Page 29 of The Sicilian Princess
Nick
Iwas man enough to admit that I was in shock. I had just lost a friend. Maddox and I had been friends for years. Ever since I had run from New York to Texas, he'd inserted himself into my life. Years of watching him obsess over Eunji, he watched her from afar even when he was with other women. I think he loved her the entire time. If I was honest, I never saw this as being the end of Maddox. I never thought I would've been the catalyst of him losing his young life. He wasn't a 'made man'. This wasn't his life. Now I needed to save his woman and make the perpetrator pay. I drove like mad to the airport. I had booked the tickets while Rose helped me pack. We were going in semi-blind. I was almost certain her brother would help me. After I took care of Romano, I was going to confront my father. At least I was going to try. I couldn't keep on being a coward. That wasn't how I was raised. Now I had Rose to think of, and I wasn't going to let her out of my sight.
"I'm so sorry," Rose whispered as we went through TSA. We were in first class before it had even registered that she was holding my shaking hand. I hadn't realized I was showing my grief.
"It's my fault," I told her when we sat in our seats.
If there was anyone I could be honest with, it was Rose. She shook her head, negating my inner thoughts, but I squeezed her hand.
"Did you know that this was the year he was going to go after Eunji? He had it all planned out, even the couple dates he wanted us all to go on," I breathed out slowly. I needed to get my emotions down before we got to Philly.
"I didn't even know he wanted her like that. He was goofier to me, not serious, so I didn't think I would see him settle for a long time."
She had a point. Maddox was the life of the party. It was one of the reasons he owned a bar. He was always cracking jokes. I was glad Rose was able to see that even though he had been more serious since she moved to our small town. It was because he saw how I shacked up with Rose, he wanted that for himself, with Eunji.
"I'm going to have to tell Eunji he's dead. Oh god, I didn't even think about that." The pain in my chest spread further. We sat in silence, both of us grieving a young life lost. We wouldn't even be able to go to his funeral to pay our respects. I had no idea how long dealing with the famiglia was going to take. This was a huge mess. Rose drew in a shaky breath and I could hear the sob hitched in her throat. Maddox deserved so much more.
Hours later, we touched down into Philly. We went through the airport, but I stopped Rose at a gift shop and picked up a pair of sunglasses for her. Not that anyone would recognize her right now. That was one of the reasons Eunji had gotten snatched. I rented a car and took Rose to a restaurant to eat. After we ordered, I placed the call. I made sure to sit next to Rose so she could hear her brother without having to put him on speakerphone.
"Picone," Vittorio said, picking up after the second ring.
"It's Falcone, and we have a situation," I stated harshly. Losing my best friend seemed to be more than just a minor situation, but I doubted Vittorio gave a single fuck.
"I said I'd get the Korean. What else could possibly have happened?" He couldn't be bothered to act like Eunji was a person.
"Romano hit my place in Texas, so now we're in Philly." I broke it down simply. I pulled the phone away from my ear as Vittorio broke out all the curse words known to man.
"She can't come to the compound." I didn't need to ask who he was referring to.
"No choice. We need a meeting with your father." This was something that needed to happen now. I didn't give two flying fucks how Vittorio pulled it off, just that he made it happen.
"I'll text you a time. For now, sit tight."
I frowned at the phone as he hung up. I didn't trust him. Not at all. I needed a backup plan in case he tried to betray us. Our food came and we ate silently. I kept ideas whirling in my head. This would be so much easier if I still had contacts here in Philly and New York. As it stood, I'd cut ties with everyone when I left.
"Do you have any idea what you're doing?" Rose snarked.
I almost snapped at her for questioning me, but when I looked into her eyes, I could see the fear there. I cleared my throat. "We need to take out Romano, and for that, I'm going to use your father."
Rose nodded her understanding, but I was keeping something from her. There was going to be major fallout from taking out Capo Thomas Romano. My phone pinged and I checked it.
Two hours. Tell Rose to show you the entrance. -V
I showed the text to Rose and she bit her lip. "He doesn't want us coming through the front door. Instead, he wants us to use the emergency escape route I used when I ran." She worried her lip even more.
I covered her hand and tried to soothe her nerves. "What has you so worried?" I knew she would tell me. She had no one else she could trust here. I was her person.
"If no one knows we are coming and we get caught trespassing…" she trailed off, but I understood what my little thorn was trying to say. This could be a trap. The problem was figuring out whether her brother was really on our side.
The time passed quickly, and we headed to the compound. Rose showed me the grate she had climbed out of when she escaped. Lucky for me, it was huge. It was on the side of the building and looked like it could fit a huge bear. If this is what they called hidden, they were going to have more problems. There was no way a person couldn't see this spot from different vantage points. We hurried down the lit corridors and I started to tally off problems with this escape route. Everyone who worked here probably knew about it. The door at the end of the passageway opened into the pantry in the kitchen.
"For fuck's sake," I muttered under my breath. Could this be more clichéd?
Rose would never live here, not if this was their way of protecting themselves. She led me up to her old room. When we entered, Vittorio was standing in the middle of the room with his arms folded over his chest. A frown marred his face, but Rose didn't care. She flew to his side.
"Vito," she cried happily. It was a sight to see in the face of such tragic circumstances. Her brother wrapped one arm around his little sister, but the other was suspiciously pulled behind him. I wasn't even armed. If he decided to kill me, then I would die.
"You must be Nicolo Falcone," Vito stated.
Rose backed into me and I stopped short of wrapping my arm protectively around her.
"Yeah," Vito cleared his throat and motioned around him.
"Drop your shit. Father will see you right away. Rose, you stay here until you're called."
I wanted to protest, but Rose gripped my arm and shook her head no. She pranced to her old bed and lay down, the perfect princess.
Vito led me out to their father's office. I was unafraid. If I died right now, at least it was trying to protect Rose. The huge wooden door creaked open and I stood tall, ready to take on the Picone Famiglia.
