Page 77 of Little Deer
“Between Seamus and I, yes.”
“Seamus was the one you knew she was having an affair with, right?” Nico nods. “Alright, so that means we have a pissed off lover, but they can’t afford a war because they still have to move things around to keep operating. Esposito hates you for killing his sister, but more for disrupting everything, and having to finally make him work and figure things out on his own. Leonardo probably started to take over, seeing it as his opportunity. All of them want to be more powerful, right? And maybe that’s when the fissures turned into large cracks between him, Giovanni, and Marco. They all knew about the alliance and routes, but now that the one controlling all the figures and information is dead, there’s a new role to step in. They wouldn’t consider Esposito as a challenge. He’s small time, so that leaves the three of them to battle it out, and they probably also figured they could kick Seamus out because he was grieving her loss, probably distracted by Nico possibly going after him.”
“I love her brain,” Rori beams. “Girl, you’re on a roll.”
Amara flushes, but she is on a roll and I can only watch her in shock and awe. Her brain is crazy smart.
“Okay, so after all of that, they get things figured out, but they have to be more careful. Nico has clocked the operation, and he’s going to be paying attention. So they lie low, waiting, but behind closed doors they argue about who would run it or about new ideas to expand. Leonardo probably didn’t want to listen, which pissed Giovanni and Marco off.”
“I remember them arguing a lot before I was allowed to move into the apartment,” Gia confirms. “About routes and things, but I never heard anything about human trafficking. It was normally drugs and money laundering. Those were the big profits. Marco was frustrated that my father was being so slow about doing things, and Giovanni just hated my father for getting what he wanted and fought him at every turn. He also saw Marco as a threat because my father could technically remove him and put Marco in his place at any point. I’m still surprised he didn’t, honestly.”
“He probably did the same as his father did. Pitted them against each other,” I offer. When everyone looks at me, I flush, but Massimo squeezes my side encouragingly.
“Yes, exactly, Lucy,” Amara beams. Okay, so what I said wasn’t stupid. Good. “So now there’s all this going on, and Esposito is still running the empire while they start to fight. He’s probably watching this as his opportunity to see what happens. Maybe he was even going to start trying to take things over himself, but then Nico kidnaps Gia and it puts everything in motion.” Her voice rises and starts to go faster with her excitement. “That has to be it. Esposito saw this entire situation as his way to make it happen. Leonardo, Giovanni, and Marco are divided, and starting a war. Secrets are starting to unravel with everyone learning of our existence. He probably didn’t expect Marco to go to Seamus, though. Or Giovanni to bring in someone from Italy.”
“You’re giving my uncle more credit than he’s worth. He’s smart, but he’s not a mastermind.” Nico doesn’t look wholly convinced at the direction of this discussion.
“I don’t think he has to be,” Amara argues. “I mean, you’re all doing the heavy lifting for him, right? He just has to find people to align themselves with Leonardo, which he’s done. You all do the fighting until eventually, it’s down to the winner and the Russians left. Or, now that Giovanni is siding with them, the Russians might be out of here now. If the winner is Leonardo, he takes him out and he’s ruling the entire city. If it’s Giovanni or Marco, they’d probably do the same, but they’d just go about it differently. What I don’t know is what he’ll do if you win.” She looks at Nico expectantly.
“He’ll expect his son to kill me and help him rule both territories,” Nico answers simply. I jerk at that, my eyes widening, but no one else seems surprised. Wait, Dante? Dante’s his son, so he thinks Dante will kill Nico?
“He has to know that won’t happen,” Gia argues. “Dante’s family and he’s loyal to you.”
“But Esposito has the one thing that might make Dante follow orders,” Sofia says knowingly, eyes dark and lips pulled into a grim line. “His mother. He knows Dante loves his mother, does anything for her, and if he threatened her life, Dante might do what he’s told to save her.”
My chest tightens. Oh my God, this is a mess. How could a man do that to his own son? Wait, I already know. I have to imagine the man who is my father would do the same.
This really is a mess. How the hell are we going to come out of this with everyone alive? Fear seizes my chest, my body trembling with it.
We have to get out of here. I need to get Soren and run. Fast and far away.
36
MASSIMO
I don’t hesitate.I just pull Lucy back and around the group, shooting a look to Alessio and Sienna to look after Soren while I calm Lucy down. He gives me a subtle nod, letting me know he’s got him.
It says a lot that Lucy doesn’t fight me as I pull her out of the room and down the hall. I find what looks like another small storage room, and pull her inside, shutting the door. I spin her around, pinning her against it. I think for a second she’s going to fight me, but she surprises me by pressing her face tight to my chest and her arms going around me.
“What is the matter,cerbiatta?” I ask, easing her away from the door and wrapping my own arms around her. I run a hand up into her hair, which is loose today, and gently massage the back of her head, trying to offer some comfort. “Talk to me,dolcezza. Tell me so I can fix it.”
“You can’t fix it.” Her voice is muffled, but I can make it out well enough. “How the hell can you fix this entire situation,Massimo?” She pulls her face back and looks up at me, eyes wet, lips trembling. “It’s the fucking mafia and now there’s a threat of Dante killing us all to save his mother? All because his father is a dick and possibly trying to take over the city? What kind of mother does that make me? I have my son here. Instead of taking him away from this, I’m getting drawn into this and putting him in danger. What about?—”
“Lucy,” I say sternly, stopping her rambling. Her breathing is coming out in gasps, her eyes wide, and her fingers are digging into my back. She is one wrong move away from running. I can feel it, and everything in me is screaming not to let that happen. I need to keep her close. I need to make her understand that she’s safe with me. Somehow. I have no idea what I’m doing, but I’m going to do my damndest.
She stares into my eyes as I say firmly, “I know that this is a lot. All of it is. You’ve come into this when things are at their peak, and while I want to make it better, tell you that it’s all going to be over soon, I can't do that. I won’t lie to you. But the one thing I will tell you is that you never have to worry about you or Soren. You. Are. Safe. You are safe, Lucy. You will always be safe here. I will never let anyone hurt you or Soren. Including Dante. I know what Sofia said scared you, but Dante hates his father. Enough that he nearly killed him once already for daring to touch his mother. If Esposito tries to use his mother against him, Dante will burn Esposito’s entire house to the ground with him inside to save her. He will never hurt any of us because to do that would hurt Sofia. And as much as I fucking hate to admit it, Dante is in love with her, and that means he won’t hurt any of us because that would be hurting and betraying her.”
“But if it comes down to it, would he choose Sofia or his mother?”
Well, fuck. How the fuck do I answer that?
“I don’t know.” It’s a terrible admission, but there’s not much I can do to change it. “But one thing I do know is that none of us would allow him to get anywhere close to any of you. I know it’s a lot to process, but you don’t need to worry about it.”
“I can’t help it,” she snaps, glaring. She yanks her arms from around me, stepping back. The space between us might be small, but it still feels large enough that I’m not certain how to get across it to her. “This entire situation is fucked, Massimo.”
“I’m aware of that.”
Her glare deepens. “Why can’t you send us somewhere else so we’re not in the middle of this? Even if Soren and I can’t go to my family or back to our life, why do we have to stay here in this mansion?”
