Giacomo

"Be reasonable! Vi prego, Don Buscetta," the man gurgled.

I hit his face again and blood spurted from his mouth. "Reasonable?" I snarled. "Reasonable when you are stealing from the family? Reasonable when you are so disrespectful? Ma dai." I punched him in the stomach. "Why should I be reasonable after such grave offenses?"

I let him fall to the ground, where he crumpled into a little ball. He was one of my brother's men, a high-level soldier who handled transactions with the Russians. He thought I was stupid, that I wouldn't know what he'd done.

People underestimated me because of my large size and rough appearance. They believed me stupid, nothing more than a thug. This included my dead brother and father.

Except I liked math. I was good at it. Math was easy, straightforward, and it never changed, never lied. Which is how I was certain this coglione had stolen from me.

Whimpering, he said, "I'm not stealing from you, Don Buscetta."

"Cazzata." I spat into the dirt next to his head. "You are undercutting my profits, skimming from the top."

Slowly, he tried to crawl away, a denial on his traitorous lips. "No, I swear it."

Advancing, I kicked him in the ribs with the toe of my boot. "You sold them eight-hundred-and-fifty-thousand worth of guns, stronzo. Except I only have seven-hundred-and-fifty-thousand Euros to show for it. You are short one-hundred-thousand. If I had to guess, it's either up your nose or in some random pussy."

He didn't talk much after that. We dumped his body where it wouldn't be found by the carabinieri. Word of his disappearance would soon get around amongst my men and serve as a deterrent to others. I wouldn't tolerate anyone stealing from the family.

After we cleaned up, I climbed into my car and started the engine. Zani dropped into the passenger seat and pulled out his mobile. "Virga insists on meeting today," Zani said. "I have five messages from his people."

"Tell him no."

"You can't refuse him, Mo."

"I can do whatever the fuck I want," I corrected. "And I don't want to see that coglione ever again."

Since the Ravazzani meeting a few months back, Virga had hounded me. He thought he had the right to tell me what to do, but I didn't take orders from old men. Not anymore. I had enough of that to last a lifetime.

"Virga has come to Palermo to see you. He's here. And he's the boss."

"I know what he wants to discuss. The subject is closed."

Zani exhaled heavily and tapped the side of his phone against his leg. "You're being stubborn and it's bad for business. He could have you killed. Replace you with one of his men."

"He could, but he won't. Virga tries to replace me, he has chaos on his hands." While my father's men hated my brother, they liked me. Maybe because I treated them like human beings, instead of dogs, as my brother had. And I controlled too much money to get rid of based solely on a whim.

Zani's phone buzzed. "Virga's man again. You want me to ignore it?"

"Fuck this." I reached over, grabbed the phone out of Zani's hand, and answered it. "Buscetta."

"Don Buscetta. How kind of you to pick up."

The sarcasm was not lost on me. I put it on speaker so Zani could hear. "This is Buscetta. Who's this?"

Some shuffling in the background, then Don Virga's voice filled my car. "I expect to see you standing in front of me within the next fifteen minutes."

I scowled at the phone. "Why?"

"Because I am telling you to."

Che cazzo? "Today is not good. Maybe I can make time tomorrow."

"Giacomo, this is not a request."

"And if I say no?"

Zani dropped his head into his hands, but I ignored him. I rolled over for no man, even one as powerful as Virga.

Il capo dei capi grew quiet, then spoke softly. "Do you think I have no leverage over you, that I have come here with nothing? Eh, cretino? Ma dai, you think I don't know about Mirabella and who is living there?"

Instantly, my muscles locked up. I heard Zani hiss through his teeth, but I kept my attention on the phone as my fingers strangled the steering wheel. I'd busted my ass to protect this secret, so how had Virga learned of it?

My jaw ached from how hard I was grinding my teeth together. I didn't like being backed into a corner.

"Where?" I snapped.

He rattled off an address. We weren't far. Without saying another word, I hung up on Virga and tossed the phone back to Zani.

"Mo-" Zani started.

"Don't say it." I couldn't handle this conversation, not right now. As the only person I trusted, Zani knew that my sister, Viviana, was still alive. I had her well protected at Mirabella, a facility on the outskirts of the city. So how had Virga discovered this information? The entire world, including my late father and brother, believed Viviana dead. I'd purposely arranged it that way.

Zani spoke up anyway. "It wasn't me. You know I would never tell."

I did know this. Even under torture, Zani wouldn't share my secrets. But that didn't mean I wasn't pissed off, that I didn't want to wrap my hands around Virga's throat and squeeze the life out of him.

We rode in tense silence. Virga wanted to meet about the wedding. Again. So I would walk in, tell him to fuck off, and then demand he forget all he'd discovered about me.

