Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 88326 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 442(@200wpm)___ 353(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88326 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 442(@200wpm)___ 353(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
“Let’s bury this asshole alive and see how he fucking likes it.”
I smirked. “I like your spirit, Don Russo.”
We left in a line of cars to Trapani, the same place where Warren had had his clandestine meeting where I’d intercepted Leo. That felt like too much of a coincidence that Warren had just been there and now Icarus had crossed the entire island to come for Ciro. Seemed an odd place to start. There was definitely a connection between Warren and Icarus, but I wasn’t sure what it was, considering they had opposite interests.
When I’d gotten that phone call, it had been six in the evening, so by the time we arrived outside of Trapani, it was almost sunset. Trapani was another coastal city, but Ciro’s operation was farther inland. He got his deliveries from the dock, smaller quantities since he avoided customs, and then handled his operations on his own acreage. The gangs didn’t deal their drugs only to Sicilians. Some exported them south through Morocco, while others went through Istanbul in the Middle East. In a lot of ways, Sicily was just a hub for distribution from South America. Off the radar from the rest of Italy but with a noteworthy population of five million people, it was small but unique, easily overlooked and underestimated.
I sat in the back seat with Don Russo as we traversed the winding roads.
Nothing was said on the ride. Don Russo was his normal calm and collected self.
I was like a pressure grenade about to go off at the slightest bump. The adrenaline surged in my blood and gave me razor-sharp focus. Gave me a maniacal edge sharper than a butcher’s knife. It was a high I’d spent my life chasing, but now, it didn’t hit the same way it had before.
Everything was different when I had someone waiting at home for me.
My life was somehow mortally intertwined with another. If I died, she died, and if she died, so did I. Our relationship had a distinct purpose, and that purpose was a heavy responsibility. My life suddenly had value when I’d never cared before whether I lived or died.
Don Russo turned to me. “I like your woman.”
I snapped out of my thoughts and looked at him.
“I can tell she’s tough, which is exactly what you need.”
“You could tell that just by talking to her for five minutes?” I asked incredulously.
“Along with everything you’ve shared about her, there’s the fact that Don Mancini wanted her to run the business instead of his son and the fact that you’re obsessed with her. Beautiful women are like fish in a barrel. They’re easy to catch. She’s obviously more than a pretty face to you. She has substance.”
Substance and depth and complexity and a spitfire attitude.
“She would be a good wife to have in Cosa Nostra.”
“We’re five minutes away, and you’re really going to try to poach me?”
He smirked. “I might get a bullet in the head like Don Mancini in five minutes. Should say my piece while I still can.”
“We’re coming up,” Santino said from the passenger seat.
Nicolo radioed in from the front. “We’re too late. They’re already here.”
“Or we’re here just in time,” Don Russo said.
A minute later, bullets sprayed our SUVs, which didn’t matter because the windows and the cars were bulletproof. It’d been a while since I’d heard the sound of cracking glass, and it didn’t fill me with excitement like it used to.
Instead of enjoying the thrill, all I could think about was survival.
I had to get home to Francesca.
We drove right into the scene, a private piece of property with a villa, a warehouse, and all the other cars from workers.
I could see through my cracked window. “Looks like they’re holed up in the warehouse because most of the men have converged over there.”
“Then we draw fire this way,” Don Russo said. “Give them a fighting chance.”
The SUVs moved into a secure position behind the house, and we all jumped out and ran for cover before Icarus’s men could catch up to us. All the windows in the house were already shattered from gunfire, so they’d cleared this place out before they’d moved on.
Santino clicked the button that connected to the back of the SUV. “Take cover.”
We all made our way into the house, and the back revealed an automatic machine gun that would shoot anything with an infrared signature, including us if we were in the wrong place when it was activated.
The second the other men converged on the house, the machine gun did its job, going through a hundred rounds of ammunition in just four seconds. Bodies dropped, and the others scattered behind stone walls and rocks until the gun was empty.
We silently moved through the other side of the house, communicating through experience and hand gestures like marines until we reached the far side and tossed our grenades toward the men who had tried to hit us from the opposite direction.