Bound By Love (Born in Blood Mafia Chronicles 6)

Luca sat up and kissed my shoulder before turning my face around to him. His gray eyes searched mine. “Aria, I can’t work with Falcone. I don’t want anything to do with him. He isn’t sane, not even by our standards.”

“Can you promise me that Marcella won’t ever have to fear something like that?” I couldn’t even say the word. Tears burned my eyes.

Luca gripped my arms and pulled me into his lap, his eyes fierce and dark with emotion. “Neither you nor Marcella will ever be hurt, Aria. Never. I will do anything to make sure our territory is a safe place. As long as I am Capo, you are protected, and I don’t care if I have to go there and kill him myself, but right now they are weak.”

I nodded. “If there’s a chance of helping your aunt and cousins without working with Falcone, will you do it?”

Luca considered that. “Maybe. They are women. But that also poses a problem. I don’t like to torture women, so I have no way to question them for their motives.”LUCAThis was a meeting I wasn’t looking forward to, but Aria wanted me to help my aunt and her daughters, so I had agreed to meet them. At least, that was part of the reason. The other was that the Enforcer of the Camorra had contacted me and offered to kill Falcone and many high-ranking Camorrista in return for taking in the women. Apparently, he’d been given my older cousin Cara as a reward by Falcone, and now he wanted her safe. I didn’t trust the guy, but he had held his promise and killed Benedetto Falcone and was currently killing more men. Maybe soon the Camorra wouldn’t be one of my worries anymore. Remo Falcone was still in hiding with his brothers.

I’d chosen the parking lot in front of the Yonkers power plant for the meeting again. Matteo glanced my way. “I still have a bad feeling about this.”

I nodded grimly when finally a car headed our way.

Matteo, Romero and I were in this car, and Orfeo, as well as two of my cousins were in the car behind us.

The car parked about three car lengths from us. I could see a man behind the steering wheel as well as three women in the car with him.

“What the fuck are they waiting for?” Matteo muttered.

One of the car doors opened and a young woman with long dark hair got out. She raised her arms and moved away from the car. A moment later an older woman and a girl got out and held up their hands as well.

“That must be our dear aunt and cousins,” Matteo said quietly. “But the fucker behind the wheel seems intent on pissing us off. I’m not sure if he thought that through.”

“Oh, he will get out of that car, don’t worry,” I said, then shoved open the car door and got out, drawing my gun.

The older girl, Cara, looked at me as if I’d risen from Hell, and her younger sister was cowering beside her mother.

Matteo and Romero stepped up to my side.

“Let’s go to them,” I ordered.

“You think they are trustworthy?” Matteo asked doubtfully.

“No,” I muttered. “But they aren’t a danger to us.” Turning to Romero, I added. “You stay back and have our backs.” He gave a nod, his eyes directed at the car. Then I gave a sign to my other men in the other car.

Matteo and I moved closer to the three women, but we stopped a good distance away.

“Your driver needs to get out,” I ordered, nodding toward the cowardly fucker still hiding in the car. What kind of man let women and girls get out into the firing line while he stayed back?

My cousin Cara turned around to the coward and waved at him. He didn’t move.

“If he doesn’t get out soon, I’ll get him out myself and he won’t like that,” Matteo muttered.

Finally, the man got out with his hands raised above his head and Orfeo was on him at once, twisting his arms behind his back. The pussy actually cried out from pain. If Orfeo’s handling already got that reaction from him, he wouldn’t like the conversation I and Matteo would have with him later. Orfeo silenced him with a hard hit against the back of the head and dragged the coward away.

The younger girl started crying and Cara took her hand, but that only made the girl cry harder.

Cara straightened her shoulders and looked at me. “I’m Cara. I’m your cousin.”

“We know exactly who you are,” Matteo said sharply.

I motioned for them to come closer. After a moment of hesitation, Cara went first then her mother and sister followed. “Wait,” I told them as we stopped in front of the car. “We will check you for weapons.”