Page 49 of Angelo's Vengeance

I closed the door behind me, sealing the world out. "Gentlemen."

Maxim didn’t look up. "You’re late."

"You’ll survive," I muttered, tugging off my coat and draping it over the back of the nearest chair. “I needed a quick smoke.”

Conall lifted his drink. “Theo won’t like that too much.”

“Probably not,” I said. “She’ll forgive me, though.” The smirk was already growing on my face at how I’d make sure.

Ilias barked a laugh and finally stopped pacing. “You better be treating her right you dick.”

“Of course I am. And you’re the dick.” I frowned at him.

“Let’s focus,” Maxim added, his voice quieter. "Tell us about Cardoni."

I nodded, dragging a hand through my hair. "Valentino told me something about his father. The old don had an affair with Carlotta. Years ago. It went on for a while—long enough for her to think it meant something."

That got their attention.

Ilias straightened. "What kind of something?"

"She wanted a seat at the table. Not just a voice. A real seat. She wanted to be Donna of the Five Families. That had been her true goal, according to Val’s father. He had kept journals, but Valentino said he’d had a soft spot for her.” Just the thought of the whole thing turned my stomach, not because she had the ambition to be head of a mafia, but because she had tried to connive her way there. It was always her game.

A beat of stunned silence followed.

“Insanity,” Maxim said flatly. "She wouldn’t have gotten that far."

The Five Families in New York City had always represented the traditional Italian mafia: the Santellis, the Cardonis, the Olivetos, the Scarpatos, and the Vanellos. They had never agreed to unite under a single don and scarcely agreed on anything else. Only out ofnecessity did they meet occasionally to stave off other organized crime groups. This discord was part of the reason other families were so upset when my father signed the blood oath with the Irish, the Bratva, and the Greeks. It had long been an assumed and unwritten law that the Five Families were bound together, so they were unpleasantly surprised by what my father did.

Still, if they united under anyone, I’d be hard pressed to think it would be a woman, especially back then. The mafia world was sexist — even I would admit that. It was unusual to find crews that were run by women.

"No," I agreed. "But she’s always been smart. She gets into people’s heads. Manipulates. Think about it. Vallone. Cardoni. Santelli. Those are the ones we know of.” If I knew her, she had also been in bed with the others. Oliveto and Scarpato. Francesca was Vallone’s daughter. Santelli was infertile. It made me wonder if she had gotten pregnant on purpose by two of the other dons to have Remo and me…

“Jesus,” Conall said, his eyes narrowing.

"It gets worse," I said, reaching for the fileMaxim had brought. I flipped through the pages until I found the property list. "Valentino gave us this. He suspects they’ve been using some of their remote holdings as meeting points. Private homes, warehouses. Places even he’s not regularly in."

I tapped one address near the bottom. "This one’s in Long Island. High walls. Private security. No digital footprint. He hasn’t been out there in over a year."

Maxim grunted. "Renzetti could be using it to regroup. Or worse—coordinate with others."

Ilias’s hands curled into fists. "He’s already taken shots at our ports and tried to shake down some of my warehouses in Astoria. And that thing with the Greek trucking company? That wasn’t random."

"He’s testing our defenses," I said. "Looking for weak spots."

"And you think Carlotta’s with him," Maxim said. "Still running the show."

"I know she is. Salvatore doesn’t breathe without her say-so. He’s too erratic on his own. But with her calling the plays, he’s a goddamn scalpel. Precise, ruthless, and patient."

They all looked at me. I exhaled and leaned back in my chair. "We need to search the Cardoni properties. Quietly. We also need to keep an eye on anyone who has ever worked for Carlotta in the past. Housekeepers. Drivers. Her old lawyer. Every name she ever touched."

"She’s not just trying to come back," Conall said. "She’s trying to rule."

"She’s trying to rewrite the hierarchy," Maxim added. The men fell silent again.

I never liked this part of the job, but I had become good at it—cold strategy. I’d done it since I was sixteen. It came easily now. Too easy. What didn’t come easily was how my thoughts drifted back to Theo, asleep in bed when I’d left this morning, how her hair had smelled when I bent down to kiss her forehead before I left this morning: lavender and something warm, like sunlight.

I hadn’t told the guys about that. I didn’t need to. They already knew I was slipping. Or maybe they didn’t. Perhaps they just thought I was tired. Distracted. Working too hard.

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