Page 60 of Mafia Star

“What do Vinny, Afonso, and I do? We can’t pull out. How do you know he activated a tracker?”

“All of us just got the text right before you called. Salvatore and Luca are on their way.”

“No! The don and underboss can’t come here. The place has cops and feds everywhere. They’ll just get arrested too. Massimo, there’s like fifty officers here. I can’t even see all of them, but there’s gotta be two dozen cars between what’s behind the building and what I can see down the alley.”

There’s a moment’s pause, and I’m sure Massimo and Gabe are wondering how I know Luca’s position. Who Salvatore is, isn’t a well-kept secret in New York.

“I’ll send Matteo and Carmine.”

Something rattles my door. I look up to see a man with a metal pipe or something in his hand and what looks like a wedge of something in the other.

“They’re going to pry my door open.”

“Liz, listen to me carefully. Do exactly what I say. If you tell the FBI anything, it’s as good as testifying in federal court. You do not have to answer a single question including your name. Remain silent. Nothing you can say will help anyone. Do you understand?”

“Yes.”

“If they get you out of the car, comply with any orders they give you. If they forcibly move you, don’t fight it. They will arrest you. If Marco sees that, he will try to get to you. Either maneuver so he can’t or get him to look at you. You must convince him without a word that you’re okay.”

We read each other’s thoughts, but do we have telepathy? Would he understand?

Afonso has been quiet until now, but he speaks up.

“Signore, they’re working all the doors. They’re trying to get in through the trunk too.”

I spin in my seat to look out the rear window. The movement next to me had my attention. They’re going to get in through the trunk and push the backseat down. If I panic right now, I will do no one any good. But the temptation to lose my shit feels like the weight of the universe pushing onto me. I hear the metal bar scratch against the metal of my car door. I look up and notice there’s a sliver of light coming through above the hinge. I use my free hand to tug the door as though I could keep it shut. I watch as the officer moves to the other side closer to the handle.

“Massimo, I can see your men. They have them all in handcuffs, pushed face first into a wall. It looks like people are yelling at them, but I can see none of their mouths are moving. Tony’s bleeding from his forehead. Luigi looks the worst. He must have been fighting them. They broke his nose.”

Neither Massimo nor Gabe say anything. I shift my gaze to Vinny and Afonso. They’re looking straight ahead. I focus on my phone and watch the seconds tick by on the call. I don’t like the silence. The talking was keeping me calm.

“Massimo, are you sure they’re really going to take Marco somewhere legal? They won't do anything to him, will they?”

“They won’t hurt him. They know who he is. That’s why they went after him.”

“But—”

“Liz, you have to trust me. It’s been a long time since Marco’s been arrested and never by the feds. But he knows what to do. They won’t make the don’s nephew disappear. If the feds are involved, they know Marco’s position. They want him because they think he’s a rising star in our family. One day, Luca will be don, and Gabe will be his consigliere. But they already know Marco’s title. They want someone high enough up that they think they can break him. They believe too high up— like Luca —would be pointless.”

“What’s Marco’s title? What’s his position?”

That’s met with silence.

“Answer me, Massimo. I won’t say a word, but I need to understand what they’re going to ask me. I need to understand, so I can tell you. If Marco and I are in this for good, then I have a right to know who my future husband is.”

I can’t believe I said that. I can’t believe I put that out there. Especially after how I acted this morning. That was about a million years ago.

“Marco is the capo dei capi. The boss of bosses. You’re going to marry the third most powerful man in the New York Cosa Nostra. Unless Luca has a son, one day Marco will be the underboss.”

Chapter Thirteen

Marco

I’m going to make every officer who got within a hundred feet of Beth wish they’d never been born. I can see the town car even if I can’t see through the tinted window. I know Afonso and Vinny are in the car with her. Luigi whispered that to me. I’d arranged for a town car to follow us just in case. This wasn’t the just in case I was fearing. I now know the three men who approached Beth were FBI agents. The one who shoved her is the one who tackled us.

I’d already beaten him badly enough his mom wouldn’t recognize him, but Beth shot him. We are going to have to talk about her reaction to these types of situations. I’m proud she has the courage to shoot. But now we’re going to have to make sure numb nuts doesn’t name her. Who knows who else saw all of it? I was focused on getting her into the car.

The one thing I now know unequivocally is that Beth is just as protective of me as I am of her. If this weren’t such a fucked-up situation, I’d feel loved. That’s fucked-up in and of itself.

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