“Do you really intend to challenge me?” Tony stood so quickly his chair toppled over. “Are you going to drag this family into a civil war? Did you really think a bastard can become the capofamiglia and head this family when there is a Toscani of pure blood who has been groomed to lead? I’ve been the underboss for fuck sake. No one knows how this family works better than me.”
Mia squeezed Nico’s hand, but he wasn’t leaving yet. Tony clearly had a card to play, and Nico wanted to see it. Tony was arrogant and impulsive, lacking the foresight, intelligence, and political awareness needed to be an effective leader. Nico would only have to push a few buttons to find out what was really going on.
“Better a bastard than a man who will destroy the family with his greed,” Nico shot back. “I have nine crews working for me, each with ten soldiers and not one of them is involved in the drug trade, nor are their associates, because drugs are the fastest way to bring the family down.” He was repeating what Tony already knew, but since both of them had declared as acting boss, the decision would come down to a vote by the five capos of the family, and he wanted them to know just how powerful he had become. In the event of a tie, Charlie Nails would have the deciding vote, and Nico knew which way the betraying bastard leaned.
“Drugs are where the money is at. This is the modern Mafia. We don’t need to rely on protection rackets, loan sharking, petty deals, and real-estate scams.” Tony smirked and looked to his men for support. “We don’t need to build up legitimate business portfolios to support the family because the traditional ways aren’t working anymore. I make more money in one week with my drug operation than you do in one month with all your rackets put together. And that’s what this business is all about. Money. Making it. Keeping it. Spending it. And making fucking more.”
He finished with a flourish, mocking a bow. Nico took note of which capos laughed, and which sat in stony silence, already planning how to direct his bid for leadership.
Luca shot Nico a quizzical glance, and Nico gave the slightest shake of his head. Tony had no idea how much money he really made. Nico had been careful to keep most of his high-performing rackets off the record, paying up only enough to Santo each week to keep him from becoming suspicious.
“And you know who agrees with me?” The consummate actor, Tony paused for effect. “Don Cordano. I had a meeting with him after he flew in from New York this morning. We agreed that there has been too much bloodshed, and the war between the Cordanos and the Toscanis must end. And the only way to do that is to honor the old agreements that were made before my father died. After your marriage is annulled, I will take your bride.”
“You’re crazy.” Mia looked from Tony to Nico and back to Tony. “It can’t be annulled without my consent and I won’t give it.”
“It can happen if one party agrees to the annulment, and I think Nico will.” Tony gave them a sly smile, and Nico braced himself for the big reveal.
“After all,” Tony continued. “Who wants to be married to a woman who would take you to the man who killed your father, a man you had been waiting ten years to destroy, the target of a vendetta that you were honor-bound to fulfill, and stand there and watch as you shook his hand?”
Dante.
Nico felt as if the floor had just dropped from under him. All these years, plotting and planning, frustrated because his requests to avenge his father were refused again and again, and he had been after the wrong man. No wonder the New York bosses had turned him down. They must have known.
Just as Mia knew.
One glance at her guilty expression was all the answer he needed, and her betrayal hurt more than the knowledge that vengeance had been close at hand.
“I don’t think the New York bosses will refuse your request to whack your father’s real killer,” Tony said to Nico. “After all, he wasn’t a made man when he shot your father in the back, and you have waited a very long time.”
Nico forced back the emotion that welled in his chest, smoothed his face to an expressionless mask. He wouldn’t give Tony the satisfaction of knowing how deep his blade had gone. He would show no weakness. No anger. No fear. Even though this charade with Mia was done, no one would see his pain. He would leave them with the impression he knew about Dante, and that nothing could tear Mia from his side. He would make them believe he had a master plan even though he had shattered inside.
“Come, bella. We are done here.” For the very last time, Nico clasped the hand of the woman who had been his wife for a few, short, glorious days. The woman who had opened his heart.
The woman who had betrayed him.
TWENTY-TWO
“Where the fuck is he?” Nico thudded his fist on the hood of his SUV. He’d pulled out the larger vehicle to accommodate all the men and weapons he could carry after hearing that fucking Dante was the man he wanted. After signing the damn annulment papers ending his marriage to Mia, he had driven around the city with Frankie and Mikey Muscles looking for Dante. But so far they hadn’t found their man.