Nero

by Angelique Jones

  …

  Two months later

  “Nero, we don’t have any choice but to take out the heads of the Salvatici family,” Matteo argued again.

  “Who can we use? It can’t be an open contract,” Nero asked, causing Matteo’s head to whip around in surprise.

  For the past few months, Nero had taken the hits and attacks from the Salvatici family. It went against his family’s interests, but he had held out hope that Angelica would intervene. She hadn’t. There was no choice anymore but to stop the war. The commission’s involvement had ensured that it came to a head. The Salvatici family was sure that his family was hiding Dominic, who had disappeared that day during the shootout. They had been attacking Nero’s businesses and taking Nero’s people, torturing them and then releasing them with the message to turn over Dominic ever since.

  Nero had kept his people in check, trying to hold off retaliation. He couldn’t any longer. The war between the Salvatici and Genovese families had gotten the attention of the commission—the leaders of their world. If this didn’t stop soon, both the Salvatici and Genovese families would be eliminated to protect the other families. The kind of press that their private war had attracted could have a rippling effect to all the families. Law enforcement agencies could only be paid to look the other way for so long. Eventually, they would have no choice but to intervene, or they too would be questioned.

  “There’s a pair of brothers from the north who specialize in jobs like this. They’re good. Discreet. They know how to do these things quietly and cleanly.”

  “Contact them and set up a meeting. If we do this, they’ll have to take out Angelica when they take out Lucca and his father.”

  “What about the other son, Nico?”

  “Yeah, him too.”

  “Nero, if you think that the kid—”

  “We can’t take any chances. This isn’t personal. It’s business. Our family comes first,” Nero said, cutting him off and meaning it.

  What he really felt about leaving Maria and Angelica’s kids with no male protection didn’t matter. This was about what was best for his family, and the best thing was to wipe out anyone who could seek retribution against the Genovese. The Salvatici s had left him with no choice. As he began going over the details with Matteo, Nero thought he saw a shadow by the door for a moment, but when he looked up, nothing was there.

  Chapter 20

  Is she dead? For days, that question had been running through Nero’s mind. How the fuck could she do this to me again?

  When he finally got the call from Tori telling him that she was at the Salvatici compound, Nero felt fear grip his heart. When she told them that she had gone there willingly, he wanted to reach through the phone and strangle her. As Tori pleaded with him to try and understand, Lucca Salvatici took the phone from her and gave him a time and a place to meet.

  Nero made a plan to be waiting there with his assassins and to finish the Salvatici s until Lucca called a second time with a second location—one that was to be kept secret. So here Nero was, taking a chance once again.

  As soon as the cars pulled up, Tori sprang from one and hurried over to him.

  “I’m going to lock you in your room and throw away the key if you ever do anything so foolish again,” Nero whispered hoarsely, pulling her into his arms and hugging her tightly before releasing her. As he moved her to his side, he looked up at Lucca and Antonio Salvatici. “Thank you for returning my sister to me.”

  “We have a debt to the girl. If she hadn’t done what she had, we never would have known that we had a traitor in our family, or that we had been manipulated,” Don Salvatici admitted. “I was wrong, and I say that I was wrong. I had already judged you based on my knowledge of your brother. I thought that your whole family was the same before I even met you.”

  This was as close to an apology as a man like him was going to give. Nero understood. “It’s over. Right now, we need to find and dispose of Caterina before she’s able to cause more havoc.”

  Don Salvatici nodded in agreement. “Have you come up with any leads as to her whereabouts?”

  “No. Caterina is good at covering her tracks.”

  “Then it’s hopeless,” Tori murmured.

  Nero read the meaning behind her words; she was thinking of Dominic. “No, not hopeless. Just difficult. As soon as Caterina realizes her plan has failed, she’ll strike fast and hard. We need to locate her before that happens.”

  Nero stopped speaking when Tori grabbed his arm. “Caterina is like Enzo!” she said excitedly.

