Dario

by Eden Butler

  I moved away from the table, nodding to Dimitri when he sat next to Maggie. “Tell me what the hell’s going.”

  “Fine.” Winslow cleared his throat like he hoped whatever he had to tell me would get lodged in there deep. “Rory Connelly is her old man.”

  “Who the fuck is Rory Connelly?”

  Winslow exhaled grunting something about me being out of the loop. “He runs McKinney’s factories in Boston. At least, one of them. He’s a pissant. Wannabe. But he’s not harmless. Word is, he’d sell his own mother to get on McKinney’s good side. That son of a bitch is ruthless. He wants in so bad he’ll cut anybody’s throat that gets in his way.”

  “What did you find out about him?”

  “McKinney owned one of those box factories just outside of Milton.”

  That was two towns away from us. Too close for comfort. I glanced across the dining room, head shaking when I spotted Dimitri’s smile as he dipped his head and talked to Maggie. She did that to him. Let him forget who he was just for a little bit. This shit would remind him.

  “No one knows why, but he sold one of them to Connelly and he’s been busy gearing up for something.” Winslow cleared his throat. “Trucks everywhere, security. The whole nine.”

  “Why the fuck would McKinney want to be so close to Carelli territory?”

  “A better question would be how Connelly got the cash to buy or what he’s up to.” Through a heavy sigh he didn’t hide, Winslow continued. “I’m not telling you or your brother what to do, but it looks to me like the whole damn family is gearing up for something big.”

  The next look I shot to my brother, he met, and I waved a hand to keep him seated when he pushed his eyebrows up and moved his chin, a silent question about what I’d learned. “I need you to find out. As much as you can.”

  “Sorry, that’s where I draw the line. I’m not fucking with McKinney or Connelly. Float me a little extra cash or this is all you’ll get from me.”

  “Are you serious?” My voice got loud, my grip on the cell making some of the plastic crack. “You’re fucking serious, asshole?”

  My father’s finger snapping got my attention, and I threw my hand up, a quick apology for cursing and messing up the nice brunch Ma had made for us. I tore through the front entrance, keeping my voice low, even, trying my best not to yank this asshole through the phone. “You were already paid for this fucking job.”

  “Look, Dario, I’m sorry. But unless you make it worth my while, I’m not going near that factory. You wanna know what they’re up to, send in one of your brother’s men. Otherwise, I can’t help you.” The line went dead, and I grunted, kicking the flowerpot next to the main entrance.

  * * *

  If Winslow couldn’t help, then it was time to give Dimitri the truth. I’d avoided it for a month, not wanting to add to the bullshit he was already dealing with. Mikey Finney, a low-life wannabe gangster was sniffling around the docks, getting a little too bold with his attempts at taking out Dimitri’s territory. My brother wanted intel of his own but would only trust one person to get if for him: Kat Harrell, his go-to hacker and Dante’s best friend from high school. Well, former. I never figured out what happened there.

  Problem was, Kat had been missing and left zero traces behind. That was her usual MO, but when Dino told Dimitri that no one, not even her kid brother had heard from her, my brother got worried, and a worried Dimitri was never a good thing.

  There was no way I could unload all this shit on him now.

  Even when he yelled at me a week after Winslow updated me.

  “That’s not what I want to hear,” Dimitri said through the phone. My brother didn’t like the grunt that moved out of my throat, but Christ’s sake, I wasn’t all-knowing.

  “What do you want me to do? I looked. The woman’s a ghost.”

  “No one’s a ghost. Not unless they’re in the ground, and Benny told you last week the redhead was spotted in L.A.” I couldn’t tell Dimitri that Benny only thought he saw her in L.A. Truth was, Ava could be anywhere. Benny only told my brother that as a favor to me. I was just so damn tired of hearing him nag me.

  He wanted to scream at me. I heard it in the fidgeting he did—the squeak of his chair and how long it took him to exhale. “You wanna yell.”

  “I’m not gonna yell.” He was lying. At least, he was trying to keep himself in check. “Not yet anyway.”