"Call Mirabella," I said as I punched the gas pedal. "Check that Viviana is okay. Virga could have a man there. I want to make sure she's safe."

Zani dialed and spoke to the guard outside Viv's room. He reported that my sister was fine, everything perfectly normal. After warning the guard to be on alert, Zani hung up as I parked at the address we'd been given.

It was an old hotel, the kind that had passed its prime decades earlier. Exactly the sort of place I'd expect Virga to patronize, the outdated fuck. His man approached us in the lobby and we were quickly hustled into the elevator.

Zani and I didn't speak on the way up. In our world there were eyes and ears everywhere, and I wouldn't put it past Virga to be listening in.

When the doors opened we arrived at a large suite with plenty of windows and a balcony. The furniture looked cheap, the kind you self-assembled. I would probably break the sofa if I tried to sit on it.

A group was gathered on the balcony. Virga was surrounded by several men, everyone looking very serious. But that wasn't the disturbing part.

A priest was with them.

Che cazzo?

"Mo," Zani asked quietly over his shoulder. "What the hell is happening?"

Virga came toward us. I counted the number of men with him. Eight in total. Not great odds, but I was confident I could give them all a fair beating before they subdued me.

"Don Buscetta" Virga called cheerfully as he approached. "Thank you for coming."

"Don Virga. What is this about?"

He grabbed me and kissed my cheeks like we were family. "I would think it obvious, even to a man such as yourself."

Stupid, in other words. Though the old insult stung like salt in a wound, I didn't react. Out of necessity, I'd learned to hide my emotions at a very early age. Virga couldn't rattle me. "Maybe you should explain it."

"You thought you could ignore me." Virga moved in closer and put a bony hand on my shoulder, squeezing. "You thought you didn't need to do as you're told, that you are more important than the brotherhood. But you are not more important than me or the Cosa Nostra. And you will do what you are told, starting today. Capisce?"

I met his smug gaze with steady calm. He was talking in riddles and I needed answers. "How did you learn of her?" We both knew who I meant.

"I have friends everywhere, Don Buscetta. You would be wise to heed this moving forward." He dug his fingers into the muscle of my shoulder. "And should you try to move her, I will find out where. You can't escape me, ragazzetto."

Little boy.

Outside, I wore a mask of indifference. But inside I was a storm, raging with anger and resentment. He dared to threaten my sister? My pulse pounded with the need for violence, a burning desire to maim and destroy. I could almost taste Virga's blood on my tongue.

"Va bene," he said and patted my shoulder. Then he called the group on the balcony. "Let us proceed."

"What is happening?" I snapped at Virga. "Why is a priest here?"

A door opened in the rear of the suite and one of Virga's men emerged with a young woman-very young, probably late teens or early twenties. She was pretty, with dark hair and big brown eyes. No makeup, which meant she wasn't a mistress or wife. Someone's sister, maybe.

I watched her gaze bounce around until it landed on me, and the uneasiness and fear I saw there sent a sliver of trepidation through me. Who was-?

Understanding struck like a lightning bolt. No. It couldn't be. She was in Toronto, well guarded by her father's men.

Except my eyes didn't lie. This was Emma Mancini.

I stepped backward.

"Take your place, Giacomo," Virga ordered. "Right the fuck now."

"You can't do this."

"I am the boss, so I may do whatever I like. At my request, you will marry her today. You will consummate this marriage after the ceremony. And you will get her pregnant in six month's time-or else I will burn everything and everyone you love down to the ground."

My body recoiled, everything inside me screaming to run, to fight. There was one person I loved, just one, and Virga had somehow learned of her existence. And he was using her to force me into a marriage I didn't want.

Emma couldn't want this, either. I had done some digging into her after the meeting with Ravazzani three months ago. She was only twenty, far too young for me. Not to mention studious and smart, on her way to becoming a doctor. She wasn't interested in the role of a mafia wife. Everyone knew it, including her family.

I had to reason with Virga. "What of her father? Her brothers-in-law? As of three months ago, her family didn't want this."

"They will do as they are told, just as you will." Merciless dark eyes stared back at me. "Don Borghese will keep Ravazzani and Mancini in line, just as I am doing with you. In this we are in agreement."

Leaning in, he continued more quietly. "You stupid fuck. Think of the leverage this marriage gives you over both of those men. You can get our drug business back from the 'Ndrangheta. Marry her, ragazzetto. Get her pregnant. Do your duty to the brotherhood or your sister pays the price."

I didn't move. I let him see all the hatred boiling inside me at that moment. But I was cornered-and we both knew it. I wouldn't risk Viviana's life. I'd survived a family full of vipers for thirty-two years just to keep her safe.

I could survive this, as well.

Drawing in a deep breath, I edged around the old man and headed for the priest.