by Bethany-Kris
Oh, she loved him and hated him for it.
Selfish man.
Alessa wouldn’t try to deny it made her even hotter. Except now she had to explain where it had went to Dean. She hoped her acting skills were up to the job.
Somehow, Alessa felt lighter with the ring gone. Adriano probably knew that, too.
Dammit.
She loved that man.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Adriano opened up the trunk of his Camaro and eyed the wrapped up form. Duct Tape covered the oblong shape in a spiral, insuring it would stay tucked in and not come apart once dumped. Six feet long and rolled in blankets and garbage bags, the shape of a body was unmistakeable. Thankfully, there was no smell to the corpse. Not yet, anyway.
“Ready, Skip?” Rickie asked.
It took Adriano longer than he was willing to admit before he realized Rickie was talking to him. Maybe because the whole Skip thing put Adriano on edge and he wasn’t accustomed to being graced with such a title.
Adriano nodded. “Yeah, let’s get this done and over with.”
Stones had already been added inside the blankets and clothing of the person within. When they dumped the body into the water, it would sink to the bottom and stay there until it decayed into nothing but bones. Wrapped up and sealed like it was, the weights couldn’t get out. Two holes at the top and bottom section of the form would let the gasses disperse without forcing the wrapping apart or sending the body floating to the top.
Adriano had done this more than once. In fact, the man inside the blankets and garbage bags had taught him all the tricks to keep a body hidden under water without it being noticed.
Kolin Bastoni.
Nothing about this was easy.
Kolin hadn’t even made it to the damn clinic after being shot in the back repeatedly when he tried to get Riley into the car. Adriano found it hard to believe that two weeks had passed since the incident. It still felt like yesterday to him.
Adriano thought the Capo deserved a proper funeral. The right kind of goodbye for a wise-guy of an older generation—one who had taught Adriano how to be a wise-guy in the new generation.
Riley disagreed.
Keeping Kolin’s unfortunate end a secret from everyone but the people who had been inside the car would mean speculation and assumptions could run wild. Riley wanted that sort of mess, just to see how Joel might react. Or rather, not react.
“Feet or head?” Rickie asked.
Adriano beat back his frown. “I’ll take the head.”
Just another job, Adriano reminded himself.
Heaving Kolin’s deadweight out of the car wasn’t much of an issue. As long as he didn’t think about what he was doing, Adriano was fine.
“Throw it out as far as you can on three,” Adriano said.
Rickie nodded. “All right. You count, Skip.”
“One, two …” Adriano swung the body outward with Rickie’s motion and said, “Three.”
The mass hit the water fifteen feet below with a loud splash. Adriano wasn’t worried about anyone hearing or noticing. This particular water had been on the Conti payroll for as long as he could remember.
“Did you hand over the cash when you came in?” Adriano asked, still staring down to make sure the figure was sinking.
It did. Slowly.
“Yeah,” Rickie confirmed.
“Good. Then I’ll see you later when I get to the warehouse.”
“Sure, Skip.”
Adriano swallowed hard and shoved his hands into his pockets, watching the murky water disguise and hide another death. Long after Rickie was gone, Adriano could still hear the guy’s words in the back of his mind.
Skip.
Skip, Skip, Skip.
Adriano had waited a long time to be called that.
He wasn’t sure if he was ready for it. He wasn’t sure if others were ready for it.
“I suppose you’re going to get your spot quicker than you thought,” Riley said.
Adriano stared at the body wrapped in black garbage bags inside the six foot long freezer. “What?”
Riley slammed the freezer lid down, hiding Kolin’s dead corpse. “The title to go along with the button, son.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I’m going to give you a pass on the distraction since it’s been a long day and all,” Riley murmured, turning to face his son. His father still wore the bullet proof vest that had saved his life during the shooting. Two bullets were lodged in the chest of the Kevlar. “But correct whatever issue you have and quickly, Adriano. There’s a whole crew of people you need to manage alone now that Kolin’s culled. We have to keep moving forward, don’t bother with what is behind. You get that?”
Adriano nodded. “Sure.”
“I think it sounds good. Youngest one in the family that I can remember.”
“Huh?” Adriano mumbled, still not able to shake off the fact that Riley had hid a family member’s body inside his freezer. “What, Dad?”
Riley sighed harshly. “Seriously, correct that shit, Adriano.”
“I will.”
“Good, because Capos don’t have time to sit around and sulk when someone gets whacked, son.”
Capo.
Well, damn.
Adriano blinked out of the memory, feeling much older than his twenty years. Inside his left pocket, he felt for an object that he’d been holding onto for a while. Pulling the diamond ring out that he’d slipped off Alessa’s finger when she’d been too distracted by him at the church, he eyed the piece.
Disgust.
That’s how he felt looking at it.
Entirely, completely disgusted.
Dean didn’t get to put a ring on Adriano’s woman. He sincerely hoped the fool didn’t give her any issues about losing it. Adriano would probably take the replacement, too.
With one more look at the piece of jewelry, Adriano tossed it into the water. It hit the water with a plop.
“Good fucking riddance.”
“Anyone talking?” Adriano asked.
Rickie scowled around the cigarette in his mouth. “A little.”