  Fuck, he wanted the impossible. “Dimitri, I’m trying.”

  “Little brother, you’re here. In our hometown. You haven’t left New York. You aren’t trying hard enough.”

  Problem was I’d come to a dead end. What would be the point of chasing the woman all over the country with virtually nothing to go on? “I know you don’t want to hear it.”

  “Probably not—” There was something mean, something cold that he wanted to say, but I’d noticed since I’d been back, my brother kept what he really thought to himself. That probably had a lot to do with Maggie and her kid. Even if Dimitri wouldn’t admit it, there was a huge change in him since the night Maggie got stranded on the snowy street outside our parents’ restaurant.

  “But you gotta give me some time to adjust…”

  “Fuck, Dario…you wanted more responsibility. You begged me. Besides, shit…” In the background, I heard his chair slamming against the wall, and I knew the yelling was about to start. “It’s been six months.”

  Called it.

  I could give as good as I got. My head got heavy with thoughts and doubt and the words were out before I could stop them—loud, biting, and honest. “I was in for five years!”

  My ears rang, the echo of my screaming voice making them go a little numb. Dimitri, for his part didn’t yell back, something that would have never happened before Maggie. Instead, he cleared his throat and gave me the time I needed to check myself and get my breathing back to normal. I shut my eyes, mumbling shit my ma would smack me for saying. It was time for the truth. Time he knew about Ava and who she was, but not when he was this keyed up. “I’m not on my game yet. It’s gonna take me more than a few months to get my head on right. I just can’t tell you—”

  The sound of knocking came from his side of the line and then, the rush of footsteps. It wasn’t unusual, the interruptions or the noises I made out as panic. Then, just like that, Dimitri muttered a quick, “I gotta go” before the line went dead.

  Had to be Maggie. No one else would have the man off his bitch fest. Everything stopped when it came to her and the kid.

  My brother wanted Ava found and I was blowing the one job he gave me. I was running out of time.

  Soon, I’d realize we all were.

  11

  Dario

  “Get over here. Now.”

  I was half asleep when Dimitri called, three hours after he hung up on me. My head was fuzzy with confusion, not sure what had gone down.

  “Who is it?” I asked him, stuffing my legs into my jeans.

  “Dino.” There was a quake in my brother’s voice I’d never heard before. Shit was closing in on him. He’d never admit it, but it was in that tone and the clipped mutter he made next. “Hurry.”

  Turns out, Dino had been ambushed on the west docks. The man was my brother’s most loyal guy, and the attack was one Dimitri took personally. He was in a way that might be panic if he fell into that sort of shit. Two slugs to his man’s chest, and Dimitri wasn’t playing.

  Late that night he moved around his bedroom tossing shit into a bag, laying out orders to Manny and Lanzo with such quickness it made my head swim. Edgemont was only an hour away, but if Dino was there in the hospital, Dimitri would be too.

  “Get out to the docks now. Don’t stop for shit. I wanna see what was on the cameras.” He threw some socks into his duffle and stopped long enough to glare at the two men. “Lanzo, I don’t like you. It won’t be hard for me to cut you loose.” The man frowned, his jaw clenching but he only stared back at Dimitri and my brother nodded. “You’re paying attention now. Good. I
expect that footage in my hands by the time I get to the hospital.” A glance between his men and Dimitri nodded. “Why you two standing around holding your dicks? Go.”

  Dimitri flared his nose, squaring his jaw as he stuffed a few shirts into the bag, not looking at me. “You okay?” I tried, my throat burning when I thought of Dino headed to surgery with two slugs in his chest. “Edgemont, that’s the best hospital for five counties. They’ll take good care of him.” Dimitri nodded and worked his throat, like something caught in the middle and he tried to clear it. “D—”

  “I don’t need this from you.” He stood straight, still hanging onto a white T-shirt in his hand. “I need you to watch out for Maggie and the kid.” He kept his attention on his clothes and the shit he’d grabbed from his bathroom, like looking at me would put him off his game. And Dimitri was always playing to win. “Can you do that for me? You and Dante both. Keep her safe. I don’t like leaving—”

  “I got it, don’t worry.”

