Alessandro DeLuca

“I’m good. I was out back.”

“Who was it?”

“Colombo.”

“We’re two minutes behind you,” I say, ending the call.

“What happened?” Bones asks.

“The fucking Colombos hit the restaurant. Almost everybody’s gone. Some of the staff might survive with medical help.”

“Fuck!” Knuckles says as he speeds up.

There’s been peace in the streets for a while, so I know they weren’t targeting me. But to come up on my turf and blow my shit up? That takes some fucking goddamn balls!

If we’re breaking fucking truces now, there’s about to be a war in this bitch that they can’t handle.

I make one phone call to kick off a retaliatory hit, and I finish it as we skid to a stop in the middle of the street. Smoke is still billowing from my restaurant, bystanders are crowding across the street, and I hear sirens in the distance.

“We got a little girl in the back, Boss,” Frankie says.

Looking at the damage, I ask in disbelief, “Still alive?”

“Yeah, seems Lorenzo was trying to save her. He said she was pinned behind a table, and he pulled her out. He dragged her as far as the back door but passed out while talking to me. What do we do with her boss?”

Bruce, Bones, and I follow Frankie to the back parking lot where his car is parked, leaving Knuckles to look out for the cops. A little girl covered in soot and burns is lying in the backseat of Frankie’s car.

“How do you know she’s still alive?” I ask, taking in her tiny, lifeless-looking body.

“Checked her pulse. She’s alive, but she needs help.”

I look to Bones.

“Where’s Sabrina?”

“At home. She’s off work today.”

“Take her to Bones’ place,” I say, nodding at the car.

Frankie nods and jumps into his car.

“Boss, APD has arrived,” Knuckles says, meeting us in the back.

“Hurry up and get her out of here,” I say to Frankie, hitting the hood of his car.

My men run to the chain link fence to let him out and close it again before the police see him or the girl.