The Woman in the Back Room by Jessica Gadziala

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter Eighteen

Santi

 

 

 

 

 

"I don't know," Salvatore said when Lorenzo asked him for the third time who he thought the guys might be. "I've been away for a long fucking time. Everyone looks different," he declared, head hung, apologetic.

Whoever they were, they'd somehow managed to fuck with the cameras somehow, because the feed was coming out grainy, making it impossible to see any faces clearly enough for an identification.

"This is fucking ridiculous," Lorenzo snapped, pacing. "We had every security measure in place, and we can't figure out who did this?"

"It's Primo Esposito," a voice said, coming in from the door, making all of us turn to find Ricco Morelli, another of Alessa's half-brothers, making his way in.

Unlike his brothers, Ricco was more casual in dress, wearing a pair of jeans and a black t-shirt. Frame-wise, he was somewhere between Ciro's and Gio's builds with about half the tattoos that his brother Elio possessed. Otherwise, there was no mistaking the family resemblance. The same facial features, the same eyes, the same dimple that they were all known to possess at least one of. But where his brothers kept their hair short, Ricco kept it longer, pulled up into a bun at the back of his head.

"What?" Lorenzo asked, stiffening. "How do you know that? You are good at your job."

"What job?" I asked, feeling lost.

"The one where we had Due killed," Lorenzo said, not missing a beat.

"You... what? How did I not know about that?"

"Because the plan was already in place before Brit got killed. And I didn't see a reason to have you worrying about anything else right then."

Heavy was the head that wore the crown, it seemed. I thought I had my hands full trying to figure out who'd killed Brit. But not only had Lorenzo been working that case, but he'd also been holding a Commission meeting to plan the murder of a made man, and, presumably, at least a dozen other smaller matters he handled on a daily basis.

"Jesus," I hissed, mind reeling.

It was a big fucking deal for The Commission to get together and agree to the assassination of a made man, regardless of which Family he belonged to.

And the fact that they felt the need to take out someone from a volatile Family during a time of unrest really said something.

"Yeah," Ricco agreed, jaw so tight that a muscle ticked there. "And now my fucking sister is paying for our actions."

"We're going to get Alessa back," Lorenzo said.

"Yeah?" Ricco asked, eyes blazing. "When? After she's been beaten and brutalized? Then?" he snapped, making my stomach plummet at the idea.

"No," Lorenzo said, looking over at Emilio and Brio. "Now. We're going to go get her back now. Call everyone in that is able-bodied. We will show up in force and with heat. He won't have a choice but to hand her back."

"Enz," Gio said, voice raised, a little strangled sounding. "Just got a video message," he said, turning his phone to face all of us.

And there was Alessa with a nasty gash on the side of her head, with a pretty decent black eye forming. But otherwise... okay. Except for being handcuffed to Primo Esposito, that is.

"Play it," Lorenzo snapped, making Gio fumble.

"Alessa here and I would like to have a meeting with you in two hours' time," Primo's smooth voice declared. "Isn't that right, Alessa?" he asked.

"Eat shit, Primo," Alessa shot back, giving him a saccharine smile.

"That'a girl," Ricco murmured.

"She's got spirit," Primo said. "I'd hate to have to break it," he added, giving the camera a look that said he was more than willing to do so if he felt he needed to, though. "And if you show up for a sit-down at the specified time, I won't need to. But if you're a minute late, I will be forced to. Say goodbye, Alessa," Primo demanded.

"Goodbye, Primo," Alessa said.

I saw it the second before she twisted, and aimed for Primo's carotid.

A pocket knife.

But the bastard was fast, grabbing her wrist with his uncuffed one.

She didn't cry out, but I could hear the way her breath caught as he squeezed her wrist until his fingers went white, and the knife fell from her hand.

"Stubborn-ass, you're just making it harder on yourself," Primo said, but with no actual heat in his words. "Two hours," he repeated to the camera. "And don't bother trying to show up in force. Only the core Costa and Morelli Family members are going to get on the same block as me," he warned. "Santi," he called, dragging my attention off of Alessa. "I don't want to kill her, but I will. So keep your brother in check."

And with that, the video cut out, leaving us there in stunned silence for a moment.

"He's out of his fucking mind," Gio Sr. declared.

"Yeah, no shit," Salvatore ground out. "With an old man like his, it's not really a surprise he turned out like that.

