Page 32 of Primo DeLuca

“Men,” I called in an authoritative tone, my gaze locked on the older man’s. “Top to bottom, every office, room, and closet. If you find anything to do with my hit, namely who else and which DeLuca might be involved, I want to know about it.”

Brizio’s crazy ass stood above the half-headed agent and observed the damage the small bomb had made. “You’re a fucking homicidal lunatic,” he stated with an actual smile on his face.

Angelo and Lucca left the men on the wall to assist with the search party. The remaining men sat nursing the extreme amount of anxious energy coursing through them. I sat deathly still and studied them like they were specimens under a microscope to see if they would give any type of sign that would reveal when we were close to finding answers.

Brizio worked on a laptop belonging to one of the damned, scanning it for any information or clues on how the Vittorios had linked up with a rat ass DeLuca to put a major hit out on me.

Three hours later, the search continued.

I clicked on my earpiece. “Tell the men to take a lunch break and come back in an hour.”

It was Bartolo who responded with a simple, “Yes, Capo.”

***

Six hours later, a meal of St. Louis style pizza the men brought me around five p.m., and we still hadn’t found one thing that linked the traitorous DeLuca to the Vittorio family. It could have been part of the family’s plan to turn us against each other for all we knew.

“I’ve got something,” my cousin Bartolo called out before crossing the threshold to enter the office. He stopped short at the sight of the headless agent lying in a pool of his own blood. His brows lifted at the sight of Creto slumped in the corner he’d staggered into, a chunk of his head missing. The toxic mix of blood, shit, and piss strong enough to water the eyes and trigger the gag reflex pooled at his feet.

Bartolo shook his head at the scene and absently handed me two pieces of paper. “I think you’ll want to see this.”

He continued to survey the horrific scene, eyeballed the dead men, and wrinkled his nose at the scent of expelled bodily fluids permeating the air. A quick glance showed me what was handwritten on the stationery bearing the DeLuca seal.

One of us had handed the information to the Vittorio family. In the world of digital technology, the Vittorio family was about to lose some members over a handwritten note they’d been too lazy or too arrogant to believe they needed to destroy.

Brizio walked up, and I handed the pages to him before I approached the remaining men on the wall.

Pop!

Pop!

A bullet was delivered with my blessing to each of the snitches’ heads.

“Shit!” Genovio murmured, wiping blood from the side of his face and staring with a glare mean enough to cause physical damage.

“Holy fuck,” Brizio called out at the sight of the mess I’d made of the men, particularly the one whose leg spasmed although his body had fallen and landed in the prone position.

My phone vibrated and a quick peek showed that it was Nevah calling. The sight of her name appearing on my phone had me forcing down a smile. Just like that, she’d pulled me out of the savage haze I’d allowed myself to sank into. The phone was up and at my ear before I noticed what I was doing. I’d never taken a personal call from anyone while I was putting in work.

“Hello.”

“Primo,” her quiet tone sounded, and I’d never been so grateful to hear someone’s voice.

The list that Bartolo had handed me was a list of the DeLuca safe houses. A few of the houses weren’t known to all DeLucas, which meant the list of potential rats had been narrowed down to about thirty versus a hundred. The house that Nevah currently resided in wasn’t on the list, but my need to protect her was stronger than ever.

“Nevah, I need you to listen and listen well. I want you to go down to the safe room and lock yourself inside.”

Her voice cracked. “I can’t.”

“Nevah?”

My heartrate kicked up a notch.

“Your black Barbie doll has my best friend aimed at the back of her head,” a male voice threatened. “Now, I need you to listen and listen well. Come alone...” the voice said in a threatening tone, mimicking some of the words I had just spoken to Nevah.

“Come alone. Any extra DeLucas, and this lovely woman is going to find out why it’s not a good idea to date a man in the mob.”

He paused and the silence had me thinking he’d hung up until his irritating voice returned.

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