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Massimo stood off to the side as the interim Don, Enzo Gambino, waited at the head of the table. I recognized his ugly mug from the video and the photos the Warden had dug up on the family, and I recalled a video of him ushering Amaranta Gambino into a car. My skin itched. My pointer finger twitched as though it wanted to pull the trigger on the gun that’d end that man. Anyone who supported Signora needed to die.
But I left my hands at my sides, scanning the room for Mom.
Other capos waited around the table, drinking coffee from tiny cups. I expected pinkies to pop up at any moment.
Don Enzo Gambino arched an eyebrow, like he wasn’t expectingus, and I checked Celt and then Wilde. Did they sense how wrong this felt? I eyed Massimo Parisi, who smirked like a shark about to attack. Then I studied each capo around the table.
Half of them were angry and the other half looked like they were waiting for a spa appointment. What the actual fuck had we just walked into?
“What are you doing here?” demanded Enzo. “How did you get in?”
Wilde stood taller, all of us on alert. I reached for my gun, but yeah, it wasn’t there. Fuck, all of these men had to be packing. I wasn’t a man to run away with my tail between my legs, but I also couldn’t leave Maddie out in the world alone. Neither could any of my brothers leave their girls. Bou was fucking pregnant! What the fuck did Massimo Parisi have in his back pocket?
At the same time this shit danced through my brain, I needed to save my mother from whatever the fuck she thought she was doing here. I peeked outside the door, but there wasn’t a kitchen in sight. She must be somewhere else in this building because the décor definitely matched what I’d seen in that video of her.
Enzo leaned back in the chair at the head of the table and swiveled it around to face the man who brought us here. “Clever, Parisi.”
With his words, the capos sitting around the table, who had seemed nervous before, now relaxed.
Parisi smirked at Enzo and gave a half-shrug, as if to say,My pleasure.
Enzo continued, “You call us here to make plans for revenge on the people who murdered Tommy’s queen.” He stood and pressed his fingertips to the table, leaning forward to stare off with Wilde.
Dude had a death wish.
“But at the same time, you get them here and weaponless, if your receptionist did her job.”
I growled.
Enzo slapped a smug smile on his face and looked over at me. “So, they’re ripe for the picking.”
My hand snaked behind my back, wishing for my piece, andEnzo chuckled.
“It seems your girl followed protocol, Parisi. Nice work.”
My eyes drifted over to Massimo Parisi, who seemed to bristle at the condescending tone in Enzo’s voice. I’d be pissed too if someone patronized me that way.
All of our hands were in plain sight and theirs were on the table, so maybe we could get out of here without bloodshed.
“We have a meeting,” Wilde said.
Enzo worked his jaw, dark eyes narrowed. “With who?”
“With me.” Massimo strolled behind Enzo, but the interim Don didn’t take his eyes off Wilde.
The capos moved uncomfortably in their seats, checking left and right. Enzo shouldn’t have been Don, because the man couldn’t see what was happening right in front of his face. Enzo’s stupidity only proved Tommy Gambino was still somehow pulling strings from a jail cell.
Whether their wannabe Don could see it or not, this group was about to splinter. A cavern would open up, and we, along with this ivory tower, would fall in. Fuck.
The receptionist only asked about guns, but we always made it a point to bring more than guns when danger might be involved. However, my knife seemed small when staring at the number of capos in the room.
I cut a glance at Angel, wondering if he had that wicked hunting knife he liked to use on his body. He met my gaze with a slight lift of his chin. I had been in bar fights before with some very burly men, and the twigs sitting around this table should be easy marks.
Most of them anyway. There were a couple I worried about, though, like the one nearest Parisi who almost busted out of the suit he wore. That’d be like shoving Sas or Celt into a three piece.
That made me snigger, and Wilde pressed an elbow into my arm.
Yeah, it wasn’t the time, and I knew that.
