Page 76 of Capo
Twenty-Four
Luciano
Hearing her constant distrust irks me more than I’m comfortable with. I have other matters at hand, other things to worry about. She isn’t fucking happy with anything I do. She’s not even happy being away from me, for fuck’s sake. Bietini is nothing more than a few houses thrown together in the mountains, but life there is quiet and peaceful.
What the fuck will it take to make her less hostile? She will need to drop her attitude. It’s driving me fucking crazy.
Then I remember her brothers, and my resolve to release them. Was it only yesterday? Time gets warped when it feels as if more happens in a day than what usually happens in a week. I tap the number to Dustin as I move through the house.
“Sir,” shouts a servant who comes dashing as he sees me. Dustin answers at the same time.
“Hold on, Dust. Yes?” I turn to the man.
He wrings his hands. There are beads of sweat on his forehead. “What do we do with your room, sir?”
My bedroom isn’t salvageable. I don’t want anything from in there. “Tear it all out. Strip it bare. Burn everything. Got it?”
I leave the twitchy man behind and stride toward the hallway. “Where are you, Dust?”
“I’m in the club room.”
“Get your ass to my garage. Call up Charlie and Chad Bourne. Make sure they’re available. We’re going to have a little chat with the boys.”
“Will do. Any news on Ivan, sir?”
“Same,” I mutter. “Stable, they say.”
Dustin is silent for a few heartbeats. I know what he thinks. We all share the same concern. “It’s all so fucked up,” he finally says. If they can take him, they can take anyone.”
“That’s not happening,” I growl. “Eric has taken a squad and left for Moscow. We’ll take the fight to them. Hit them where it hurts. Matteo is working on stripping their accounts. When I’m done with them, they’ll be poor and dead. Now get to—”
“On it, sir. I’ll be with you in a minute.”
The ride downtown is silent. I sit in the back with my laptop and try to catch up with the intel Matteo keeps sending me. He’s chasing down this Russian mobster clan’s assets all over the world and is planning a strike that, when it happens, will wipe out any fucking Rubel, Dollar, Pound, Yen, or Euro they’ve got within a few minutes and transfer it to an untraceable account of mine. It’ll take some days to get it set up and I’m antsy for it to happen. My clubs are still closed and I’m losing billions. I know this is what they wanted, shooting up the gambling club, make me suffer. What they don’t know is how fucking many gangsters I can mobilize from the corners of the world. Right now people are gathering everywhere the Russians have a stronghold, Moscow obviously, a couple of places in Ukraine, London, and San Francisco. We’ll strike when all their alarm systems scream that they’ve lost their assets, when everyone throws themselves over their phones and their computers. I’ll bathe in their blood, laughing. I’ll avenge Ivan, Chloe, my staff in the club and in my house. No one touches what’s mine.
Chad and Charlie are two bright kids in their younger twenties. They’re clearly Chloe’s brothers, tall and blond with blue eyes and sharp features. Both have this American college kid, captain of the baseball team look going for them. Both of them screwed that possibility up royally. I’ve been thinking of putting them through school. Depending on how loyal they’ll prove to be, I can definitely have more use for them in the future and they have the potential to be more than muscle.
They’ve spent six months here, out of jail, free to move around, and always ready to do my bidding. They know that if they fuck up, I’d kill their sister.
Which of course I don’t plan to do, but they don’t know that.
Chad opens. Charlie sits on the couch in front of a PlayStation. He darts up as he sees me. “Mr. Salvatore.”
“Sit,” I say and nod for Dustin to join us. I have to shove off a pile of clothes to find some space and scrunch my nose. They live in a pigsty. I like order. Tenting my hands, I look between them. “Gentlemen, I have a proposal for you, and you better listen good.”
They glance at each other, and then fixate on me. If they’re worried, they don’t show it. I like it.
“Your sister Chloe, or Christine if you prefer, has been relocated. She’s out of the country. She was attacked and is now under my protection. My whole organization is under attack. I’m going to offer you a chance for her to earn her freedom, for you to clear your debt to me.”
Charlie frowns and looks between Dustin and me, then at his brother who nods. “Go on,” he says. “We’re all ears. Who attacked Christine? How is she? What happened?”
“She’s all right. You can ask her yourself. I’ll provide you with a number. You are not to ask where she is, or about her relationship with me. This is for her own security. Do you understand?”
“Yes, Mr. Salvatore. No problem. What is it you want us to do?”
“Do you know your way around a gun?”
Chad scoffs and Charlie gives out a short laugh.