“Oh my God,” I whisper when the realization suddenly dawns on me about just how sinister and meticulously plotted this has been. And all of it’s been going on right under our noses, neither of us ever suspecting Leo. Whywouldwe? He’s always just been quietly flying under the radar right alongside us.
“He wants to take over the entire Greco family.”
“Can he do that?” I ask. “He’s not even part of the family.”
“He can if there isn’t anyone else to step into leadership, and if he’s rallied enough of a following to take control by force. It wouldn’t be the first time aborgatahas been broken down by an outside threat. He wants to becapo, and to make you his mistress.”
“No, no, no, none of this can be happening.” I start to freak out. “Why would he go through all of the effort to set me up and have me try to kill you?”
“Because killing me himself would’ve set my whole crew against him. Instead, he’s been working behind the scenes to sway a few of them at a time. The rest of it was just a test for you and me. He wanted to see if you could kill me, and when you didn’t, he knew he’d have to.”
“He doesn’t have to kill you. He’s not trying to take over his ownborgata, he’s coming after mine,” I say in astonishment that any of this is actually happening. “I mean, I might not be a part of theborgataanymore, but the Grecos are still my family.”
“He knows I’ll never let him do it,” Gabriel says. His eyes begin to roll as if he’s trying to fight passing out. “He knows he has to get rid of me and my most loyal men. That’s why he killed off Pito.”
“And Nick?”
“No, Nick is still alive.” Gabriel’s eyes flutter closed for a moment, and I worry that he’s lost consciousness. I’m absolutely devastated at both the bloodied-up condition Gabriel’s in and the betrayal of the man I thought was my closest friend in the world.
When his eyes open again, I am relieved. But the feeling doesn’t last long. “Camille,” Gabriel says in nothing more than a whisper. I can tell his energy is fading, and he’s lost a lot of blood. “Leo has every intention of killing me and forcing you into a marriage with him. But I swear on my life that I’ll get you out of here. I promise you.”
I press my forehead against his, feeling overwhelmed with several emotions at once. I’m furious at Leo and also hurt by the sting of his betrayal. I’m horrified by Gabriel’s condition and frightened he won’t make it out of here alive, and that I’ll end up being his brother’s imprisoned trophy wife. And I’m overcome with feelings of love for Gabriel as I hold him here against me in this dire situation.
For a moment, I listen to him breathe and try not to let my tears fall onto his cheek when I hear him wince in pain. Then I muster up at least enough courage to tell him how I feel before embarking on what we are about to face next. “Gabriel, I—”
The sound of his pained groans with every breath stop, and for a second I worry he’s no longer breathing at all. But I put my head to his chest and can hear that he’s just passed out from the pain. Now I’m here all alone. Gabriel is too badly wounded to even stay conscious. Nick is injured somewhere else, and no one else knows I’m even here. I don’t think anyone else on the outside of this even has a clue that Leo’s behind this whole plan, which means I need to fend for myself. Somehow, I need to make sure Gabriel survives this. I know he promised he’d get me out of here, but I think this time it’s going to be up to me to save us both.
16
GABRIEL
I’m honestly surprised when I wake up. I’m surprised I’m waking up at all. I knew that my injuries, courtesy of my brother’s motley crew that outnumbered me five men to one, wouldn’t bring on my death. But I thought that Leo would’ve attempted some sort of other means while I was unconscious. I open my eyes and see nothing else in the room with me besides my brother. “Where’s Camille?” I ask with a dry, cracked voice.
“She’s fine,” he answers without emotion. “She’s with me now. You’re relieved of your overbearing, self-imposed responsibility to protect her. I’ve got it from here.”
I want to lunge forward and punch him in the face, but I’m pretty sure I have a broken rib and a torn muscle or two. Besides, I know that knocking him out will only hasten his resolve to dispose of me, and then I won’t be here to help Camille get free. I know he won’t hurt her—he wants her too badly to do something like that. I think. It’s getting hard to predict my erratic brother’s behavior. Leo’s always been the less dominant of the two of us, but now there’s a whole new side of him emerging that I haven’t seen before. A side that’s apparently been secretly harboring jealousy for me all these years.