  He nodded again, only pausing for a second when I touched his shoulder. This wasn’t the time to tell him what I’d discovered about Ava. There was already too much shit weighing my brother down, but the longer I waited, the worse he’d react.

  He finally stopped moving around like a kid ditching his parents’ house on a Friday night and stared at me. He bit the inside of his lip and when he narrowed his eyes, looking me down like he knew there was shit I wasn’t saying, Dimitri dropped the T-shirt and muttered a low, “Fuck’s sake.” He jerked his chin, a silent, “tell me,” and when I didn’t answer him, his patience seemed to tap out. “Madonna, Dario, I got too much shit on my fucking nerves. You got something to tell me, spit it out.”

  “Ava…” I’d been running from this for too long. Dino had been right. My brother gave me one job, and I’d mostly failed at it. It was time to man up. “Ava is Liam Shane’s wife.”

  Dimitri never let anyone see what he thought. No worried glances, never a single frown that showed the hand he held. But just then, he didn’t guard his thoughts. He sat on the bed, elbows to his knees as he whispered an exhale of, “Holy fuck.”

  “I didn’t want to tell you now, with Dino and—”

  Half a second later, and his poker face was back. Dimitri nodded once, gaze shifting around the room before he stood, folding his arms. “No, I’m glad you did.” He waited, fingers to his mouth like he needed a second to get his thoughts right. “You’ve known a while?” When I shrugged, Dimitri waved his hand, like he wasn’t surprised I’d kept this shit from him. “What do you know?”

  “Next to nothing. Winslow said she’d had a meeting with a fed a couple of years ago, before that raid.”

  “Your raid?” My brother moved his eyebrows up, fingers stretching. “You think—”

  “No. Winslow’s intel was that the fed had been investigating McKinney for trafficking. If she got out from under Shane, it makes sense that she might make a deal.”

  “Maybe, but nothing happened to McKinney or Shane.” Dimitri squinted, likely thinking all the things I had when the PI gave me the info. “How’d you confirm who she is?”

  “Stephanie McKinney doesn’t delete anything on her Instagram. Ava was there the night of Cara’s charity gala. Saw the picture of Ava and Liam together.”

  My little moment with her didn’t matter. Dimitri would only worry that she’d gotten to me, and he wouldn’t be wrong.

  I’d thought of a thousand scenarios. A million reasons why Ava had fled the city only to end up in Cuoricino. None of them made sense. I doubt they would to Dimitri either.

  “Johnny might know something about her,” Dimitri said. “He did some digging on Shane after he started fucking with his woman.”

  “Yeah, well, our cousin has more resources and more of a reason to find out, but do you think he caught hold of anything about Ava? If she made a deal with the feds—”

  “If she did,” Dimitri said, going back to his packing, “then I wanna know why she ended up here.”

  “You think she’s trying to get something on us?” That didn’t make sense either. What could Ava do with intel on us, not that she had any? And who the hell would she give it to if she was hiding from Shane?

  “Maybe it’s more than that.” Dimitri zipped up his bag and flung it over his shoulder. “Maybe she’s here to get some leverage.”

  “On Shane?”

  Dimitri frowned, not dismissing the idea. “Could be she’s looking for an ally.”

  The second my brother said it, I knew that had to be the reason. But if I’d learned anything about Ava in the few weeks I knew her, I’d bet money she’d never admit what she wanted. Not yet. She didn’t have a reason to trust any of us. I’d have to give her one if I was going to find out the truth.

  “Keep looking for her. Now it’s about a hell of a lot more than her falling in line.”

  I nodded, following Dimitri to through the door.

  “And, little brother, sooner is better than later.”

  * * *

  One day she was gone, into whatever place she’d run to, and the next, Ava was back. If I hadn’t been looking down onto the street, talking to Maggie and Dante in her apartment after putting together a bed for her kid, I might have missed Ava unloading her car.

  The second I spotted her, I was out of Maggie’s place and darting toward the bakery.

