Page 19 of His Broken Queen

When the penthouse phone rang, Gio picked it up.

“Yeah, that’s fine,” he said. “You can send him up.”

I glanced at my brother as he hung up.

“Rocco.” He finished his drink. “Maybe he’ll have some answers.”

“He’s still a Torrio,” I said. “Don’t forget that.”

Gio went to the door and opened it, saying something to the guard in the doorway. When he returned from the hallway, Rocco was with him.

“Did your family do this?” I stared at him. “Did they send someone to my home to kill a friend to send me a message?”

“I know you have to ask me that and I’m sorry for what happened to Stella, but no,” he said. “That’s not the way any of the prominent families deal with a situation. None of us would come to your home and kill an innocent woman. The only message that would send is we are savage and have no code. We may do a lot of despicable acts, but we do them to one another. Not to innocent people.”

I nodded, satisfied with his answer because he was right. None of the families would stand back and allow such a heinous act to be committed against any of the other members in the organization.

“Agent Morgan is right behind me.” Rocco glanced at his phone. “I have someone in the lobby monitoring the situation.”

“Just what I fucking need.” I poured myself another drink.

“I can take care of him tonight,” Rocco said.

“The official story is that Romero and Luciana were not at the scene at all.” Gio took the bottle of vodka. “Do you want a drink?”

Rocco waved him off. “I have to stay sharp.” He looked at me. “How is Lu?”

“She’s sedated right now. She can’t talk to the cops. She’ll break and say what she saw.” I clenched my fist. “She can’t help identify the shooter, so I’m not subjecting her to this.”

“I can keep Morgan away from her, especially if we say she wasn’t home.” Rocco glanced at his phone. “Your building security is letting Agent Morgan up. He probably waved his badge.”

“Why are you helping us?” I asked. “Your father and brothers aren’t going to like it.”

“They don’t like a lot of things I do these days. What’s one more to add to the list?”

Gio went to the door and waited for Morgan to arrive.

“I know you don’t trust me,” Rocco said. “But things haven’t been right in the organization for weeks. The families are split but we have a common enemy and if we don’t start working together, it’s not going to get any better. No one is moving anything.”

“Your father set the cartel in our paths,” I reminded him. “I had a working relationship with them before he undermined me.”

“I don’t know what my father’s motivation was when he came after you. I followed his lead because that’s what I’ve always done.”

“And now?”

Before he could answer, Gio came in with Morgan.

“Mr. Bilotti,” Agent Morgan said. “I take it your night isn’t going well.”

“Here’s a thought, instead of harassing me, why don’t look for the people involved with invading my house tonight?” It wasn’t as if he was going to find them faster than I could.

“I have a thought too,” he said. “How about we cut the bullshit and you tell me who murdered your employee.”

“Stella was more than an employee.” I walked across the room to stand closer to him. “She was a good friend, especially to my wife.”

“How is Lu?” He didn’t appear as smug when he mentioned her name.

“I’m taking care of her,” I said.

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