  “I know, Tori.”

  She shook her head. “That’s not what I mean. I mean that she has the same desires as Enzo, making it impossible for her to stay away from a certain type of ‘entertainment.’ There can’t be that many clubs around that cater to her tastes.”

  Sympathetically, Nero coved her hand with his. “More than you can imagine.”

  “But it’s a place to start,” she suggested.

  “Won’t she just leave and try again later? It’s what I would do,” Lucca interjected.

  Nero shook his head. “She knows that both our families will be hunting her. If she runs now, she may never get the chance to strike at us again.”

  “How is she even surviving without Enzo’s funding? Where is her money coming from?” Tori wondered out loud.

  At her words, everything clicked into place for Nero.

  “She’s right!” Nero exclaimed. “Where is Caterina getting her money? I cut off all her income when I took over the family after Enzo’s death. Why the fuck didn’t I see it? Tori, you’re a genius.”

  “Why don’t you let the rest of us in on this?” Lucca snapped.

  “Caterina blew through our parents’ money years ago. Enzo supported her after that. That’s why she made her move to get rid of us—so she could get her claws into our money. She has to be running something that’s generating funds. We can narrow our search to enterprises that started running after Enzo’s death. It’ll probably be something fairly new to our areas of expertise. Something that she moved with her when she set up shop here. I’d figure about a year old or less,” Nero speculated, not willing to tell them about her ventures overseas.

  “It makes sense. The bitch would go with what she knows,” Lucca agreed. “But we know about the torture clubs. Do you think that she’d be stupid enough to set one up again?”

  “No, not sex clubs,” Nero replied slowly. “Not sex clubs—fight clubs. Underground fight clubs would generate the type of money that Caterina is looking for, and a champion fighter can generate a huge amount in and out of the ring. It’s perfect. She could easily move it between each of our cities to keep an eye on us, and no one would think twice about it.”

  “And the after-parties would be where she runs her girls. Even with the sick shit she would allow, no one would say anything. You’re right, it’s perfect,” Lucca agreed. He stared at Nero for a long moment. “I’d like Marcus and Chris to help search on your end, if you’re agreeable,” he said, ignoring the way the two men stiffened at their names.

  Even after all of this, it was clear Lucca still didn’t trust them.

  Nero was about to say something, but Chris beat him to it. “If you’ll have us, Nero, we’d like to go with you. If Dom’s still alive, we need to help find him. He’s family,” Chris finished, his barb at Lucca striking true.

  “But what about our other problems? The traitors in our families? Won’t they just inform her that we’re on to her? She’ll shut them down before we ever find them,” Tori said worriedly.

  “Why do you think there are so few of us at this meeting?” Lucca told her. “I contacted Nero after the initial call and changed the meet in secret, sending our men to the first meeting as a precaution. Each of us brought only our most trusted men with us.”

  Don Salvatici stepped forward and snapped his fingers for attention. “All right, children, we all know what we have to do. Caterina will already be suspicious when her moles repor
t that they were sent to the wrong meeting place. Hopefully this will cause our traitors to get sloppy so we can identify them, but we can’t bank on it. What we will have to do is hurry if we’re going to have any chance of catching her. Nero, contact us if you find anything, and we’ll do the same. The quicker this is finished, the safer both our families will be. Move quickly, but be careful who you trust,” he cautioned before he and Lucca left.

  Chapter 21

  Night after night they searched. They raided clubs, but they came no closer to finding Dominic. The Salvatici family had no better luck. Both families were on edge, waiting to see what Caterina would do next. Nero had turned his home into a fortress; Rose and Tori were not allowed to leave. Nero had no intention of allowing his sister to do anything else that might endanger her life or the family’s. No one was to be trusted.

  After spending another night searching the places where only the damned themselves frequented, the crew was tired. The ringing of the phone sounded loud in the early morning light, and it stopped all conversation.