  There was no foot traffic around her, no crowd in her shop. Just Angelica smiling, hugging Ava as I neared them, me, forgetting that I’d promised Dimitri I’d look out for his woman. Spotting Ava after months of not knowing where’d she’d gone, had me ignoring my promise. Disregarding everything but the answers I wanted and had no right to ask for.

  She hugged Angelica back, but it was a half-hearted reaction. Even from a hundred yards away I could make out the worry in Ava’s eyes, how they weren’t lit up and bright like normal.

  “I’m so happy to see you, sugar,” Angelica said, seeming not to notice how stiff Ava’s back was or how she stepped away from her when the woman reached for her hand. “You sure you’re—” Ava looked away from her, her eyes widening when she spotted me, but Angelica stood in front of her, hands on her hips. “Don’t you even think about it, Carelli.”

  “Angelica,” Ava interrupted, touching her shoulder. “It’s okay. He’s harmless.”

  “That, he ain’t, I promise.” Angelica glanced at Ava, head shaking before she moved into the bakery, holding a box on her hip. “You be nice.” She served me with a glare and then she was gone.

  All the bullshit that I’d worked inside my head for the past few months shifted together, jumbled my good sense, and the things I wanted to say, things like “are you alright?” or “you need anything?” fell from the front of my mind. Instead, my worry moved into anger and the first thing I said to her was, “Where the hell have you been?”

  She’d been moving toward me before I uttered a sound, but when the bite in my question reached her, Ava retreated, recoiled, and went defensive with a shift of her chin and her arms around her waist. “And hello to you too,” she said, pushing as much sarcasm into her tone as she seemed able.

  “Stop…playing with me.” I pushed down the guilt that moved into my chest when Ava flinched, turning away from me to pull out another box from the trunk of her car. “You can’t just fucking disappear and then go quiet on me the second you’re back.”

  “Yeah? Who says I can’t?” She slammed her trunk closed and the dimmed glint that was missing from her eyes surged up into fire and anger. “Who the hell do you think you are, getting into my business?”

  We moved closer, her taunting me with the twist of her head and that top, full lip curving up, me daring her to walk away with a hand next to her hip on the trunk. She didn’t look worried or wounded anymore and when I shook my head, flicking my tongue to my piercing, some of the mask she wore wilted. Her gaze shot to the movement of my tongue against that ring before she blinked, shifting her look back to my face.

  Standing that close t
o her, smelling the hint of perfume, and sweat on her skin did shit to me I couldn’t admit to myself. I felt caged again, locked up by her scent, her mouth, and it took restraint not to kiss her right then.

  “I’m Dario Fucking Carelli, and my family owns this town.” I stepped close to her, reminding myself that things were different now. I couldn’t just come at a woman because I was pissed off. Checking myself, I pushed down some of my frustration but still growled a quick, “Start. Talking.”

  There was a shake moving her lips, and I waited for her to yell. Instead, Ava’s quiet tone was more threatening, more heated. “Back the hell up, Dario fucking Carelli.”

  That shit turned me on. I didn’t move. Despite knowing I probably looked like an asshole, I stepped closer, daring her to lose her temper or slap my face. “Or what?”

  “Or I will pull you away from her by your ears, you little chooch,” my mother said, yelling at me from the sidewalk.

  Her voice was sharp, vicious and the sound of it should have scared me. It would have five years ago. But I took a breath, not looking away from Ava as I answered my mother. “Ma, this is business.”

  Then, my ma reminded me why she was a greater threat than any of the asshole guards who’d screamed at me when I wasn’t fast enough in the lunch line. “Dario Giovanni Carelli, you walk away from Ava right now.” She was at my side, pushing on my chest, and I stepped back, pressing my lips together when Ava moved out of my reach. Ma got between us, the lines on her face deepening when I stared down at her. “Go!”

  She pushed me again, then pointed, away from the shop, back toward the restaurant. I spared one look at Ava, fighting back the urge to damn the consequences and grab her again. But when my mother wasn’t obeyed, she lost control of good sense and no matter how old I got, that wasn’t anything I wanted to see.