Page 22 of Angelo

She decided to tell Alessandro about Javier Santos. "When I called Benny earlier..."

His gaze sharpened. "What did he tell you?"

"He mentioned someone named Javier Santos. Have you ever heard of him?"

Alessandro froze. "Did you say Javier... Santos?"

"Yes, Benny told me that Javier was the middle man, the one who was supposed to pay Tommy Wilkes after, well, you know," Elyse made a face as she muttered, "he finished the job."

Concern strained across her husband's face. "Fuck."

Elyse eyed him anxiously. "You know him?"

"If he is the same Javier Santos that I know," Alessandro muttered, "we will need to reconsider one key alliance."

Alarm shot through Elyse. "Why?"

"His brother, Savino Santos, is an arms dealer based in New York."

"Is he part of the American-Italian mafia?"

"Yes."

Elyse's complexion grew pale. She didn't like where this was going at all. She knew of one clan who dealt heavily in underground arms trafficking with the American-Italian mafia.

Alessandro continued, "In the past, he has worked closely with—"

"Aberto De León," she finished with a look of horror.

5

Disbelief led to anoverwhelming surge of fear. Elyse felt sucker punched. The De Leóns were supposed to be their closest allies. Valentina was engaged to Gaspare. Alessandro had already asked Aberto to help take down Domenico, and Elyse personally recruited Mariposa to go after Cara.

Green eyes grew dim, clouding with dread. It seemed as though the two of them were battling a hydra at every turn. The moment they severed one head, new ones would burst forth. Her mind began to race. If Aberto actually paid the Santos brothers to hire Tommy Wilkes, their current plans were fucked. Dread sank deeper. Who needed enemies with friends like him?

Struggling not to let her anxiety show, she turned to Alessandro and asked as calmly as possible, "What should we do about Aberto?"

He smiled. "Kill him."

"If Aberto betrayed you, he deserves to fucking die."

"I will ask Monte to investigate his involvement with the Santos brothers."

"I wonder how deep this rabbit hole goes." Elyse reached over, searching for her husband's hand. This time, when they made contact, he didn't pull away.

"We will find out soon enough." Alessandro glanced down at their clasped hands and gave a pause before muttering, "You were right, by the way."

Her eyebrows rose. "About what?"

He squeezed her hand in his palm. "When I fuck up, everything fucks up."

"Alessio..."

Alessandro shot her a grim look. "The othercoscascannot wait to sink their teeth into me. It was a mistake to trust Aberto. Just because he was happy to be my father's little bitch does not mean he will be happy to be mine. I acted too rashly. My father was right. I am not ready to be a king among vipers."

"He doesn't know you like I do."

"My father has known me longer, though," Alessandro challenged wryly, "and he has seen me at my worst."

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