Page 66 of When She Unravels
I give him a grateful look. “Who is Conte?”
“The head enforcer of the Garzolo clan of New York. They’re one of five families originally from Sicily. She and Lazaro got married a few months ago. Valentina shot him a few days after their two-month wedding anniversary.”
I feel a perverse satisfaction at that. “Ouch.”
“The whole clan’s looking for her.”
Ras sits down in an armchair, and I walk over to the mini bar to pour us some whiskey. “Lazaro wants his wife back?”
“I don’t know if he’s alive or not. No one’s seen him since the incident.”
“Who’s leading the search?” I hand him his glass.
He takes it and meets my gaze. “Stefano Garzolo. The head of the clan. She’s his daughter.”
Well, fuck.
“You’ve got yourself a mafia princess.”
I down my whiskey in one big gulp. This situation is getting more complicated by the hour. “What are the chances she’s here on her father’s behest?”
“Zero. He wouldn’t send his own daughter here for a job. She’s far more valuable to him back home.
There’s a bitter tang inside my mouth. She wasn’t lying about being here on her own.
“I think she really ran away with only a passport and some cash to her name,” Ras says. “There was nothing else of hers in the apartment besides a small amount of clothes. The question is why?”
What made you run, Valentina?“She told me her family weren’t good to her.”
Ras makes a face. He’s not buying it. “She was born and raised into this life. It would take something drastic to make her leave everything and everyone behind.”
“Like having an enforcer for a husband? She must have been close to all the dirty work he did.”
“I doubt he brought many of his targets home like he did with Mari.”
“I don’t know about that. Mari said the basement looked like a torture room from the movies.” She’s never seen the real ones on this side of the world.
“Maybe Valentina couldn’t stomach sleeping by a man who murdered people a few meters below their bedroom.”
That could explain why she reacted so strongly to the incident with Nelo. It reminded her of what her husband did to people.
“Maybe.” I refill my glass and sit down across from Ras. “So where does this leave us? Why would the Garzolos take Mari? They don’t have any reason to have it out for me.”
Ras looks thoughtful as he swirls his whiskey around. “It could have been a favor for Sal.”
Did our don order the abduction of my sister? I’ve been asking myself this question since the moment I found out she was taken. My gut tells me yes, after all, he had a motive. He wants to keep me in line. But Garzolo’s involvement makes me pause. “Why would they grant him this favor? As far as I know, Sal has no relationship with them, business or otherwise.”
“We’re missing something,” Ras says. “Maybe it wasn’t Sal after all.”
Ras has been warning me all along not to jump to conclusions too quickly. I’ve made a few enemies during my life, but none that would dare do this to my sister. Sal is the only one who’d have the guts to try.
Ras puts his empty glass on the desk. “You should ask Valentina about what her husband intended to do to Mari. She has to know something that could put our doubts to rest. Is she still downstairs?”
“Yes. I left her tied up there,” I say. Shame blazes over my skin.
Ras shoots me an accusatory look and drags a hand over his cheek. “Dem, you can’t leave her like that.”
“I can do whatever the hell I want,” I snap, even as I fight my entire body not to march down there and let her down.
