Barresi: Emily Trilogy: A New Orleans Mafia Romance

by Lux Miller

  He nods and leans down to me, kissing me nervously. It shakes me to my core that his confidence is shaken. Is he that worried that the prosecution has something on him? Or is he rattled by something else? Whatever it is, something is bothering him, but he’s about as forthcoming about it as he is about anything else that concerns business matters. Which means not at all.

  I don’t deepen the kiss because something about his mood has me completely unsettled. I pull away from him and look up at his face. There is worry etched all over his face and his eyes are dark. I pat his cheek with my hand and offer him a genuine smile, “Look, Luca… without me, they have nothing on you. And what little else they have is what they think Dante saw. Dante would rather go to prison than to incriminate you.”

  Dante nods, dipping his head in a bow of reverence. As he looks up at Luca, he claps his fist across his chest and nods, his eyes meeting Luca’s. “Mauricio and Tony received subpoenas too, but they’ll take their secrets to the grave before they crack.”

  I nod and squeeze Luca’s left hand with my right, brushing my fingers over his wedding ring. I can’t help but smile, knowing that even though it’s just for looks right now, Luca’s proclaiming to the world that he’s off the market. Hopefully, once he’s cleared and we’re free to live our lives, I can convince him to consider this marriage fully binding.

  I lean down and press my lips softly to his ring, then look up at him, my eyes blazing with raw truth. “All of us will, Luca. I will never incriminate you when I fail to see where a crime has been committed, so if you go down, I go down with you. The truth be damned, justice has already been served.”

  Luca groans softly and tugs me against him, capturing my lips in a passionate kiss that seems inappropriate out here on the steps of the courthouse. If we weren’t pressed for time, I don’t think I’d care, though. As it stands, we’ve got half an hour before Luca is due in court and we still have to make it through security. I put both of my hands on his chest and push at him until he breaks his lips from mine with a grunt of complaint.

  “Luca, security might take ages, especially with all things considered…”

  Luca nods, then narrows his eyes at me. “You do realize I left my arsenal of weapons at home, right?”

  I narrow my eyes right back. “You really expect me to believe that you, the mafia underboss of New Oreleans, are completely and utterly unarmed and at the mercy of any vigilante who may try to execute what they think is justice?”

  Luca’s cheeks flush with color and I know that I’m right. He may not be traditionally armed, but it would be suicide for him to go anywhere in public and not be prepared for the inevitable. I punch him in the shoulder good-naturedly and he just shrugs. “I’m prepared, okay? That’s all you need to know. If you don’t know, then your silence cannot be taken as defiance.”

  I wrinkle my nose, but nod, sliding my hand into his. “Come on, let’s go earn your freedom. If only the world knew of Andre’s crimes, you’d be considered a hero for what happened. You’re certainly my hero.”

  Luca leans down over me and kisses the top of my head as we walk to the front doors of the courthouse. He lets go of me and I step through the metal detector, then stand aside as he walks through. My heart lurches into my chest as the metal detector flashes and makes the most horrifying buzzer sound I’ve ever heard.

  The guard manning the security checkpoint pulls out a handheld wand and tracks it over Luca. It clears his entire body with nary a beep until he scans over his ankle. Luca lifts up his pants’ leg with a smirk and the guard confirms that it is indeed his electronic ankle monitoring bracelet that is setting off the alarms and passes Luca through.

  We part ways as he approaches his attorney and hands over a thick file of papers. I have no idea what’s in those papers, but I know with absolute certainty that one of the dozens of papers in that file is going to be the marriage license that precludes me from being forced to testify against my husband in a court of law.

  I turn and see that Dante has also cleared the security checkpoint, so I walk over to him and nudge him with my shoulder. “You’ve been kinda quiet lately. Is something going on with you?”

  Dante narrows his eyes at me, but doesn’t answer. His body language is stiff, but his eyes are a bright and piercing green that is unnerving.

  “You know you can’t keep anything from me forever. You’re going to end up saying something and your secret will be revealed. It’s only a matter of time. And my guess would be sooner rather than later. I don’t know what your angle is, but I know there’s a girl.”

  Dante flinches, but quickly wipes all expression from his face. Not nearly quickly enough, though, because I catch his instant change in demeanor. I know I’m right, but standing in the atrium of the courthouse isn’t the place to grill him, so I let it go. Instead, I focus my attention to his pocket and lower my voice to an almost-inaudible level.

  “So tell me how the two of you did it. I know you’re both armed, likely heavily, yet neither of you set anything off or even raised suspicions. You’re mafia soldiers… well-known mafia soldiers, in fact… and Luca is the Don’s right-hand man. Some would argue that Luca is already the Don himself due to your grandfather’s failing health. How on Earth were the two of you not searched more heavily?”

  He shrugs with a smirk. “Even within the justice system, money talks, sister. We have nothing on our person that would set off the metal detector, so we are able to pass without further suspicion. At least, once Luca gets that gaudy hunk of junk off his ankle. It’s not like it’s working correctly, anyway. If it was, his ass would have been thrown back in jail more than once already.”

  I gasp and look up at Dante. “Wait, what?”

