Page 87 of Descent

“He has a federal detail. No one knows where he’s been kept for the past five years.”

“I can tell enough about you to know that doesn’t apply to you. You know me too. What I am capable of.”

“But do you?” he mutters, side-eyeing me.

“Irrelevant.”

“Hm. Someone did a number on you, kid.”

“They’ll get what’s coming to them. And I will get my memories back, one way or another. Or I’ll get revenge.” I’m oversharing. Slipping. “What do Ineedto know?”

“Let’s assume you don’t know the basics. Diamante empire collapsed nearly five years ago. Started with Dom making a play for your eldest brother’s throne. He turned every street thug and any other criminal organization against you. Made wild promises. Had the money to back it up for a while. No one knows where he got that cash. There’s a lot about that takeover I don’t know, but the end result was Alessandro taking the fall to save as many of his people as he could.”

“Sounds like a hero.”

“Some people still think so. I know for a fact he faked it. Went into hiding. Doesn’t diminish the sacrifice he made in a bad spot.”

“Adriano?”

“Came back here as Dom’s consigliere. Didn’t really make sense, except to cull his nemesis’s little brothers. Probably thought having the three of you under thumb legitimized him in the eyes of the Diamante family elders. Looked like he was tryingto expand the new Vipera name across borders. Huge moves. Big buys. Upset the status quo in a big way.”

“Amateur. Stupid even.”

“Dom was anything but stupid. I still haven’t figured it out. But everything he did was deliberate. I think he would have pinned the collapse on Adriano in the end if we hadn’t interfered.”

“What happened to my brother?”

“Long story long, Dom forced his daughter to move here too. Made her cook his books, forced her to marry your brother. Seems like they wound up making the best of that. I was at their wedding. Beautiful right up to the shoot-out and hostage situation. I arrested Dom. Reunited Gloria with her sister. Then the three of them…”

“The less we know, the better.”

“Bingo. That leaves you and Ciro. I know Adriano tried to send you both away. Get you far from the fallout of Dom’s arrest.”

“That fallout was a lot bigger than anyone could run from.” I think of Circe’s family. Other criminals I’ve met along the way. There are few gangs worldwide that weren’t affected.

“Part of the reason I got sidelined and eventually all but canned. Higher-ups wanted that golden goose for themselves. Dom set the whole goddamn world on fire.”

“For what?”

“Revenge. Or a longer game. He still has connections. I keep finding clues with his name on them. Influences. He’s working with someone on the outside. Pulling strings from behind bars.”

“There’s always somebody pulling the strings.”

“Doesn’t have to be. Someone like you? You could cut them.”

“I just want my life back.”

“A good start. But you could do so much more.”

“How do you know? Why do youcare?”

“I knew your great uncle, Giancarlo. I knew your family. There used to be a truce, peace between the agency, between the big players. Nobody overstepped. At least that’s where Giancarlo got it to. He played it safe. Your eldest brother, he played it safe too. He was a good leader, even if he was a fucking criminal.

“But he didn’t kill needlessly. He didn’t throw people under the bus. He didn’t slaughter innocents. And that’s all that seems to be going on nowadays. Everyone who’s in charge, whoever’s taken over in the power vacuum…no one’s safe.”

“That sounds like someone else’s problem.” I cross my arms.

“Fair. Even so, I’d trade my left leg for Diamantes back in power. Always hindsight, greener grass.”

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