Page 59 of Mafia Star

“Stay down, Ms. Russo. This car has bulletproof windows. They’re shatter proof too. The don has to be on his way.”

Salvatore. How is that going to help? Won’t the feds arrest him the moment they see him? I don’t have a number for anyone in Marco’s family.

“Vinny, what’s Massimo’s number? Or Gabe’s?”

He rambles them off as my hands shake. My thumbs barely dial both numbers as I start a three-way call.

“Hello.”

“Massimo, help! They have Marco.”

I hear a second voice. It must be Gabe.

“Who?”

“The feds or someone. I don’t know. They were shooting at us. Vinny’s with me.”

I put the call on speaker.

“Signore—”

“No. English.”

I demand to know what’s happening.

“Sir, they were waiting for us when we got to the restaurant. Luigi warned Tony. I got stopped when a guy attacked me. Pauly and Marco took Ms. Russo inside. Luigi followed. Tony found Afonso.”

That’s the first time I realize there’s a man in the passenger seat. Where the fuck did he come from?

“He brought the car around. Tony and I were waiting for Marco and Pauly to get Ms. Russo to us. Shots fired and at least six officers dead.”

What?! Fucking pull your head out of your ass. You watched three of them get shot.

“We got to the car. One of them tackled Marco and Ms. Russo. Afonso and I have Ms. Russo in the car, but we’re blocked. They have Marco, Tony, Pauly, and Luigi.”

“Luigi?”

I don’t know which voice that is.

“Yeah. He tried to get us out. There’s no way.”

No way what? Is this what Pauly meant? Something about Luigi not crossing the family?

I have questions that won’t wait.

“What do we do for Marco? Where will they take him?”

Massimo responds, sounding calm enough that I want to scream at him to get upset. They took his son.

“They’ll take him to Federal Plaza. If it’s anywhere else, we’ll know. He has a tracker on his belt he already activated. He won’t talk, Liz. He knows what to do until Gabe or I can get there. Sinead will come with us.”

“Who’s Sinead?”

Gabe speaks up.

“Sinead’s my wife. She’s a criminal defense attorney. She normally doesn’t get involved in family business, but she defended me not too long ago. She knows what she’s doing. Among the three of us, Marco will be home in time for lunch.”

He sounds so damn confident. I want to believe him. I want to think he’s right.

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