Ruthless Empire: A Dark Mafia Collection

Luca’s smirk disappeared behind a cold, unruly glare. “Don’t forget that I can always handle any situation I’m uncomfortable with.”

“Are you threatening me?” I asked. “Are you threatening her?”

“I said what I said,” Luca hissed. “What’s this big emergency?”

I was tempted to clock him cold in his fucking face. He was the boss, but I was a grown-ass man. I bit back my rage, imagining my brother and his family trouble. I blew air out of my nose like a bull preparing to charge and let it take some of my tension with it.

“Marco called me this morning,” I started. “He said he got a postcard showing East State, telling him to watch his back.”

“When?” Luca asked.

“He didn’t say, but I got the sense he kept it from us for a while. He said he was waiting to see if another one was sent, so it’s possible it was back around the holidays.” Luca’s hand folded over his chin. “What are you thinking?” I asked.

“One, that Marco’s the same goddamn idiot he always has been,” Luca began. “Two, the Binachis know what’s up.” He twisted his head, cracking his neck as he did so. “How the fuck did they find out? The only ones who know that he rolled are the three of us. Neither of you told anyone, did you?”

His eyes fell accusingly on Gabriel.

Gabriel leaned forward. “I didn’t tell anyone!”

He looked at me. “Did you tell Willow?”

“She doesn’t like hearing about my involvement in this shit. I have no reason to tell her.”

I’d also been wondering how the word could have gotten out. It wouldn’t be the first time we’d discovered a mole in our ranks, but since our last betrayal, Luca had started cracking down. He didn’t let someone in who didn’t have skeletons, and he made sure to stress how quickly turncoats disappeared. I wasn’t inclined to think it was one of us.

“It’s gotta be someone who works for the feds,” I said finally. “We don’t have a traitor. Not after all that shit with Roman.”

“I agree. I don’t think anyone would be dumb enough to do it again. Besides, if none of us said anything to anyone, how would anyone other than us know?”

“Did you tell Molly?” I asked.

An eerie, cold silence engulfed the room. For the first time in our lives, I felt myself drop below Gabriel in Luca’s eyes. If looks could kill, my head would be clean off my body from the way Luca was leering at me. He leaned forward and placed his arms on the desk.

“Are you accusing my wife of turning on me?” he asked, finally, in a terrifyingly low tone.

“I only asked a question,” I responded, keeping my own resolve. I refused to let Luca punk me around.

“Yeah,” Luca replied, baiting me to say something accusatory. “I told her.”

The silence returned. Gabriel was nervously shifting glances between us, while a near-visible bolt of electricity was passing between Luca and me. I didn’t really think Molly would do anything like that, but I could hear the old man grumbling that we always have to explore every possibility. Gabriel made a solid point. If we were the only ones who knew, and none of us talked, then it obviously didn’t come from inside, but one of us did talk. The newest Varasso head.

“Look, obviously, we don’t think Molly did it. We just had to ask the question,” Gabriel said. “Right, Sandro?”

Luca looked frighteningly like my dad. He had a killer’s eyes, the ones our father had beaten into us by force. I loved my dad, and I loved my brother, but if there was any shitty quality that the two of them shared, it was their hateful dispositions. Luca’s faded some when his wife and kids were around, but when he was behind my dad’s old desk, it was like the old man’s spirit possessed him and continued to work through him.

“Right,” I said after an extended silence. “Molly’s good.”

Luca had his nose held so high in the air, bats were about to fly out. “Good.”

“It’s the feds, obviously,” Gabriel said, trying to fill the void. “Obviously.”

“It has to be,” Luca agreed. “We’ve got our own men on the inside. Maybe we need to do a little digging. I’ll make some calls.” He looked at me. “Can you ask Ricky to get a picture of the postcard from Marco?”

“I can do that.” I’d already maxed out on my patience for the conversation.

“Gabriel, I need you to man security. Don’t tell anyone what’s going on, just that we have reason to believe we may fall under siege, and they need to keep their eyes open. If anything happens. Anything. If a squirrel so much as pisses in a way that looks strange, they are to report to me immediately.”

“Got it.” Gabriel side-eyed me and shifted uncomfortably.