LOGINLuca held the phone to his ear for three full seconds and said nothing."Sobrino?" the warm voice came again, slower now, with a note of puzzlement under the honey. "Douglas, are you there, my boy? I heard shooting."Luca looked at Isabella, who stood white-faced against the wall with both hands over her belly, and then at Paulo, who had gone perfectly still. He pressed the button and ended the call, and the screen went dark in his palm."Trace it," he said, pushing the phone into Isabella's hand, his voice rough. "Every number and every tower. I want to know where that man sleeps.""Luca, where are you going?" Isabella asked, gripping the phone as her eyes followed him to the door."To finish what I started." He checked his gun, and his jaw was hard. "Paulo, stay with her."Sergio came sprinting around the side of the truck as Luca jumped down, a rifle in his hands and his chest heaving. "Don Luca, I heard shots, I was checking the alley," he panted, glancing past him into the smoke.
The roar tore out of Luca's chest before he knew he had made a sound.He ran across the container roof and dropped to the lower box in a single jump, sliding on his knees through the broken glass of a burned truck. Riccardo was gone. Only a drifting curtain of smoke stood where he had been, and a spent shell rolled slowly across the steel."Marco!" Luca gasped, scrambling to the edge, his hands shaking as he searched the dark between the containers. "Marco, answer me!"A low groan came from below. Gentile lay on his back on the next roof down, with one arm flung over his chest and blood streaming across his forehead and into his white hair. His eyes were open. They were glassy, but they found Luca's face."He missed, Don Luca," Gentile whispered, with a thin, wet laugh. "Or he never meant to hit me.""Do not talk," Luca ordered, tearing off his scarf and pressing it against the long red furrow where the bullet had scraped the skull. "Stay still, you stubborn old goat.""Go," Gentile s
For one long second, Luca could not make himself breathe.He stared through the binoculars at his cousin, standing in the firelight with his hands in his coat pockets, while Marco Gentile knelt in the dirt at his feet. The twelve men of the tunnel team stood behind them with their hands on their heads, and a ring of cartel rifles held them in place."Luca, talk to me," Isabella said in his ear, her voice tight, and he could hear her keys clicking faster. "What do you see?""Riccardo," Luca said, his voice cracking, his fingers whitening around the glasses. "He sold them the tunnel, Bella. He is standing next to Vazquez with a gun on Marco's head."The line went silent for a heartbeat. Then Isabella spoke again, low and cold. "Then do not let him finish it."Luca slapped his earpiece. "Paulo, hit the east gate now!" he roared, rolling onto his knees. "Everyone, go in now!"The east side of the pier exploded.Paulo Ricci drove a stolen forklift straight through the chain-link fence with
Vazquez watched the Moretti docks burn from the back of an armored truck, and he had never been so happy in his life.Orange flames rolled up from the containers along Pier 9 and lit the underside of the low clouds, and the cranes stood black against the glow as his men moved through the smoke in dark jackets, carrying crates stamped with a black raven. Every few seconds, a rocket hissed out of the dark and another warehouse roof folded in on itself."Look at it, Marisol," Vazquez said, spreading his arms as if he were conducting an orchestra, with a glass of whiskey sloshing in his hand. "Forty million dollars of Moretti cargo, and not one of them has fired a shot.""They will come, Don," Marisol answered, the thin woman with the pistol who stood beside him with her eyes on the road, her thumb stroking the grip. "The old Don's boy does not let a fire burn for long.""I want him to come," Vazquez said boatsfully, and then pressed a satellite phone to his ear and grinned, the gold in h
The first wave hit the front gate before Luca could finish giving his orders.He had dragged Isabella behind the heavy oak table in the war room, and now he lifted his head just enough to see through the tall windows. A black van had smashed through the iron gates and slid sideways across the gravel, with its doors already open. Men in dark jackets poured out of it, firing as they ran. Caruso's body lay where he had fallen, face down beside the stone lions, and nobody could reach him."Sergio!" Luca roared, rolling onto one knee with his gun raised. "Bring your men to the front stairs, now!""Already here, Don Luca," Sergio answered, bursting through the door with three guards behind him, his broad shoulders heaving. He was gray-haired and thick-necked, with a scar through one eyebrow, and he had stood at Luca's back for twenty years. He dropped beside him and snapped a rifle to his shoulder. "How many, do you think?""Too many for daylight," Luca said through his teeth, firing twice
Luca did not say a word for the whole drive home.He sat in the back of the car with Ferris's blood still drying on his knuckles, staring at the gray streets as they slid past. Isabella sat beside him with her hands folded over her belly, and twice she opened her mouth to speak, and twice she closed it again. The last whisper of a dead man hung between them like smoke."You have not asked me what I think," Isabella said at last, as the gates of the mansion rose out of the morning mist, her voice soft and careful."I know what you think," Luca answered, without turning his head, his jaw tight. "You think I am wrong.""I think you are tired, and angry, and grieving a boy you could not save." She laid a hand on his sleeve. "That is a bad time to decide who deserves to die."Luca pulled his arm away gently, and he stepped out of the car before she could say more.Marco Gentile was waiting in the war room.He sat alone at the long table with his hands flat in front of him, as straight as a
Riccardo rushed in first when they arrived back at the mansion.Luca followed…slowly.A little too slowly.The strong and confident stride that defined him was gone, and his usual aura of dominance suddenly looked like a candle that was struggling to stay lit. Blood was still slowly flowing from hi
Luca had booked out the entire aircraft, making every other seat empty except for the two of them… and the men stationed discreetly behind the cockpit door.Isabella sat with her arms crossed, carrying a large frown on her face. She hadn’t spoken to him in over twenty minutes.Luca, who had been wa
The hotel room door clicked shut behind Isabella, locking out the hallway noise and the memory of the police station with it. She didn’t waste any time in kicking her heels aside, taking off her clothes, and heading straight into the bathroom. She needed water and silence, and she needed a moment w
Dante Romano was in his office, casually sipping red wine with a rare smile on his lips. The cigar he had just finished lay in a silver ash tray in front of him, letting out small wisps of smoke.Lucho Vestari, one of his most trusted enforcers, was standing on the other side of the office, watchin