  “Who is this?” Chris demanded harshly when he picked up. Watching his face, Nero saw the color drain from it. “Angie, is that you?” he asked.

  Sitting up straighter at the mention of her name, Nero tensed. Tightness filled Chris’s face. Moving over to the desk, he grabbed a piece of paper and began to scribble words before he said, “All right. I understand,” and set down the phone.

  Nero picked up the paper and read the names that Chris had written down. Three names. Three men trusted within his family. Three men who had been loyal to both him and Chris. Nero knew without being told what the three names represented.

  Nero growled at Tori, who had rushed in as the phone started to ring, without even looking up. “Get out.”

  But before she could leave, Chris spoke up. “Nero, once you take care of business, we have to leave. Tori has to come with us.”

  “No. My sister is not going with you,” Nero said sharply, without ever looking up from the list.

  “Yes, Nero, she is. Angie said to tell you that if you do not let Tori come with us, she will come here and take her. She said to remind you that ‘brutality in this world must be answered in kind.’”

  Crumpling the paper in his hand, Nero thought back to the dark day when she had first spoken those words. Knowing that he had no choice, Nero nodded once. A calm settled over him as he opened his desk drawer and took out a gun. The occupants of the room tensed as he stood with the gun in his hand, but they didn’t need to—they weren’t Nero’s targets.

  Walking into the kitchen, Nero saw men lounging around. When he saw the three named on the list, the other words that Angelica had said that day took on additional clarity.

  “Because it is not my place, Nero—it is yours. You will never truly lead your family until you show that you will allow no one to take it from you.”

  Raising his gun, Nero fired three shots. One for each of them. Alarmed voices filled the room as they fell to the ground. Walking to the table, Nero set the gun down and looked at the remaining men.

  “For those who think about betraying me, remember this well. Now clean this up—and be ready to leave within the hour,” he told them coldly.

  Respect filled the faces that he passed. It was as if they were finally seeing the true leader of the Genovese family.

  …

  The time had come, and the plan was simple. They were going to use Tori to get them in. While Nero hated that she had to be involved, he understood why. She was the only one who could get them past the guards—because Tori was the only one who could pretend that she was Caterina.

  Caterina was holding a large masked event that night, so they could easily blend in. Climbing over the wall of the compound, they quickly broke into teams. Matteo and one of Salvatici’s men were going to take out the guards along the walls so that others could get over while Lucca, Chris, Markus, Tori, and Nero went in to find Dominic and to make sure Caterina didn’t escape.

  They moved through the bushes, then froze when a guard stepped out of the shadows, gun drawn. “What do we have here?”

  Knowing that Tori was their only chance, Nero brushed his fingers against her hand.

  I could kill the fucker, but then we’ll take the chance of him being heard.

  Luckily, his touch seemed to unfreeze her. With a voice like a whip, she barked, “If you don’t get that fucking gun out of my face my guests are going to have a new toy to play with tonight!”

  It worked. The guard in front of them paled. When she lifted her mask and revealed her face, he almost dropped his gun. When he just stood there, staring at her, she growled, “Get back to work!” She pushed her way past him.

  At his hasty retreat, Nero leaned forward and whispered “Good girl!” in her ear before hurrying forward. As they stepped into the light, the first thing they saw was a roped-off area. People milled around, going in and out of the house, waiting for the fight to begin. The women glittered from head to toe, decked out for the occasion, while the men were all dressed in tuxes and dark masks that covered their eyes. Barely dressed girls with collars around their necks and vacant stares served food and drinks to guests who fondled them as they walked by.

  Positioning themselves at the back of the scene, Nero and his team discreetly moved in front of Tori. They didn’t want her to have to see what was going on. The others filled in the gaps until Tori was completely surrounded—and hidden from view. Stonily, Nero watched the degradation going on around them until he caught sight of Caterina. She was making her way to the front. She led Dominic by a leash.

