Page 74 of Little Deer
Nico shrugs. “He could try. Giovanni probably has some grand plan of double crossing Ivan, and Marco is already doing that with Seamus and the Irish. The odds are that one of them isn’t going to succeed, so whoever does, Orlando will side with them, and when the time is right, take it all over.”
“I don’t think it will be Ivan,” Alonzo states confidently. “The Russians are big for a reason, and they’re hard to kill. Giovanni won’t survive killing a Pakhan and taking over his territory. Not even through marriage if that is something he’s trying to do.”
“The Irish are just as bad, but most in Ireland won’t have anything to do with bullshit here. You lose your territory, you’re not worth the fight,” Papa adds.
“Either way, I want eyes and ears on the fucker until we know what he’s planning,” Nico tells Dante, who nods and picks up his phone.
“Alright, that leaves Leonardo. Anyone else find it suspicious that he hasn’t called or tried to attack us to get Lucy back?” Lazaro asks. His eyes sweep over us assessingly. “If he did have a buyer, you’d think he would try to figure out a way to get her back.”
“We already got Amara and Sienna, maybe he figures it’s not worth trying now,” Zeno jokes drily.
“Or he’s also looking for the final girl,” Aurelio counters. “If he can find her before we do, Lucy won’t matter.”
“Any more on your end?” Papa asks Dante.
Dante shakes his head. “Nothing. My informant has gone silent.”
“Dead?” I ask.
“Possibly, but I doubt it. Esposito has a small staff and not many soldiers, so he won’t want to lose too many if he can help it.”
“Unless Leonardo is supplying him with me,” I remind him.
He concedes that with a slight tilt of his head. “Leonardo is also running low on men, so I don’t know how much he’s going to want to play guard for Esposito.” Dante’s frown deepens. “Honestly, I’m a little surprised Leonardo is still dealing with him after Esposito ran off while they were all attacked.”
“Or, Leonardo has no choice to stick with him since Esposito is the one that knows about the operation and is still helping to run it,” Alessio says slowly. “If Esposito helped carry everything though when Nico’s mother died, then that means that Esposito is the one holding the cards. And if he’s the one connecting the buyers with Leonardo in the first place, then that means it’s probably buyers he uses for his human trafficking.” Alessio looks at Dante. “Where does he get his money? The stuff you knew about.”
“When I was there, I found the books for drugs, guns, and money laundering. He trained me to be a soldier, so I wasn’t high up enough to really find out what he was up to, but most have always considered him small in the grand scheme of things.”
“It could be that that’s all he wanted you to see. If Nico’s mother was doing the books and the heavy lifting, then heprobably was the contact for buyers and took his cut. Everything else, that was his way of not rousing suspicion. He probably had grunts or someone else help him do the other heavy lifting so he was never spotted or questioned on why he was there.”
Dante’s eyes harden and he straightens slightly. Then, after a moment, he gets to his feet and stalks out of the room. I watch him go, surprised. We look at Nico, who merely says, “He’ll tell you when he figures out whatever it is that he’s got stewing.”
“Esposito is a snivelling rat, so none of this surprises me,” Papa spits furiously. “He always did try to hide behind others, never wanting to take the heat. Wouldn’t fucking surprise me if he came up with this idea and convinced his sister to do all the dirty work, and he’d schmooze and handle the buyers and people being pushed through.”
I glance at Alessio, who’s frowning too. “You’ve never said what your issue is with him,” Alessio points out, tone careful.
Papa looks away, and I see a flash of pain cover his face, setting me on alert. Shit. This isn’t going to be good. Finally, Papa says tightly, “Before your mother, I married a woman named Nina. We were young, only nineteen and eighteen, and my father was still running our empire. We were in love, and had only been married a grand total of five days before we were visited by another family for dinner one evening. They had brought along a guest, someone that had been sent back to Italy for training by his grandfather.” His eyes go hard, furious. “That was Esposito. I noticed him watching Nina, but she was stunning, so I didn’t think much of it. I revelled in his jealousy. Then, Nina went to the kitchen to grab a dessert dish, wanting to impress my parents and our guests. None of us noticed that Esposito slipped away.” His lips thin, and I see his fists clench at his side, even as my stomach sinks. “He grabbed her, dragged her out of the house so we couldn’t hear her screams, raped, and then killed her when she tried to fight back. I found her whenI went looking for her, but he had already fled like the fucking coward he was. He called his father and got on a chartered plane and flew straight home. My father wouldn’t allow me to get revenge, and I’ve hated him for that ever since.”
Silence.
I look at Alessio and Zeno, stunned. “Why didn’t you go after him once you were Don?” I finally ask cautiously.
“Because revenge couldn’t be had when I was responsible for an empire. Something my father drilled into me. I’ve always vowed that if I saw him again, I’d kill him. Now that we’re here, there is nothing to stop me. It also doesn’t surprise me that he’s the one that got his sister involved in creating their own trafficking ring. The fucker is as slimy as a snake, and twice as quick. He’s always gotten himself out of trouble on pure luck, or through someone else.” The bitterness in his eyes is quick, but I see it. It pains him that he’s never avenged his first wife.
One we never knew anything about. He was always so in love with our mother. I can’t imagine the pain he carries. Losing your wife that way, then having the other do the opposite and betray you so terribly. I’m surprised he’s not turned hard as stone, or as angry as the De Lucas have been.
Finally, Nico says, “I don’t know my uncle well, and I don’t care to, but he’s always been full of himself. He tries to hide it, but he’s never been quite able. He was close to my mother, and now that I know why, I can see why my father never trusted him.”
“Alright, well, we need to figure out what our next move is going to be,” Aurelio reminds us briskly. I see him give Papa an understanding look; changing the subject just as much for him but us as well.
“I don’t like that we don’t know what Leonardo and Esposito are up to. Being this quiet, my gut is telling me we need topay attention. Leonardo won’t take us having Lucy lying down. That’s not his way,” Alessio adds, frowning.
“Have any of the men spotted anything suspicious that might indicate those assassins have made it here?” Aurelio asks Lazaro.
Lazaro shakes his head. “But to be honest, if they were going to sneak in, they would have done it with all the fighting. But if Giovanni is pissed that his men came alone without any help from Ivan, I doubt they’re here yet. Maybe they’ve listened to Rori and not taken the job after all. Could be why Giovanni is pissed too. He probably thought this would be over by now.”
“We can’t take chances,” I warn firmly. “It’s not just us, it’s the women, and Soren too. If they were sent to take us out, that makes the women vulnerable.”
