Page 32 of The Bond

Suddenly there was a ring from my father’s cell phone and he quickly answered it, his face turning somber as he spoke quietly to whoever was on the other end. When he hung up, Papa looked from me to Enzo and then back again.

Papa heaved out a sigh. “I hate to cut this meeting short, but I must retire. The FBI will be here soon.”

My eyes went side. “What?”

“They’re coming to ask questions,” Papa explained. “They don’t plan on arresting me until they think they have enough. With some luck, they’ll never have enough to use against me.”

I swallowed against the lump in my throat, more tears threatening to fall. “Papa—”

“You and Enzo should go,” my father said. “Go and enjoy your honeymoon. Lena, I will protect you from the FBI. I’ll give them nothing that they can use against you or your mother. And don’t worry about me, the FBI doesn’t have enough to put me away for long.”

Papa was still protecting us. In his misguided way. In a way that meant the burden would be on him and no one else.

My heart ached as Enzo got to his feet and I had no choice but to do the same, standing up on shaky legs.

Enzo offered me his arm then, and I took it, needing to lean on him as I left the library. Terrible questions filled my mind as we left my family home. What if I never saw my father in the outside world again? What if all that remained was to see him through bars or plate glass in a prison somewhere?

Then another thought occurred to me. The inklings of a plan, that would not only save us from the hitman, but save my father from himself.

Chapter 13

Enzo

As I drove away from the Romano family home in Carnegie Hill, Valentina started talking to me about a plan she was sure would save her father and get the hitman off our hands in one fell swoop.

It was clever, but risky, and I told her so. But in the end, she convinced me of its merits, and a few days later, we were making our way to the FBI’s main office in New York City, my lawyer accompanying us. Inside, we were let in to see one of their top agents, Agent Jasinski.

We got settled in Jasinski’s office, sitting down in the seating area in front of one of the windows.

Jasinski, who looked to be about fifty with graying hair, wasted no time beating around the bush. “I’ve spoken to admin about this visit, but I want to hear from you two what the nature of this visit is. Just so we’re not wasting each other’s time.”

Valentina glanced at my lawyer, Mario Lupino, the best in the business. We had decided to go with Mario instead of Frankie because Valentina’s cousin and the Romano family lawyer couldn’t be trusted. With Frankie out, Mario was in. Mario gave a curt nod, permission to answer the agent’s question.

My wife cleared her throat. I could see that she had her brave face on. Despite her anxiety, Valentina was willing to walk into literal and metaphorical fire in order to protect those she loved. My admiration expanded in my chest, and I had to resist the urge to take her hand. I wasn’t going to let the FBI agent see any weakness in her, so I had to let her stand on her own as much as it killed me inside to hold back.

“We’re here because we want to protect my father,” Valentina said, choosing her words carefully.

“Your father.” The agent leaned back in his armchair, steepling his hands as he assessed her, suspicion plain on his weathered face. “You mean notorious crime lord Umberto Romano.”

“My father is a businessman,” she said smoothly.

“And what are you trying to protect him from?” the agent pressed.

“Well, the FBI has been investigating him and his business dealings,” Valentina answered. “We’d like to see that case dropped.”

“No, you want more than that,” Agent Jasinski said, shaking his head knowingly. “You want immunity.”

“For all family members of the Romano and the De Luca families,” she said, her tone businesslike.

“And you think what? We’ll just give you immunity out of the goodness of our hearts?” the agent demanded. “Do you know what immunity means? It means no prosecution, no jail time for all of your crimes. And let me tell you, the FBI is aware that both of you and your families have a very long rap sheet.”

“If you had concrete evidence against us, the kind of evidence you desperately need, you wouldn’t be here in a meeting with me and my husband,” Valentina pointed out.

She was damn right about that. If the feds had anything concrete they wouldn’t have entertained this meeting. They would have ignored our request to meet and kept on digging. They’d likely hit a dead end with Valentina’s father, just like we had, but as long as they were still looking into Valentina’s father, there was a danger that they would finally find something to nail him with. Which was why immunity was so important. It meant that no matter what came out, the federal government couldn’t go after either family. But the FBI had to want to make that kind of deal and I had to hope like hell that Valentina’s idea would work.

“Congratulations, by the way,” the agent said sardonically. “Making our lives real easy bringing the two biggest crime families together like that. Means that you both have spousal privileges now. None of your communications with each other since your wedding can be used in a trial. Very cleverly done.”

There was no use telling the guy that we had ultimately married for love despite what the setup looked like to the outside world. The agent wouldn’t care and it would just make him angrier. Our two families burying the hatchet seemed to have pissed him off. Probably because he would no longer be able to play the families against each other.