“About what?”
“You know what, the same shit. Kolin hasn’t been around and all that. I mean, I know why he isn’t around. Some of them suspect why he hasn’t been around. It makes for a bad crew, Skip.”
Adriano nodded and shoved his hands in his pockets. The best way to ward off someone’s concern was nonchalance. He wasn’t Kolin’s right-hand anymore. He was the crew—the head of the Conti show. A lot of the guys probably wondered about it all, but now it was just time to confirm it for real.
He had to put his game face on.
The mask.
Twenty-years-old …
A fucking kid to some people. That’s all he was.
People gave Theo DeLuca shit all the time for his age and the fact he was a second Capo to the DeLuca crew. So, how would people react to Adriano with his age?
Don’t give them a chance to.
Adriano could practically hear Kolin in the back of his mind.
It helped.
“There’s a little issue between Con’s guys and Steve’s,” Rickie informed. “Same shit, different week.”
Con was a man, a year older than Adriano, who had also been close to Kolin in his own way. Not as close or with as much control as Adriano had over the crew, but there had been a friendship between them nonetheless.
Problems could come from that.
“Thanks for the info,” Adriano said. “Go in, I’ll be there in a minute.”
Without a word, Rickie disappeared into the warehouse with a cigarette still in his mouth. Adriano reminded himself that this was just another step. One more thing to do. Three quarters of the men on the Conti crew were young like him and Rickie. Street guys, smart guys. Young guys. The other quarter were people of Kolin’s generation that mostly worked out of businesses and in other trades. They weren’t the ones Adriano had to concern hi
mself with as far as making his position as the Conti Capo clear.
They would pay their dues no matter who showed up to collect.
Stepping inside the warehouse, Adriano gazed over the men who had shown up. It wasn’t a required meeting for the crew, but he’d put word out and a great deal of the guys showed up. Thirty or more, anyway. Whoever hadn’t come would find out the suspicions about Kolin’s end and Adriano’s new position the next day.
Word traveled fast on the streets.
A few of the guys turned as Adriano approached, looking him over with wary eyes.
“Where is the Skip?” Con asked from the far corner.
“He won’t be coming tonight,” Adriano said.
Or any other night, he held back from adding.
Adriano passed the guys a look, noting the wariness they sported was beginning to churn with understanding. If a meeting of a crew was called, it was usually done by the Capo and he would be there.
Kolin wasn’t there.
Adriano was.
“Is there a problem?” Adriano asked calmly.
Going for his usual comfort of nonchalance, Adriano cocked a brow and rested his shoulder against a crate.
Con stepped forward. “Yeah, I came to talk to the Skip.”
Adriano nodded once. “You’re looking at him, so talk.”
Silence answered that back.
And then Con had to go and ruin it. “Kolin—”
“Is at the bottom of a river currently. It’s an unfortunate end for him, but that’s the nature of the Outfit. It’s a beast, man, what else do you want me to say?”
Anger and confusion slipped over Con’s features.
Con wasn’t made in the Outfit. He had no real claim or stake.
Adriano needed a sacrifice, something to mark his claim and make sure everybody knew he wasn’t fucking around when it came to his spot as a Capo. Kolin had always told him that violence should only be used to draw control when absolutely necessary. All other means were best used first.
That didn’t apply in situations like these.
Violence—this was how a Capo took his spot.
Simple.
Bloody.
Just like that.
“I asked if there was problem, Con?” Adriano asked.
Con’s gaze narrowed. “No, of course not.”
Adriano glanced to Rickie. “There’s a problem. Seems you’ve been causing Steve issues again. What’s that, the sixth complaint I’ve heard about that shit? There’s enough problems in the Outfit right now without my crew adding to it by fighting amongst themselves. So yeah, Con, we’ve got a fucking problem.”
Con opened his mouth to say something, but Adriano was already done talking.
Yanking the gun from the waistband of his pants where it was hidden by his jacket, Adriano cocked back the hammer and aimed. It wasn’t Con’s fault, not really. The little issue between the men could be solved with a few words or somebody’s ass getting kicked. Blood didn’t need to be spilled. But Adriano had to make a point. He wanted no trouble when it came to being the Capo for his crew. Con was a good one to use to make everything clear.
Nobody moved or said a word.
“I’ll answer to Skip or Capo,” Adriano said quietly. “I suggest no one forgets that in the future.”
Pulling the trigger back inside the warehouse was the best choice Adriano had.
That didn’t mean it was easy.
“Where in the hell are you?” Riley asked, his tone edging sharp like a razor.
“Working,” Adriano replied, never taking his eyes off the dark road in front of his parked vehicle. He flicked the lights off on the Camaro just to be safe. “Isn’t that what a Capo does, Dad? We fucking work. We go out and check up on shit. We keep up-to-date with the crew and then report back when there’s something to say. What more do you want from me?”
“Updates,” Riley barked.
Adriano rolled his eyes and palmed the tension headache starting to throb at the base of his skull. “The guys are nervous and twitchy. They’re working, but barely. Some think that the Trentini and DeLuca side of things might skip in on the streets and light someone or something up. They’ve got reasons to be worried.”
