by Bethany-Kris
“She’s spoiled,” Evelina shot back. “She’s bitchy and needy. Every time I go over there, she gets even clingier with my father like she thinks I give a damn about them and she has to over compensate for something. And she’s nasty, Lily.”
Lily snorted. “You can handle her.”
“I can.”
And Evelina had, repeatedly. That didn’t mean she liked Courtney Calabrese.
“Isn’t she the half-sister of Matteo Calabrese from the New York family?” Lily asked.
“Yeah, she’s Carl’s daughter from his second marriage. She was here for school. Her family here is kind of low down on the totem pole for the Rossi crew or whatever, but they’re mixed up in the Outfit.”
“Huh,” Lily said faintly.
Evelina wasn’t surprised that her friend didn’t know a lot of the connected people in Chicago. Lily had always been sheltered by her brothers in that way. Evelina wished she had been, too, but with a front boss for a father, she had the best seat in the house day after day.
“Talk to me,” Lily said, drawing Evelina out of her thoughts.
“I’ll be fine.”
“You mean to say you’ll plaster on a smile, make face, and do the right thing tomorrow.”
“Essentially,” Evelina said.
“So tell me how you really feel.”
Evelina bit the inside of her cheek before whispering, “My mother has only been dead a few months and he’s already marrying someone new, Lily. He didn’t give a damn at all. My father doesn’t care about anyone but himself. But this is how it goes, right? This is the way the Outfit works and we just follow the rules.”
“The boss needs a wife,” Lily replied, sadness coloring up her tone.
“He does. So help me pick out a dress. I can go to my father’s wedding tomorrow, pretend like I give a damn about him and his spoiled little wife, and not look like I’m going to a funeral at the same time.”
Lily nodded. “I can do that.”
Best friends. Lily had been right all those months ago, Evelina realized. The two women slipped right back into their old routine without even a bump. How long would it last before they were torn apart again by someone else’s desire to get higher in the Outfit?
In this life, peace was a goddamn myth.
“Smile,” Lily told Evelina as she slid in beside her friend.
Evelina tried her damnedest not to glare at her father and Riley’s new bride as the two kissed on the steps of the church in front of guests. Lights flashed and shutters of cameras clicked repeatedly as pictures of the day were captured for the happy fucking couple.
“I’m smiling,” Evelina said.
“With a kill-kill-kill look in your eyes,” Lily replied, giggling.
Evelina caught sight of Adriano as he exited the church with Alessa at his side. Like usual, her younger brother’s hand was firmly attached to Alessa’s slightly rounded stomach and all of his attention was on her. Adriano nodded in his father’s direction as he whispered in Alessa’s ear and hugged his fiancée tight. It was sweet. A far sweeter, more honest love than Riley and Courtney’s show.
Evelina wondered how long her father had been actually messing with the girl. Probably a while. Maybe even when her mother was alive. That just burned like acid was being poured straight into her veins.
Sighing, Evelina shook off the annoyance.
“People were going on about Alessa and Adriano again,” Lily noted.
Evelina heard the whispers. She sat beside her brother and Alessa throughout the ceremony, wanting to give them some sense of support in the vapid harshness that could be the Outfit and its people.
“Smile and tell them to eat their fucking hearts out,” Evelina said, smiling coldly. “Half of them are just jealous that Adriano and Alessa got what they wanted in the end—each other. The rest just want something to gossip about because they’re bored.”
“Truth.” Lily hummed, scanning the parking lot of the church. “Oh!”
“What?” Evelina followed her friend’s stare to find Theo leaning against his cherry red Stingray at the very edge of the parking lot. “Didn’t you say he wasn’t coming?”
“Theo said he wouldn’t be here,” Lily replied.
“There he is.”
But he didn’t look happy. In fact, he looked like ice—beautiful like crystal and cold all over. Theo watched Riley Conti kiss his bride again.
Evelina had a feeling whatever this was … this war, the fighting that had quieted down, and the peace that had been made … it was just about ready to blow up again.