"Does anyone know Primo?" Lorenzo asked, looking around.

"I probably know more than anyone," Ricco said. "But even that isn't much."

"Does he have the manpower to make sure we can't show up in force?"

"Yes. Absolutely. Even if he didn't have that many soldiers and associates, his community loves him."

"You're fucking kidding me," Lorenzo said.

"No. He's practically a hero around there. If he put the word out to stop us, they would. No questions asked. It's better to just try to follow the rules, keep shit amicable."

"What could be amicable about this?" I asked. "I can't imagine he wants to have a casual conversation over coffee after Ricco killed his brother."

"Yeah, well, I guess we will have to explain why," Ricco said, shrugging.

"Do you still have the evidence?" Lorenzo asked.

"Yeah, of course," Ricco agreed.

"Alright. Well, let's round up some fire power, and head over."

"Don't even try to say no," I said as he turned to me. "I'm going."

"Santi..."

"He has Alessa," I bit out, something in my voice and face giving me away.

"Okay," he agreed, nodding. "Brio, you got a vest for him?" he asked. "He has a kid to come home to," he added.

From there, it was a flurry of activity.

Men showed up with guns and knives and bulletproof vests.

"Sit your ass down," Lorenzo said as Salvatore pulled himself to his feet. And to his credit, the man barely even hissed even though I knew he must have been in agony. Alessa at least had pain meds on a drip for the first few hours after she was shot. Salvatore was functioning on some ibuprofen and a couple swigs of vodka.

"No. I have to go. I need to make sure we get her out. I failed her already today."

"Failed her? You took two bullets protecting her, giving her a chance to stash my nephew away. That isn't failing in my book," Lorenzo said. "I need you at your best, so letting you drag around your bullet-riddled body isn't going to be good for the Family long-term. I want you here with Celeste and the kid. Same with Christopher," he said, nodding toward his men. "And about half a dozen others. Inside and out. The rest will be at my place with Gigi," he said. "Morelli, figure your shit out," he added, waving at Gio Sr. "And someone call Vin D'onofrio, tell him what is going down."

I spent the remaining time having Brio strap a bulletproof vest on me, and outfit me with half a dozen weapons while prattling off a bunch of ways to incapacitate an enemy, how to cause maximum damage with minimum effort.

My mind was only partially on him. The largest part was on Alessa, on how she must have been feeling. She was good at putting on a show of strength. And she was strong. But I knew she must have been confused and scared.

What was left that wasn't worry about getting her out safe, was worrying about putting myself in a dangerous situation when I had Avi who relied on me.

But there wasn't much of a choice, was there?

I had to help bring her home.

And Avi would be safe and loved.

While I helped.

And even if something happened to me.

"Alright," Lorenzo said, clamping a hand on my shoulder. "Let's roll."

A little over a half an hour later, we were driving down the street that led to Primo's packaging warehouse where Ricco said they'd been in the video.

"Just follow me and Emilio," Lorenzo said as Brio parked our car. "Don't do anything sudden unless shit pops off. Got it?"

"Got it," I agreed.

It was fine.

They could take the lead.

So long as Alessa would be okay.

That was my main focus.

I didn't give a fuck about some feud between the families, about what decisions The Commission got together and made.

What mattered to me most right then was getting Alessa free and having my family get out of there unscathed.

From the outside, Primo's business looked like any other of the old ones that had survived over the years. It was a four-story brick building with a ton of windows.

From what Ricco said, the lower floor was an open space where trucks got loaded off the back. The second floor had all the actual processing and packaging. The next floor was offices. And no one had any idea what the top level held since the windows had been tinted and had mirrored panels that didn't let you see inside.

Maybe where they kept the cash or weapons.

Or both.

Or neither.

We knew frustratingly little about the Esposito Family.

Just like we'd been told, the neighborhood seemed to be keeping their eyes on us as we pulled up in two cars. Costas in one, including Lorenzo, me, Brio, and Emilio. In the other was all of the Morelli brothers and their father.

"Yo, this way," someone called, moving out the front door to walk us around the back of the building.

Everyone's gazes moved around and up, looking for threats.

But no one made any moves as we were let into the building through the back, then up two flights of stairs to the office level.

We walked into a somewhat tame scene, all things said and done.

Seemingly as an act of good faith, despite being on his territory and surrounded by his people, Primo only had his brothers and Alessa present.