I look out the open doorway leading back out into the warehouse and take a moment more to assess the odds stacked against me here. This warehouse is strongly fortified, and Leo has managed to amass quite a following of men from various independents and disgruntled crime families, including both the Grecos and my ownborgata. “I don’t know how you managed to do this,” I say, pretending to be impressed. “Getting all of these players, some of them from rival families, to all come together under you. Even some of my men seem to have jumped on board with this thing you’ve got going on here.”
“It’s not hard when you appeal to people who have no power but want some. All of the men here are foot soldiers or unaffiliated associates. They aren’t even seen by their own institutions, so I offered them something better—a chance to be part of something bigger, have bigger shares of profit, and hold bigger roles than what you or any of the othercaposwere offering them.”
“It’s kind of hard to believe they fell for that,” I chuckle.I knew I should’ve fired some of those guys a while back. Men who don’t do their jobs well should never be given a second chance, because they’ll turn on you the instant someone else offers them something shiny. Lesson learned. “This isn’t the way that the mafia works, Leo,” I say, talking to him in a naturally occurring condescending tone, as if I’m trying to explain universal theories to a grade-school kid. “You should know that. You can’t just buck the rules and cherry-pick mafia members to form your own little fan club.”
“I’m done playing by the rules,” he snarls at me. “The rules are stupid. You didn’t even want to becapoand yet you got the position. Yet here I was, wanting it more than anything, and I was ignored. The old rules don’t work. I’m making my own rules now.” There’s a crazed look in Leo’s eyes, and I think it’s fair to say that he now seems entirely unhinged. And unhinged is dangerous.
“Okay,” I say as I try to find a way out of this before getting killed. “Since I didn’t even really want to becapoof the Adami family to begin with, I have the perfect solution. I’ll give you the position of Adamicapoin exchange for letting Camille go.” I had naively hoped that such an offer would be enticing to my brother. He wouldn’t even have to fight for it or expend any further resources. He can just have our family’sborgatahanded to him.
But the idea backfires gloriously and Leo’s temper flares like a raving lunatic. “You’re willing to give up beingcapojust to free a woman?” he shouts at me in anger. “But she isn’t just any woman to you, is she? Before Camille, women were disposable to the great and dashing Gabriel Adami. But now, suddenly, you’re willing to throw away your greatest prize, your entire legacy our father handed down to you, just to get me to let Camille go so she can get away from me. Is that it?” I’ve made a big mistake. I can see that now. My offer just let Leo know that I care about Camille. And the thought that Camille and I might have real feelings for each other has outraged my brother more than anything else could have.
“I’ll tell you what I’m going to do,” he says as he stands up and kicks the chair out from under him. It makes a loud metal crashing sound that splinters against the floor. “I’m going to take all of it—the Adamiborgata, the Grecoborgata, and Camille.”
“You can’t becapoof two crime families,” I say with narrowed eyes. I’m quickly losing patience with this dance of power that my brother and I keep spinning around in. “And I doubt you’d ever be able to get Camille to fall in line with you either.”
Leo clenches his fists at his sides. I don’t know why he hasn’t tried to kill me yet, but I can see he wants to. “Like I said,” he hisses at me. “I’m all done following the old rules. I’m making my own rules now, and that means I can do whatever the hell I want.” He turns and walks to the door, pausing to say one last thing before stepping out of it. “As for Camille, she’ll learn to love me as I love her. And if she doesn’t, she’ll at least learn to obey.”
After Leo leaves me alone in the room, the door closes. At least this door has a large window in it so I can see what’s happening out in the rest of the warehouse. I watch as my brother walks away to go and talk to some of his men, and I wonder what my parents would think of him if they were still alive. I’m guessing they wouldn’t recognize him at all. He’s become something of a monster.
For the next few days, I’m left alone in the room to recover. Surprisingly, my brother seems to be stalling on knocking me off, and has even sent some of his men in with food and water. I wonder why. Leo is calculating, and if he’s keeping me alive, then not only won’t it be for long, but there’s a reason for it.
