Page 125 of Gin & Trouble

My hopesfor sharing a family Christmas with the Marchionnis died on the vine. Unless of course, spending the flight to Palermo with three brooding men—and an army of security—counted as holiday festivities.

We needed to strategize, to come up with a plan, to band together. However, the brothers had hardly spoken to each other since we’d left the Marchionni compound. Even Dante, who was arguably the most levelheaded of the three, remained quiet.

I couldn’t take the silence another moment. “How’s it going to work at the estate? Doesn’t everyone still think we’re dead?”

“If everything goes right, you won’t be involved.” Marco spoke without taking his eyes off his cell.

“Then why drag us to Palermo?” Dante glared.

“You’re plan B.” Marco shoved his phone in his pocket. “I’ve called an emergency meeting of theFratellanzabefore the ceremony.”

“Doesn’t Tommaso have to agree to that?” Enzo turned from the window.

Marco shrugged. “Not when I am making charges against him.”

“What charges?” Dante’s seemingly perpetual frown deepened.

“His men attempted to assassinate Enzo twice in the same day.”

I let my head fall back against the seat. “It’ll be our word against Tommaso’s without evidence.”

“We have evidence.” Dante jumped up from his seat and walked to Marco. “Give me your laptop.”

Marco handed the sleek silver machine to him. “What are you thinking?”

Dante flashed me a grin. “Frankie’s software pinged her when the facial recognition picked up Pasquale Puglisi outside the restaurant.”

“You’re right.” Heart pounding, I joined him at the table in the back of the main cabin. “Can you access the program?”

“I’m not sure.” Dante’s fingers flew over the keyboard. He grumbled, typed some more, and grumbled again. Finally, he let out a shout of victory. “I’m in.”

“Here’s the plan.” Marco stood and paced the aisle. “We split up when we land. Enzo and I will take one vehicle. Dante, you and Frankie will go in another. Once Enzo and I are inside, your driver will take you to the east side of the estate and park near the entrance to our private quarters.”

Dante screen-capped shots of the alert I’d received on the street car and sent it to Marco’s phone, along with the video of Pasquale. “I don’t like it. We’ll be too exposed. If Tommaso sees us, it’ll be over before it starts.”

It’d been ages since I’d visited the Cosa Nostra’s estate, but I remembered the wagon-wheel layout. The common areas like the ballroom, main kitchen, andFratellanza’sconference room were in the center of the sprawling building. Each ruling family had a wing of offices and small apartments branching off like spokes.

I laced my fingers with Dante’s in hopes of calming our nerves. “Marco’s right. Tommaso’s men will probably be guarding Valentina and the front entrance. They have no reason to be watching the Marchionni wing, if Marco strolls through the front door.”

Enzo asked, “I thought no one was allowed to bring weapons on the estate?”

That they’d grown up in the mob but knew so little about how things worked concerned me. “Guns aren’t allowed inside the common areas, but anything goes in the private wings.”

“Remind me why you want us to sit in the car?” Dante glared at Marco.

“No one knows you’re alive. I’d like to hold on to the element of surprise as long as possible.”

I wasn’t over the moon with the plan either, but it was the best we could do given the situation.

“Relax. You’ll be safe. Just stay in the car unless I text you to tell you otherwise.” Marco turned to Enzo. “You sure you want to get involved with this?”

“Absolutely. I can’t bring my child into the world until Tommaso is dead.”

I hated my brother for what he’d done to my family, but the little girl inside me remembered the way he used to be, before he’d turned into a power-hungry, insecure monster. “Will they execute him?”

Marco shook his head. “It’s unlikely. Despite his best efforts, he hasn’t killed Enzo, and we have nothing to tie him to Joe’s murder. But I’m sure I’ll have enough votes to lock him up.”

Judging from the brothers’ expressions, none of them believed it would be enough to stop Tommaso—and neither did I.

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