a lot.”
“It’s personal,” I said. Call it gut intuition or sixth sense, but I already knew this was somehow linked to me.
“Do you think it’s related to Vincenzo?” Matteo asked, immediately realizing his mistake when Tristan said, “Vincenzo? What does he have to do with anything?”
My brow went up and he added, “Shit, man, that sounded insensitive. I was sorry to hear about his death.”
I bristled, the temperature cooling in the room.
Nicco looked at me and then to his father. Antonio let out a long, steady breath as he rubbed a hand over his mouth.
“He’s a part of this now. He should know the truth.”
“What the fuck?” I balked, shooting up out of my seat. “You can’t be serious.”
“Lorenzo, you need to calm the fuck down.”
“Come on, cous,” Matteo added. “It sounds like we need all the help we can get right now.”
Reluctantly, I sat back down.
“Vincenzo didn’t die in a collision, he was killed.”
“I see…” Tristan said. “Do I want to know who killed him?”
“Let’s just say, he betrayed the Family and got what he deserved.”
“No shit. You think the two are connected?”
“It’s possible,” Nicco replied.
“It’s the most likely scenario,” I said, conceding to the fact that Tristan was a part of this now, whether I liked it or not. “My father was promised power in return for betraying us. It’s possible he might have been working with more people and with Mike Fascini serving jail time, the next in line has decided to try to get some kind of vengeance.”
Something about the whole thing still didn’t sit right with me. I didn’t recognize the guy at all… but the message scrawled across DiMarco’s office wall, and then the way he’d said, ‘surprise’ when he’d knocked me down before attacking Gino… it was almost as if he knew me.
“I think you should lay low for a while,” Uncle Toni said. “If this—”
“Fuck that. I want to get to this guy. I can’t do that if I’m in hiding.”
“Not in hiding. I want the girls with you. At the cabin.”
“You’re going to stick me on babysitting duty while there’s some fucking psycho out there gunning for us? If I’m the target, use me as bait.”
I would quite happily walk into the lion’s den if it meant getting to look this fucker in the eye before I put a bullet through his skull.
“It isn’t permanent. But if you go off the grid, it might smoke him out. He’s in Verona County, we know that much. And now he’s here, something tells me he won’t be leaving until he finishes whatever it is he’s started.”
“But why hit Providence at all?” Nicco said.
“To lure me there.”
“E, come on, that’s a stretch. He wouldn’t know you—”
“He would if he has been watching me.”
I’d seen his display board with my own eyes. He’d been collecting intel, building a picture of our lives. If I was his main target, then it meant everyone around me was at risk.
Everyone including Nora.
“This is fucked up,” Matteo breathed.
“I want you all to head up to the cabin for the weekend while we try to get a handle on this. I’ve locked down our most profitable businesses and given everyone else a warning. They know to keep an eye out. Let’s give it twenty-four hours and see if he makes another move.”
“And if he doesn’t?” I asked, not liking this plan one bit.
“Then we’ll cross that bridge when we get there.”
Uncle Toni fixed his eyes on Nicco. “Liaise with Luis and his team about getting you all to the cabin and check in the moment you arrive there, okay?”
My cousin nodded. “What do we tell them?”
“It’s Sia,” Matt teased. “She’s probably outside with a glass pressed to the wall as we speak.”
“You’re not wrong there, son. Just tell them as little as possible, but enough to keep them in line.”
“Good luck with that, cous.” Matteo clapped Nicco on the back.
“I… uh, where do you want me?” Tristan asked.
“You’re with us.” Nicco stood.
“This day just keeps getting better and better,” I grumbled beneath my breath. Not only was I being exiled to the cabin with my annoying-as-hell cousins, my best friend and his wife, and Nora. But Capizola was also coming.
Fuck my life.
Chapter 18
Nora
I’d been to the Marchetti cabin before. It was like a well-kept secret, nestled away in the dense forest of Blackstone Reserve. It was impossible to tell anyone the route given the fact we’d driven for a little over two hours for a journey that should have taken