“We’re coming to get you, Eden. Don’t fuck around! Tell me if you’re hurt and where to pick you up.” He was equally as pissed, but they couldn’t get to me, and I couldn’t leave even if they did.
“I’m in Danny’s old room at Cherry Baby, and I’m fine,” I told him, trying to get him to shut up. I couldn’t tell him what had happened. He had me on speaker now, so their collective curses came through loud and clear, but I ignored them in favor of getting my warning out. “You cannot come here. Rodrigo has plans, Santos. If you’re not at home when the police conduct a supposedly random check, you’re going straight back to jail. You know none of you will come back out if that happens. You can’t bust me out of here; they’re waiting on it… I’m honestly not sure if Vinnie will get back out, either,” I added, reluctant to tell them the full extent of it. “You show up here, and he for sure won’t. Your father, he doesn’t care anymore, Santos. He’s only doing any of this to toy with us all, to flex his power and to punish those that went against him. Namely, you and me, and to an extent, Vinnie and the guys.”
Calmer now, but with trepidation lacing his voice, he asked, “Eden, how do you know all of this, and why can’t you leave with Fields? He’s there with you, is he not?”
I didn’t want to answer him, but he’d find out eventually. “He has all of Danny’s insurance, Santos.” Tony’s voice came through above the others, bitching about Danny lying to him. Of fucking course Danny lied. He liked his head attached, not that it helped him in the end. But that wasn’t important at the moment; we couldn’t change the past.
“It’s not only Tony and Vanni who will go down… I’m in them too, and I doubt the statute of limitations is up on most of it. I-I know where the hard copies are, and I can get to them, but I can’t do anything about what he’s uploaded to whatever cloud network thing he’s made. I don’t know what it is exactly, and my knowledge on technology is seriously limited to basic shit like phones and what I learned in school,” I admitted, too worried to feel more than marginally embarrassed by my lack of skills. “As for the rest, yes, Fields is here. He brought me his phone, but he can’t get me out, and Rodrigo was happy to tell me what he’d do if you didn’t stay out of it. He has plans, real ones, and it would garner him public support to turn his own son over.” It wasn’t the whole story, but it was the truth, and it was all that I needed them to know for now.
“This isn't your fight. We can't leave you there. I can't leave you there. Please don’t ask me to,” Santos begged, voice strained with emotion.
My own was full of pity—for him, me, for all of us. “This has been my fight since I was unlucky enough to have born to the parents I was. It's been my fight since I walked into your house and fell in love with you. And it's most certainly been my fight since we did what teenagers do—seventeen, in lust, and ready to dip our toes into the adult world, we made the choices that forged our paths. Right or wrong, this is where it's led. I can’t change that, Santos, and neither can you. Whatever I did or didn’t do in a past life has thrown me back into the shit over and over. Figure out how to erase the evidence, and I’ll gladly do my best to get out of here. As it stands, they’re prepared for us to try to make it out of the city. All I can hope for now is that Vinnie can make a deal.” I figured it was unlikely that Rodrigo would let me go, but a girl could hope.
“I won't let you go, angel, never again.” Santos was adamant, but so was I.
“I'm sorry, baby, but you have to…at least for today.” A knock came at the door followed by Fields calling my name. I cracked it, hiding the phone against my side while he told me I had only a few minutes before we had to leave. I shut the door in his face and brought the phone up again. “I have to go. They’re calling me in. Just promise me you’ll go back to the house for now. You can leave later, when it’s safer. Believe me, I don’t want to fucking be here any more than you want me here. And Tony, I’m sorry I argued with you. I should have let you handle it.”
“We’ll talk about it when you’re home. I’m turning around for now, counting on my father to bring you home, but fair warning, if he doesn’t show up, we’ll be coming for you.
* * *
The meeting was happening in the same room as before, sans dancers this time. The place looked odd with the dark stages, usually only something that happened after hours, not when the place was packed with armed men. Peter joined me on the opposite side from Fields right before we made it through the crowd and to the table where Rodrigo held court. The detective had to tighten his hold on my elbow as I stumbled, trying to keep from touching the man that thought he shared ownership of me.
A dark chuckle preceded his promise. “I’ll be seeing you after this is over.” I didn’t bother to respond as he took his seat, but I did feel some relief that they hadn’t found out I’d married Tony yet. I didn’t think that would do me any favors today, not when Rodrigo was playing fast and loose with any of the unspoken rules the Families generally upheld.
Fields delivered me to Rodrigo’s side then took up a guard position a bit behind and to the side of me while the bane of my existence rested his hand on my ass in full view of everyone. Like I was his whore…and I supposed I was. I gripped my wrist with my other hand, rubbing my birthmark for comfort while I stood in a den of snakes without one person I could truly trust to have my back. That proved true as Vinnie’s eyes briefly met mine, a hint of guilt quickly buried under a hard stare, before he ignored me in favor of speaking to Peter.
