Shadow Flight

by Christine Feehan

  Nicoletta nodded, coming around to seat herself beside him. Taviano immediately took her hand and pressed her palm to his thigh.

  “Yes, I was wearing only Taviano’s shirt, so I really needed them.”

  Taviano was proud of the fact that she didn’t sound nervous. She seemed confident, a hostess in her own home. He liked that.

  Velia smiled, looking somewhat amused. “I’ll bet you had to roll the pants up in order to walk in them.”

  Nicoletta laughed. “That’s true. You are a bit taller. Otherwise, everything fit nicely.”

  “I love the house, Taviano,” Velia said. “It’s different, but beautiful.”

  “I’m not someone who wants to live in a city,” he admitted. “Fortunately, Nicoletta doesn’t mind escaping from all the noise and lights with me.”

  “Let’s get down to business,” Severino said abruptly.

  Velia heaved a sigh. “Seriously, Sev, you have to develop some kind of skills with people or you’ll never find a woman to put up with you. This is called being civil. We’re exchanging niceties.”

  Marzio might have snickered. Stefano hid a smirk behind his hand.

  “Well, exchange them another time,” Severino snapped, glaring at his sister.

  She wasn’t in the least bit fazed. “Nicoletta will think you’re scary when you’re really a teddy bear.” She blew her brother a kiss.

  He sent her a smoldering look, but Taviano could see that his dark eyes had softened when they rested on his sister.

  “There appears to be a rift happening in the Demons with the leadership of the Valdez brothers,” Marzio explained when Severino nodded to him. “We have their main meeting house in LA wired, and we’ve picked up some interesting conversations. Tonio Valdez is president in LA, but he answers to Benito, just as all the brothers do. The brothers all have their own territories that they’ve worked hard at building up. It seems that every time they get ahead, making money for their own locals, Benito takes it. He says it is his due as the president of the Demons.”

  Nicoletta inadvertently dug her fingers into Taviano’s leg every time Valdez was mentioned. He felt the tremor run through her body. He knew she was afraid of the brutish leader of the Demons. There was no way to prevent her from feeling that same terror she had felt when she was a teen and the president of the Demons was determined to have her as his “wife.”

  “Nicoletta disappeared from the apartment, and the Demons had it completely surrounded,” Stefano said. “Benito had been watching to make certain she didn’t try to run from her step-uncles and him, so no one ever saw anyone going into the building or leaving it. No cameras or cells picked up anyone coming or going, yet all three of the Gomez brothers were dead from broken necks, and Nicoletta vanished. That left an impression.”

  “Yes, it did,” Marzio agreed. “So, you can imagine what kind of craziness erupted when the same thing happened in LA, with Jorge running back to the warehouse and reporting that Armando Lupez, the man Benito sent out from New York and Tonio so graciously got tickets to the Kain Diakos concert for, was dead of a broken neck along with a member from LA.”

  Taviano felt the little shiver that went through Nicoletta’s body. He didn’t want to call attention to her, but he shifted just a little to put his body between her and his cousins.

  “Then the news came in about the warehouse,” Marzio continued. “Everyone dead, no Clariss and no explanation of what happened. No Nicoletta to hand over to Benito. The police never found a single body in the hotel where Jorge had claimed the others were killed. Now Jorge was dead in the warehouse as well. Tonio was going to have to tell his brother, and he knew Benito was going to be royally pissed and out for blood.”

  Stefano met Taviano’s eyes. They had feared all along that Benito’s brothers would be a problem.

  “Tonio seems to be the driving force behind a revolt he and his brothers have planned against Benito,” Marzio went on. “Benito’s leadership has suffered, in their opinion, ever since he got out of prison and then lost Nicoletta. He became obsessed with her, with finding out what happened to her and with getting her back.”

  “What exactly is the revolt against Benito?” Nicoletta asked. “He’s a very vindictive man and wouldn’t hesitate for a minute killing his brothers and their families if they have them.”