"Let her go," Ricco demanded immediately, body tense.

"Maybe," Primo said, waving toward the long conference table. "We will see about that," he said as he waited for all of us to sit before moving to do so as well.

My gaze sought Alessa's, finding hers already on me.

Avi?She mouthed to me, making my heart swell in my chest. Even when she found herself kidnapped and cuffed to a psychopath, surrounded by enemies, she was thinking about my kid.

I gave her a reassuring nod, watching as the relief washed over her face.

"Want a seat, baby?" Primo asked Alessa, motioning toward his lap as she stood at his side.

"Not if you were the last man on Earth, Primo," she said, getting a dark smile out of him. If I wasn't completely mistaken, he seemed to be getting a kick out of her attitude.

That worked in our favor, right?

But maybe not.

I couldn't imagine a soft spot for her would hold him back from hurting her if he felt like he needed to.

"Why the theatrics, Primo?" Lorenzo asked, waving toward Alessa. "If you wanted a sit-down, you could have just said so."

"On your terms," Primo shot back.

"Yeah, that's how this shit works," Lorenzo agreed. "You didn't want that, you shouldn't have gone through with your initiation."

"But obviously," I heard myself saying, holding up a hand to cut tensions, even though it was clearly not my place to do so, "we want all the Families to be able to get along amicably. We're stronger if everyone is satisfied."

Lorenzo didn't glance at me, because I knew he would see it as a stripping of his power to give me the hard look he would have wanted to at that moment.

Primo's gaze, though, slid in my direction, watching me for a long moment.

"That sounds like consigliere talk to me," he said, a brow arching up.

"It's calm and rational talk," I said, shrugging.

"Interesting that you can be calm and rational when I have your woman chained to my wrist," he said, trying to get a reaction out of me.

"She seems relatively unharmed to me," I said, jaw getting tight. "But I'll admit I'm not happy about that black eye."

"She's a fighter," Primo said, shrugging. It wasn't an apology by any stretch of the imagination. But it was probably naive to expect something like that from him.

"You didn't have to take Alessa," Lorenzo said. "And shoot my man in the process."

"Relax. Salvatore will live. And I did need to take Alessa if I wanted to smoke out Ricco," Primo said, gaze sliding toward the man who'd shot his brother.

"All the proper channels were gone through to order the hit on Due," Lorenzo said. "If I'm not mistaken, your father had gone through the same channels in his day to have a member of my Family hit."

"Don't compare me to my father," Primo demanded, voice a harsh whisper.

"I'm simply proving that this system works in favor of all the Families with legitimate concerns. Yours included. This wasn't done in a shady or unfair way."

"It was my brother, Lorenzo," Primo said, voice tight.

"And you know The Commission only approves the hit of men as high up in the hierarchy if there is just cause."

"What just cause could you have possibly had?" Primo asked.

"Ricco," Lorenzo said, nodding toward Alessa's brother who pulled a rolled-up folder out of his bulletproof vest, spreading it on the tabletop, and pulling individual pages out, then passing them across the table toward Primo.

There was a tightness in his jaw as he reached for them, like he was finally starting to see that Lorenzo wasn't lying, that there was just cause, that his brother had clearly fucked up in a way that The Commission considered unacceptable.

As he looked at the pages, though, a muscle started to tick in his jaw. And the look in his eye was the kind that could make a grown, hardened man piss himself.

"Your brother was caught soliciting minors," Ricco explained, making my stomach drop. "Online, as you can see from the messages," he went on. "But also in person. We got word from someone in your community whose son said Due tried to get him to get in his car and come back to his place for ice cream. He was nine years old," Ricco finished.

Primo's gaze lifted, eyes murderous.

No, not just murderous.

Fucking psychotic.

"And you just shot him in the back of the head?" Primo asked.

"He was a fucking pedophile," Ricco snapped.

"Let me rephrase that," Primo said. "You only shot him in the back of the head?" he asked. "Men like that should be taken apart piece by piece," he added. "No matter who they are. If you didn't have the stomach for it," he went on, "you should have brought this to me. I would have done it."

He meant that.

There wasn't a doubt in my mind.

He might have been the most ruthless boss in any of the Five Families, but he had a code, it seemed. His loyalty did have bounds.

Lorenzo seemed to see that as well, losing some of the tension in his shoulders.

On a growling noise, Primo reached into his pocket, producing a key, and uncuffing Alessa.

