Chapter 67: Lukiyan

“I want all hands on deck,” Emilio demands, looking at the circle of guards who have gathered in the function room. His nostrils are flared and his eyes blazing with fury; he hasn’t bothered to cover up his bad eye. “Get to the streets and find out how this happened and where they came from.”

The guards rush off, but I remain behind. He looks at me as if he was expecting me to do that.

“They were from The Order,” I tell him.

His jaw tenses, but he doesn’t look as alarmed as I thought he would.

That, however, doesn’t surprise me because I suspected he knew trouble was coming and he knew who from. Why else would he ask me to protect his daughter if something happened to him?

“I’ll investigate and bear that in mind.”

“You and I both know whoever hired them to kill you is hot shit. Hotter than you, obviously.”

“Like I said, I’ll investigate. Thank you for what you did. Now please join the others.”

He’s holding shit back from me. Clearly.

“It would be more helpful if I knew the rest of the story.”

“Mr. Romanechka, what you need to do is your job, and that is whatever I tell you to do.”

Antonio chooses that moment to walk up like the cavalry come to save the day, as if I didn’t just risk my neck to save his boss and soon-to-be father-in-law.

“Come on, let me get you home,” he says, flashing me a dismissive look.

I’d be lying if I didn’t admit to feeling a twinge of jealousy.

Frankie comes up to me when the two walk off. “Let’s go grab a drink. I’m gonna hang around for a bit to help out.”

I nod and follow him to the bar. He pours us both a scotch, and we sit at the nearest table.

“Looks like I would have lost another brother if not for you,” he states, taking a sip of his drink. Ice clinks against the crystal glass when he sets it down on the table and pours more scotch to replace what he drank.

“I was just doing my job.”

“You moved fast, that’s what I saw. That’s some skill.”

He’s right, but that’s what makes me good at what I do. “Thanks.”

“I think it’s only fair you’re told what’s going on. Emilio’s been trying to keep things under wraps, but look what happened tonight.”

Instantly, my interest piques. “What’s going on, Frankie? They tried to kill him, and they were looking for something in the vault. That shootout in here was a distraction to kill two birds with one stone. And how the hell did they get in the vault in the first place, much less in the fucking building?”

I’ve searched every time I’ve been here, so no one can tell me that’s not suspicious. Someone let them in.

He releases a slow haggard sigh. “Your job wasn’t just an opening. You are a replacement for a Capo who was murdered a few weeks ago.”

I didn’t know that. I looked into everything I could while I was still in L.A., but if it’s not recorded anywhere, there’s no way of knowing.

“Murdered?”

“Yeah. It was another assassination attempt on Emilio’s life. Not like this, though. Tonight was worse. The Capo’s name was Patrick. He’d been with us for years, and was the kind of man who was loyal to us. He diffused the situation before it could get out of hand and was killed at the same time. He died at our warehouse. They knew Emilio was going to be there that day.”

Well, hell. This is interesting. “It’s quite a thing when enemies come after a man like Emilio.”

“They came because they were empowered to do so without fear of death. The last time that happened, he lost his wife and we lost our older brother.”

“My condolences.”

“Thank you.”

“Do you have any idea why someone wants Emilio dead? Or even what they were looking for?” There was nothing in that storage cubicle in the vault.

Frankie chuckles without humor. It’s a hollow sound that raises the hair on the back of my neck. “I don’t know the answer either of those. Emilio is a man with many secrets and enemies. At least I know he didn’t accidentally kill anyone this time.”

That’s what happened when Emilio’s wife and brother were killed. It was a revenge killing after his actions led to the death of his enemy’s son.

Frankie is, however, mistaken if he thinks Emilio didn’t accidentally kill anyone because that’s why I’m here.

He sets his shoulders back. “My guess is whatever they were looking for is going to be something of black market value. That’s also a good reason to want him dead. So he can’t retaliate.”

Black market value. Fuck me.

What if it’s the same thing he’s working on with Judas?

“Any ideas on how men from the Order got in or who let them in? Because you know someone did, right?” I hate to be the new guy pointing out the obvious fact that they have a two-faced rat among them.

“No. I don’t know, and that worries me because nobody gets by me. I worry something else will happen since they didn’t get what they came for. I’m sure you know, bad men respect no distinction when it comes to targets. They’ll kill. I don’t want either of my nieces getting caught up in that. Especially Persephone. She’s been through enough already.”

I don’t want that for her either.

“What happened last night?” Aleksei stretches one heavily-tattooed arm over his head and yawns.

“Tons of shit.”

It’s early—six a.m. early. Way too early for either of us to be talking business without coffee, or something stronger in my case.

After last night, I need a joint and several bottles of whiskey to numb my mind.

I joined the other guards in the investigation. We worked all night only to come up with nothing.

I knew that was going to happen though, because that’s how The Order work. They leave nothing behind to trace them; that’s why they kill themselves.

Aleksei and I decided to meet at a coffeehouse in the heart of Brooklyn so we could catch up properly. This was the best time to see each other without any time constraints.

The waitress comes over with our coffee, and the strong scent tickles my nose.

As soon as she sets mine down, I pick it up and take a swig. The sharpness hits my tastebuds and goes straight to my brain, giving me the wakeup I need to bring Aleksei up to speed.

Once I do, he sits back and gives me a pensive stare.

“Fuck, someone wants to kill the guy we want to kill, too,” he mutters, resting his elbow on the table.

“I can’t let them get to him first, Aleksei. I can’t. Last night was a close call.”

“I agree. So you’re going to protect him?” He raises a hard brow.

This is so fucked up. “I guess so. I have to.” What other choice do I have? “I can’t lose this chance. It’s been too long already. My sister has been dead for over six months and I haven’t found her killer. So I have to do whatever it takes.”

“Alright. I can look into things on my end and do what I can to find out who’s behind it.”

“Thanks.”

I don’t want to care about Emilio. I want him as dead as the fuckers who are after him. However, he’s my path to Judas Kane.

That is the only thing I need to focus on.

“I’m really interested in this item they tried to take, though. If we’re talking about the black market, and all of this started happening weeks ago, I think it’s safe to assume this might be the same thing Judas is going to sell for Emilio.”

“That’s what I thought. Can we try to find out what it could be? Emilio has listed all the items kept in that vault.”

“I’ll take a look.” He nods. “Who knows, this could help track Judas down.”

“It could.” Being clued in on everything helps.

“Leave it with me. Here’s hoping this might give us another lead.”

We can hope.