When I talked to Remo next time, my suspicions were confirmed. Despite his played disappointment over my refusal to answer to his demand, eagerness rang in his voice. He had more planned. He loved his audience’s reaction more than the game itself. Maybe he’d lose interest in his game and Serafina if we didn’t play the game by his rules, if we acted level headed.
We didn’t have many other options at this point.
Samuel approached me a couple of days after the call, and I could tell from his expression that he hadn’t accepted my decision like Danilo and Pietro had. “Can we talk?” he asked, an edge to his voice.
“Of course,” I said and followed him toward my make-shift office in a former guest bedroom. Now that I had to do most of my business from Minneapolis and not Chicago, I needed an office. I’d returned to Chicago only twice since Serafina’s kidnapping. Val, too, mainly stayed in Minneapolis with the kids to support Ines.
I closed the door and turned to Samuel.
His blond hair had grown, brushing his ears, and he hadn’t shaved in a couple of days, so a dark-blond stubble covered his chin and cheeks. Despite his lack of sleep and refusal to rest, his shot wound had healed surprisingly well.
“We need to attack Las Vegas. Every day that Serafina stays with that asshole, he destroys another part of her. We can’t just sit back and wait.” His tone set my teeth on edge but I cut him slack.
“Between Las Vegas and us wait many hundreds of Remo’s loyal followers, men willing to die for him. They’re between us and Serafina, and even if we reach Las Vegas without any of them finding out, which is unlikely considering we need an army to walk into Vegas, we’ll be in Remo’s terrain. He knows Las Vegas, and our informants tell us it’s close to impossible to get past the security measures of the Falcone mansion. That is, if Serafina is even still there. Dozens would die.”
“I don’t give a fuck. They can all die as long as I get Fina back,” Samuel snarled.
“But I can’t send my men into a death mission that’s bound to fail. They have families. They trust in me to make wise choices and not act out of emotionality.”
Samuel brought his face close to mine, his eyes burning with anger. “I bet you’d be the first to walk into Vegas with a fucking army if Anna was there and you wouldn’t give a flying fuck if every man died.”
I cared about Serafina and about Ines, Pietro, and Samuel, but I had to admit my love for my children and Val was on another level, and I couldn’t deny that my reaction to Anna’s kidnapping would have been less restrained. If it would have saved her? I doubted it.
Samuel nodded as if I’d answered his question then he turned around and stalked away.
“Fuck!” I snarled, my control slipping. I wanted to walk into Vegas and rip Remo’s balls off and feed them to him. I wanted to show him that I could do every atrocity he had committed even if I usually chose less flashy forms of torture.
The Outfit was becoming more and more torn by the day, between the people who supported my cautious approach, wary of a war at another front, after all, we were surrounded by enemies. But there were also the others, many of them from the younger generation who screamed for blood, who wanted to walk into Vegas with blazing guns. Samuel was one of them, Danilo too, even if he wasn’t as vocal about it.
* * *
“When can we return to Chicago?” Leonas asked as we sat at the breakfast table a couple of days later.
Val gave him an understanding smile.
I’d considered sending Val and our children back to Chicago and staying in Minneapolis by myself. After all, their presence wasn’t required but I wanted them close. I needed to know they were safe. “I don’t know,” I said. “But hopefully soon.”
Leonas pushed his food around on his plate. “I miss my friends.”
“How about we play basketball?”
There was a basketball hoop in the driveway. Leonas sometimes played with Rocco and Riccardo back at home and I had played for a while when I was a teenager. Leonas’ eyes widened with eagerness and he nodded.
Anna frowned then looked down at her plate. After breakfast, I took her aside. “Why don’t we take a look at the new online gallery of the Met?”
Anna grinned. She’d wanted to visit the Metropolitan Museum and the Museum of Modern Art for a while now but as they were both in New York that wasn’t an option. Luckily, both museums had good online presence. Anna hugged my middle, and I touched her head. “Thank you, Daddy.”
Val kissed my cheek. “I know you’re busy but I’m so glad you try to make time for them. This is a difficult time for them as well.”
“I know,” I said quietly. I wished my children didn’t have to witness so much of the stark brutality of mob life.
Pietro called me around midday. I’d already played with Leonas, showered, and managed to sit down with Anna for an hour. She was still pressed up to my side, staring down at the laptop when my phone rang.
“Pietro, any news?” I’d told him I’d meet him, Samuel and Danilo in the evening.
“Samuel and a few of our soldiers have set out to Vegas to save Fina,” he said.
Tension shot through my body. “What?”
The fury in my voice made Anna look up with wide eyes. I gave her a tight smile and gently untangled myself from her before I stood.
“I didn’t know. One of the soldiers, he asked informed me just now. I can’t reach him or any of the men with him.”
“Goddamnit, Pietro. That’s a suicide mission! They won’t return alive, much less with Serafina. Remo will be furious over this new infringement of his territory!”
Pietro didn’t say anything for almost a minute and I was trying to get a grip on my rising anger and worry. If Samuel got killed trying to save Fina and if she was killed by Remo to pay us back… Ines wouldn’t survive that.
“Fuck!” I growled, realizing too late how close Anna stood.
I tried not to curse in front of her but had failed repeatedly these last few weeks. I lowered my phone slightly. “Go find your mother. Tell her I need to head out to your uncle and aunt.”
“Okay,” Anna said hesitantly but didn’t move. I touched her cheek and gave her a strained smile.
Finally, she turned and left the living room in search of Val.
“Ines doesn’t know yet,” Pietro said quietly. “I didn’t tell anyone but you now.”
“Good. I’ll inform Danilo. He needs to come over ASAP.” Danilo had only left for Indianapolis yesterday but this new development required his presence.
