Scarless & Sacred (The Chicago War #3)

by Bethany-Kris

  Even calling for help wouldn’t save him. It would take far too long for the ambulance to get there. Nothing would help Cole. Theo despised himself for even being able to realize those facts.

  “T-Theo,” Cole choked out.

  Forcing back the anxiety, Theo helped Cole roll over to his back. Glassy eyed and coughing out bubbles of red saliva, Cole blinked up at Theo. Panic gripped the young man’s face instantly and tears welled before they streaked lines down Cole’s cheeks.

  It wasn’t good.

  It was a terrible thing to know you were going to die.

  “Hey, hey,” Theo said, wiping the kid’s face with his dirty hands. “None of that shit, huh? Take a breath for me, Cole.”

  Cole tried, but he struggled for it.

  Shit.

  Another coughing fit followed and more blood splattered across the kid’s cheeks and mouth. An ashy tone colored Cole’s face while the pink in his lips faded slowly.

  “Hurts,” Cole whispered.

  Out of instinct alone, Theo drew Cole’s shaking form closer to his body. He held tight, feeling Cole’s hands fist into the side of Theo’s shirt like he didn’t want to let go.

  Because the kid was just young. Because he was a fucking boy, not a man. Because nobody deserved to die scared and alone.

  “I’m sorry,” Cole mumbled.

  “For what?” Theo asked.

  If the kid wanted to talk, Theo would let him ramble on.

  “Your jacket.”

  Theo laughed, but it came out strained and pained. “It’s just a jacket, Cole.”

  “Your favorite one, Skip.”

  “Just a fucking jacket.”

  Cole’s breaths came out harder, sharper. Like he couldn’t take in the needed air and his lungs were struggling to keep up.

  “Did you know the guy?” Theo asked quietly.

  Cole nodded slowly, his stare more dazed than before.

  “Who, Cole?”

  “Bell. We call him Bell.”

  Bell.

  Theo racked his brain to connect that name to someone he knew. He couldn’t.

  “Just Bell?”

  “Bell,” Cole repeated faintly.

  “How’d you know him but he didn’t know you?”

  “Don’t play with snakes, Skip. That’s what you always said to me.”

  Twenty seconds later, Cole stopped moving. Theo held him all the while.

  Theo wasn’t sure how long he’d sat like that in the back parking lot of his club, resting against his Stingray with Cole’s limp, unmoving body in his hands. Five minutes, maybe. It could have been ten. The cold harshness of the air bit into Theo, but he only felt numb.

  The back parking lot of the club was only used for employees, Theo’s vehicle, and suppliers, so no one even stepped into the lot to see what had happened. No one knew a damned thing.

  Theo couldn’t breathe.

  Those bullets had clearly been meant for him.

  Don’t play with snakes, Skip.

  Theo’s head fell back to hit the driver’s door. “Snakes.”

  Snakes.

  Snakes. Evelina flashed into Theo’s memories. The day of her eighteenth party. The fight he’d had with Dino that Evelina walked in on.

  Dino’s voice was far louder, but a twenty-one-year-old Theo hadn’t been listening to his older brother way back then. By the time Theo had started listening to Dino, it was already too late. He’d let the snake in.

  Snakes like Joel Trentini will only bite you when you’re not looking.

  Because a man couldn’t expect to charm a snake without feeling the fangs, too.

  Cole had known who the snakes were. A street kid like Cole, despite being an Artino, had limited access to other families and their business. But Cole had known all the same who he should and shouldn’t be chumming with on the streets, because Theo wouldn’t let his business mingle with other families.

  Joel.

  The ringing buzz of the cell phone broke Theo from his daze. It’d been buzzing for a while, but he had mostly ignored whoever was calling so he could get his thoughts straight.

  Someone wanted to kill him. Someone had been wanting to kill him for a while. That someone was Joel, and Theo wasn’t surprised. Theo had been waiting for Joel to make his move, but he’d let his guard down over the last couple of weeks.

  The phone buzzed again. He reached for the phone and picked it up, pressing the wet device to his ear.

