25
Dante
I tuck Nikki into bed beneath the covers and shut the door. I don’t lock her in. Not tonight.
Stepping out into the hallway, Moreno is waiting for me.
“How bad is it?” Moreno asks.
“The baby is fine. I should be asking you that question.” I try to keep my voice down and gesture that we take this some place else.
We head for my office downstairs. I brush past Leone. “Keep post outside Nicole’s door,” I instruct. While she may not be locked in her bedroom, I need to know what she’s doing. “Eyes on her at all times if she’s not in her room.”
“Yes, Boss.” Leone tromps up the stairwell.
Moreno and I head into my office. I unlock the door and flick on the light, shutting the door behind us.
“Anything?” The fact all the capos are at my home in the middle of the night tells me something is brewing, and Moreno has news for me.
“We got eyes and ears inside the DeLuca mansion,” Moreno says. “Your visit with the Russians paid off.”
I should be relieved, but the stone in the bottom of my stomach sinks like a submarine.
“What’s the cost?” I ask. They must have reached out to Moreno when they couldn’t get ahold of me at the hospital.
“They want involvement in our arms deal. Ten percent as a silent partner.”
“Fuck!” I’d have negotiated it down but Moreno had the authority to act as don while I was unreachable.
Moreno’s face is grim. “That’s not why the capos are here, Boss.”
Exhaling a heavy breath I feel the weight of trouble coming down on my shoulders. “How bad is it?”
Moreno powers up the tablet and opens a specific file. “This was recorded around midnight.”
He hands me the device, and I stare at the men on the screen. I recognize them. Gino is on the right. He’s speaking with Vance and Rafael. Vance is his right-hand man, the same as Moreno is to me.
The last time I saw Rafael and Gino was at the soiree. I’m not sure what I’m expecting to see, to hear, to pay witness to as I slump into my desk chair.
The tablet stays latched in my grip.
“Are you ever going to tell me your end game with Nicole? No way you let that vermin marry your daughter for money,” Rafael asks.
“I’ve been wondering the same thing, Boss,” Vance says.
“That spoiled brat was just like her mother. Needs a lesson or two in humility, if you ask me. Abducting her was brilliant, and even better, she thinks Dante was her captor.” A wide grin spreads across his face. His eyes crinkle. “It’s never been about my end game. It’s about my motivation. My deception. My desire to destroy.”
“Destroy. How?” Vance asks.
“Tick-tock,” Gino says cryptically.
I pause the video. “What am I missing?” There were hours of recordings and footage already to filter through. I didn’t have the time or energy to sift through it. That’s what my men were supposed to do.
“Keep watching,” Moreno says.
I’m not sure that I can. Every time I look at Gino, I want to throw the damned video across the room.
Exhaling a heavy sigh, I hit resume.