CHAPTER 1
Dante Mancini
At the headof the table, Don Vito's ears turn various shades of deep red while the innermost circle of La Famiglia discusses the most recent Costello demands. I can't see his expression from where I stand behind him, but his anger is practically radiating heat like a furnace. The tension in the room is so thick I could slice it up and serve it as antipasto.
Female virgin of Rosso relation.No older than twenty.Temporary ceasefire upon transfer; further negotiations upon marriage to the Costello heir.
Silence settles over the room when Marco, the family's consigliere, slides the correspondence across the table. I keep my face neutral, like the good soldier I am, but internally I'm cycling through every creative Italian curse my grandmother taught me.
"Those goddamn Costello cunts." Vito spits the words, as if saying their name alone is poisonous.
"So what?" Rafa—Vito's younger brother, underboss of the Rosso family network—says. "We give them a virgin. What's one girl? If we can finally put an end to all the back and forth and have some hard-set territories? They leave us alone, we leavethem alone—for the cost of one girl, it sounds like a win-win to me."
I bite the inside of my cheek to keep from commenting. Easy for him to say when it's not his ass on the line.
Vito turns his head slowly to meet his brother's bored expression. "Name three virgins of high enough status that also fulfill their demands."
Rafa opens his mouth but quickly closes it, arriving at the conclusion his brother already reached. Not the sharpest knife in the drawer, our Rafa.
"Elena, Gianna, and Sofia," Marco offers.
I tense at Sofia's name, my fingers instinctively flexing at my sides. Little Sofia Gallo. The boss's sister-in-law. The girl with fire in her eyes who somehow makes me forget my place every time she tosses one of those smart-ass remarks my way.
Vito's ears redden again, surpassing anger and slipping into fury. Even as second-in-command, Marco's suggestion is bold. Only one of those suggestions is reasonable, and Kieran accepting Elena is a long shot. Liam—Kieran Costello's eldest brother—is still MIA, which is why Kieran has been acting as the head of the Costello family. The first couple weeks of Liam's absence were quiet, peaceful, even; lulling us into a false sense of security before the attacks began. The first attacks happened in Washington Heights, quickly creeping down to East Harlem where the Rossos headquarters is situated under the guise of Rosso Real Estate.
RRE operates on the corner of Lexington Avenue. The building isn't as extravagant as some of the other Rosso business fronts but having a smaller place for headquarters makes it a tad easier for us to run everything on the down low. Though Vito owns the building, he'll occasionally lease out the lower floors to businesses we may be able to sway into racketeering. My job description includes making sure those "persuasions" don'tleave visible marks—at least not where cameras might catch them.
"Oh yeah," Rafa snaps his fingers, uncrossing his arms to lean on the table. Rafa usually stays quiet during these meetings, his responses not more than an eyeroll here or a dramatic sigh there. Something's ticked him off today, and it seems to be more than just dealing with hacking into Kieran's new mainframe. "I'm sure he loves the idea of trading one of his family members to our rival. Great suggestion, Marco."
Marco glares, "You didn't seem to have any other ideas. It's not like we can just push their demand under the table and continue with business as usual. The Costellos are targeting every one of our enterprises, and that's just the business side. It makes sense if Vito vetoes Gianna, I doubt either of you want your sister to be married off in general, let alone under these circumstances. Sofia is barely family, which makes Elena even less?—"
"No," Vito states plainly, inhaling deeply and curling his hands into fists. "We will not be handing over my sister-in-law or her cousin, for fuck's sake."
I feel a rush of something that's definitely not relief. Just professional concern for a family member, that's all. Definitely not because I've spent the last year watching Sofia blossom from a scared kid into something fierce and beautiful.
"Not to be the bearer of bad news, but Elena's out of the running anyway. She's twenty-three, and not a virgin. She's not high enough in the Rosso ranks for her age to be overlooked. So, it's Gianna or Sofia." Rafa nervously scratches behind his ear, trying to distract from the 'not a virgin' bomb he just dropped. Marco's uncomfortable shift at Elena's name doesn't go unnoticed.
Through the cracked door of the conference room, movement catches my eye. I cross the room in a few quickstrides, pulling the door open and peering into the hall. It's seemingly empty, but my inspection of the space is enough to bring the conversation to a halt. I scan for any sign of eavesdroppers—we've had issues with that before. The hallway appears clear, but my instincts are tingling. Someone was here.
Giving the hall one last check, I close the door and return to my spot behind Vito, nodding to indicate 'all clear,' though I'm not entirely convinced.
"And how do you know she's not a virgin?" Vito cocks his head at his brother as conversation resumes.
Rafa shrugs nonchalantly, "I hear things. I know things. Take your pick. It doesn't matter how I know, what matters is I know. If I know, who's to say the Costellos don't?"
For his own sake, I hope he learned that through one of his hacking gigs and not from personal experience. The last thing Vito wants to hear right now is that his dumbass brother screwed his wife's cousin. And the last thing Rafa wants is another broken nose courtesy of yours truly.
"I can't believe I'm going to say it," Marco groans, "but Rafa's got a point. It has to be Gianna or Sofia." Marco rarely agrees with Rafa, so after his recoil to Elena's name, I file his reactions away to discuss with Vito later. As members of the inner circle, Rafa and Marco are allowed to claim anyone they want—so long as they don't impact business. Elena, being in-laws with Vito, makes her business.
Vito shakes his head, "Gianna is not to be involved. So much as suggest her again, I'll shoot you myself. Dante," Vito tilts his head in my direction. "Make sure her protection is doubled."
"Heard," I acknowledge, pulling my phone out of my jacket and sending a message to Enzo, the capo in charge of Gianna's protection detail. I add a little smiley face emoji just to piss him off. Professional to the end, that's me.
"So…Sofia?" Rafa hedges carefully. His black hair matches his brother's, though he lacks the salt and pepper grays that have become more apparent in Vito by the day. Stress of running his syndicate has taken its toll. The last two years haven't done him any better.
I clench my jaw, fighting to maintain my neutral expression. The thought of Sofia in Kieran Costello's hands makes my blood boil in ways I don't have the right to feel.
"Think about it, Vito," Marco cuts in, saving Rafa from more of his brother's fury. "Yeah, she's your sister-in-law, but she checks all the boxes. She's getting married, not killed?—"