  “They don’t appear to have families at this time,” Severino said. “We checked. None of the brothers have indicated in any way that they are in opposition to Benito. In fact, they all sent men to support him getting you back. It’s just that the men they sent were their fuckups. The ones they have the most trouble with. It was discussed ahead of time which ones they didn’t mind losing. Those they thought would be loyal to Benito no matter what. Those were the ones sent to aid him.”

  “What are the brothers planning?” There was apprehension in Nicoletta’s voice.

  Taviano wrapped his arm around her and pulled her beneath his shoulder.

  “They don’t want anything to do with Nicoletta,” Severino said. His voice was grim. “It seems that Tonio has much grander ideas. He believes that Benito was stupidly wasting his time on a whore with no money. What could she bring to them? Nothing but trouble. Benito was making money the hard way. Tonio, it seems, likes to look at magazines. He sends them to his brothers and circles all the photographs of what he calls the ‘useless’ celebrities. The ones with far too much money and nothing to spend it on but toys.”

  Stefano and Taviano exchanged a long, puzzled look. Taviano shook his head. “What does that mean?”

  “They watch reality television and the high life of the ‘useless’ celebrities,” Marzio said. “Tonio has convinced his other brothers that they can make a far better living that way rather than running after someone like Nicoletta. You may not know this, Velia, but women with too much money like men from gangs. It’s thrilling to bang men like them. Tonio thinks he’s in the right place to get a deal for a reality show. They can make all kinds of money that way and put him in the path of the right kinds of bitches so they can have the kinds of toys where they can really have power. Not the kind of penny-ante shit Benito is into.”

  “He wants a reality show?” Taviano echoed, shocked. Disbelieving.

  Severino nodded slowly.

  Stefano laughed. “He’d probably get one, too.”

  “We could make it happen,” Severino said. “Or at least begin negotiations with him and distract him from what’s happening with his brother.”

  “All of his brothers want Benito gone,” Marzio added. “His brother Thiago, president of the New Jersey Demons, is so sick of him insisting they take the fall for him and go to prison so he doesn’t have to when he screws up, which he does more and more because he’s drinking all the time now. Joaquin in Oklahoma City feels the same way. He told Tonio that he’s just about had it with Benito’s drinking, and he’s not taking the fall for him.”

  “And there’s Leonardo from St. Louis,” Severino continued. “I think he despises big brother more than any of them. Benito took a couple of the women Leonardo’s crew had, and Leonardo couldn’t stop him without getting into it with his brother, and he wasn’t strong enough at the time to oppose him. That made him look weak in his crew’s eyes. They lost their women, and he lost their respect. He’s since got it back, but that really tainted his view of his brother.”

  “Not a lot of love for Benito,” Stefano said.

  “There’s a good reason,” Nicoletta agreed. “He’s a horrible man. Those women he took from St. Louis, where they were probably treated halfway decent, he most likely used in his trafficking ring. He didn’t want them for anything but to prove to his brother and everyone else that he could take them. He pours favors on those who help him and utterly wipes out those who resist him. He rules with fear.”

  “Tonio lost some of the men he considers screwups,” Marzio continued his report. �
�He didn’t much care about them. And he was very happy that Benito’s men were killed and couldn’t tattle to big brother. He’s handpicked the contingency he’s sending to aid Benito. They’re all men he doesn’t trust. He figures they’re all in Benito’s pocket and have been paid to spy on him.”

  “Is he paranoid?” Stefano asked.

  “I think he’s a smart man in a lot of ways,” Severino said. “And seriously, he may be onto something with this nonsense about a reality show. I can have our people reach out to him, Stefano, if you think it will distract him at the right time. He’s running drugs and guns so he has a lot to lose if he doesn’t juggle everything just right, because he could incriminate himself with cameras running all the time. I don’t think he knows what reality television is.”

  “I hate to put him in a position of furthering his goals of meeting silly women who might do exactly what he wants them to do. That could turn out badly.”

