Page 9 of Luca

It takes four days for me to get to Boston. Four days of sleeping in cheap motel rooms and eating at greasy diners, or grabbing something from a convenience store along the highways I traveled. Four days of watching the scenery go from wide open plains to congested cities and finally reaching Boston.

I pull into the parking lot of an abandoned building on the outskirts of the city to meet Finn. If I didn’t trust the man so much, I’d be pretty damn worried right about now, considering this is where it looks like a man like him would be perfectly comfortable snuffing the life out of someone. Where a man like me would come to do the same thing. Because that’s who I am now. Maybe I should be having second thoughts about the path I’m on, but I can’t find it in myself to turn back. Nothing is going to stop me from taking down the Cataldis.

“You made it,” Finn says as I step out of the SUV.

“Did you have any doubts?”

“Nah,” he replies and walks over to me, clasping me in a hug. “Good to see you in the flesh.”

Finn and I have talked at least twice a week on the phone over the last year. We’ve had several video calls, too.

Just as he releases me, another guy steps out of the car. He isn’t quite as broad as Finn, but he has a cunning gaze as he eyes me from where he stands.

“This is Cillian,” Finn introduces as the man makes his way over to us. “He’s my lieutenant and the only other person in Boston who knows who you are and what we’re doing.”

That takes me by surprise for a moment. “I thought we agreed no one would know anything,” I say, looking between my cousin and Cillian.

“There aren’t a lot of guarantees here, Luca. But one thing I know for certain is shit can spin on a dime. If anything happens to me, I don’t want you left in the wind. I trust Cillian to be able to keep his mouth shut.”

“What about Eoghan?” Finn told me all about his little brother, who is still getting his feet wet in the organization.

“I love my brother, but I don’t want him to be part of this. One, he’s a mama’s boy, and like I said before, this could go sideways in a heartbeat. I don’t want my mother going through that heartbreak again if she finds out you were living in Boston under her nose, and she lost you all over again. And two, the fewer people who know anything, the better. Eoghan can’t inadvertently give up information he doesn’t have.”

Finn keeps his inner circle tight, which I suppose a man in his position would have to do.

Cillian walks over to me, reaching his hand out to shake mine. I notice the tattoos around his wrist and the hard look in his eyes. The scars on his knuckles tell me he’s well acquainted with the violence involved in this life and has no problem doling it out when the situation arises. I’m sure Finn has the same tendencies, but he has an easier demeanor, almost as though they play the good cop, bad cop. Or maybe bad cop, worse cop.

“Nice to meet you, Luca,” Cillian says in a deep, emotionless voice, as though meeting the person who’s about to risk his life being a mole for his organization is as mundane as sharing the weather report.

“You too,” I reply, then step back.

“Let’s get to business, then,” Finn says, and Cillian and I turn our gazes to my cousin, the newest head of the Monaghan family. He’s a few years older than me and has been in charge since his father retired three years ago. Seems kind of young to be the head of a criminal organization, but the way he tells it, his mother, my aunt, was done worrying about her husband after his second heart attack. Finn was more than ready to take the reins, and Cormac, her husband, agreed and stepped down as head of the family.

Finn hands me a piece of paper. “Here’re the addresses of a couple bars that men in the Cataldi organization frequent, including Francesco’s son, Carlo. Start there.” Then he hands me another sheet of paper with several addresses listed. “Here’s a list of apartment buildings in Cataldi territory. They aren’t exactly upscale penthouses, but they aren’t total shitholes either.”

I nod and take the papers from him. Finn’s dark-blue eyes bore into mine. “We aren’t going to be able to talk much while this is going down, and meeting face to face is going to be even tougher. If anyone sees us together, it’ll put you under suspicion. If there’s a chance for us to meet, I’ll text you on the burner, but keep that shit hidden. I don’t have to tell you what happens if you’re found out.”

We’ve already gone over all the gruesome ways the Cataldis handle moles in their organization, as though I don’t have knowledge of it from Frank’s stories.

“You ready?” Finn asks.

“Considering I’ve been waiting years to get here, yeah, I’m fucking ready.”

Chapter four

Giada

Three Years Later

“Giada, you have to come tonight,” my best friend, Bianca, whines into the phone. “Jason is going to be there, and I know you’ve been crushing on him since freshman year.”

I let out a snort of laughter at her attempt to try to sweeten the deal.

“I’m over high school boys. He’s had almost four years to make his move and hasn’t done jack shit.” I fall back on my bed and stare up at the gauzy, white canopy above me. God, this room hasn’t changed since I was four years old and thought I was a princess living in a beautiful castle. Little did I know, it's a castle in a kingdom built on the blood and pain of other people.

“Oh please, he was scared. It’s not like everyone at school doesn’t know who your family is. But Chelsea told me she overheard him talking the other day at soccer practice that he’s ready to shoot his shot with you. I think he just needed to work up the courage to ask you out.”

“Four years, Bianca?”

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