He sighed and shrugged it off. “It’s bad enough you put my son in the hospital. He might not live. Isn’t there any way we can avoid a war? You know my family doesn’t want any trouble.”
I resisted the urge to snort. He had a funny way of showing that he didn’t want trouble, but that didn’t matter right now. “I’m willing to forgive the attack on Ariana under certain conditions.”
“What conditions?”
Now it was my turn to shrug. I scanned the docks. How many men did he bring with him?
“If you really don’t want trouble, you’ll relinquish all your territories in both Boston and Atlantic City.”
He burst out laughing. “You might be Padrino of your family, Don Luca, but you’re still only a boy. You can’t enter a negotiation with another family demanding something like that. It’s ridiculous.”
“I’m not finished.”
His laughter died, and he frowned as something of the seriousness of the situation hit home. “What do you mean?”
“You’ll hand over the person who murdered Lorenzo and Marta Luciano.”
He chuckled in genuine delight. “I can’t do that, my boy.”
“Why not? Your son admitted that one of your family did it. You set up Matteo La Rosa.”
He laughed again. “Your aunt was a real hussy, boy. Did you know that? She was as slutty as the day is long. She would bend over for anyone—anyone except Matteo La Rosa.”
I felt my temper rising. If he came here to insult my family, he wouldn’t like the outcome.
“I’m joking, of course. She fell in love with me. I made sure of it. All I had to do was promise her the sun and the moon once we got rid of her brother and her husband, but we needed a patsy.”
“Matteo,” I whispered.
He nodded. “She stole your father’s records, and I forwarded them to the FBI under Matteo’s name… and the rest is history.” He giggled like a little boy. “Lorenzo found out about the whole thing, but he was too smart for his own good. He followed the trail and realized Matteo couldn’t have sent those files. I had to sneak into Archhurst to shut him up, but he surprised me while I was talking to Marta. He threatened me, and she shot him in the back.”
I stared at him, fighting down every instinct so I didn’t show how surprised I was. So, it was Michael that Ariana saw in the house that night.
Why didn’t I see this before? She would have recognized her own father arguing with Lorenzo and then shooting Marta. Ariana never would have thought it was a dream of some dream figure. She would have known it was true. She thought it was a dream because the murderer was a stranger to her.
Michael spread his hands and gave me the most disgusting smile of triumphant glee. “Here I am. Now you have Lorenzo’s killer, but there’s nothing you can do about it. If you take your revenge on me, you’ll spark a war, and the Council will turn against you.”
I came back to my senses instantly. “I though you would say that.”
I struck with lightning speed. If Michael hid men around the docks, they would be aiming their rifles at me right now. I had to act fast.
I lunged for him and let the knife slide out of my sleeve. It slotted into my palm, and I drove it point first into his eye. His skull cracked under the impact, and he went down hard on the pavement.
A gun rang out in the distance, and I ducked. Dominic charged out of the shadows and pivoted backward, aiming an automatic rifle into the darkness. He tossed a second gun to me, and we turned back to back.
We spat dozens of shots into the dark as a tide of bodies swarmed out of the docks to surround us. We rotated right and left, mowing down every attacker as we backed toward the car.
We only made it a few yards before the Vittorios flooded out of their hiding places. They surrounded us to overrun our position, but at the same time, an even bigger army rose out of the buildings and warehouses.
Our men formed another ring around the Vittorios. The Vittorios whirled to face the Fortino gunmen, and Dominic and I broke and ran as the first volleys broke out.
Gunfire exploded down the docks as we beat it back to the car. We dove in and squealed out of there as the last Vittorios went down in a hail of death and destruction.
Chapter20
Ariana
Iblinked and instantly felt the ache of so many bruises all over my head and body. My face felt swollen, and my skull hurt when I clenched my teeth.