  “Yeah?” Theo asked, his throat feeling sore.

  “Oh, my God, Theo!”

  Lily’s frantic cry sliced straight through Theo’s middle. He’d never hung up her phone call. It was likely she heard everything.

  How long had his sister sat there listening, wondering if her brother was dead or not?

  “I’m okay,” Theo said quietly.

  “Good,” came a far darker, gruffer voice than his sister’s.

  “Damian?” Theo asked.

  “Yeah, Theo.” Damian barked something on the other end of the line before he came back to the call. “What happened?”

  Theo needed help. He didn’t have a lot of people he trusted to ask for it.

  “Theo?” Damian asked again.

  “Family first, right, D?”

  Damian blew a hard breath into the phone. “You know it. How long is it going to fucking take you to figure out you’ve always been family to me, Theo?”

  “Joel killed Dino.”

  “I know,” Damian murmured.

  Theo wasn’t even surprised that Ghost knew before him.

  “I think—no, I know he just tried to have someone cull me, too. He got my guy instead, thinking it was me. I don’t think the guy even knew the difference.”

  “Where are you?” Damian demanded.

  “Out back of the club.”

  “I’m coming. Don’t move.”

  “Don’t bring my sister,” Theo said.

  “I won’t. Get out of the fucking cold.”

  Theo swallowed back his rage and nerves. “Joel wants me dead, D.”

  “Correction, if he had someone go at you tonight, he already thinks you are dead.”

  “So?”

  “Family first, Theo.”

  “Yeah, I got that.” Theo heard the sound of car door slam before an engine was gunned. “So what does that got to do with Joel, D?”

  “We’re going to let him think it. And I’m going to make it happen.”

  Theo blinked up at the dark sky, confused. “DeLuca’s don’t hide.”

  “Vacation isn’t hiding, Theo. God knows you could use one.”

  “Sorry about your car and all,” Damian said.

  Theo scowled at the windshield. “I had that fucking thing since I was twenty, man.”

  “It’s just a car.”

  Theo drug the tip of his fingernail along the leather covered dashboard of Damian’s Porsche. It left an inch long scratch behind.

  “Stop it,” Damian growled.

  “Just a car, man.”

  Point made.

  “Yeah, but yours needed to go boom, Theo. I still want to drive mine.”

  “Still wanted to drive mine, too.”

  But now the Stingray was a pile of smouldering metal with a body that would look suspiciously like Theo’s for a while inside.

  “I gave you the choice on how to destroy it,” Damian said without a lick of emotion on his face.

  “Burning was the best choice. Evelina’s car got burned. Maybe people will stop blaming me for that shit if mine ends up burned, too.”

  “Like I said, you chose.”

  Speaking of Evelina …

  “I don’t trust your cousin,” Theo said.

  Damian eyed Theo from the driver’s seat. “Tommas, you mean.”

  “I don’t trust him.”

  “And why is that?”

  “He’s got motives and he’s not upfront with them. I don’t trust that nonsense from any man.”

  “We’ve all got motives, Theo.”

>   “Do you?” Theo asked.

  Damian straightened in his seat. “Listen, we’re talking about Tommas not me.”

  “You’re his cousin. Loyal to him like nobody else.”

  “Wrong. Dino came first, then Tommas, and then you. But really, I was loyal to any of you depending on who needed me the most at the time. A few months ago, it was Dino. Lately, it’s been Tommas. Tonight, it’s you.”

  Theo’s gaze narrowed. “Did you tell your cousin anything before you left the club?”

  “Not a word.”

  “On my sister’s life, D, say it.”

  “What are you, fucking five?”

  “Say it,” Theo growled.

  “On Lily’s life, man, I didn’t say a thing. What is all this nonsense with Tommas?”

  Theo ignored the question and asked one of his own. “Dino started all this shit, didn’t he?”

  Damian took a turn and replied, “Yes.”

  “Because of Ben.”

  “Partly, I think. I don’t know.”

