Lorenzo

 

Dino was dead. Alexis and I were safe for the moment. It should have been a time for relaxing, but my muscles were constantly tensed, ready to react. In my career, I had developed some instincts for knowing when things were going bad. It was like smelling a coming storm on the wind. Something was definitely brewing.

 

There had been surprisingly little activity from Matteo lately. It disturbed me. I tried to find ways to justify it. Maybe he just wanted to bide his time. Maybe he was getting old and tired. Or maybe there was something else bothering him. I had stopped by his mansion that morning just to check in, but he’d had little to say and I hadn’t pushed. Matteo wasn’t the kind of man you pushed.

 

It was time. Alexis and I were going to have to leave. I would tell her as soon as I got back. We would pack only the bare essentials and get the hell out of town. It didn’t matter where we went. My original plan had been to send her away once things seemed safe, but I knew now that I could never do that. If she was going away, then I was going with her. We’d head to another country if we had to.

 

I pulled into the parking garage and made my way to my apartment as quickly as I could, eager to ask her where she’d like to go. A girl like her surely had some unfulfilled dreams. We’d head to Mexico, Ireland, Greece—whereever she wanted. But as I stepped off the elevator, I sensed something was wrong. The door was open a crack.

 

“Alexis?” I pushed it open and stepped inside. The place was intact. Nobody had dumped out drawers or gone through closets, so this was no burglary. Had she left without asking and just been careless? That wasn’t like her. I could smell men’s cologne as I went through the unoccupied living room and took a left down the hall.

 

They were on me too fast. Everything went dark, and a heavy weight shoved me to the ground. I reached for my gun, but someone grabbed my wrist and yanked my arm around behind my back. Kicking with my heels, I made contact hard enough to elicit a grunt of pain from one of my assailants, but it wasn’t enough to stop them. As I struggled against the bonds that were quickly being tied around my hands and feet, I heard a familiar voice.

 

“Just get him out and get him into the van!”

 

A heavy thud sounded against the back of my skull, and I fell into a deep black tunnel.

 

* * *

 

My vision swam and my head throbbed as I came to. The burlap sack I’d been blinded with back at my apartment was whisked off my head, and I found myself in a warehouse of some sort. The metal walls had streaks of rust that pointed downward to the few scattered boxes and crates in the building, and hot wind blew threw a broken window. My eyes threatened to close again, to submit to the darkness that had overtaken me, but I forced them back open.

 

“Stay with us, Lorenzo. We have a lot to talk about.”

 

I blinked rapidly as though fighting off sleep and focused on the figure in front of me. Piero, his thin lips twisted into a wicked grin, stood with his men arranged behind him. “I should have known it was you, you bastard.”

 

“Now, now. I don’t think that’s any way to talk to me. Not when your life is in my hands.” He walked in a slow circle around the rickety wooden chair I was bound to, reminding me that he was on every perimeter of my life at that moment. “You have an awful lot of explaining to do.”

 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I spat. “I’ve served your family faithfully for over a decade and this is how you repay me?”

 

Piero nodded. “Yes, you served faithfully for years, but what about now? I understand that little treasure you keep in your bed actually belonged to Calzoni.”

 

Despite the pain it caused, I snapped my eyes up to meet his. “What the fuck are you talking about?”

 

“Don’t play coy with me, Lorenzo. Like a parent with his errant child, I already know the answer before I ask you the question. I know Alexis is not just some out-of-work secretary. She’s nothing more than a trashy stripper, and one that you seem to think belongs to you now. I don’t think my father would be too pleased to discover that she was a witness to Calzoni’s death and by all rights should be dead herself.” He looked so proud of himself, his hands in his pockets and his stance wide as he looked down at me.

 

I racked my brain, trying to figure out how he knew. Dino, of course. The rat had already gone to the Morettis, or his spy had. Damn it. “It’s not like it matters. I’m still the favorite son.” That earned me a swift backhand and I spit blood onto the dirty concrete. My hands were each tied to one arm of the chair, and I wiggled them slightly to test my bonds. They would hold for now.

 

“You’ve been interfering in my family’s business for far too long, Lorenzo, and your little games have finally come to an end.”