“After speaking with him this morning, I was under the impression that Edward would be attending today?”
Peter rested his elbows on the table and fixed his attention on Vinnie. “Dad can’t make it today. He had an accident on the way in, so I’m the new head of the Finellis. It’ll be me you’ll be dealing with now. Honestly, I’m surprised Antonio hasn’t arranged the same for you, old man, such a shame when things like that could be prevented.” The sadness he displayed was blatantly false, but Vinnie’s eyes widened just enough to let me, and everyone else, know that the death of his rival had rattled him. My stomach sank further as I realized Vinnie didn’t have as much control of the situation as I’d hoped he would. Why the fuck did he even show up?
“My condolences, Peter,” Rodrigo offered, breaking the silence when the crush of men shifted restlessly. Then he dropped the bombshell I was already aware of. “But I’ll extend my offer of partnership to you, just as I did Edward.”
“I think we can work well together, DeLuca, but why don’t you finish this before we get into the details?”
It was all a farce, set up to play Vinnie and take the power from the Carlotti Family. I was just the icing on the cake; there was little doubt in my mind that all of this would have happened with or without my presence, but it was another power-play aimed at bringing the Carlottis down a peg of four.
Vinnie, out of patience for the bullshit they were dealing, demanded to get down to it. “And what is it that you’re hoping to get out of this, Rodrigo? You were a valued member of my organization until you violated our rules—multiple times. Instead of choosing to stay and face your punishment like a man, you stole from me and ran away. You’ve caused havoc all over the city, had my son violated, and now you want to, what, take the spot of the man you murdered?”
The occupants of the room shifted again, but they calmed when Rodrigo held up a hand, and I had to wonder how many of them were actually there for Vinnie.
“I’m taking over the neutral zone, and I want equal respect from both the Carlotti and Finelli factions. I also control the majority of the law enforcement for the county and will be running for mayor in the next election. At this point, your conciliation is a formality,” Rodrigo declared, smug in his confidence. “And I don’t mean this will continue to be the territory of no-man’s land; it’s going to be the hub for everything else. You and Edward were short-sighted in leaving such a gap that could be utilized against you. Now, I believe we have terms to set...or I can dispose of you and deal with your heirs after. It’s your choice, Vincenzo.”
Not so calm in the face of his comeuppance, Vinnie irately snapped at Rodrigo, “Why don’t you enlighten me since you’ve decided how this is going to go, DeLuca? You’re aware I came to broker a truce and retrieve Miss Moretti.”
“Ah, yes, your repetitious use of Eden here got on my nerves, so I put a stop to it. I assumed she wasn’t important enough for you to bother with after you so carelessly left her unprotected.”
I hoped like hell he was talking shit and Vinnie hadn’t actually pulled my detail, not that I wanted them dead, but I’d be after Vinnie’s head as well as Rodrigo’s if it were true.
“No one said you had to stalk the woman. Besides, it looks as if she’s suffered enough at the hands of your men as is,” he accused, eyeing my bruises with distaste. At least I hoped it was the state of my skin and not me in general. I just didn’t know anymore. “If you don’t mind, my boys are rather fond of her, and I’d like to return her to them.”
Rodrigo grinned and squeezed my ass while I grit my teeth and pretended it wasn’t happening. “Oh, this wasn’t all their doing, gotta teach a girl her place, you know, but since you brought them up, let’s discuss your boys and their current predicament. Right about now, I’d imagine they’ll either be home, complying with their random home visit, or there’s a manhunt underway.” He ignored Vinnie’s curse and pale complexion and kept on. “You can agree here and now to fall in line with any directive I see fit on the running of this syndicate and the city, and they can have their freedom, or… I’m sure you can fill in the rest.” His shrug indicated he didn’t care either way, but his hand had tensed on my backside, and I had to wonder if Vinnie had picked off enough of Rodrigo’s men to make the other man unsure of the outcome if it came down to an all-out war in the streets.
“And what about your own son, DeLuca? He’s part of Antonio’s crew; are you going to make his charges go away as well?” I was surprised he’d even asked, but maybe he didn’t want to face his sons if he threw Santos to the wolves.
“My son is dead to me, Vincenzo. I’m thinking about starting over before I’m too old to properly groom my new heir.” My eyes slid closed when he pulled me close and curled his palm over my abdomen, but I’d caught enough of Vinnie’s expression to know he pitied me.
Silence reigned at the table, and I hoped I was the only one that noticed Fields’ sharply indrawn breath at the not-so-subtle announcement. I found my own composure and opened my eyes to find Vinnie staring at the table, presumably weighing his options and gathering his thoughts.