Page 58 of Texting My Mafia Boss

“Before what?” I demand. “Before their deaths? Before the car crash?” I’m trembling now, not sure if it's in anger or dread. “Are you saying you think it wasn’t an accident? Is that it? My dad lost his job and they couldn’t pay these scumbags back, so they killed him?”

Gideon sits back, shaking his head. “I can’t comment on that. How would I know? All I know is what I saw, what I heard. And now, you know as much as I do.”

I stand, pushing out athank youthat sounds a million miles away.

Walking out of his house, I take out my phone.

Mara: Do you know someone named Calvi? He’s a big bad mafia guy, apparently.

Ettore responds almost instantly.

Ettore: Why are you asking me this?

Ettore: Mara?

Mara: Where are you now?

Ettore: My office.

Mara: Give me the address.

Ettore: Why?

Mara: Give me the fucking address, Ettore.

A moment later, he sends it to me.

Mara: I’m coming right now.

CHAPTER 22

ETTORE

Islip my phone into my pocket and turn to the bloody man tied to the chair, cuts and bruises littering his face. Ugo Nerli, mid-thirties, a baby face that hides a savage nature. He’s Dante’s last remaining man. One of our cop contacts found him holed up in an apartment belonging to a pregnant woman… with said pregnant woman tied up in a closet, requiring hospital treatment. The brave woman managed to dial911by touch alone, because this moron forgot to take her cell from her.

I sigh tiredly, aware that my two worlds are about to crash together again. There was that issue with the scum a few weeks ago, kidnapping a sex worker and selling cocaine on our routes. Now this.

“What were you going to do with that woman?” I snarl, tipping the man’s head with the barrel of my gun and staring into his terrified eyes. “Scared for her life, scared for her baby’s life. There’s a darkness in this path we’ve chosen, but you let it spread to a twisted, pathetic, cowardly shadow. That’s unacceptable.”

He sputters, blood leaking from his face. I feel Mark watching from the shadows behind me.

“You might be wondering why we handle this ourselves,” I growl. “Andthisis why. It keeps the raw reality of what we have to do at the forefront of our minds. We’re always aware, when we give an order, exactly what we’re commanding. It’s Hell, Ugo. Sometimes, I wield it with a fucking smile on my face.”

I backhand him across the jaw. His bones make a loud crunching noise as the chair hits the ground. Mark walks out of the shadows, picks the chair up, then retreats.

“Someone killed your friend, Piero, and branded him a rat. And your boss wasverykeen to get rid of Dante.”

Ugo starts to sputter.

“I know that look,” I tell him. “You’re wondering what Ruggero will do if he discovers you’ve talked. Or maybe even the little prince, Bastian. But just think. The cops called me when they discovered what you did. We hold sway in this city. Ruggero thinks we’re weak because we don’t act like wild dogs, but that only goes so far.Speak.”

He coughs up blood, drool sliding from his mouth.

“The jewelry store hit… was… Bastian’s… idea.” He wheezes. “He… wanted… to… provoke… you.”

“The prince, then,” I murmur, thinking of the slick bastard. He’s always believed he’s smarter than he is. “Did his father know?”

“Boss,” Mark says from behind me.