He grunted and took a drink. “Why?”
I shook my head, mystified myself, unable to answer that question. I didn’t know why, didn’t know what it was about Cora that drove me wild—her lips maybe, her body, the long arch of her spine, the way her hips curved, or maybe the way she laughed and teased me, the way she wasn’t afraid to call me an asshole, the way she didn’t back down. I wasn’t sure, couldn’t say, and I knew he’d never understand either way.
We lapsed into silence. I took another drink and I saw the anxiety in Aldrik’s eyes. I had a feeling he knew this all hinged on Enrico too, and we were all waiting for him to hand down the sentence.
“What do you need from him?” Enrico asked after the silence stretched into agony.
“Information.”
“What kind?”
“I need to know where Cora’s being held.”
Enrico grunted and finished his drink. “I can find that out for you.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Can you?”
“I know a guy that might’ve followed the Leone family after they left your place.” He kept a straight face and talked mostly to his empty glass of whiskey. “Yeah, you know, since you had someone watching out for the girl, I might’ve been on duty at the time—and when they took her, I might’ve watched them from afar.”
Aldrik barked a laugh and punched Enrico in the arm. “You old bastard. Are you for real?”
Enrico gave him an annoyed look. “Of course I’m for real.”
“I didn’t know that. You didn’t tell me!”
“I don’t tell you everything, idiot.”
I leaned toward them, my heart beating fast. If he wasn’t lying, then I could go get Cora tonight—right now, this second, as soon as we were done talking.
“Where?” I asked.
“The mansion,” he said, and it was the one answer I didn’t want.
I sat back and let out a groan, leaned my head back up against the bench.
The mansion was the most guarded place in the entire city. There was no way I could get inside, not since the place got attacked a few years back. Now the Leones kept a small army on payroll and had the guards stacked all over the building in case anything ever happened—which it didn’t, not anymore.
“Well, shit,” Aldrik said. “You’re a goddamn tease, Enrico. You got my hopes up.” He punched Enrico again then slammed back his whiskey. “What the hell are we going to do now?”
Enrico rubbed his arm. “First of all, you’re going to stop hitting me.”
Aldrik grunted, but didn’t argue.
“And second, there are ways inside. It won’t be easy though.”
I raised an eyebrow at him. I’d never heard of anyone breaking into that building, not since I’d gotten deep into the crime world. The Leone mansion was the one spot every thief, thug, mobster, and asshole knew to stay far away from—and as much as I wanted to kick the door down and start shooting, I knew that wouldn’t get me very far.
“Elaborate,” I said.
“The mansion’s got a lot of staff,” Enrico said, studying his fingernails like he was bored. “They’ve got people coming and going through the back all the time, right? There are cooks, cleaners, deliveries, all that stuff.”
I let out a breath. “You want me to sneak in that way.”
“We’ll need a distraction, since they check everyone that comes and goes, and I’m sure you’ll be noticed. But if Aldrik here and I make a little noise out front, you know, draw some of their attention—then you might be able to slip through.”
I leaned toward him. “I don’t pay you enough.”
He laughed and his eyes were hard as he showed me his teeth. “Damn right you don’t.”
“I’m getting more whiskey,” Aldrik said. “We have some planning to do and I’m not doing it sober.”
I leaned back and watched Aldrik walk off to get another round. I could feel myself getting excited, but pushed back against it. I couldn’t go down that road, not when there were so many things still up in the air. I didn’t know how we’d make a distraction big enough to draw the Leones away from the back while still letting Aldrik and Enrico get away—and I didn’t know how I’d get inside.
And once inside, I didn’t know how I’d find Cora. I’d been in there before, and the place was an enormous maze. She could be anywhere, held in any of the rooms, or maybe in some deep, specially-designed dungeon built expressly for keeping prisoners locked away. There were so many variables, all of them floating, all of them uncertain, but I saw a glimmer of hope—a small bit of possibility.
I could get my wife back, and I wasn’t going to let her go, not for anything.
For the first time in my life, I felt like something was right about Cora and me. I felt like the thing we’d been moving toward—love, or something like it—that thing could draw me away from all the nasty parts of my life, the parts that had sucked me deeper and deeper—the violence, the drugs, the extortion and worse. It wasn’t like I’d go straight for her, but maybe she could help me be a little bit less crooked, a little bit less raw.
First though, we had to plan.
And then, I’d have to put my life on the line for her, because if I got caught—they’d kill me, no questions asked.
But that was easy, because as far as I was concerned, I had no life so long as they had her.
When Aldrik returned with the drinks, I downed my first, leaned over toward my two men, and began to figure out my future.
22
Cora
I jerked awake with crusty eyes and a pain in my ribs, and for a while I stared at the ceiling, wondering if I was happy that I woke up at all. I could hear sounds in the house—distant thumps, voices, footsteps, quiet things that indicated there was life around me—but my room was dim and dark and musty. My stomach rumbled and my lips were parched, and I didn’t want to move, didn’t want to think, didn’t want to breathe.
But my body forced me up and out of bed. I sipped water from the tap, used the toilet, and gingerly poked at the bruises on my body. Large yellow and black blooms covered my flank and I grimaced as I poked at my swollen right eye. Showering helped a little bit, but not very much, and I was forced to put on my blood-stained and dirty clothes again, since nothing new had been provided for me.
As I stepped back into the room, there was a knock on the door. I heard the door unlock and a man I didn’t recognize stepped inside. He placed a tray down on top of the dresser and tossed some clothes onto the bed. I wanted to say something to him, but he studiously ignored me, pretended like I wasn’t even there, and I figured he had orders not to talk to me.
The door shut and I was alone again.
I ate toast and eggs and drank some lukewarm coffee. I changed into fresh jeans and a sweatshirt, both a little too big, but there was a belt that managed to hold the pants up. I rolled the ankles and sat at the end of the bed and stared down at the empty tray on the floor, wondering what I was going to do with myself.
Vincent was going to kill me. There was almost no doubt in my mind that sooner or later, he’d kill me. I showed him that I wasn’t going to be his pawn and I wasn’t going to play by his rules—and if I couldn’t be trusted, couldn’t be turned into a useful tool of the family, then I might as well be eliminated.