“No, they don’t,” Riley responded quietly. “No one is stupid enough to overthrow an already settled crew. Would they overthrow the leader of it and take over that way? Yes. But it’s not the same. You should be explaining that to them, Adriano.”
Adriano should do a lot of things.
Like hang the fuck up on his father, for one.
“You’re the one who wanted to disappear for a couple of weeks, Dad. Back off. If you’re ready to step back out and say everything is okay and good, then do so.”
“Not yet. I’m waiting on Joel.”
“Waiting on him to do what, Dad?”
Riley chuckled. “Patience gets a man everywhere.”
Adriano always thought men like them took what they wanted, when they wanted it. Mostly, he was just tired of the runaround he was getting from his father on a lot of things. Like dealing with the Artino assholes.
“Did you get the other job done tonight?” Riley asked.
Kolin, he meant.
They always used burner phones, but breaking the habit of talking vaguely or just in circles was hard to break.
“Swimming with the fish,” Adriano confirmed.
“Thank you. Stop by tomorrow and we’ll discuss some things.”
“Like what?”
“Whatever I want, Adriano. Tomorrow.”
Riley hung up the phone before Adriano could get another word in edgewise. Adriano didn’t mind, really. Checking his phone, Adriano noticed a text had come in while he was talking with his father.
Two minutes, it read.
Adriano grinned, and hit the gas, moving his car further down the dark road with his lights still turned off. The glow of the moon was enough to see where he needed to go. Up ahead, he watched a tiny figure step out of the treeline. If someone followed that trail in the woods, it would lead straight to the back property of the Trentini estate.
Hitting the brake, Adriano leaned over and pushed the passenger door open. Alessa tossed her messenger bag inside first before climbing inside herself. Her sweet grin was the only fucking thing Adriano had wanted to see for the last week.
The quick meeting at the church hadn’t been nearly enough.
He’d texted Alessa earlier, just wanting to check up on her. She’d followed it up with a demand for Adriano to come get her for the night. It was stupid—way too reckless. He didn’t say no. But they were the only thing he knew how to save in this mess. When everyone else was picking up the ruined pieces of what was left, Adriano and Alessa would be okay. More than okay, even.
Somehow.
“What makes tonight a fine night to sneak out, Lissa?” Adriano asked.
“Joel is out for the night. Somewhere, I don’t know.”
“Don’t you think it’d be important to?”
Alessa laughed. “I don’t even care.”
Maybe she didn’t.
Adriano wasn’t going to complain.
“Eve is staying at my place,” Adriano said.
“I already knew that.”
Adriano chuckled. “Then you know to keep it down to a dull roar.”
“Oh?”
“I have time to make up for,” he explained.
“What are you waiting for?” Alessa asked as she closed the door.
“You,” Adriano murmured.
Alessa smiled wider. “I’m here.”
“Yeah, but I’m always waiting on you for one thing or another. I don’t mind.”
Something woke Adriano from the dead sleep he was in. Nothing in his apartment had made a sound, and Alessa’s rhythmic breathing at his side said she was still sleeping soundly. But the oddest sensation crawled over Adriano’s spine, like someone was watching him.
Sliding his hand under the pillow, he grabbed the magnum that
was always there. Turning fast in the bed, he cocked the hammer back and aimed. The barrel of his gun pointed directly at the chest of Damian Rossi.
Adriano felt his heart clench painfully at the sight of Damian’s gun aimed and ready, pointing straight at a sleeping Alessa.
There was a reason why people called this man Ghost, after all. Adriano’s apartment was as safe as it would ever be, but Damian had his ways. This did not make for a good situation. As far as Adriano understood it, Damian only showed himself during a job if he didn’t plan on the victim seeing him leave.
“Evening,” Damian greeted almost soundlessly.
Adriano’s mouth was dry as he replied, “I’d say it’s early morning.”
“Getting there.” Damian looked over the couple and the messy sheets. Adriano shifted in the bed and tugged the sheet a little higher over Alessa’s naked shoulders. “This is an interesting sight.”
“Is it?”
“Very. Doesn’t she have her own bed to sleep in?” Damian asked, watching Alessa closely.
Jealousy burned white-hot through Adriano.
“Don’t you have your own wife to stare at?”
“Touché.” Damian chuckled lowly. “Adriano, I have very little interest in your girl here, trust that. I’m happily married, remember? But if the Trentini girl puts you on a steeper edge while we chat, I certainly don’t mind using it to my advantage and making you uncomfortable.”
“Is that so?” Adriano asked.
“Fear often has a way of dragging out the truth where it might not otherwise be offered.”
Adriano’s jaw clenched. “Then why are you here?”
Damian smiled grimly. “We need to have a little chat.”
“Oh?”
“Yes.” Nodding at the gun in Adriano’s hand, Damian said, “Put it back where you found it, please.”
“Like fuck.”
Damian cocked the hammer back on his gun. Alessa shifted at the loud clack. Cringing, Adriano quickly stuffed his magnum back under the pillow as quietly and with as little movement as possible.
“Happy?” he asked the hitman.
Damian shrugged. “We’ll see how this discussion goes.”
“Perfect.”
