245

Enzo

Luca offered to hold the meeting at noon in the upstairs room of his club, the same room we'd met Sera's father in, and the other members of the family agreed. More tables were brought up and drinks were supplied. Luca himself met the Capos at the elevator doors to shake their hands and welcome them. After they were checked for weapons, of course.

I stood just behind Luca, as did Tristan, and I received more than a few semi-hostile looks as men who'd known me since I was very young piled into the room. But I wasn't worried. Half of them had wanted to kill me for years for some of the things I'd done. After today, a few more wouldn't make that much of a difference.

When everyone had arrived, Tristan called the guards downstairs and told them to lock the doors to the club. No one was to go in or out until a decision had been made.

I gave a nod to two of Luigi's men as they joined us at the big table. "Tony. Marco."

"Enzo." Marco returned the gesture as Tony glanced around the room. Marco was a long-time member of the family, of the older generation, and had been with Luigi for as long as I could remember. Tony was his son, and was still learning his manners. However, someday, he was going to piss off the wrong person, and they'd get beaten into him before his daddy could save him.

As Luca was still the underboss, and the only living son of the deceased, he was the first to speak. "As you all know by now, my father was killed last night," Luca announced to the room at large. Condolences were spoken, and he accepted them with the spirit in which they were given before turning his attention to the two men who'd been at Luigi's when it happened. "What were the police told?" he asked Marco.

"We told them what we always tell them. We have no idea what happened. The door was locked. We found him that way and his new bride was gone. No, we didn't see or hear anything. Etc. Etc."

"And any incriminating evidence was cleaned up before they arrived?"

They both nodded.

Luca nodded. "Good. As soon as they release his body, we'll start the funeral arrangements."

Marco stood up, and everyone's attention turned to him. Except for mine. I continued to scan the room for any signs of anyone who wanted to take the decision being made today into their own hands. "As the only living son and the underboss, it's the natural order of things that you, Luca, should be voted in as boss. But you know everyone's going to be thinking the same thing we are, so I just thought we should talk about the elephant in the room, so to speak. I'm not saying you did this, and I'm not saying you didn't. All I'm saying is that there will need to be proof that this wasn't just you getting tired of waiting, if you know what I mean."

"I do," Luca told him.

"Good," Marco said. "And please accept our condolences, also. Your father, like your brother, will be greatly missed."

"No," Luca said. "He won't. Luigi was a self-centered bastard who rose to his position strictly through intimidation and fear, and treated his men worse than dog shit on his shoe. He treated his family even worse. Me, in particular."

"With all due respect, Luca," Marco said. "You shouldn't speak ill of the dead like that."

Luca leveled an icy blue stare at him. "Why not?" When he didn't respond, Luca leaned back in his chair. "So you think I killed my father in a power play."

"Not you specifically, no," Tony answered. He didn't say anything more, or even so much as glance my way, but the implication was there that he knew exactly who'd pulled the trigger.

"Well," Luca told him. "I have a lot of respect for you, Marco. And I've always been honest with you, so I'm going to be honest with you now." Pulling out his phone, he held it up for all to see. "I have a recording of a message left for my father. From Boston Billy." Tapping his phone screen, he played the message we found last night. When it was done, he slid his phone back into the inside pocket of his suit jacket. He didn't explain what the message meant. There was no reason to. Everyone there could interpret the true meaning behind it.

Luca turned to look at Marco and Tony. "I assume you two knew absolutely nothing about this?" he asked them.

Marco met his stare. "No. Of course not." But I could smell the sweat running down his spine. "It's a shame, what happened to your father," he told Luca. "A damn shame. May he rest in peace."

A few men made the sign of the cross. No one else asked any questions or made any other comments. The pieces of what happened the night before fell into place, and everyone would assume that Luca had done what he had to do to protect himself. No one would blame him.

One of Gino's sons spoke up from a table near the back corner. "What about Luigi's new wife?"

Turning my head, I stared at him through my sunglasses as adrenaline began to burn through my bloodstream. To keep myself from going for the gun I had strapped to my calf, I laced my fingers together on top of the table.

"What about her?" Luca asked.

"She's missing, ain't she?"

"Yes," Luca told him.

"She was staying with you for a while, is that right? Did she know about this?" he asked. "Because I'm thinking that maybe she was in on all of this, and it would be nice to know where she is now."

"Was she planted in your father's house by you?" Gino added.

Luca stared at him for a long moment, and I knew what he was thinking. How the hell did these guys know Sera was at Luca's house? Did Luigi tell them? Or her father? "My father's widow is completely innocent," he told them. "She knows nothing except that her wedding night was ruined."

"Then she's a witness," Gino said. "And now she's disappeared."

Marco turned to me. His eyes fell to my injured hand, and I flexed my fingers. "Do you have any idea where Serafina is?" he asked. "We know you two were…close."

I smiled, but it was cold. "I fucked her, Marco. More than once. That's it."

"She never mentioned anything to you? Nothing personal at all? Any friends in the area?"

"It was kind of hard for her to speak with my cock stuffed between her lips."

"Serafina will not be a problem," Luca told him. "If she's a witness, then she needs to be dealt with."

The room came alive with murmured agreement.

Luca waited until things died down. "I'll deal with my father's widow. She won't be a problem. My guess would be she's not exactly heartbroken about the turn of events."

"But now she's a liability," Gino's son said. "She could be out there talking to the cops right now."

I couldn't keep my mouth shut anymore. "Sera won't talk."

Gino narrowed his eyes at me, his distrust of me clear to read. "How do you know? You just said you only used her to warm your dick."