  “I agree,” Severino said, “but if we keep an eye on them, we could stop them before they get too far.”

  Stefano drummed his fingers on the arm of his chair. “Something this big, Severino, we usually talk about and put to a vote. What do your brothers and Velia think?”

  “We just gathered the information and came to you.”

  “How soon can we expect the Demons in LA to make their move?”

  “You don’t have to worry about that. Giovanni is there with Maximino, Remigio, and Vico. They’ll handle them, no problem,” Severino said with confidence.

  Taviano knew his other three cousins fairly well. Maximino was lightning fast when it came to handling any kind of weapon or working with his hands or feet. Taviano had trained with him often, both benefiting and improving their speeds.

  Remigio was direct and to the point, all business when it came to work. He was quiet, had a soft touch and was in and out before anyone knew he was close by. He had trained in France with the Archambault family, just as Stefano and Severino had, and it showed in his direct, lethal style of fighting. He was very proficient with weapons but excelled with any kind of stick or cane.

  Vico, like Ricco, had trained in Japan, and he was a mixture of both Ricco and Remigio. He had a grace and smoothness about him when he moved or worked. Taviano liked all of his cousins, but more, he respected them.

  Severino’s voice held absolute confidence when he said they would be able to handle those coming toward Chicago, and Taviano had that same confidence in his cousins and Giovanni. It didn’t matter how many men Tonio had chosen to send after Nicoletta, they would be disposed of in the same manner as the other Ferraros had taken care of the Demons coming to their territory to aid Benito in taking her from Taviano.

  “How’s Francesca doing?” Velia asked. “Giovanni told me she wants to have another baby. That would be wonderful, Stefano.”

  Taviano kept his face expressionless but couldn’t help the glance he threw at his brother. No way in hell had Giovanni disclosed that information. Velia had to have inquired in such a way that his brother had no choice but to answer her. Francesca did want another child, but she’d had trouble before, during and after she’d had Crispino.

  Stefano’s expression was pure stone. “Francesca had three miscarriages prior to carrying Crispino. During her pregnancy she was quite ill, and when she had him, she lost a great deal of blood.”

  “Does the doctor think she can successfully carry again?” Velia persisted.

  Taviano had been there the night Francesca had gone into labor. They all had. Stefano had been with her right up until the time she’d begun to hemorrhage, and she’d had a seizure. He’d been ordered from the room while they did emergency surgery. Taviano would never forget the look on his brother’s face. So lost. Completely and utterly lost.

  There was a small silence. Taviano glanced warily at his brother. Nicoletta tightened her fingers in his. They both knew this was an ongoing argument between Stefano and Francesca. She wanted to try again. Stefano wasn’t certain he wanted to try. The losses had been hard on both of them. The ordeal of Crispino’s birth had been very traumatic on Stefano. He had faced losing Francesca and didn’t want to go there again no matter what the doctors told them.

  “He does, yes. She carried Crispino, so yes,” Stefano admitted finally after another small silence. “But she did have complications giving birth.”

  Velia pulled back, genuinely upset. “I’m so sorry, Stefano. I didn’t know. Francesca never said a word. I thought all was fine.”

  “It is. She’s very healthy and fit these days,” Stefano assured.

  “That’s good,” Severino said briskly.

  Velia scowled at her brother, but he didn’t pay any attention.

  “I suppose you have to wait a decent amount of time between children. How long is the recommended period?”

  Velia heaved a sigh. “You don’t have to answer that, Stefano. Severino has no delicacy when it comes to actual relationships. If he ever meets the right woman, she’ll run screaming for the hills when he opens his mouth.”

  Severino glared at her. “Why do you always say that? Having children is a real concern, Velia. There are too few.”

  “Perhaps that’s so, Sev, but Francesca is more than a broodmare to Stefano. She’s his wife. He actually loves her, in case that hadn’t occurred to you. She’s gone through a difficult time, as has he. Losing babies isn’t easy.”

