Luca’s face lost all emotion, turning blank as slate. “Then I must be the only one with ‘Idiot’ tattooed across my forehead, because I’m not understanding what you’re implying. Explain, or get the fuck out.”
Anthony’s gaze turned on Mac, cold and violent. “I’m not the only one who thinks it, boss. I’m just might be the only one that’ll say it, though. Seems whenever Mac and his wife have something going on, someone shows up dead. It’s a little strange is all. He’s like a bad luck charm—that, or it’s just … coincidence.”
Mac schooled his features, refusing to let Anthony’s statement get under his skin. “Is that so?”
Luca stayed quiet, his stare passing between the two men.
“Well,” Anthony drawled with a smile, “you know what we say about coincidences, Mac. In this life, they don’t exist. You’re two for two. What does that tell you?”
Mac didn’t give Anthony a response, knowing it wouldn’t do him any real good to argue with the older Capo. He had been listening, however, and Mac had to wonder how much of what Anthony said was true. Were there other Capos that were blaming Mac for these issues? Were they assuming it was connected to him?
Was it all because of him?
The stillness in the room—the quietness of the men surrounding him—told Mac that it was very possible their suspicions were being placed at his feet.
“It is odd,” Luca finally said to Mac. “You have to admit that much.”
“I think we have bigger problems,” Mac replied.
Luca seemed even less impressed than before. “Oh? Do tell. What other problems do we have that need attention as much as my men being slaughtered?”
All eyes turned on Mac again.
He focused on the boss instead of the men.
Luca was the most important one in the room. If Mac’s suspicions were right about the police having a rat in their family, it could be anyone sitting in that office.
But it wouldn’t be Luca.
And it sure as fuck wasn’t Mac.
“One of the detectives that showed up to question my wife this morning said something,” Mac started to say, carefully choosing his words as he went along. “Somehow he knew that you’d put out a very specific order for the men in the family to be here today.”
Luca stiffened on the desk. “What are you saying, Maccari?”
“I think we have a rat.”
The silence was deafening.
That word—rat—was poison.
It bred contempt, suspicion, and fear, all in one fell swoop.
It didn’t need help.
It spread like a fucking airborne virus.
Luca met Mac’s gaze as he said, “A rat and a killer. This is a delicate time to be a Cosa Nostra man, it seems.”
Apparently, it depended on who that Cosa Nostra man was.
The unknown bred fear.
After all, the men were still watching Mac like he needed to be watched.
Even Luca.
“You could at least explain to me why you want me to stay at Ma’s for a week or two,” Victoria grumbled from the passenger seat of Mac’s Challenger.
“It’s a favor, nothing more. Can’t you leave it at that and stop looking for more?” Mac asked.
“Yeah, but—”
“She’s also our mother. It won’t hurt you to keep an eye on her for a bit.”
Victoria pressed her lips together tightly, her annoyance evident. “Pretty sure that’s always been a job you took care of, Mac. And I’m busy with work, you know that.”
“And partying,” Mac said, adding what his sister didn’t. “Clubbing four nights a week, even nights when you have to work the next morning. Running with a couple guys.”
“Don’t even start.”
Mac had hit a nerve with his sister, it seemed.
“Listen,” he started to say, “I don’t care what you do, Vic. It’s your life, really. Do what you want. But right now, I am asking for one simple thing, nothing more. You can do that without questioning me to heaven and back.”
“I just want to know why or what is wrong,” Victoria replied.
From the backseat, Enric flicked his cigarette ash out the window. “Shit may or may not be happening. Mac wants his people to be safe just in case. Be grateful, not annoying.”
Mac wavered between being thankful for Enric opening his mouth, or scolding the man for talking to his sister that way. He decided to go with being thankful, seeing as how Victoria had quieted in the passenger seat and was watching Mac with less irritation than before.
Of course, that didn’t mean she felt the same way for Enric.
Turning a cold eye on their passenger in the back, Victoria said, “And who the fuck are you exactly?”
Enric let out a slow stream of smoke, smooth and unbothered. “Now that, Vickie, isn’t any of your concern.”
Mac chuckled at that one, knowing what was coming.
“Don’t call me Vickie, asshole.”
“Rhymes with bitchy, right?” Enric asked.
Mac chose to step in before Victoria clawed Enric’s throat out. It wasn’t such a crazy idea, considering his sister looked damn ready to do murder.