking about our son.

I wished for a way to tell her that he would be okay without revealing how in front of her father and brother. Tony planned to take care of Enzo, raise him right, and protect him from her family. I couldn’t make her see that if she wouldn’t look at me.

“Can we just kill them already?” Aris whined. “This is boring me, and my high is wearing off. I need another bump.”

“No, you fucking idiot,” I snarled. “You can’t kill her. Killing her is as bad as not delivering her to the Russians. You need her alive. And killing me starts a different kind of war that you’re not equipped to handle.”

“The Russians don’t need you,” Aris sneered. “And I’m not afraid of anyone who would align with you.”

“That’s right,” Moscatelli said behind me, and I could hear the smile in his voice. “No one needs you, Vignali.”

Finally, Val looked at me, her eyes wide and glassy.

Saul cocked back the hammer on his gun.

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