Chapter Thirteen

Enzo

 

Enzo sat in his office in the back of Sterling, waiting impatiently. He had done all the paperwork associated with the clothing store, the types of things that made his business look completely legitimate. Sometimes it was. Men came in and ordered suits, they paid, and they left with no idea that they were supporting their local mafia. But there were plenty of others who came in on the pretense of needing a new tie pin, only to hand over the payments they had collected or give Enzo a new tip on a shipment of black-market weapons.

 

It used to seem exciting to him, knowing that he was operating behind the world’s back and on the wrong side of the law. Now it seemed boring and old hat, something that had become a more mundane part of his life. It shouldn’t have been, but when compared to the possibility of going to jail for murder, well then that was a different case. He spent all of his time either thinking about it or thinking about Madelyn, and the two ideas went hand in hand.

 

She had been amazing in the back of the limo the other night, the perfect combination of cooperative, a little shy, a little aggressive, and sexy as hell. Enzo knew he must have done a good job of impressing her, if she had been relaxed enough to get a little tipsy around him. He had a feeling, though, that it wasn’t just the alcohol that made her throw herself at him. He couldn’t have worked that out better himself. Since Madelyn had been the one to make the first move, she couldn’t come back and say he had taken advantage of her. She was right where he needed her, and if he could just get her to stay there, then he would have this thing all taken care of. And maybe, once he was a free man for sure, he could keep Madelyn close by so that he could continue to enjoy her. It couldn’t hurt to have a lawyer ready to jump when he needed something.

 

A soft knock came on the door, and Johnny opened it a moment later. “You wanted to see me?”

 

Enzo sat up. “About time you got here. I was starting to think you were going to quit the family to be a full-time tailor.”

 

Johnny held up his hands helplessly as he sat in the chair across from Enzo. “Hey, I can’t help it that we sell the best damn suits in town. This guy came in wanting something really special for his wedding, and I couldn’t exactly say ‘no, I gotta go take care of some mob business instead.’”

 

Enzo laughed, and it felt good. It seemed as though he had done nothing but worry and manipulate, and even an important man like him needed to unwind a little every now and then. He couldn’t really even count fucking Madelyn as downtime, considering that had been work, too. “Yeah, yeah. I get it. There’s a reason I put you in charge of the store, after all.” Since Johnny was Enzo’s second-in-command, he needed to be at Sterling a lot. It only made sense that he was the “manager” as well, and it turned out he had quite the talent for men’s fashion.

 

“You couldn’t have put Rico in as manager,” Johnny replied with a smirk. “That boy has no taste at all.”

 

“There are a lot of things that boy is lacking,” Enzo agreed. “I wonder sometimes if he’s really related to the rest of us, or if his mother just found him in a radioactive waste dump somewhere and decided to keep him. Here.” He opened the top drawer of his desk and pulled out a small humidor.

 

Johnny reached for a cigar. “What are we celebrating?”

 

“Nothing yet, unless you have some good news for me. But I figure I better take advantage of all the luxuries I have at my disposal before I’m trading meals for cigarettes.” Enzo clipped off the end of his stogie and lit it, pulling in the rich smoke and letting it sit on his tongue for a minute. He had one hell of a life on the outside, and it would be impossible to give up.

 

But Johnny was grinning at him around his cigar. “Lucky for you, that doesn’t seem like it’s going to be the case.”

 

“I’m listening.”

 

“The men have been reporting back to me already. Apparently, you must be well-liked in the family, or at least feared, because I’ve never seen them jump onto jobs so quickly. A little coercion here, a little death threat there, and a few death threats that we had to follow through on, and we’ve got this thing in the bag. Several of the witnesses have been convinced to change their statements, and we bumped off those who refused. Rico might not seem very sharp, but he’s sure as hell sneaky. He managed to hack into the database at the police station and swap out a few sets of fingerprints, which will lead them straight to Benny Scarvo’s men.”

 

“He knows how to do that?” In all of Enzo’s life, he had only known Rico to be the slightly awkward kid, the one who didn’t want to participate in their brawls out on the lawn, the one who had never quite fit in with the rest of them. The Marino boys had known, even from a young age, that they were part of something big and powerful, but it had taken Rico a couple of decades to figure it out. Even now, it was clear to Enzo that he was still faking it as best he could.

 

“It seems that way. I watched him do it, or I might not have believed him, either. Forgive me for making recommendations if it’s not something you want to hear right now, but it looks to me like we need an official computer guy.”