  “Mostly because he wanted to feel better.”

  Damian quieted for a long while before he asked, “From all that shit that happened with Ben and you brothers when you were kids, right?”

  “Probably.”

  “Explains a lot of other shit, then.”

  “Like what?” Theo asked.

  “Like how he manipulated me into killing the boss. Terrance knew what Ben was like with you and Dino and he never did a damned thing.”

  “That was you, huh?”

  “And Ben’s death, too,” Damian said quietly. “Dino pulled the strings. I let him because I was being fucking stupid.”

  “And loyal.” Theo rubbed at the sudden ache in his wrist at the reminders of the abuse he and his brother had taken by their uncle and the men who turned cheek to it for years. “Riley knew, too.”

  Damian’s cheek twitched. “Riley more than just knew, didn’t he?”

  “Nearly killed me once.”

  “I’m sorry, man.”

  Theo waved the apology off. “Don’t be. I’m here. Most of them aren’t.”

  “Neither is Dino.”

  “Don’t turn into my therapist.”

  Damian cocked a brow. “Nice try, though.”

  “What?”

  “Deflecting me. What is it about Tommas that’s got you on edge?”

  “What do you know about Tommas, D?”

  “I know he’s got something he wants bad and can’t have right now. That can sometimes make for a dangerous man who is willing to do whatever he can to get what is his.”

  “Does that thing happen to be a female he shouldn’t be messing with?”

  Damian laughed loudly. “You know about Abriella, huh?”

  “I haven’t known for long.”

  “I have,” Damian admitted under his breath. “You didn’t answer my question, Theo.”

  Taking a breath to calm his restlessness, Theo spilled his fucking guts because he needed to. He had to tell someone about the shit he knew and the stuff he didn’t. Yeah, that meant outing his business with Evelina, and all the trouble that came along with it, but Theo figured maybe he’d finally get some answers.

  Theo started with the day he visited Karen and Evelina’s car was shot up, and ended his story with the week before at the Conti Christmas party. He didn’t leave out the fact he’d been called a sacrifice for the boss or how Tommas seemed close to Riley because of what Theo learned from Evelina.

  Nothing was off-limits. Damian stayed quiet and let Theo talk.

  “Eve?” Damian asked when Theo finished.

  “Was that all you heard in what I just said?”

  “Just didn’t think the girl was your type.”

  “What in the fuck is that supposed to mean, Damian?”

  “She’s friends with Lily, all right. Jesus. You’re not … messing with the girl’s head, right?”

  “No,” Theo said. “We’re not anything important.”

  “Yes, you are. You’re just like Tommas, Theo. You like to pretend because you don’t label something, it doesn’t exist. It fucking exists, man.”

  “You’re missing the whole goddamn point.”

  “No, I’m not.” Damian sighed and rubbed at his face with one hand, never taking his eyes off the road. “Tommas isn’t stupid, Theo. He knows Riley is fucking him left and right with Joel, as far as that goes. Just the fact Tommas openly told Evelina that their marriage won’t happen, and he only wants the idea of the engagement to be important says a hell of a lot. I didn’t know any of that shit. So is my cousin working his own angles? Probably. I don’t know what they are and I don’t like that you might be acting as someone else’s fall guy for the games those three men are playing.”

  “At least someone else sees it.”

  Rage danced on Damian’s features, but the man never admitted to his anger. Not out loud, anyway.

  “But which one is it, Theo? Which one is using you, huh?”

  Theo shrugged. “Joel seems like the obvious choice after tonight, doesn’t he?”

  “Yes.”

  “You don’t sound like you believe it, Damian.”

  “Because the obvious choice is usually the wrong one, Theo.”

  Yeah. It was.

  “And that leaves me with Tommas or Riley,” Damian added quieter.

  “I’m not asking you to—”

  “Shut up, man. You don’t have to ask. You don’t get it, Theo. It’s not about asking or anything. It’s Lily, all right. She hurts and she fucking worries. I can’t let her keep doing that.”