  Severino instantly turned to his cousin. “I’m sorry, Stefano. I didn’t think before I spoke. Naturally you wouldn’t want Francesca to get pregnant too fast. I really don’t know how long one waits between children.”

  “I don’t think there is a set length of time,” Stefano said, taking pity on his cousin.

  Taviano knew Stefano could and probably did relate to Severino. They both thought a great deal alike. And both had put the shadow rider program first for many years. It was only after Stefano had found Francesca that he had begun to think differently.

  “You are going to have another child.” Severino made it a statement, proving that he was exactly like Stefano in that he could so easily read others.

  Stefano sighed. “It isn’t always so easy or as black and white as we think it is, Sev. The thought of losing another child, or watching Francesca suffer, isn’t something I want to go through. Nor am I prepared to lose my wife in exchange for another child. I’m not having children for the sole purpose of producing them as riders. I am their father, and that means something. I didn’t know what that was until I saw Crispino born and then I held him in my arms. It changes something in you.”

  Severino glanced at Velia and then across the room, where Tore had disappeared into the corner so silently. “There’s a small part of me that understands. I had to take over when my parents died. I knew I wanted the others to be safe. We were spread out in age, and several of them were quite a bit younger. Velia was just an infant. Tore, a toddler. I made it my business to make certain they were safe. I’m certain you remember. You went with me. You, Geno and me.”

  Velia leaned forward and peeked around Marzio to look at her oldest brother. “What does that mean? I’ve heard vague references to something of that nature before. Keeping all of us safe, but no one talks about it. What does that mean, Sev?”

  “It’s of no consequence, bella,” Severino said. “It’s in the past and it can stay there.”

  “But no one ever says how Mom and Dad died,” she pointed out. “Am I the only one who doesn’t know? That’s not right. Do you know, Taviano?”

  He didn’t. He only knew that Severino had come in the dead of night asking that Stefano come with him immediately. Vittorio had told Taviano later than none of them had ever seen Severino upset that way. He was always cool, calm, a boy, a teen and later a man who refused to be shaken by anything. Stefano had heard him out and then was gone. He hadn’t consulted Eloisa or Phillip, but by then, as a boy in his teens, he didn
’t anymore. He simply left, and his parents never knew that he was gone or that he returned hours later. Taviano had been told by his brothers that there had been blood in the shower and sink, but they hadn’t seen any signs of damage to Stefano.

  “Leave it,” Severino said softly, but his voice was a whip.

  Taviano realized they all had history. He wasn’t the only one. He brought Nicoletta’s fingertips to his mouth and bit down gently to distract her from the byplay. They all deserved to have their own privacy if they wished it. He didn’t want his siblings to know his story, and Nicoletta didn’t want the cousins to know every detail of her story. The cousins had the right to their privacy.

  “I would like a daughter,” Stefano ventured.

  Taviano knew he was deliberately changing the subject to distract Velia.

  “Although I’m not certain I want Francesca to know that. A little girl who looks just like her. Unfortunately for me, if that happened, there would be two females in my house ruling me instead of one.”

  Nicoletta laughed. “Francesca would say you rule her. She says you’re very bossy.”

  “I have to be. She sits on all those committees and visits every single household in our territory, just to make certain everyone is fine. Half the time the bodyguards can’t keep up with her. She wanted to work two days after she had the baby. It was crazy. I had to put my foot down. Thank God for Mariko and Emmanuelle. They helped me sit on her for a few weeks after Crispino was born so she could heal. And you, Nicoletta, helping with the baby so we could keep her resting the way the doctors ordered.”

  “Sasha took over a lot of the visits,” Taviano pointed out. “Emmanuelle showed her the ropes, although she didn’t have the amount of time she needed because she was very involved with her brother’s care. His brain injury is very severe, and she’s determined to spend as much time with him as possible while she can. She knows she’s going to lose him soon.”

  “Isn’t there any hope at all?” Nicoletta asked. “Sasha loves him so much. She’s lost everyone in her family.”