But I wasn’t that guy. I wasn’t one to turn tail and run, to give Adrian the mere thought that he had been successful against me. I wanted his blood coating my fingers, the wide-eyed stare on his face as he realized that he had lost, and I had won.
That was what drove me. Fuck the fact that I might lose my life to him or the Mafia. I wouldn’t go out a coward.
Which meant I had to make plans for Leda in case it did come to that, hence the phone in my hand.
Sucking up my resolve, I found the unfamiliar number and dialed it, pressing the phone to my ear. It wasn’t early, so I knew I wasn’t rousing him out of his sleep, but when the call clicked on, I heard a kid screaming in the background, surprising me. “Leda? Is that you?”
Of course he would think it was his sister. I grimaced. “Do you need me to call you back?”
There was a rustle of something, and the screaming kid disappeared from the background. “Who the fuck is this?”
“Lucas Valentino,” I replied. “Hello, Nico.”
Chapter 29
Lucas
“You fucker,” he snarled through the phone. “Where the fuck is my sister? The last call she made to me was from this fucking number.”
“She made a mistake,” I said evenly, tamping down my anger.
In his shoes, I would be pissed off as well if my sister had called me stating that she had been bought or was being held captive. In reality I didn’t know what Leda had told her brother about me, but it didn’t matter. She hadn’t given away our location at least, and that was a positive, a way for me to realize that she hadn’t called him to come get her.
She had truly called him for his help, just like I was now.
“Let me talk to her,” Nico said. “I want to talk to Leda.”
“She’s asleep,” I bit out, thinking of her naked body sprawled over my bed this morning. Something inside me had twisted at the sight, something that was akin to wanting to protect her. Hence the reason I was making this phone call.
This wasn’t just about me or my needs.
It was about Leda’s as well.
“And I can assure you. She’s safe and unharmed. I have no thought to harm her.”
“On what authority?”
Clearing my throat, I pushed away any thought of hanging up. “My authority as the Don of the Cavazzo Mafia.”
The title was still mine, no matter what Adrian was throwing around. Until I was dead, no one could claim otherwise.
“Don of the Cavazzo Mafia?” Nico repeated. “Last I checked, Lucas Valentino is Cosimo’s enforcer.”
“Cosimo is dead,” I growled, surprised that D’Agostino didn’t know. “He’s been dead for five fucking years.”
Had it really been five years since already?
Nico was quiet for a few moments before he exhaled. “Well then, it seems that I’m wildly out of touch with the dregs of has-been Mafias.”
Has-been Mafias?I wanted to strangle him.
He was a traitor to this life and he had the gall to call the Cavazzo Mafia ahas-been Mafia?But I had to focus, I was here to ask for his help, not add him to my growing list of enemies.
“I need your help, and your sister seems to think that you will be willing to give it to me.”
“I want my sisterback,” Nico shot back, his voice angry. “I don’t give a shit what happens to you.”
“Unfortunately,” I said tightly. “I can’t do that. Leda is mine. That’s non-negotiable.” The mere thought of having her leave me scared me shitless.