“I’m coming over now. We need to consider what to do.”
Pietro made a small affirming noise. I hung up and closed my eyes. My God, Samuel. Remo would tear him apart piece by piece and record it for all of us to see. Maybe he’d even do it in a live video and force us all to watch or he’d kill Serafina as well.
* * *
We didn’t hear anything from Samuel or any of his companions nor could we reach them—until the next day, when a beaten but alive Samuel and a badly tortured and dead Outfit soldier were delivered to our outpost near Camorra territory.
I called Pietro the moment I got the news then headed over to their mansion. Danilo was already there when I arrived. He hadn’t bothered with a suit like he usually did when he met me. This time he was in casual chinos and a white shirt. He like Pietro looked as if they hadn’t slept at all. I had been in the safehouse until way past midnight and hardly slept two hours, so I knew I didn’t look any better.
Pietro stalked toward me the moment I was in the lobby. “He’s alive?”
“Yes, and not seriously injured. They beat him up. He suffered a broken wrist and a few broken ribs but apart from that he’s okay.”
Ines and Sofia hovered in the doorway to the living room. Relief settled on my sister’s face and she leaned against the doorframe as if her legs couldn’t carry her much longer. “What about Fina?”
I shook my head. “We don’t know anything. I didn’t talk to Samuel yet. He’s flying over with a private jet now. He should be here soon.”
Sofia hugged Ines tightly, crying softly.
Pietro released a deep breath.
“I’m surprised Remo let him live,” Danilo said with a deep frown. “I think we can all agree that it’s not an act of mercy. That bastard doesn’t do mercy.”
I had to agree. Samuel should have shared the same fate as the other Outfit soldiers. That he hadn’t could only mean Remo had something worse in mind. Something that would hit us just as hard or harder in the end.
I didn’t voice my thoughts because I feared it meant Serafina would suffer.
Danilo’s eyes conveyed he thought the same thing. He came closer to me, his voice low and insistent. “Remo’s going to be furious the Outfit breached his territory. He’s going to make us pay through Serafina. We must do something.”
“Another attack won’t save her. He’s now alerted, even more than he was before. If we try to free her, we sign her death sentence.”
“Maybe Samuel did already,” Danilo growled.
Pietro’s face was ashen as he listened. At least, Ines and Sofia were too far away to hear what Danilo had said.
“Let’s go into my office,” Pietro suggested.
Ines stepped in my way and touched my chest, her eyes swimming with worry. “What will you do with my son?”
It took me a moment to follow her train of thought then it hit me. Samuel had acted against my explicit order, had led several of my men into death. That was betrayal. Rocco was locked in our cell for that very reason, because he was worth more alive than dead, now more than ever. But Samuel didn’t have any worth for me. At least not a strategic worth.
For the kind of betrayal he had committed there was only one punishment: death.
Danilo slanted me a curious look. As one of my Underbosses, he had to put trust in me that I didn’t favor certain Made Men because of their status. I risked the distrust of all my men if I favored family.
Yet, Danilo was practically family too. Could I trust in him to keep the details of Samuel’s behavior to himself? Or had he perhaps already told others?
Ines’ hands trembled against my chest and her eyes begged me to be merciful. I’d killed for her, a man who was meant to become my Consigliere. I’d do it again. I’d never regretted my decision because Ines’ happiness had been on the line, her life even.
And today I was faced with a similar choice. Only now I had to decide not to kill a soldier deserving of death for his betrayal.
“Dante—” Pietro began but I raised my palm to stop him. I respected him but this wasn’t between him and me.
I lowered my head and said quietly. “For you, Ines. Only for you.” I covered her hands briefly and she released a shuddering breath. She nodded and I stepped back.
Pietro touched her back briefly as we moved to the office.
Danilo’s face was perfectly neutral. He was difficult to read.
“I’ll talk to Samuel. I’ll make sure he never acts out of line again,” Pietro said as we settled on the plush armchairs in his office.
I tilted my head. “I appreciate it. But he’ll have to answer my questions first. I’ll make my point very clear to him.”
Pietro searched my eyes, then nodded.
He knew I had to make sure Samuel obeyed my commands in the future. I didn’t want to be faced with another choice like today again. I cared deeply for Samuel, and I wasn’t sure if I could go through with killing him. And giving a kill order to Arturo or Santino was out of the question. If anyone did it, it had to be me. I hoped it would never come to it.
We discussed possible reasons for Samuel’s release but in the end, they remained speculations, until Samuel shed some light on the situation.
A while later, I got a call that Samuel was almost at the mansion.
Pietro hurried out to tell Ines but I stayed put to talk to Danilo. “You kept your thoughts regarding my decision about Samuel’s punishment carefully hidden.”
Danilo pushed his hands into his pockets and shrugged. “You are Capo. Your word is law.”
“It is, and yet I’d like to know your thoughts on the matter. You are Underboss and practically family.” I put an emphasis on the last word.
Danilo lowered his face. “Sometimes I’m not sure if it’ll still come to a bond between our families. Do you really believe we get Serafina back alive?” He glanced up, eyes tortured and angry.
“Yes. I think Remo’s plan is to send her back. If he wanted to torture and kill her, he could have done so right away. This is a mind game, and I think ultimately it’ll end in him sending her back to us in exchange for something.”
I realized he’d avoided answering my question once more. I stepped closer to him and squeezed his shoulder. “You are going to be family. This incident is a family matter and I expect it not to make the rounds.”
Understanding flickered in Danilo’s dark eyes. “Don’t worry. I can keep a secret if required.”
Rocco had said something similar to me many years ago. I hoped things with Danilo wouldn’t end in a similar manner.
* * *