  Dante smirks, his mouth curling up into a devilish grin that makes him look like the Cheshire Cat. “Emily, you must know there’s no way in hell that Luca stayed within the outlines boundaries set forth in his bond. He’s too important to the business to be locked down to a ten-mile radius of the house. Hell, even the family house is further away than that. Whoever set those terms knew what they were trying to do, but they didn’t realize exactly who they were dealing with here. We have a man on our payroll for everything. It’d only make sense to have at least one who can circumnavigate decades-old technology that is hardly even relevant still in this digital age.”

  I nod, understanding exactly what happened. It doesn’t take a criminal mastermind to tinker with the aging technology that the New Orleans Police Department still insists on using. Any two-bit street thief could disarm it, but it would take someone well-versed in electronic sabotage to effectively disarm it and not get caught.

  Seeing as Luca is still a free man, for the moment at least, he hasn’t been caught messing with the technology. I look up from Dante to watch as three heavily armed officers approach Luca, one of whom is swirling a ring of keys around his finger. I recognize him instantly as the redheaded cop who seems to have a vendetta against Luca.

  “Great,” I mutter out loud, “...officer Hothead is removing his ankle bracelet? He’ll do just about anything to get Luca canned in the slammer.”

  Dante shrugs as he slides his hand onto the small of my back and directs me across the atrium to the main courtroom where Luca’s discovery trial is being held. “Don’t worry yourself over it Everyone can be bought. We all have a history that haunts us. One just has to find the right price to convince someone that a cause is worthwhile. Don’t hate Rossi too much. I mean, I do, but the two of us have a long and complicated history that I don’t have the time to explain.”

  I sneer in the redhead’s direction and he catches my gaze. He raises an eyebrow in amusement as he stands up, holding the electronic monitoring device in his hand. He turns away from me and grabs hold of Luca’s arm, pulling him to another set of doorways.

  Dante lowers his voice. “Come on, we don’t want to be late. I want us to have the best seat in the house for when you drop the bomb on the judge and the prosecution that their star w
itness refuses to testify because she’s been corrupted utterly. That toupee-wearing, sorry excuse for a prosecutor is literally going to shit himself when he finds out that his crutch… the backbone upon which his entire case lies… is the defendant’s wife…”

  TEN

  It feels like it’s been hours of back and forth between the prosecution and the defense attorney that Luca hired. He’s definitely not a public defender, and it shows. I’ve no idea what kind of retainer Luca paid for this guy, but so far, it appears to be money well-spent. Every shred of evidence that the prosecution attempts to submit into the trial, he questions with such fervor that the prosecutor is sweating bullets. As he steps up to the bench to address the judge, I can see that his grey suit is soaked through with sweat, and from here, it looks like his toupee is crooked on his head.

  The prosecutor turns away from the judge and announces loudly, “The prosecution would like to call Emily Clark to the stand for testimony related to the night of Andre Norris’s disappearance.”

  Luca swivels in his chair and glances over his shoulder at me, a nervous smile on his face, and he fidgets his hands together. I can’t help but smile when I notice that he’s playing with his wedding ring, using the fingers from his right hand to twist the band of metal around his ring finger.

  I stand up and inhale deeply as the judge looks at me with piqued interest. “Miss Clark, if you would, please approach the bench to be sworn in.” I open my mouth to protest, but Luca’s attorney beats me to the punch. “Your honor, Miss Clark would like to invoke her right not to testify.”

  The prosecutor whirls around, his eyes wild as he stares at me like a starved lion looking at juicy steak. It makes me nervous the way he’s eyeing me, and I recognize the feral look on his face. He’s on the verge of losing what little composure he has left. His voice is shrill as he squeals, “On what grounds?!?”

  The judge clears his throat. “That is my line, Mr. Thomason, but… as it stands, I also would like to know on what grounds Miss Clark believes she does’t have to testify in the pursuit of justice against Mr. Barresi?”

  Luca’s attorney turns to me and nods with an encouraging smile. I swallow down the lump in my throat and look at the judge, trying not to choke on my words. “Spousal privilege, sir.”

  The judge sits up a bit straighter in his chair as he looks at me with one eyebrow raised. “What did you say?”

  I wring my hands together nervously as I look at Luca, then back at the judge. Clearing my throat, I stand up straighter and puff my chest out in a show of confidence that I hope is convincing, “I’m invoking my right of spousal privilege, your honor.”

  The prosecutor whips around so fast that it takes all of my willpower not to laugh when his toupee sadly doesn’t follow. It hangs limply off the side of his head as he stares at me wide-eyed, his voice shrieking with surprise, “What?!?”

  The judge isn’t very subtle as he brings one hand up to stroke his chin whiskers, a look of amusement on his face. He nods slowly, then replies, “I see. And this spousal privilege you’re claiming, do you understand the parameters of what it protects?”

  I nod, keeping my eyes locked on the judge’s as I respond, “Yes, your honor. It means that I cannot be compelled to testify against my husband on the grounds of spousal privilege, meaning that anything he’s told me in the privacy of our union is not admissible in court unless I choose to testify against him. Which, for the record, I do not wish to do.”