  Theo grew silent in the passenger seat. Damian said nothing for the next thirty minutes until he parked the Porsche in an airport terminal.

  “Do you have cash to carry you for a while?” Damian asked.

  “Cards.”

  “That isn’t going to work. I want nothing drawing back to your name except your ID. People aren’t going to look for that for a while.” Damian leaned over and popped open the glove compartment. He pulled out a black credit card with gold lettering and numbers. “Here. Doesn’t require ID. There’s no limit.”

  “I—”

  “Take the card or I’ll break your face. This isn’t a fucking democracy here, Theo. You don’t get a damned vote.”

  Theo took the card. “Thanks.”

  “Don’t use the regular cell number, either.”

  “I’ve got a backup.”

  “Text me from it,” Damian said.

  “All right.”

  “This isn’t running, Theo, but you can’t be here right now. Something isn’t right here. This is more than Joel. I need to know what it is, man. Lily can’t bury another brother. Don’t make her do that.”

  Theo forced back the pain settling in his middle. “I’ll stay away.”

  Damian nodded. “So … Eve, huh?”

  “She doesn’t know anything about me, D.”

  “But does she want to?”

  “I’m a selfish fucker.”

  “Why?” Damian asked.

  “Because I don’t think she would care if she knew it all, D. And that makes me want to tell her.”

  “You’ll figure out whether or not you’re willing to go there with her, Theo.”

  Theo scoffed. “I guess I’ve got time to think about it all now, huh?”

  “I guess so.”

  “By the way,” Theo added as he opened the passenger door.

  “What, man?”

  “Does the name Bell mean anything to you?”

  Damian’s hands clenched around the steering wheel. “Like the Belli family?”

  Belli.

  Jesus H. Christ.

  Why hadn’t Theo thought of that?

  “By the look on your face, I’d say it means something to you now.” Damian glanced at Theo. “What do I need to know about the name, Theo?”

  “At the restaurant when Laurent tried to shoot the boss and Abriella ended up taking a bullet to the back, wasn’t it Riley who sa
id Joel was messing around with Chloe Belli?”

  Damian nodded. “He did.”

  “Her father is one of Joel’s little rats, isn’t he?”

  “A snake is more like it.”

  “Cole recognized the guy who shot him. He said the man’s name was Bell.”

  Damian scowled. “Shit.”

  “What am I missing?” Theo asked.

  “Chloe has an older brother around Joel’s age. He does a lot of the dirty work when Joel doesn’t want people to know. Nate is the guy’s name, but he keeps a low profile. Like he doesn’t want to get his in to the Outfit or something, but he doesn’t mind doing business and all.”

  “So?”

  “I’m pretty sure he goes by Bell, Theo.”

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Something was wrong.

  Evelina knew it the moment Damian had skipped out of the club without a single word to anyone but his wife. It didn’t help Evelina’s worries when Lily continued to sit in a booth with her thumb between her teeth, and a phone in her hand.

  “There’s your father,” Tommas said quietly.

  Riley entered the club with two men in smart suits coming in behind him. Courtney hung onto Riley’s arm with her usual smile plastered on.

  “I’ll go greet him.” Tommas stepped away from Evelina side. “Why don’t you go talk with Lily? She looks terribly alone without Damian. I didn’t even see him leave.”

  “He must have gone to the bathroom,” Evelina lied.

  “Maybe. And I should go check on my mother. God knows Serena and a club never mix well.”

  Tommas left Evelina alone, and she didn’t mind. So far, their evening had consisted of greeting people and being polite as liquor started flowing. Evelina had never gotten along very well with drunk people unless she was one of them, too.

  “Hey,” Evelina said to Lily.

  Lily glanced up from her phone, concern lighting up her features. “Hey, Eve.”

  “Where did your husband go? I don’t think I’ve ever seen him leave you alone for more than five minutes.”

  “Uh … he just had to run out to get something I forgot.”

  Before Evelina could question her friend on the lie, Lily’s phone rang. Lily jumped in the booth and quickly answered the call.

  “Well?” Lily demanded.