Mafia love

Amore mio…

“Luc…” I said breathlessly.

“Goddess, I need you to do me a favor, please.”

“Of course.”

“I need you to be strong. I need you to be a cop, Taylor.”

He’d never called me that, not even when I'd insisted after our first meeting. Taylor was the badass cop persona I’d created for myself all these long years. She was a ruthless, no-nonsense woman who was a warrior.

“Taylor.”

“Yes, remember our game… being whoever we want to be.”

“I remember.”

“You need to be her, just for a little longer. It will help you deal with the loss of your friends in whatever way you lost them. I… I killed Jefferson.”

“You had to.”

“I still killed him. Blood on my hands.”

A tear ran down my cheek, and he caught it. “Luc, please, don’t blame yourself.”

“Let’s focus on you. Amelia, there’s someone here we can’t trust, so until we find out who that is, don’t trust anyone. Don’t speak to anyone, at all. You understand me?” His jaw set and a wrinkle furrowed his brows.

“Yes.” I couldn’t begin to imagine who the person could be. I broke eye contact and started picking at the frays on the gold tassels of the pillow case.

“I mean it, Amelia. You have to suspect everyone.”

I raised my gaze back to his. The hard look in his blue gaze, lethal and stony displayed the wealth of his seriousness.

I knew he was right. It was just hard.

Who the hell could it be? It was only Dad and me who had known where the key would be.

We hadn’t spoken to anyone about it. We’d sat in the garden talking after the meeting yesterday, and he gave me the key, along with the

password for the diamonds at the facility in Rockford. It was just us, then…

Millicent came. Millicent had come with a tray of food…

Millicent…

No... She’d caught the end of our conversation. We were talking about doing something for the day.

Instantly, I felt terrible for even considering her. Millicent was like a mother to me, and a good friend to Dad.

“Luc, I don’t know who it is.” I shook my head.

“Someone knew exactly where you put the key, and they contacted the other guys. This is getting too far out of hand.”

“Who could it be, Luc?”

“Anyone. I’m going to check the place out again to see if it’s bugged, but I need you to be strong. I need you to be the badass cop I first met who would have handed my ass to me.”

Again, I nodded. “I will try. What about you? I know you feel bad about Jefferson. You shouldn’t feel bad.”

“My dear Amelia, I am a mobster. That is who I’ll be, and so I guess we’re not playing games anymore.”

I knew what he meant in saying that. He’d talked about changing; today showed me it wasn’t that easy.

Not easy at all, and I couldn’t blame him.

It was just that we were right back to square one. I was a cop, and he was a mobster. Like he said, the games were over. We could pretend to be whoever we wanted to be, but truth was truth.

CHAPTER 3

Luc

I waited until Amelia fell asleep, then I left her.

It was late but not late enough to turn in and not get shit done. The time to relax and watch the situation had long passed. Now, it was time to change things up.

Time to change.

Change everything and utilize my skills and abilities.

I’d grown soft. Over the last few months, I’d grown fucking soft and allowed the image and handle I had on things before I left for LA to slip out of my grasp.

I had to get that guy I used to be back. Now more than ever because now was when it mattered to me.

I was in love with her. I was obsessed with her.

Amelia, my goddess. Today, things could have gone way wrong.

Who is the rat? Who is the fucking rat?

Throughout the day, I’d gone through a list of people who’d been in the house with us since we’d been in Chicago. No one stood out to me.

I wasn’t here all the time, so I didn’t get to see all the people who came in and out.

Each time I’d been here, it was just me, Raphael, Amelia, and occasionally Millicent. Dad and Claudius had come by yesterday morning.

That was it. All I knew of.

The part that was missing was, who was here when Amelia and Raphael were talking about the key and the safe in the library.

The place had to be bugged. Maybe the phone lines. Maybe they had some sort of device that would still let them listen in.

Based on that theory, the first thing I did was get one of my guys to check out the phone lines. I waited for confirmation of that being done before I entered the meeting room, where the crew were all waiting for me.

They were all here, all the main guys who made up the core of the team, and a few others. The total was about twenty.

All hands on deck. Pa was here, as was part of my team, my boys Louis, Saul, and Do

Claudius and his men were here too. We called them The Four.

Gio, Jude, Alex, and Dante. Like Claudius, they had a cross tattooed on either their necks or their cheeks in memory of their fallen ones. They operated as a separate unit. We trusted those guys the most, as they could shift from being bodyguards to mercenaries to assassins. My guys were good, but these guys were who you called when you needed to get shit done, like yesterday. Like Claudius, they killed without thinking about the consequences. Often because their targets were the worst kind. People like Victor who needed to be killed on sight.

I needed them to stay here with Raphael and Amelia.

All acknowledged me with respect as I walked in. It felt like forever since I’d acted as my role as capo for the Rossi family. Claudius and I had the same title, but now I was boss. Or acting boss, whatever. This was the first time I’d stepped up in this way. We were both leaders but normally, for something like this, we’d have been sitting side by side, taking orders.

Orders that would have come from Raphael. Our boss.

Everyone knew I’d been chosen to take the lead. I’d turned it down, but they didn’t know that part yet. Claudius did though. Amelia had taken charge the other day, and I was proud of her for the way she’d handled Raphael, but things had changed big time. Things had changed, and she was in no state to do anything. Not like this. She didn’t know our way. This was all above her. I needed her to be strong, not to take any form of lead in the business, but for herself.

I gazed to the far side of the room at Pa. Ever and always the arm of support as Raphael’s consigliere, the trusted advisor. It was amazing. We all played our roles and did what we did best. We had to adapt to whatever was thrown our way and just know what to do. Pa, though, was consistent. He was consistent in his role always. Always the man you could trust with anything. Your secrets and your life.

“Thank you all for coming,” I began.

I closed the door and stood in front of the large mahogany desk.

They all looked at me with anticipation. As I looked them over, I wondered what Amelia would think when she saw them. The sight of so many raw-blooded gangsters would probably freak her out.