Page 69 of His Dark Vendetta

“Cazzo,” I said and paced away. “Did Mikey talk?”

“Not a word. Begs the question, how’d the feds find out so quick?”

“They’re becoming a real pain in the ass.”

“They’ve always been a pain in the ass and trust me when I say they can be a helluva lot worse.” His words were dry through the smoke but no less of a serious warning. He tossed the cigarette butt on the ground and put it out with his toe.

“You think they have an alert out to local precincts? Cops saw Mikey and called it in?”

“Likely. Mikey and the size of the lift.”

“Prejudiced fucks.” I pointed my finger at the front door like Agent Johnson was inside. “That stronzo is out to make a name for himself, and he’s creating a goddamn witch hunt to do it.”

“He’s persistent, I’ll give him that.” He pulled out another smoke and lit it. “Any witnesses can ID Mikey?”

“I doubt that security guard could ID any of us. He may have realized what was happening, but with the rain and the lights…” I shook my head. “There’s no way he saw our faces. Not from that far away. And the truck driver only saw me.”

Vito nodded and dragged on his cigarette.

“I’m sitting down with Vinnie and Gio this afternoon. We need to tell the capi—everyone needs to be on their best fucking behavior.”

Vito nodded. “I’ll tell Marco.”

“Make sure he knows I didn’t fuck up,” I snapped. “That was bad luck. Nothing more.”

“Easy, kid. No one’s blaming you. Coulda happened to any of us.”

I tugged on my hair. “Tell that to Vinnie.”

He took a long drag. “What was Siobhán Connelly doing at The Dollhouse last night?”

I frowned. “I thought you didn’t want to know.”

His eyes narrowed through a trail of smoke. “I changed my mind.”

I licked my lips. “Nothing. Waiting for me to get back.”

“Marco considers her part of his crew. Like a niece.”

“My relationship with Siobhán is none of Marco’s business.”

“It is when it affects his business.”

“It doesn’t,” I snapped.

He glanced at his watch. “Relationship, huh?”

“No—I meant… You know what I meant.”

“I do. I also know who her family is and how you don’t always see straight when it comes to them. You want to salvage your relationship with Marco, best not dig that hole any deeper.”

I scoffed. “Who said I wanted to salvage it?”

“Keep playing the tough guy, Luca, but I know this hurts you as much as it hurts him. You’re both just too goddamn proud and stubborn to admit it.”

“Tell him that.”

“You think I haven’t?” He dropped the cigarette and ground out the butt. “Not to mention what your feud is doing to Gina.” He pursed his lips as if restraining a verbal assault to match the fury in his eyes.

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