Chapter 499: I Asked Val To Come
"I was, yes," Carol said. "But I didn’t stand against anything this vicious. Not like this. I asked Val to come. I’m sure you will find a way to get her safely to the house when she arrives."
Marco nodded. He did miss his wife. God knew he did. He missed Valentina with a physical ache. He missed the sound of her voice. He missed his son.
Carol was right. Val had been on the edge of breaking even before they got married. She had been afraid for him, afraid for her sister, afraid of what the famiglia offered and what it demanded in return. She had carried too much fear for too long.
He looked around once more. The room was a fucking disaster. He probably should get this done before his family arrived. Marco braced one hand against the bed and pulled himself up from the floor. His stomach made another angry sound.
Carol watched him with narrowed eyes. "And take a break," she added. "Get some air and food. Don’t make me come back in here."
Marco gave her a tired look, then surrendered. "Yes, Ma. Ten minutes."
*****
Valentina was at the mall, doing a bit of shopping. Her excitement was through the roof. When she had received Carol’s call asking her to come to Italy, her heart had soared.
Matteo was strapped to her chest as she picked up diapers and wipes, throwing them into the cart.
"We are going to see Daddy, Matteo," Valentina murmured, one hand resting over the small, warm weight strapped to her chest. "I know you miss him. I do too." She moved slowly through the baby section, letting herself enjoy the softness of the moment because God knew there had not been many soft things lately.
"And you are going to see Grandma... uhn?" Valentina smiled down at Matteo. "Would you like that? Yes?"
Matteo answered with a small yawn, his mouth opening wide in the most dramatic, unimpressed way possible.
Val laughed softly. She allowed herself to think positively, to believe in simple things. Marco’s arms around her. The relief of not sleeping alone, not waking up with fear.
When Carol had called, Valentina had not realised how badly she had been waiting for permission to go where her heart already was.
Once she was finished in the baby section, she pushed the cart toward the clothing area. She wanted something new.
Something Marco had never seen before, something sexy enough to make him stop breathing. Something that would make the distance, and the horrible ache of sleeping without him feel worth surviving. She may be a capo’s wife but she was still a woman. She had missed the way her husband looked at her.
An attendant approached her almost immediately, smiling brightly. "Can I help you find anything?"
Val hesitated, then smiled back. "Maybe something... special."
The woman’s eyes lit up, and within seconds, Valentina was swept into a rainbow of coloured clothing. She turned slightly, letting the attendant hold a dress against her body, too distracted by fabric and possibility to notice the man moving several aisles away.
David followed at a safe distance, a cart in front of him. He had been patient. Valentina’s cart sat a few feet behind her.
Her purse was inside. David reached it, lifted it just enough, and slid his hand in. His fingers closed around her phone. He pulled it free, dropped the purse back exactly as it had been, and turned away.
Quickly, he headed to his car.
*****
Luca had just ended a meeting with a member of the Bastione famiglia from Italy. The conversation had been very clear. The terms were simple: the Bastiones would give him every detail they had on Enzo Vitale’s plan—and in exchange, Luca would release Renato back to them alive.
Alive, of course, did not mean unharmed. It simply meant breathing.
Luca stepped out of his office and adjusted the cuff of his jacket as he walked down the corridor toward the back exit. He had seen Enzo’s next move before Enzo had even made it.
The Vitale bastard could scream revenge all he wanted, but he could not wage a war against the Genovese famiglia alone. He did not have enough men. He did not have enough reach. Enzo would need allies, and Luca had known exactly where he would run.
The Bastiones.
Which was why Renato was still alive. Not because the man deserved mercy. Renato had deserved a bullet long since Nonnina took her last breath. But usefulness had a way of delaying death.
Renato’s life belonged to him for now, and Luca would spend it as he saw fit. His phone rang. Luca pulled it from his pocket and looked at the screen.
Marco.
Luca answered as he reached the car. The smile vanished almost immediately. He could hear the panic before Marco said enough to explain it—the strain in his breathing, the tightness in his voice.
"Boss!" Marco said the second the call connected.
Luca stopped walking. "Marco? What’s wrong?"
"Can you talk now?"
"Tell me," Luca said calmly. He opened the car door and slid into the driver’s seat, one hand already reaching for the ignition.
Marco drew a sharp breath on the other end of the line. "Bianca was working with her brother."
"Bianca has a brother?"
"Yes," Marco said quickly. "Luca, listen to me. It’s David Vitale."
The name meant nothing to Luca.
Marco’s voice rose. "It’s David, across the street from the pizza parlour!"
Everything clicked into place with brutal speed. Bianca’s last living thread had not been a random contact. It had been blood.
Her brother had been watching them. Luca’s jaw tightened. Whatever faint satisfaction he had taken from pushing Bianca out of that Paris window turned cold. She had not been the end. She had been the door. And behind that door stood a man hidden well enough for Luca not to know he existed.
That mistake would be corrected.
"On it," Luca said. He started the car almost at the same time, the engine growling to life beneath him.
(Brought to you by Missy Dionne 1/2)
