162

162
Vincenzo's POV
“Was that really necessary?” Lorenzo groaned when he came back over.

I stepped back to avoid the puddle of blood forming around Dominic’s head. Or what was left of it.

“He challenged me. I didn’t have a choice.” Not that I would have chosen any differently.

“No, I know.” He sighed. “I mean, I could have done it. It would have been a real clean shot, too. But you charged in and got your poetic justice. It makes for a better story, but I just would have liked a shot at him. Maybe not even the kill shot. Just a graze.”

“You can shoot him now if you want.” I toed Dominic’s limp leg. “He won’t shoot back.”

Lorenzo wrinkled his nose. “Thanks, but no thanks. It’s not the same.”

“What did you tell the rest of the Falcone soldiers?”

“What you told me to tell them: if the police come sniffing, none of them were ever here. They’ve never heard of the place, never heard of you. They won’t have a single fucking clue to offer up to solve this mystery.”

“And if Toni asks them what happened?”

Lorenzo knew the drill by now. We had cleaned up enough messes over the years to anticipate what needed to be done. But now was no time to get sloppy.

“Dominic challenged you,” Lorenzo said. “He showed up unannounced and threatened your wife, questioned your authority, and refused to back down even when you gave him the opportunity to walk away. You didn’t have a choice.”

I didn’t. No one got to treat me like that and live.

That didn’t mean I was looking forward to the wrench this was going to throw in my relationship with Toni.

I sighed and turned away, walking back toward where I had parked at the back of the warehouse. Lorenzo trailed along behind me. “Make sure the body is cleaned up and disposed of,” I told him. “Let a couple of recruits deal with the hands-on work if you want, but I want you to oversee everything. I don’t want him washing up on the beach tomorrow morning.”

“Done. Maybe disposing of him myself will scratch the murderous itch the asshole gave me. Or maybe not. I’m getting a little old to be hauling bodies around.”

His phone rang and Lorenzo turned away to answer it. He was the point man for so many different things that he was always on the phone. I didn’t pay any attention to it.

Until he grabbed my arm and pulled me to a stop.

“Say that again,” he ordered into the phone.

“Who is it?” I asked.

Lorenzo stared at me, his eyes getting bigger with every word being said on the other end of the phone. Words that I couldn’t fucking hear.

I growled and grabbed his phone, switching it to speaker.

“—days, maybe four. We just found them this morning. But they were fucking ripped to shreds. Shot and stabbed beyond recognition. Whoever did this enjoyed it.”

“Tell me who’s dead,” I barked.

“Who is—Is that—” The man on the phone spluttered.

“Yes, it’s Vincenzo,” Lorenzo said. “Skip the fangirling and tell the don what you told me.”

The man cleared his throat. “Every guard at the safehouse in Moscow is dead. No one had heard from them in a while, so I went to check. All three of them were goners. Smelled like they’d been dead for a few days already.”

The last message I had received from the safehouse was a notice that Carmella had arrived and would be “taken care of.” Usually, that would mean she’d be offered food, clothes, and a bed. In this case, it meant Carmella was going to be bunking with the men who were deemed too unpredictable and reckless to live Stateside.

She was in for hell.

Or so I thought.

I looked to Lorenzo as I asked, “And Carmella? Where is she?”

“There’s no sign of her. She disappeared. We have men looking for her but—”

I didn’t need to hear any more. I ran for my car and called Raella at the same time. I had told her I’d make myself scarce while she had her dinner with Raphael, but this was bigger than that. Her safety trumped everything else. I needed to hear her voice. Now.

The phone rang and rang and rang. Then her voicemail picked up.

“Fuck!” I roared.

Lorenzo was right behind me. “I’m calling Calista to see if she’s heard anything from either of them.”

“If Calista has heard from Carmella, she’s already dead.”

Lorenzo’s jaw clenched, but there was no point in sugarcoating the reality. If Carmella was back, there was only one thing on her mind: revenge.

I called Joey, but I wasn’t getting anything. My only hope now was that it was a signal jammer. If it wasn’t, then they were all—

I couldn’t sit and think about possibilities for another second. I needed to do something. I needed to get to Raella.

“I’m going to the mansion.”

“We have no idea what’s happening there,” Lorenzo protested. “Give me a second and I can—”

“I’ll call you when I know something. Or you call me when you know something. But I’m not leaving Raella alone right now.”

Lorenzo waved. “You go. I’ll see you soon.”

I hoped like hell he was right.