"It was fun, baby, but go back to your man," he said dismissively, even waving a hand as he said it.

Alessa didn't even pause.

She made her way around the table, accepting a quick wrist squeeze from Ricco, then coming right over to me, dropping down on my lap, and whispering under her breath so only Lorenzo and I could hear.

"This isn't over," she said. "He has a plan," she added.

"No no," Primo said, waving a finger at her. "No spoilers."

"Spoilers for what, Primo?" Lorenzo asked. "We dealt with the issue."

"We dealt with one issue," Primo said. "We still have many to contend with. And they all come back to the utter lack of trust between our Families."

"I don't disagree," Lorenzo said, nodding. "Which is why open and honest sit-downs are important."

"No," Primo said, shaking his head. "We're beyond talking. You and I both know it would never be enough."

"What then do you propose?" Lorenzo asked, and I could feel Alessa stiffening on my lap.

I gave her leg a reassuring squeeze, not knowing what she knew, but wanting her to know we would handle it, no matter what it was.

To that, Primo raised a hand in the air, some cue to one of his men who went to the door toward the back, knocking on it with the tip of his gun.

The door opened.

And a second later, another man came out, pulling another woman with him. She was vaguely familiar to me, but very familiar to Emilio who jumped to his feet with a curse, having to be physically restrained by Brio.

"What the fuck is this?" Lorenzo asked, body going tighter than ever before.

"My proposal," Primo said, shrugging. "We could fuck around with this war. We could each lose dozens of men and millions of dollars. Or we can end it all right now. With an act of good faith."

"With a fucking sacrifice," Alessa snapped, practically vibrating with rage.

"Alessa here doesn't approve of my plan," Primo said, shooting her a barely-there smirk. "Called it out of the Dark Ages, if I recall correctly."

"No," Emilio said, quicker to figure out what was going on than I was.

"I understand your hesitance," Primo agreed, nodding. "She is your little sister, after all," he said, waving the guard and the woman closer.

That was why she was familiar.

Isabella.

Isabella Costa.

She was a few years younger than us, and the last time I'd gotten a good look at her, she'd been in her early teens.

Still, now that I knew who it was, I could see it.

She'd grown up beautiful, that was for damn sure.

She had a soft, rounded, feminine face with plump lips, deep-set light brown eyes, and long, wavy black hair.

She was on the short side and slight, a slip of a woman.

The idea of her with the giant that was Primo Esposito was almost laughable.

"I said no, Primo," Emilio ground out, his gaze going to his sister who'd clearly been crying at some point, judging by the dried mascara ribbons on her cheeks. "If you hurt her," he added, voice tight.

"She isn't harmed."

"She's been crying."

Primo glanced over at Isabella for a second.

"I imagine it was startling to be snatched off the street."

"Bell..." Emilio said, voice apologetic as he looked at his sister.

To that, she shrugged.

"No," Emilio said again.

"War it is then," Primo said, moving to stand. "Shall we start now?" he asked, reaching for his gun as men appeared out of nowhere, surrounding us.

"No!" Isabella shrieked, gaze going to her brother, then the rest of us, understanding the damage. "No," she repeated, looking at her brother, then turning her attention to Primo. "I'll do it," she said, even if her lower lip trembled as she did it.

"This is fucking ridiculous," Alessa said, getting to her feet.

"It has always been a way to secure alliances between feuding clans," Primo said, shrugging.

"Yeah, but we're not fucking warring clans in the middle ages. We're a progressive fucking modern society."

"Of criminals," Primo said. "We all believe we can't trust one another. If one of yours was in my organization, that would force the trust."

"Then take me," Emilio said. "Take me on. I will work for you."

"No."

"You're not taking my sister," Emilio insisted, his body going stiffer at the sounds of guns cocking all around us.

"It's okay. It's okay, Milo," Isabella insisted, trying to be brave, willing to be a sacrifice to keep the peace.

"It's not okay. You're not marrying this fucking monster."

"To save your life, and the lives of everyone here," Isabella said, holding up a hand as if to say there was no real choice in the matter.

"Do you even understand what you're saying?" Emilio said. "You'd have to live with him. For-fucking-ever. And other things," he added, face twisting up in disgust.

Isabella's cautious gaze slid to Primo.

"I do want an heir," he confirmed. "It is non-negotiable."

"No," Emilio said again.

