Page 70 of Wicked Knight 2

“What? How do you know this?”

“Giovanni told me before he died.” She swiped her cheek. “He was the only man I ever loved, Donata. I don’t regret what we had. Not a single moment of it.”

“This is too much.” I pulled up a chair and sat.

“The night Giovanni died; I promised him his killer would be brought to justice. If not for him, then for our children, you and Rex.”

“Omigod.” I covered my mouth. “You had the Gallo family killed.”

“Michael Alfera pulled the trigger, so to speak. But yes, I gave the order.” She lifted her chin. “I kept my promise to a dying man, who in the end, only wanted to keep his children safe.”

“None of this would’ve happened if you had listened to me. We told you Jimmy Gallo couldn’t be trusted. For six years, you let him play this cat and mouse game with Luca.”

“I know. You have no idea how many times I regretted that decision. But we have rules. We had to abide by them.”

I scoffed. “Were you following the rules when you slept with Rex’s dad?”

“I deserve that.” She nodded. “One day, if you let me, I would love to tell you the whole story.”

“Oh, you have a love story? Are you fucking kidding me?” I banged my hand on the table as tears streamed down my cheeks. “You did this to him. Luca is trapped in a nightmare because you sent the Brotherhood to kill him. They kidnapped me because of you.” I screamed at her. Not a second later, Rex, Enzo and Santino burst through the dining room doors. I stared at their blurry figures then wiped my eyes. “You heard me right. Luca is alive. The Russians tried to kill him. He survived, but he lost his memory. For the past year, he’s been communing with them thinking he’s Maxim Belov.”

“Belov?” Enzo exchanged a meaningful look with Santino. “As in the leader of the Russian mob who started a human trafficking ring in Jersey a few months back? They took my wife and son.” His whole face turned bright red. “Tell us where they are. They will pay for everything they’ve done to our families.”

This was not how I thought this conversation would go. All I wanted was to get Luca back. But would he still love me after he learned the truth? My own mother ordered his execution. He’d been a man on the run for two years because of her.

“Let me help you.” Aunt Vittoria met my gaze. “We’ll bring Luca to safety. I promise.”

“What about the prize on his head?” I glared at her. “Are you still paying bounties for any remaining members of the Gallo family?”

“No.” Her gaze cut to Enzo for a moment. Enzo’s dad was her accomplice in this. After a moment’s hesitation, she continued, “The bounty hunters were Michael Alfera’s idea. When he was killed, the whole thing went away.”

“No, it didn’t. Luca was captured a year ago. Michael died way before that.”

“I swear. It wasn’t me.” She exhaled. “I tried to help him. I warned him. The night he was here, he survived the ambush because I sent him a letter.”

“How generous of you.” I scoffed.

“Michael was on a war path when Rex took over as king. And you know that. If I had shown any kind of favor toward Luca, he would’ve guessed it was because of you. He would’ve killed Luca himself.”

“She’s right, D.” Enzo placed his hand on my shoulder. “Dad wanted to see the Society gutted from the inside out.”

“I wonder who gave him that idea.” I glared at Aunt Vittoria.

As much as I wanted to stand here and fill the room with vitriol, I couldn’t forget about Luca. I couldn’t let my emotions put him in danger once again. Aunt Vittoria had done a terrible thing in the name of love and family. Her reasons were worthless to me. Because no matter how much she’d done this to protect me, a hundred innocent people had died by her hand—Luca didn’t deserve to live on the run for years. He didn’t deserve to lose his parents and his sisters.

Aunt Vittoria was cruel and vile, same as Papa. They both thought the end justified the means. I needed a monster to fight Luca’s monster.

“You want to help? Fine. Bring Luca home.” I ached for him. I ached for all the injustices he had to endure. “But know this, when he’s safe, when it’s all over, you will never see me again.” I stormed out and ran straight to the grand staircase.

I wanted to slam my bedroom door behind me and never come out. But the night wasn’t over yet. I stopped with my foot on the first step, gripping the banister tight. We had to work together to come up with a plan to get beyond the compound gate.

“Fuck.” I swallowed my pride and anger and turned around to face them all. “Well? Do any of you have any idea how we get in?” Santino opened his mouth, and I raised my hand. “No Molotovs. There are women and children living in the house.”

“We use numbers.” Vittoria strode past us and headed for the library.

“What do you mean?” I followed her to her desk, where she pulled out a map of New York and set it on the table. “As in bring a legion with us.”

“Exactly. A crew needs members. As much as the Russians love carnage, they love money more. To make money, you need a crew. If we show up with…” She motioned toward me. “As you said a legion of men, they won’t fight. Even Belov should be able to do the math on that one.”

---