She didn’t even care.
CHAPTER THREE
Politics.
The mafia was all about the politics.
Theo considered those words as he watched the crowd from Riley Conti’s wedding party and guests flood out to the steps of the church. By the size of the gathering crowd, most of the Outfit and the connected families had shown up to give their well-wishes to the couple. The politics of the Outfit demanded these people show up and give their boss well-wishes and respect, even if they hated the man and didn’t think he deserved it at all.
Theo knew Riley would be taking a trip out of the city with his new wife for a week and a half, although where exactly was a mystery. Anger burned heavily in Theo’s gut, like a poison killing him slowly.
Theo found his sister in the crowd of people. Evelina Conti was at her side, talking.
Evelina had always been a bit of an enigma to Theo. She was younger than him by five years and the daughter of a man he hated. She’d caught his eye back when he was twenty-three, and she’d just come home from boarding school.
Theo liked trouble back then. Evelina was sweet, good-natured and followed all the rules. Seeing if he could make her break them would have given him all the trouble he wanted. She never even batted an eye at him. Theo loved a good challenge, but as the Outfit took over his life, his interests in that sort of thing faded.
She was still there in the back of his mind, though. Waiting.
Theo didn’t know what to do about that. He’d never understood his curiosity with the Conti principessa. Except maybe her loyalty to the life and her family, even when she clearly wasn’t happy with them, reminded him of what the Outfit was supposed to be about.
No divides, or families working against one another. Famiglia was most important.
But Evelina wouldn’t happen, not with Theo. He’d given her a chance months ago and she didn’t take it. While he knew the details about her mother’s murder and why she had cancelled their date, the girl never contacted him back. Theo didn’t give second chances and she was on the other side of the divide.
The cold chill of the December air bit into Theo’s cheeks and exposed skin. Shoving his hands into his pockets, he watched the people for a little while longer. He wondered what would hurt them the most, like he had been hurt, but mostly, he wondered what would make them change. What would make them understand that they were no longer la famiglia, they were foul and untrue?
Yeah, politics.
Follow orders.
Make money.
Obey the boss.
Make money.
Pay the boss.
Make more money.
Stick to the rules.
That was enough for Theo. He was tired of these people. Tired of their games. Tired of the goddamn politics. The Outfit was more than just the people. And when the people forgot about loyalty and honor, it all went to shit anyway.
They all thought he was fucking stupid. Like he was blind to their tricks. The young DeLuca principe who was unable to stand on his own or hold his spot.
Theo had news for them.
“I didn’t see you at the wedding,” Walter mumbled around the rim of his scotch-filled glass.
Theo eyed his companion, hoping his blank expression was enough to make Walter drop the topic of the Conti wedding. It’d been two days since the nuptials and as far as Theo knew, Riley was off with his wife on their honeymoon to wher
ever.
“I’m talking to you,” Walter said, cocking a brow.
“I was around.”
That was the most Theo would give the Artino Capo. Theo didn’t hide his contempt for the Outfit boss, so he wasn’t about to show an ounce of support for him, either.
Walter, on the other hand, had gone to the wedding with a suit on, fake smile plastered to his face, and good-wishes rolling off his snake tongue. Yeah, Theo knew. Walter talked a big game where the boss was concerned, especially considering his son Dean Artino had been killed by Riley’s son, but Walter was a snake all the same.
Slithering up to the side of any man who would keep him there and then biting the asshole when the guy wasn’t looking. Snakes couldn’t be trusted.
Walter swirled the scotch in his glass, keeping his stare on Theo all the while. Sitting across from one another in Walter’s home office, the DeLuca Capos were supposed to be discussing business. Instead, Walter kept poking at Theo regarding Riley.
Theo wasn’t interested.
“Streets were quiet this week,” Walter noted.
“I noticed.”
“Heard you pulled that synthetic coke off before the guys could run with it.”
“It’s dangerous.”
