Twisted Loyalties (The Camorra Chronicles 1)

I turned. Presenting my back to the enemy wasn’t something I’d usually do. But I knew Aria would stop Luca from killing me with her puppy dog eyes, and I wanted to show him and his brother Matteo that I didn’t fear them. I hadn’t feared anyone in a long time.

It was almost two o’clock in the night. It had begun snowing a while ago and a fine layer of white covered my jacket and the ground to my feet. I’d been waiting for more than one hour. Perhaps Aria had more sense than I gave her credit for.

Soft steps crunched to my right. I pushed off the wall, drawing my gun but lowered it when Aria came into view, wrapped in a thick wool coat and scarf. She stopped across from me. “Hello Fabi.” She held out the paper that I’d shoved into her pocket. “You said you wanted to talk to me alone because you needed my help?”

Her need to help others, first Gianna, then Lily and now me, was her greatest weakness. I really wished she’d stayed home. I moved closer.

She regarded me with sad eyes. “But you were lying, weren’t you?” she whispered. If we hadn’t stood so close, I wouldn’t have understood her. “You were trying to get me alone.”

If she knew, why had she come?

Did she hope for mercy? Then I realized why she’d whispered. I tightened my hold on my gun. My eyes searched the darkness until I found Luca leaning against a wall to the far left, his gun pointed at my head.

I smiled then because I’d underestimated her, and a small, weak part was relieved. “Finally being sensible, Aria.”

“I know a thing or two about mob life.”

Only the things Luca allowed her to see, no doubt.

“Aren’t you worried for your life?” she asked curiously.

“Why would I be?”

She sighed. “Did the Camorra want to kidnap me?” Again that whisper, not meant for Luca’s ears. Was she trying to save me from his wrath? She shouldn’t have.

I didn’t say anything. Unlike Luca I didn’t divulge information only because she batted her eyes at me. The time when she’d held power over me as my older sister had long passed. But my silence seemed all the answer she needed.

She lifted one arm and I followed the movement cautiously. With her other hand she removed a piece of jewelry from her wrist and held it out to me.

“It was Mother’s. She gave it to me shortly before her death. I want you to have it.”

“Why?” I asked as I peered down at the gold bracelet with sapphires. I didn’t remember our mother wearing it, but I’d been only twelve when she’d died and on the brink of starting the induction process to the Outfit. I’d had other things on my mind than expensive jewelry.

“Because I want you to remember.”

“The family that abandoned me?”

“No, the boy you used to be and the man you can still be.”

“Who says I want to remember?” I said in a low voice, leaning down to her, so she could look into my eyes despite the dark. I heard the soft click of Luca releasing the safety catch. I smirked. “You want me to be a better man. Why don’t you start with the man who’s pointing a gun at my head?”

She pushed the bracelet against my chest and I took it at last.

“Perhaps one day you’ll find someone who will love you despite what you’ve become, and she will make you want to be better.” She stepped away. “Goodbye, Fabiano. Luca wants you to know that next time you come to New York, you will pay with your life.”

My fingers tightened around the bracelet. I had no intention of returning to this God-forsaken city for any other reason than to rip it from Luca’s bleeding hands.

Chapter Three

Returning to Vegas, always felt like returning home. I’d been in Nevada for almost five years. When I’d first arrived, I didn’t think I’d last that long. Five years. So much had changed since Father had wanted me dead. The past was the past, but sometimes the memories came back up, and they were a good reminder why I owed Remo my loyalty and my life. Without him, I’d be long dead.

Perhaps I should have seen it coming after I’d messed up my first job as an initiate of the Chicago Outfit. I’d been honored with the task of patrolling the corridors on the wedding day of my youngest sister Liliana. I’d been excited until I’d come across my sisters Aria and Gianna with their husbands Matteo and Luca, as well as Liliana and someone who definitely wasn’t the man she’d married.

I knew immediately that they were taking Liliana to New York with them, and I also knew that as a member of the Outfit, I was supposed to stop them. I didn’t have my tattoo yet, since my initiation wasn’t completed, but I’d already been sworn into the Outfit. I’d been only thirteen. I’d been weak and stupid back then, and had allowed Aria to talk me into letting them go. I’d even let them shoot my arm, so it would look convincing to everyone. To make it look as if I’d tried to stop them. Dante Cavallaro hadn’t punished me. He had believed my story, but Father had written me off that day like he’d written off the daughters he couldn’t control. And that’s when it all started. When things had been set in motion that would lead to the first member of the Outfit becoming part of the Camorra.