AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“All I know is you fucked up and the rest of us are paying for it.”
I got out from under the table and stepped out onto the balcony, rubbing at my goose-pimpled arms as I averted my eyes from the soldiers lying lifeless on the floor. I distantly noticed the diners spilling out of the Italian restaurant below us as they ran for their lives.
They clearly had no idea they were now safe.
I focused on the consigliere. “I know you don’t like me, and that’s fine, the feeling is mutual. But don’t take it out on Valentino. I can only imagine what he’s sacrificed to become this family’s enforcer.”
“A lot,” Ethan said with a nod.
Carlo glowered but didn’t say another word, and everyone seemed to know the topic was no longer up for discussion.
There were far more pressing matters to resolve.
While Ethan, Evander and Carlo fetched gloves, chemicals and rags to eradicate the bloodstains on the patio, Serafino and Alessandro hurried inside before they each returned with a large roll of plastic.
After unrolling the plastic and doubling it back over, they each placed a body on one side, then turned the soldiers over along with the plastic, continuing until the two bodies were completely wrapped up.
I was seasoned when it came to mafia dealings, but I still shuddered knowing plastic was kept on hand for scenarios just like this one.
The two soldiers stationed near the elevators helped carry the wrapped bodies into a small room tucked into a corner. I looked at Valentino and he drew me close and murmured, “There is a large chute in the laundry room that goes into a bin on the ground floor. The bodies will be taken away before the authorities even get here.”
I nodded and he reluctantly let me go to pull on gloves. It was obvious he was about to help clean up the blood. Until Ethan approached and said quietly, “I think it’d be best if you left now.” His eyes darkened. “Our safety is already compromised without you being here with Chantilly.”
Sabrina and Isabella stood in the corner of the room. They were a united front as they held hands, their faces pallid as they looked on with wide eyes. I blinked back sudden tears. I’d enjoyed the glimmer of friendship with these women while it’d lasted, but I had no doubt they already blamed me for the deaths of their soldiers, men who they had probably considered family.
I was the stranger who’d brought chilling shadows to their doorstep.
Valentino reached for my hand and squeezed it before he nodded reluctantly at his don. “You won’t see me again until I hear from you.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
Valentino
This wasn’t going to work.
There had been a reason I’d voiced a hard no to keeping Chantilly alive.
I’d never gone against a command from my don, nor had I ever allowed a woman to disrespect or disobey me. Not only had she done that by sleeping in another bedroom after I’d expressly told her not to, she’d destroyed my monitors. Even worse, she’d run away and nearly drowned in the process.
Yet all I wanted even now was to protect her.
I pressed my lips together. I’d been a fool imagining I could keep a woman like Chantilly in my life. I’d been even more foolish imagining she’d want to be in my life.
I kept my distance from her as the elevator swept us down to the underground carpark, though all I wanted to do was enfold her in my arms and hold her tight.
I sighed heavily. I’d screwed things up even further for her. Thanks to Carlo’s vile opinions and the coldblooded killings of two of our soldiers, I had doubts anyone would accept Chantilly into the family now.
We stepped into the carpark and headed toward my jeep. I stayed silent as her heels rang out like castanets on the concrete, her dress as crimson bright as the blood that had flown like a river across the patio.
I was heart sore when I opened the jeep’s passenger door, Chantilly climbing in while my thoughts got even more entangled, my emotions a fucked-up mess.
I had no one but myself to blame for the predicament we were now in. The Irish mafia family was out for blood now, the soldiers they’d killed just the beginning. Not only weren’t Ethan and his brothers safe, neither were the women and I’d die before someone harmed Sabrina and her unborn child, or Isabella.
I shut the door with my mind ticking over with possibilities, none of the outcomes good. I climbed into the driver’s seat, feeling the weight of the world on my shoulders.
It wasn’t until I fired up the engine and backed out of the parking bay that Tilly turned to me and said quietly, “None of this is your fault.”
I didn’t look at her, I couldn’t. Not even when I growled, “Isn’t it?”