 

I gave him a lopsided smile. “You think you can do anything to me that hasn’t already been done? You think I’ve enjoyed being your father’s little puppet all these years? You think I wanted to be taken in as nothing more than a child and turned into a killing machine? Just go ahead and kill me, Piero. It isn’t as though I give a shit.” I did. I most certainly did, but I knew that Piero had thin skin. It wouldn’t take long to get under it. If I was going to die, then I was going to get what enjoyment out of it I could.

 

Piero shot forward with his fist swinging. I heard the crack of my jaw and the chair rocked back before falling back on its legs with a thump. “You bastard! Don’t act like you’re the injured party here! You’ve been fucking over my life ever since your little orphan ass showed up on our doorstep. Things were finally going good for me. My father was training me, grooming me, to be the next leader of the family. The reins were practically in my hands. But then he decided you were a more worthwhile protégé. I was shoved to the back of his mind and I’ve stayed there ever since.” He spoke with such fury that spittle clung to his lower lip.

 

Blood filled my mouth now, the coppery taste threatening to make me gag. I spat again and worked my jaw. Not broken. Piero never had been much of a fighter. “Oh, come on. I’m sure you can find yourself a position in the family business. Jianna is always needing good busboys and waiters, isn’t she?”

 

Piero didn’t appreciate my humor. He whipped his pistol from its holster and smashed the butt of it against the fingers of my right hand. It crushed them down into the wood and I reeled from the pain. I would have slumped to the floor if the ropes weren’t holding me up.

 

“You just go right ahead and keep that mouth of yours flapping. I don’t mind torturing you. In fact, I enjoy it. I’m going to enjoy torturing Alexis, too.”

 

Now my senses were finally coming back to me. I’d been acting on instinct alone, caught by surprise in this situation. But I had arrived at my apartment expecting to see Alexis there. Piero and his goons had welcomed me home, instead. “Where is she? Don’t you dare lay a hand on her. I’ll pull you apart piece by piece.” I would have given anything at that moment to have my hands free and make that promise good.

 

“It doesn’t look to me like you’re going to do anything, but trust me when I say that I will. She wasn’t hard to carry off. You should have at least given her some training or something. She barely even fought back.” He shrugged. “Hell, maybe she wanted us to take her. Maybe she’s into that sort of thing.”

 

“If you touch one hair on her head, I swear I’ll—”

 

“You’ll do what, Lorenzo? You aren’t in a position to do anything about it. I can do whatever I want. Sure, I guess I could do what you did and make her pretend to be my girlfriend, but that’s a little too romantic for me. I’m thinking I’ll just show her what it’s like to be with a real man. I’ve never liked Alexis, but I know a nice piece of ass when I see one. Once I have my way with her, I’ll give her the long, slow death she deserves.” Piero’s eyes were sparking with rage and evil ideas now.

 

The mere thought made my blood boil. I had tried so hard to save Alexis. At first, I had thought I was just saving her from Matteo. But then I had come to realize I was keeping her safe from Dino, as well. It turned out I couldn’t keep her safe at all. “Listen, we can work this out. Alexis and I will disappear. We’ll move to the Caribbean or Siberia or wherever the hell it pleases you, and you’ll never hear from us again. Tell your father we’re dead, have a funeral, and then take up your position as head of the family. We’ll never come back to bother you.” I wasn’t just bargaining for my life now, but for hers as well.

 

Piero’s laugh echoed in the emptiness of the building. “Really? You think I’m that stupid? I know what kinds of things you’re capable of, Lorenzo. I’d be one hell of an idiot to let the most talented hitman in the city go free when he’d just as easily turn around and skin me. No, there’s no diplomatic solution for this. I’m going to kill you.”

 

“Then quit harping about it and just do it,” I growled. “I’m tired of your childish games. If you wonder why Matteo liked me better, then just take a quick look at yourself. You get your feelings hurt too easily and you let that get in the way of getting the job done. You’d rather whine and cry about how wronged you are than pull the trigger. You want to kill me? Then fucking do it.” I wasn’t afraid of Piero. The men who were working for him right now were far more capable of doing the job than he was.

 

He still had his pistol in his hand and he shook it at me. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you? To die quickly and just get it all over with? But you see, dear, dear brother, I need one thing in place before I can do such a thing. A contract.”

 

It was hard to keep from laughing. “Is that what this is all about? You just want your daddy’s approval to kill me? Come on, Piero. That’s pathetic.”

