Page 1 of Operation Wolf: Eli
CHAPTER 1
Eli
I LOOKED OUT THEwindow of my apartment, brooding as I gazed at the woman passing through the courtyard three stories down. The moonlight gleamed softly against the silky tresses of her auburn hair, illuminating the skin of her forehead and hands. Her head was bent down as she adjusted the textbooks she carried in one arm, so I couldn’t get a good look at her face, but that didn’t matter. I’d know Olivia Giordano anywhere—whether she was dressed in a pink T-shirt and jeans, as she was now, or wearing nothing but mud and grass and her father’s silk bathrobe, as she had once long ago when we were in love and high school sweethearts.
I smiled faintly at the memory. Those days had been good, even the rough ones, because Olivia was always around to brighten my life. Her father had been furious with her that day for ruining his favorite bathrobe. But Olivia had never sought to be anything other than what she was. That was why everyone loved her, had been drawn to her, like butterflies to a pool of nectar.
Just as I was then. Just as I am now.
I watched as she climbed the stairs, briefly disappearing and then emerging on the third-floor walkway on the other side of the courtyard. I wondered how she would react if she knew that I was standing here, observing her. That I’d tracked her down and moved in to the apartment across the complex from hers when I returned to Chicago three months ago. That I’d kept tabs on her ever since.
Would she welcome me with open arms and ask me where I’d been? Or would she be angry at my intrusion?
Sighing, I tried to step away from the window, but I couldn’t. I knew Olivia was an obsession I needed to let go of, but my eyes remained glued to the window as she stopped in front of her apartment door and fished for her keys in her coat pocket. I admired the way her tight jeans accentuated her curves. Curves that had become more defined since I last saw her a few years ago. She’d grown from a spring bud into a summer blossom, and more than once, I’d wished I could take her in my arms and see just how much she’d grown up.
But that’s impossible. I can’t go back to Olivia. I can’t even let her know I am back in town. If I did, I would get sucked back into the mob life again, and that’s something I swore I’d never let happen.
Loving a mobster’s daughter came with a high price. And Olivia and I had decided years ago that it wasn’t worth paying. So, now, I had to be content with only looking after her, even if it was from a distance.
She closed the door behind her, and I turned away from the window and wandered over to the kitchen to grab a beer from the fridge. Normally, I’d be at the shifter club on Rush Street, working as a bouncer, but I’d been given the night off. I loathed the long nights off. I never seemed to know what the hell to do with myself. I liked being at the bar. It gave me comfort to be with others of my kind. A sort of camaraderie I never felt anywhere else—at least, not since I’d returned from war.
It was funny how I felt like such an outcast in the city where I’d grown up. The city I’d thought I’d known like the back of my hand. Now, a few years later, I wondered if I’d really known anything at all.
Slipping my hand into my pocket, I drew out the gold pocket watch Dad had given me before he died many years ago. It was the most valuable thing he had ever owned, a Civil War relic, and consequently, it was now the most valuable thing I owned. Though Dad and I’d had our ups and downs, I’d held on to it all these years, and it gave me solace every time I pulled it out to look at it.
I was taking a swig from my beer when my cell rang, nearly startling me into dropping the bottle. Scowling, I glanced at the screen, not recognizing the number and wondering who the hell was calling me at this time of night. The only phone calls I ever got were from the club when they needed me to come in early. And now that I was home and comfortable, I suddenly found I didn’t necessarily want to haul my ass down to Rush Street when the nightlife was already in full swing.
Swiping my finger across my cell, I answered, “McCauley.”
“Eli!” a panicky, familiar voice burst through the line, accompanied by a faint crackling sound. “I’m so glad I reached you. Hey, how have you been, buddy?”
“Ian?” My blood ran cold at the sound of my old friend’s voice.
Ian and I used to run with the mob back in the day—before I’d decided to call the gangster life quits and joined the military.
“How the hell did you get my number?”
I’d been deliberately avoiding all of my old friends, especially Ian, who had made a pact with me to quit the thug life and go straight. Then he’d backed out, only to return to the insanity. I didn’t have any patience for those who tried to drag me down. Not after all I’d been through and how hard I had worked to clean up my life and go straight.
“Silvia gave it to me.”
Shit.
Silvia was a former friend of Dad’s, whom I’d run into weeks ago by accident. She also happened to be Ian’s estranged aunt. Now, I was kicking myself for giving her my number, but I’d felt bad for her when she told me that her husband just died and she was all on her own with no one to help her with small errands.
“Look, Eli, I know I’m the last person you want to hear from right now,” Ian said. “But I . . . Eli, I need your help.”
I gave an exasperated sigh. “What are you in for this time, Ian? Racketeering? Extortion?”
“No, I’m not—”
“Sorry, Ian, but I can’t help you. I don’t have any money to front you for bail. Not this time. If you didn’t want to end up in the tank, you should have gone straight, like I did. You’ve had so damn many opportunities to get out of that mess.”
“I’m not in jail!” Ian burst out. “And I haven’t been running any rackets or dealing or anything like that in a long time. I have been an honest guy for the past few years, Eli. Really. It’s just that I’ve never been able to shake the gambling, you know, and—”
“Hello, Eli.” A different voice came on the line, one with an Italian accent that sent a trickle of sweat down my spine. “It’s Nick Santorini. I used to know your father very well. I’m sure you’ve heard of me.”
“Hi, Nick,” I replied carefully. My mind was racing as I tried to figure out what the hell this guy wanted with me.