“And real coke isn’t?” Walter asked, oozing with sarcasm. “Listen, Theo, it is easy money. You might as well get the dealers’ hands full of it, sell as much of it as you can, and make some cash instead of losing out by getting rid of it.”
“It’s dangerous,” Theo repeated simply.
Walter sighed heavily. “Hey—”
“Seven out of ten people overdose or have extreme reactions to it. Do you really think that’s the kind of attention the Outfit needs right now? You would have a dozen different officials all over the streets looking for the pricks putting that shit out there and it’ll lead right back to the Outfit. We don’t need to be in the news for anything else this year, Walter.”
Walter’s lips drew thin in his frustration, but the fool stayed silent.
This was Theo’s main problem with the head of the Artino family. They had long since worked with the DeLuca side of the Outfit, especially Walter. Given the familial ties between Walter’s wife and Theo’s deceased uncle Ben, the two families were close. Walter had run the DeLuca crew as a second Capo alongside Dino when he was alive.
Theo worked under Dino, for the most part. But now, with Dino dead, Walter seemed to think he had some kind of control over Theo and the DeLuca crew. It was almost like the man thought he could run it all and Theo would just blindly follow along.
It was sickening.
“Do you think I’m a fool?” Theo asked, standing from his chair.
Walter placed his glass to the desk and crossed his arms. “I beg your pardon?”
“Do you think I’m a fool? It’s a yes or no question.”
“I think you’re young, like my boy was,” Walter said.
Theo barked out a laugh. “Dean is not comparable to me, Walter.”
Except maybe in Walter’s eyes. Father’s always did see no wrong in their children, especially their sons. And in doing so, those boys turned into spoiled rotten little brats. Kind of like how Dean Artino had been.
“It’s called the DeLuca crew for a reason, Walter.”
“I’m aware of what the name of my crew is.”
My crew.
Right there.
Signed, sealed, and fucking delivered.
Theo was done.
“I didn’t mind all that much, you know,” Theo said as he did up the buttons on his suit.
“Didn’t mind what?” Walter asked.
“All that bullshit you were causing and the trouble you stirred. Out there on the streets, I mean. I get it, you were pissed off about Dean and you wanted some kind of action, so you had it whispered on the streets that Theo DeLuca was going to the mattresses with the Conti crew. A little bullet sharing here, a man down there … no one really knew because no one ever saw until it was too late. And of course, it came back to me because I’m the easy target, Walter.”
“I—”
“Oh, shut up with it,” Theo snapped.
Walter blinked, anger heating his gaze as the man stood fast. “I think it’s just about time for you to go, Theo. You’ve clearly forgotten which Capo in this room is the highest between us and which one of us has the connections to the throne.”
Theo smiled, cold and slow. Mistake number two. “Do you?”
“You heard what I said.”
“Riley Conti has the throne and he wouldn’t look twice at you, Walter.”
Walter clenched his fists at his sides. Panic. The man was looking for an acceptable excuse. He’d already given too much. Mistake number three.
“I was going back and forth between Joel, too, these last few months,” Theo informed as he grabbed his Stingray keys off the side of Walter’s desk. “But I was so stupid and stuck inside my own head because of Ben and Dino being killed that I couldn’t focus on anything else. It made sense for me to push my anger at Riley and side myself with the only person who I thought would give him a challenge for the boss’s seat. And you were right there, too. Weren’t you?”
Walter swallowed hard. “You know I was. I still am. What is your point?”
“Still are,” Theo echoed.
“So?”
“I was good with it, Walter. I didn’t mind taking the blame for your revenge on the Conti crew in the name of your son. I didn’t mind my name being thrown out there to put Riley on edge. I didn’t mind being the fall guy for a time.”
“I never—”
“You’re a liar, so don’t even bother to start,” Theo cut in. “Everyone thinks I’m too young to handle a crew the size of the DeLucas on my own. They think I’m too wild because they don’t know a fucking thing about me. They all think I make decisions with my heart.”