 

“You won’t be thinking that way when I come back here officially hired for the hit. I’m leaving you here, but you’ll have good company.” Piero motioned at the other three men in the room. “I’m going to let my father know everything. He’ll know how you betrayed him, how you lied to him, and how you risked the very lives of his men with your little whore. I won’t even have to ask him for a contract; he’ll give it to me in a heartbeat. Then I get to kill you, earn my father’s favor, and fuck your girlfriend all in one evening.”

 

I didn’t doubt that those were his intentions, but I needed to focus on something else besides his showboating. Alexis was out there somewhere, in the grips of a few capos who supported Piero. Where was she? What were they doing to her? How was I going to get her back, especially bound to a chair? There was a way; there had to be.

 

“You just sit tight.” Piero laughed at his own joke. “I’ll be back soon.” He had the audacity to turn his back to me to leave the building, something he never would have done if I had been free.

 

“Now, don’t try anything stupid,” said the biggest guard, once Piero had zoomed off into the night. I’d never worked with him closely, but I recognized him. He was a big guy, and not the brightest.

 

“Jim, knock this shit off and get these ropes off me. You know I never betrayed Matteo.” I didn’t have much time to get out of there. I didn’t know where we were exactly, but it wouldn’t take long for Piero to get the contract he desired if he revealed my secret to Matteo.

 

The big man rubbed his chin. “I’m not going to fall for that. Piero told us everything.”

 

“And he had you abduct an innocent woman. All that shit about Calzoni is a lie, but Piero isn’t going to listen to me about it. I have to get out of here and get to her before he does. You have to let me save her.” Some truth, some lies. I would say whatever I needed to.

 

“Well,” Jim thought as he rubbed his lantern jaw. “I didn’t really like that part much. She’s real pretty, and she was scared when I picked her up and put her into the trunk. But Piero said I had to take her to—”

 

“Shut up, you idiot!” screamed one of the other men. He was a skinny little fuck, one who had always been loyal to Piero. I had a feeling that his gambling debts were always magically paid off, buying his allegiance. “Don’t tell him where she is!”

 

But Jim had come a little closer as we spoke, and nobody had accounted for the fact that my legs weren’t tied. I swung out with one foot as hard as I could, taking Jim’s knees out from under him. He hit the floor with a crash, but he had no time to do anything else. I leaned forward and swung around, bashing the chair into his side and knocking him the rest of the way down. Two of the legs splintered off.

 

“Fuck! Get him!” the skinny one called. He and his remaining partner came at me. My hands were still bound to the remainder of the chair, but it only took one more spin into the third man to break the seat from the back. I ripped my hands free. The arms of the chair were still attached, but I could move.

 

With one man down and only the thin man remaining, I wished I had my gun with me. I’d been disarmed as soon as I was captured, but it would only have taken a few seconds to have these men taken out for good. I braced myself for the bullet that would be coming soon.

 

“That’s enough of this, now.” He had his gun out and gestured with it toward a nearby office door. “You get in there and settle yourself down. Piero is going to be back any minute.”

 

Unable to do much but comply, I backed slowly toward the door. I realized then that this man wouldn’t kill me unless he absolutely had to. Piero was determined to be the one who ended my life. If his goon stole that chance, then he would be dead too.

 

The office door hand an inward swing, and I kicked it shut as I backed into the room. It slammed the man’s wrist in the doorjamb, and he instinctively dropped his gun. I scrambled forward for it, retrieving it from the floor just before his fingers closed around it once again. I shot him through the crack in the doorway and ran back out of the office. Piero had crushed my pinkie and ring finger, but he’d missed my trigger finger.

 

Jim was waiting for me, the side of his face already turning purple. “That wasn’t a good idea, Lorenzo. I wanted to be nice, but now I can’t.” His meaty fists came up toward my face, but even with half my hand broken I was faster with a gun than he was with his hands. He sent a shudder through the building when his body hit the floor for a second time, but he wouldn’t be getting back up.

 

The crack of another gun spun me around. The third man was scrambling back to his feet. He had a broken leg from one of the chairs in one hand and his gun in the other. His bullet had skimmed my temple. Mine went straight into his forehead.

 

I knew I had to work quickly. Time was running out.