  The prosecutor drops half of his papers as he shuffles through them wildly. “Your honor, Luca Barresi is not married! This is a farce! They’re trying to make a mockery of your courtroom!”

  Luca’s attorney clears his throat loudly as he pulls a handful of papers from his file. He motions to the bailiff standing beside the judge’s bench. “I’d like to provide all necessary documents that show that my client is, in fact, married legally according to all statutes set forth by both the state of Louisiana and the parish of Orleans. You’ll find all the necessary proof here, your honor. Lucario Barresi and Emily Clark are husband and wife, thereby precluding her from being compelled to testify. She would furthermore like to invoke her own Fifth Amendment right, so that the prosecution cannot call her to the witness stand to incriminate herself.”

  The judge’s eyebrows knit together above his eyes, then relax as he looks at me. “Is this true, Miss Clark?”

  I nod, nervously brushing my fingertips over my wedding ring. I can feel all the eyes in the courtroom on me, and I have to slow my breathing so that I don’t have a panic attack. Despite Royce’s desire to dress me in something that would be the talk of the town, he wisely followed the sage advice of Luca’s attorney. As such, he chose an impeccably tailored skirt-suit in a flattering shade of demure brown. It hugs my curves gently in a sixth-grade teacher kind of way. As I catch my breath, I nod without taking my eyes off of the judge, “Yes, your Honor. Luca is my husband, and I am his wife.”

  The prosecutor stomps his foot on the ground as he wags his finger at me, then at Luca. “Your honor, Mr. Barresi was not married at the time of his arrest. His intake paperwork mentions nothing of being married. It’s right here in black and white!”

  Luca looks up at the judge and speaks stoically, “Your Honor, if I may?’

  The judge nods at Luca, “Go ahead Mr. Barresi. I assume you’ve a valid explanation for the discrepancy in your paperwork?”

  Luca nods again, “Yes, your honor. At the time of my arrest, mine and Emily’s marriage license was pending approval. That approval wasn’t granted until after my arrest. As you will see, my release paperwork indicates my marital status as married at the time of my release, at which time we fulfilled all obligations to make our marriage legally binding, including the performance of a civil ceremony and the consummation of the marriage.”

  Luca glances over at the prosecutor, who is fuming. The prosecutor slams his paperwork down onto the desk that he has yet to sit behind and wheels around to stare at Dante. “Fine. You may have found a loophole to get around making her testify, but you can’t protect him.” The prosecutor wags a finger at Dante, then turns to the judge. “Since Miss Clark refuses to testify, the prosecution would like to call Dante Barresi to the stand.”

  I hear several gasps in the rows of pews behind us as Dante stands tall beside me. I shrink away from the attention and quickly sit back down next to him, breathing a sigh of relief that I seem to have dodged the bullet. Dante bows gracefully, then shimmies out of the pew to approach the bench.

  The prosecutor looks relieved that Dante has taken his place on the witness stand. I watch Dante curiously as he recites his oath to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. I smile in amusement as he performs the sign of the cross, and I know that he’s about to do something that’s going to blow the lid off things.

  Dante looks at his brother, then at the judge and states matter-of-factly, before he sits down, “I would like to invoke my Fifth Amendment right.”

  The prosecutor’s smug grin dissolves instantly as he screeches, “What?!? You can’t do that! You were there! You saw Luca Barresi murder Andre Norris!” The prosecutor slams his hand down on the desk and his papers flutter everywhere, scattering across the floor.

  Dante glances at the judge, then back at the prosecutor, and finally at Luca’s attorney who smiles and announces, “Mr. Barresi is not required by law to incriminate himself in criminal proceedings. As such, unless you have questions for Mr. Barresi regarding matters aside from the night in question, then I would request Mr. Barresi be allowed to step down from the witness stand.”

  The prosecutor grunts, clearly surprised by the sudden turn of events. “Fine, the prosecution calls Mauricio Moretti to the stand.”

  I turn and glance over my shoulder as one of the armed guards from the night at Piacere steps forward. He looks as sinister now as he did then, but as he passes me on his way to the front of the courtroom, he curtly bows his head in my direction. He stops before he reaches
the witness stand and looks up at the judge, “With all due respect, your honor, I’ll be invoking my Fifth Amendment rights as well.”

  The judge’s face cracks a small smile as a garbled sound comes from the direction of the prosecutor. He huffs loudly as the judge motions for Mauricio to return to his seat. The prosecutor is practically feral as he snarls, “Prosecution would like to call Tony Amendola to the witness stand.”

  Tony stands, but doesn’t step out of the pew as the judge looks at him. “Will you be invoking your Fifth Amendment rights as well?”

  Tony nods, his gaza locked on the judge, “Yes, your honor.”

  The judge claps his hands together once and stares down at the prosecutor, “Counselor. It appears that your witnesses are either unable or unwilling to testify about what happened at Piacere on the night that Andre Norris went missing. As you’ve submitted nothing more than circumstantial evidence to link Mr. Barresi to the scene of the crime, unless you have another witness that’s willing to testify, then I’m going to have to find in favor of insufficient evidence to proceed to trial. Let it be known that case number 43819, The State of Louisiana vs Luca Barresi, is dismissed.”