Dario nodded, his dark eyes serious. “Yeah, there’re a lot of ways Emmanuelle moving around in the shadows can be an asset as long as she stays there.”
“Then I thought about it. Emme’s had bodyguards on her, serious ones, her entire life. You’ve seen them. I’d give anything to have Emilio and Enzo training our people. They don’t leave anything to chance. They don’t make mistakes. The only way Emmanuelle ever got away from them is moving through the shadows. That’s how she came to me at the lake house, or any of the other places we met. She didn’t outwit her bodyguards, she slipped into a shadow and disappeared. They can’t follow her into them.”
Dario nodded again. “So, what are you saying about Stefano’s comment?”
“Well, first off, he directed that comment not at me, but at his wife. He wanted to get a rise out of her and the other women on the plane. And he did. He might have been telling me it was okay to have fun in the family. Outside of it, we can look like cruel bastards, but when we’re alone with them, we can be family men.”
“I can see he might have been doing that.”
“Stefano expects me—us—to be just as vigilant watching over Emmanuelle as the Ferraros are over their women. More so because she will be out in the open. He expects us to put bodyguards on her and even ask for Ferraro bodyguards if the need arises.”
“The hell with that,” Dario said. “We can protect her.”
Valentino found himself laughing. “You can’t have it both ways, Dario. Either Emme’s in danger and she has to be guarded every second by whatever means are at our disposal or she’s not. I say we have our most trusted guards on her, but when we feel the danger is especially high, as it is now, we use the Ferraros as well, and that includes her brothers if necessary.”
Dario doubled his fist and pressed it to his heart. “At least they know better than to look smug. I still might not survive having to work with them.”
“We’re the ones who should be feeling smug. We pulled off what no other outfit in Chicago ever managed to do. I married the Ferraro princess and officially have an alliance with her family. That not only makes us stronger than anyone else, but it has put even more fear into our enemies than I ever could have with what we’re doing. When word leaks out—and we’ll make certain it does—that Stefano himself may have been along on one of the raids, that will solidify our place as the strongest family in Chicago.”
Dario relaxed against the seat. “There is that. If they help us find out who’s behind bringing these kids into this hell …”
Valentino eyed him warily. They were on touchy ground now. He glanced at his watch. They were still several minutes out from their next target. “Do you believe Marco Messina could be behind all of this? We found out about it only a few years ago. He would have had to have started into it when he was pretty young. He’s what? Five years older than us?”
“He’s a Messina. He was raised in the life. He runs the legitimate side of their businesses, but he’s still running their businesses,” Dario pointed out. “I don’t trust anyone, Val, other than you. The men we have in place in our inner circle are the most I’ll ever trust anyone else, and I’ll be watching them all the time.” He hesitated.
“What is it?”
“Bernado. We’re putting a lot of faith in him. A tremendous amount of faith in him.”
“We saved his life, Dario. We took care of his mother when she needed it.” Val was patient. He understood his cousin. He understood Dario’s fear. Bernado had a particular skill that was unmatched by either of them. If he betrayed them, neither of them would be aware of it until it was far too late. They had no real way to watch over the man.
Valentino trusted his instincts. They’d never steered him wrong. Even as a child, he’d been aware Miceli was two-faced. He had been certain, even then, that his uncle had something to do with murdering his birth parents, but there was no proving it. Nothing but his gut reaction. Bernado was devoted to Valentino and Dario. He wasn’t the kind of man to wield a gun, but he could go after any business with his keyboard.
“Have you ever asked Bernado to look into Stefano Ferraro?” Dario asked.
Something in Dario’s voice had Val looking up sharply. Suspiciously. He looked at his cousin through narrowed, hooded eyes. “No, I made it clear the Ferraros were off-limits.”
“I did.” Dario showed no remorse. He might have played second to Valentino when they were in public, and there was no doubt that he would have taken a bullet for him, but when they were alone, they were equals. “With all the skills he has, Bernado couldn’t get anything on Stefano or any of the other brothers aside from regular shit that meant nothing at all. Worse, he said, he was immediately flagged and had to shut everything down before he was identified. Whoever is in Stefano’s corner was coming after him fast, and Bernado says he’s buried deep.”