  “Ladies and gentlemen, I hope that you have placed your bets. Our main event is about to begin. As always, tonight’s winner will be available to the highest bidder for your personal pleasure,” Caterina announced, earning chuckles from the crowd. The sound of shifting bodies grew loud as everyone craned to get a better view.

  Dominic was leaner and more muscular than before. Wicked scars covered his body, marking every moment of his captivity in a sort of timeline. Cruelty and cunning shadowed his features. He seemed more animal than man as he faced off against an opponent who looked to outweigh him by a hundred pounds.

  Clashing together in fury, the two men fought, each pounding blows into the other. Tension poured from Nero and the others as they were forced to hold themselves back and watch the bloodbath going on in front of them. Dominic seemed to be in control of the fight—his viciousness was born of not caring whether he lived or died. He pounded his opponent into the ground. The crowd chanted for him to finish it, but Dominic stepped back and away from the downed man.

  His disgust for the crowd’s bloodthirstiness was revealed in the sneer on his face. Caterina stared at him in obvious fury at his defiance. Two men moved forward with a collar and leash, ready to cage him—but he had other ideas. By the time they subdued him, he had killed at least one of Caterina’s lackeys and three more were on the ground. Instead of being angry, though, Caterina laughed. The crowd called out large numbers—they were willing to give a small fortune for a chance at a few hours alone with Dominic.

  Stonily, Nero watched as one woman dripping in jewels stepped forward and took Dominic’s leash. The winning bidder. Chained as he was, Dominic hobbled behind her and her entourage and into the house.

  “Nobody touch that sick fucking cunt—she’s mine,” Lucca snarled as he stepped forward, shaking off Nero’s restraining hand.

  “Lucca, we need to wait for our men,” Nero warned him. “We need to stick to the plan. You’re no help to Dominic dead,” he hissed, hoping that his words would get through to him.

  Lucca stood there with his fists clenched. He muttered through gritted teeth. “I’ll wait, but when the time comes I don’t give a fuck who it is—man or woman—no one involved leaves here alive. Now, let’s go. We need to get an idea of the layout of the house. Chris, you stay with Victoria. Keep her to the fringe of the group. When our guys come in, take her and go.”

  Nero co
uld tell Chris wasn’t happy with the order, but he agreed. Moving toward the house, the noises coming from within became clearer. “Depraved” was the kindest term that could be used to describe what was taking place. Nero hated leaving Tori, but he had no choice but to trust that Chris would keep her safe. Moving through the mass of monsters whipping, cutting, or fucking their prey, Nero scanned the room for Dominic or Caterina. Dominic was nowhere in sight, but he found Caterina easily.

  She stood in the middle of the room, dressed like a priestess of old. She carved into her human sacrifice, who hung by chained limbs that were splayed apart. Rapture filled her face as she worked. Those surrounding her looked on in awe at her masterpiece. Staring at her, Nero no longer saw his little sister but a monster. She was just like their father. She was just like Enzo. Angelica had told him that Juliet and Caterina were the greatest threats to his family, but he hadn’t believed her. Nero hadn’t believed that women could be as monstrous as their male counterparts. He hadn’t wanted to believe Angelica. But he saw now that Caterina was an abomination—something that was never meant to be. Nero accepted the truth now. Man or woman, it didn’t matter. Evil lived and flourished, when nurtured, in all forms.

  As Nero followed the others into a side hall, he was reminded of the mansion where they had rescued Maria. Its eerie, thick walls hid the horrors going on within. Splitting up, they started opening doors. Armed men met them behind each one. This approach was getting them nowhere.

  Motioning to Lucca and Marcus, Nero looked at the door in front of him. Pushing inside the room, Nero pulled out a gun and quickly took out one guard while Lucca and Marcus grabbed the other. It only took a few sharp questions to get him to tell them which room Dominic was in. After finishing him with one shot, Nero looked at Lucca. Nodding his head, he opened the door the guards had been in front of and disposed of the occupants on the other side. There was no mercy. They left the rooms just as quickly, closing the doors behind them.