Shadow Storm (Shadow Riders 6)

“Yeah, at this point, I’d be careful. Valentino and I have a few men we know for certain we can count on, but Miceli was really splashing some big money around. Times get hard, and there are bills to pay. I don’t know, Emme, loyalties can get tested. And the younger ones, it seems they’re so easily bribed with money and pussy.” He winced. “Sorry. I shouldn’t talk like that in front of you. Val would beat the crap out of me.” He grinned at her. “Well. He’d try. We’re pretty damned even most of the time.” He leaned his head back against the leather, looking exhausted.

“I have brothers, Dario,” she reminded. “Why don’t you go in with Giuseppi? He could use an update on Val. He’s acting tough, but he’s really afraid for his son.”

“I don’t know, Emme.”

“If you were going to have to shoot someone for trying to hurt him, you would have had to do it already,” she pointed out. “Give yourself a break. I’ll watch over him.”

“I doubt if you’re going to shoot one of your brothers,” he said, his voice a mixture of amused and dry.

“Don’t bet on it. I think about it often.” She sent him a little smirk. “Do you need help getting up?”

“Don’t be a smart-ass, Emme.”

Dario didn’t look as if he could make it out of the chair on his own, so she hadn’t exactly been being a smart-ass, but he was Valentino’s right-hand man, his lieutenant, the enforcer. She didn’t want to think too much about what that meant in the Saldi world. She couldn’t exactly judge him. He protected Giuseppi and Valentino, and he did it in a permanent way. Dario was as tough as they came. She could never tell whether he liked her or not. He didn’t give much away.

He’d briefly shown interest in Nicoletta, but when Taviano had announced she was his fiancée, Dario had seemed to respect that boundary and backed off. That made Emme wonder if his interest had been genuine. She couldn’t imagine anything stopping Dario from going after a woman if he truly wanted her. Dario was a mystery, but right now, he needed to rest as much as possible, because they would need his ability with his guns if they were attacked.

“Don’t shoot Val, either,” Dario cautioned as he pushed himself out of the chair.

Emme stepped back and got the door for him. “Giuseppi is armed. It might be best to let him know you’re coming in. He looks a little trigger-happy.”

“Will do. And I want updates on Val every fifteen minutes. Who’s running the show here? I’ll need him to coordinate with me. Introduce us before you lock yourself away here. I want you to make it clear I’m looped in at all times.” Dario’s voice had turned hard. Scary. He’d gone back to that man she was never certain of.

“Stefano is always in charge, Dario—you know that. But Enzo and Emilio run the control room and will send all orders to every guard, sniper and soldier. They have eyes and ears everywhere.”

She was already texting Enzo to meet them in the wide hallway outside the guest room where Giuseppi was. She also cautioned the bodyguard to treat Dario with the utmost respect. As a rule, the two families were uneasy around each other if not straight-out enemies. The feud went back over a hundred years, which was just plain silly in Emmanuelle’s mind.

She followed Dario out of the master bedroom, and immediately found she could breathe easier. She hadn’t realized she was holding her breath, trying not to take in the scent of blood that hung so heavily in the air. Valentino had lost so much. She couldn’t think about whether or not she’d gotten her family and surgical team there in time. Right now, the most important thing was to set up to protect him and his father from his murderous uncle and nephews.

Enzo came around the corner right as they made it to the alcove just opposite Giuseppi’s door. Dario sank into a chair, his face gray, sweat beading on his forehead. He ignored it as Enzo came straight to them. Emme performed the introductions, although the two men had met multiple times over the years, just not as allies.

“We chose these rooms for a purpose,” Dario stated. “This guest room has a panic room. It’s virtually a vault and has enough supplies for a couple of weeks. I can stash Giuseppi if need be, and no one will be the wiser. If something happens to me, he’ll be there. There’s also a similar setup in the master bedroom, although trying to stash Val anywhere, wounded or not, won’t be easy.”

He indicated his phone and Enzo drew close, so Emme did as well. There was a layout of the inside of the sprawling house, all the rooms, but it looked more like a child’s drawing than an actual professional blueprint. Dario pointed to several places where there were colored scribblings, as if a child had attempted to color but couldn’t stay in the lines and then, becoming frustrated, had just slashed with crayons all over.