"It's... it's fine," Isabella said. "If you promise that you will not be the reason any harm comes to my Family," she added.

"I will," Primo agreed.

"I will slit your throat in your sleep if you go back on your word," she said, getting her arm yanked by the guard holding onto her.

"Don't touch her," Primo snapped, making the man shrink back, and Isabella's brows draw together. "Any wife of mine will be protected and will want for nothing," Primo said, looking over at Emilio. "She won't come to harm by my hand, or by anyone in this Family. It's the right decision," he added, looking over at Lorenzo.

"You can't be considering this," Alessa insisted, shooting daggers at my brother.

"It doesn't sound like the decision is mine," Lorenzo said, giving Emilio an apologetic look.

But what could he do?

If Isabella would do it more or less willingly, he didn't technically have a way to stop her.

"You can stop it," Emilio insisted, tone desperate.

"Milo," Isabella said, drawing his attention. Once she had it, she waved her arms at the dozens of armed guards around. "This is the only way you walk out of here alive today."

"So you have to lose your life?" Milo asked, voice getting rough.

"I'll live, Milo. And I will see you. Right?" she asked, looking at Primo.

To that, he shrugged. "After a few months to make sure they are abiding by the truce, yes."

"Then it's settled."

"You—"

"You heard her," Primo said. "It is settled. Now go."

"We can't go. I can't just leave her here with you."

"That is exactly what you are going to do," Primo insisted as his men moved closer toward us.

He waved at Isabella, reaching to undo her handcuffs.

She avoided his gaze, but stayed by his side as the rest of us were shuffled out of the conference area, then down the stairs, then outside where more guards were stationed to get us back into our cars.

And once we were in those cars, they followed us out of their neighborhood, then their borough in general.

Emilio was freakishly silent the whole way home.

And because none of us knew what to say, we all stayed silent, a little bit in shock at the turn of events.

Well, Alessa wasn't in shock.

She was furious.

But she bit her tongue for Emilio's sake.

Brio drove Alessa and I back to my apartment, letting us out.

"I'll call you," Lorenzo said, nodding toward Emilio, making it clear he was going to have to try to talk with our cousin first.

Alessa's brothers stopped outside to talk to her for a moment, listening to her rant before heading out as well, leaving me to bring Alessa inside, since the threats seemed to be gone.

Brio and I would still need to handle Brit's killers eventually. But with a truce in place with Primo, it seemed like there was no actual threat to Alessa or Avi's safety.

"You okay?" I asked as we moved into the elevator. I reached out, my hand touching the cut on the side of her head.

"My head hurts. Though, at this point, I don't know if it is from being pistol-whipped, or because I am furious about Isabella."

"Do you think he will hurt her?" I asked.

To that, Alessa let out a deep breath. "I'm not sure," she admitted. "I really don't think he would, you know, assault her. Or raise a hand to her. But I can't imagine he'd be a good husband by any stretch of the definition. I just... I can't believe this shit still happens in this day and age. Isabella should have gotten the chance to marry someone she cares about."

"She wanted to stop a war that was only going to get worse as the months and years went on," I reminded her. "In that position, what would you have done?"

"Agreed to it, then suffocated him in his sleep," Alessa declared, giving me a small smile.

"I believe that," I said as we moved out of the elevator.

"Is Avi okay?" she asked, looking at my apartment door. "And Salvatore?"

"Salvatore is spitting mad that Lorenzo wouldn't let him come to the sit-down," I told her. "He had Brio fish out the bullets, and help him deal with the wounds. He says he'll be fine. Avi... Avi is terrified for you," I told her, reaching down to give her hand a squeeze, turning her to face me before we went in. "I want to thank you," I told her.

"For what?"

"For thinking of Avi first. For hiding him. And trying to protect him."

"He wasn't actually in danger," she insisted.

"But you didn't know that at the time. You did everything you could to protect him. I owe you for that."

Her smile was a little wobbly before she moved forward, pressing her chest to mine.

"I know a way you can pay me back later. After Avi goes to bed," she clarified with a smirk.

"Well, it would only be right to pay you back," I agreed, arms going around her, then pulling her in for a kiss.

"Nope. That's enough," she declared, pulling away. "Don't start something you can't finish," she added, eyes a little hazy.

"I'll finish later," I promised her, following her into the apartment.

Where Avi flew into her arms, knocking her into mine.