Chapter 1 - The Betrayal at Café NateVittorio’s hand never reached his gun.
Before his fingers could wrap around the cold grip beneath his coat, I was across the table. I grabbed his wrist, twisting it inward until the bone popped with a sound like a dry twig snapping. Vittorio screamed, a high, pathetic sound that rattled the smoke-filled air of Café Nate.
Enzo didn’t hesitate. He slammed Vittorio’s face down onto the oak table, scattering ledgers, stacks of hundred-dollar bills, and the silver pistol across the floor.
Elena didn’t scream. She didn’t even flinch at the sound of cracking bone. She simply pulled the shivering black puppy closer to her chest, her dark, oversized eyes tracking every movement with a terrifying, numb detachment. She had seen violence before. A girl who had lived through the disappearance of her mother in the North District knew what blood looked like.
"Keep her eyes covered, Enzo," I barked, my voice low and dangerous.
"No," Elena whispered, her small voice cutting through Vittorio's muffled groans. "I want to see. He took her. He put her in a black van outside our building."
I stood over Vittorio, my hand resting on the hilt of the blade tucked inside my waistband. Around us, the other three lieutenants sat frozen, their hands hovering near their shoulder holsters, waiting to see which way the wind would blow. In our line of work, treason was contagious. If Vittorio was dirty, any one of them could be carrying the same rot.
"Vittorio," I said smoothly, stepping onto his hand where it lay pinned against the floor. He let out a choked gasp. "You’ve been my right hand in the North District for six years. I gave you the docks. I gave you the protection rackets. Why would you touch a woman who means nothing to our business?"
"Matteo... please..." Vittorio wheezed, spit and blood leaking from his mouth onto the polished floorboards. "It’s not... it’s not what you think. I was ordered... I had no choice!"
"Ordered?" I leaned down, grabbing him by the hair and forcing his head back so he had to look me in the eye. "No one gives orders in this city except me. Who gave you an order, Vittorio?"
Vittorio’s eyes darted frantically toward the window, where the rain continued to hammer against the glass. "The Donati syndicate. They... they knew about the shipping manifests coming through Pier 4. They said if I didn't get them the master key ledger, they'd put a bullet in my sister. The girl's mother... Evelyn O'Shea... she was the chief archivist at the city records office. She had the original vault combinations for the old port archives!"
The pieces began to fall into place, but one detail remained jagged and sharp.
"If you took her mother to open a safe for Donati," I said, my voice dropping an octave, "how did this child find me? How did a seven-year-old end up at a closed pawnshop in the middle of a monsoon?"
Vittorio swallowed hard, his face pale as chalk. "I don't know... I swear on my life, Matteo, I don't know!"
"He's lying about that part," Elena said quietly from her chair.
I turned to look at her. She had set Bruno down on the table. The little puppy had crawled over to a pile of cash and curled up, exhaustion finally taking over his tiny body.
"How did you find me, piccola?" I asked, softening my tone as much as a killer could.
"A man in a yellow raincoat came to my apartment after the scary men took Mommy," she said, her blue lips trembling slightly as the warmth of the backroom began to thaw her. "He gave me a piece of paper with an address. He said, 'If you want your mother to live, go to the pawnshop on 4th and Elm. Look for the man smoking a cigar with a lion ring on his finger. Give him whatever you have, or she dies by midnight.'"
I looked down at my left hand. A heavy gold signet ring depicting a roaring lion caught the dim overhead light.
It was a setup. Someone hadn't just used Vittorio to steal a ledger; they had used Elena to deliver a message directly to me. Donati wanted me to know they were operating inside my perimeter, using my own lieutenants to do their dirty work, and mocking me by sending a starving child to break my code.
They thought I was a monster who would turn her away. Or worse, they thought I would kill Vittorio, ignite a gang war, and walk blindly into whatever trap they had laid at Pier 4.
"Enzo," I said, stepping back from Vittorio.
"Boss?"
"Take Vittorio to the cellar beneath the bakery. Don't kill him yet. I want to know every name Donati spoke to him."
"And the girl?" Enzo asked, glancing at Elena.
I walked over to the table and picked up the little black puppy. He fit entirely within the palm of my hand. I held him out to Elena, but she kept her hands folded in her lap, refusing to accept him back.
"A deal is a deal," she said firmly, though tears were finally beginning to well in the corners of her eyes. "You have Bruno now. You have to bring my mommy back."
I looked at the girl, then at the shivering dog, and finally at the blood dripping from Vittorio’s broken face onto my floor.
"Your payment is accepted, Elena," I said softly, placing the puppy gently back into her lap. "But in my business, we keep the collateral with the client until the job is finished. Hold onto him for me."
May you like
She looked up at me, a spark of hope fighting through the darkness in her eyes. "You promise?"
"I don't make promises, piccola," I said, drawing my coat around myself and gesturing for my two most loyal men to arm themselves. "I execute contracts. And tonight, Donati is going to pay his debts."