 

One corner of Enzo’s mouth tipped up. “You know, my father would have had a fit if he had heard those words. He was used to doing things the old-school way, the messy way. If you needed to swap out some fingerprints, then you hunted down the man in charge and convinced him to help, and if he didn’t then you killed him.”

 

“It was messy, but effective,” Johnny agreed. “Still, we have to admit that times are different for us than they were back then. I don’t think either your father or mine would have dreamed of using cell phones, for one thing.”

 

Enzo let out a fat puff of smoke and watched it curl up toward the ceiling. They would need to air out the back room later, but for the moment he didn’t care. It was nice to know things were going the way he needed them to. If his men were out there on the streets, killing, convincing, and apparently, hacking, then he would be just fine. As long as Madelyn had enjoyed herself enough to go along with his plan, anyway.

 

“I’m very serious about what I said the other day,” Enzo said quietly, still looking up at the ceiling. “There’s still a possibility that I’ll be convicted, and if that’s the case I want you to step in as head of the family. There’s nobody that I trust more, and nobody who’s more qualified.”

 

Johnny leaned forward in his seat, raising his eyebrows. “As much as I appreciate the compliment, I have to wonder why you’re still talking like that. I just told you that we’ve got it taken care of. Sure, there are still a few people to talk to, maybe a ballistics test or two that we need to make sure gets botched, but we’ll handle it.”

 

Enzo sighed. “I know you will, and that you are. But there’s still that attorney of mine. I think I’ve got her in the palm of my hand, but you never know how it is with women. They can bat their eyelashes and promise to do everything you say, but then they get their dander up and change their minds.”

 

His cousin shrugged. “Sure, but that can be taken care of, too. We can eliminate her from the equation, and then we can find a new lawyer who’s, shall we say, inclined to our way of operating.” Johnny’s dark eyes were aglow with thoughts of his plan.

 

Enzo slammed his fist down on the desk, making it jump. “I thought I made it clear that nobody was to mess with her.”

 

“Look, I know you like her. She must be one hell of a fuck, but you can’t trade your freedom for good sex. It’ll look strange if you change your attorney this late in the game, but if her body is suddenly found in the river, then nobody will blame you. We’ll pin that one someone else as well, and I’ll get you a new attorney and a new woman. I know plenty of girls.”

 

Pressing his tongue against the back of his teeth to keep himself from completely losing his shit, Enzo stood and leaned down over his cousin. “You’re ruthless, Johnny. If this was any other situation, then I would love that about you. But nobody, nobody, is to touch a hair on her head. I will convince her to help me out, and you will obey my orders no matter what happens to me. Is that understood?”

 

“Okay, okay. I’m just trying to help, and you can’t blame me for looking at every aspect of the situation and suggesting possible solutions. That’s what I do, isn’t it?”

 

He had him there. “Yeah, and you’re too fucking good at it. Why don’t you go home for the evening? I’ve got some phone calls to make.”

 

“Call me if you come up with anything else you need me to do.” Johnny rose and left without any further argument or protestation.

 

Enzo stamped out his cigar in a nearby crystal ashtray, realizing that it wasn’t helping him relax at all. Even quality tobacco couldn’t completely distract him from the matter at hand, and it didn’t make it any better knowing that Johnny was right. Madelyn was a risk. The other men were working on the witnesses and the evidence, and it was Enzo’s job to take care of his lawyer. He knew that there was some validity to Johnny’s suggestion, and he didn’t know why the hell he was so adamant about protecting this woman, but he was determined to make it work. He pulled out his cell and dialed.

 

“Hello?” she answered breathlessly.

 

He was instantly transported back to the limo, hearing the way she’d panted as he’d pounded into her from behind. Damn. He needed that again. “Are you all right?”

 

“I went out for a run,” she explained. “I just got back to my apartment. What can I do for you?” The words were professional, but he heard the coy undertones. Good, she hadn’t thought about their tryst too much.

 

“I have a few ideas about the case, and I want to go over them with you. Come to my house tonight.” Commanding, but still with a hint of pleading in his voice. He had to show her that he was a gentleman, but he was also a man.

 

“It’s getting kind of late, but I guess I could swing that. I can’t stay long, though. I’ve got a meeting in the morning.”

 

Enzo wasn’t completely sure how to interpret that. She was still cooperating, but it was clear that Enzo wasn’t yet her priority. His case might be, but not him. “That’s fine. It won’t take long, and I’ll arrange dinner for us. Then you can kill two birds with one stone.”

 

She hesitated for a few seconds, but finally agreed. Enzo hung up. Tonight would be the night. This had to be the final move in the chess game, the one where he had her at his mercy and yet simultaneously convinced her that she would enjoy being there.