“You have before,” Walter pointed out.
He had and Theo learned his lesson. His heart and pride demanded distance be put between him and his older brother. The shared past they had growing up under Ben and Carmela DeLuca after their parents’ murder was forgotten. All that tough love and ass kicking’s from their uncle because they weren’t men enough, and they weren’t cold enough had been pushed to the side.
Ben’s way of making the DeLuca brothers comply with whatever he wanted had always been physical, violent, and bloody. Theo thought with his heart back then. Dino ended up killed. Theo never corrected his heart with his head. He wouldn’t make that mistake again.
“I can’t have you fucking this up for me,” Theo said quietly.
Walter’s brow rose high. “Me? Theo, your brother was killed right under your nose without you even knowing a thing. You were both at the church that morning yet neither one of you noticed anyone putting the bomb on the Bentley. Do you realize the kind of effort it takes for a radio timer bomb like that to be set up? You’re too focused on everything else to realize it’s more than just you. Maybe, had you paid more attention, Dino would still be alive. A crew like the DeLucas cannot be run by someone like you—someone young and rash and incapable of leaving his heart behind.”
Theo only heard three words in that whole diatribe: radio timer bomb…
Rage was a beautiful feeling. It was almost as good as being high. It had the ecstasy of sex and the sweetness of candy. It filled Theo like nothing else. He held it tight and didn’t let go.
“What did you just say?”
Theo’s voice had dipped threateningly low. It dripped with a warning that any intelligent man would be able to hear. Standing still and quiet, Theo could feel his rage flooding every inch of his body.
“About what?” Walter asked sharply.
“Radio timer bomb,” Theo said. “Radio. Timer. Bomb.”
“What about it?”
In the Outfit, trust was a goddamn myth.
“That was unreleased information,” Theo said coolly.
The coldness was back in a blink. Comfor
ting. Safe. Good. Theo liked the iciness. It kept him alive.
Walter’s gaze widened. “I-I …”
“Keep mumbling and you might come up with an appropriate excuse to explain away how you know that information. I’ve never told a soul. Lily has kept quiet about the exact bomb used and so has her husband. No one knows what kind of bomb timer was used to kill my brother, Walter. Except you do, I see. Somehow.”
Walter stood stunned and silent.
Theo didn’t mind.
Then, as fast as a burst of lightning, Walter reached for something under his desk. Theo didn’t have a single doubt that the man was reaching for a gun. Before Walter could get to his weapon, Theo withdrew the magnum he liked to keep safely tucked in at his back.
Never keep a fucking gun on you, Dino used to say. Keep one close. Keep a dozen guns close, but never keep one on you.
Sometimes, his brother had been right and sometimes he was wrong. Theo didn’t usually keep a gun on him. But he did around men like Walter Artino.
Theo cocked back the hammer on his magnum and aimed, putting a bullet directly into the oak desk only inches from Walter’s hand. Walter’s arms flew high as he backed into the wall with frightened eyes and an opened mouth.
“I didn’t miss,” Theo informed.
Walter bumbled and rambled, his eyes zoning in on the barrel of Theo’s gun. “I did not know, I didn’t. I just said—”
“Radio timer. Unreleased information, Walter. Don’t treat me like a child, I’ve had enough of that bullshit. Radio timer, you cocksucker. That’s what you said. How did you know that?”
“J-Joel,” Walter stuttered.
“Joel.”
“Joel did it.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know—”
Theo pulled the trigger and watched as a bullet entered Walter’s raised hand. Blood spilled as pain lit up the older man’s features. Walter shouted, holding his hand to his stomach and cussing a blue streak.
All the while, Theo didn’t say a thing.
“Why?” Theo asked again.
Tears crawled down Walter’s puffy cheeks as the man held tighter to his bleeding hand and glared up at Theo. The tears were a disgusting sight. A weakness. Never cry. Never beg. Theo wished he could be surprised that Walter had met his breaking point, but he wasn’t.
