The Venetian and the Rum Runner - L.A. Witt Page 0,157

Don’t worry.”

“I will worry.” Danny’s brow pinched. “I thought for sure I was about to lose my friend last night. I can’t lose him or you.”

“You won’t.” Carmine put a hand on Danny’s shoulder, the best he could do when there were others in the house and the bedroom door was open. “I’ll handle him.”

Danny held his gaze, and in his eyes, Carmine could see the same plea he’d made that night they’d spent in bed: “Swear to me that if saving me from a burning truck means getting yourself killed, you’ll let me and the damn thing burn.”

Not a chance, Danny.

He gave Danny’s shoulder a gentle squeeze. “I promised you from the start that working for me meant protection from the Pulvirentis. And that was when you were just a rum runner I wanted to hire.”

Danny’s eyebrows rose, and he swallowed. “But it was also before you knew Salvatore would go to any lengths to kill me.”

“Maybe. But it’s not the Pulvirentis protecting you now. It’s me. And it’s not a rum runner they’re threatening this time. It’s you.” He shook his head. “I am going to stop him.”

Pride, fear and something much warmer mingled in Danny’s eyes. Then he exhaled and dropped his gaze, and he just looked tired and worn, as if the last several hours had left him completely drained.

Wiping a hand over his face, he murmured, “I should tell the lads I’m not running with them tonight. Or any night soon. I…” His shoulders sagged. “Damn.”

“It won’t be for long. I promise.”

Danny met his eyes again. “How can you be sure? Salvatore is a madman.”

“He is. Which is why he won’t be hard to stop.” Carmine forced a quiet laugh. “There are a lot of men in this city you could’ve had as an enemy, but you have one who is too angry and too stupid to lay low when he should. He’ll show his face again before long, and my men and I will be ready for him.”

Danny studied him, then nodded slowly and seemed to relax.

Deep down, Carmine hoped he could keep this promise. He had no doubt Salvatore would show himself sooner than later, and stealth and subtlety had never been virtues of his.

But things were delicate within the organization right now. An alliance was in the works with the Morellos, and Maurizio had already warned him against starting a war—or fanning the flames of one trying desperately to start—while negotiations were still happening. He couldn’t just put out a hit on Salvatore il Sacchi without igniting a war with Agosto.

He was going to have to play this carefully. Very carefully.

But come hell, high water, war, or burning trucks… Salvatore would bleed before he ever laid a hand on Danny again.

Chapter 35

Carmine’s house was far bigger than the apartment Danny shared with James. In fact, the guest room where Danny and James were sleeping was nearly as big as the parlor and kitchen combined. There was a fenced-in garden in the back, plenty of space to move around…and Danny was suffocating.

In Carmine’s parlor, James sat in an armchair, an open Bible propped on his knee. Danny had taken a book from a shelf, and he still had it on his arm as he lounged on the couch, but the words had stopped meaning anything two or three pages ago.

He was too restless. The walls were closing in, and every time the floor creaked or a car passed outside, he’d jump out of his skin, certain il Sacchi’s men had found him. He was bored. He was paranoid. He was itching to join his boys on Long Island. He was afraid to even walk out into the garden. Exactly how long was he meant to live like this?

“You all right?” James watched him from the armchair.

“Aye. Just…” Danny closed the book he wasn’t bothering to read. “Just feeling penned up is all.”

James nodded. “Could be because we are penned up.”

With a grunt of agreement, Danny put aside the book and sat back. “What I wouldn’t give to take a walk.”

“Me too. But not while il Sacchi is still out there.”

Danny shuddered. “Is it too much to hope he’ll work himself into such a state over wanting me dead that he drops dead himself?”

He genuinely expected a disapproving tsk from James, but the priest just chuckled, shaking his head.

Danny laughed softly too. He supposed it was good James was here with him, and now that he thought of it, it wasn’t just because James